Lost Cards: 1975-75 OPC Gump Worsley

   "Little round man of the Ranger nets just as quick with a quip as he is with a kick save." says the back of Lorne "Gump" Worsley's 1962-63 Topps card.  Without a doubt, Gump was one of the hockey's more memorable personalites.

  Lorne Worsley was bestowed the nickname "Gump" as a child, due to as resemblance to Andy Gump of The Gumps comic strip.   Not exactly a flattering comparison.  Gump dreamed of playing professional hockey but due to his lack of size, he was sent to man the pipes.  The change in positions benefited Gump greatly.  He tried out and made the Verdun Cyclones of the Quebec Junior Hockey League in 1946.  This was back during the era of sponsorship and since the Rangers sponsored the Cyclones, they now owned Worsley's NHL rights.  

  Worsley turned pro in 1949 and spent three seasons in the minors from 1949 to 1952 until he caught a break.  Future Hall of Famer goalie Chuck Rayner was injured during the 1952 preseason.  Worsley started the season as the Ranger's goalie.  Worsley was sent back down when Rayner returned in mid-November.  About two months later, Rayner, succumbed to injuries, and retired.  Worsley was recalled and finished the season for the Rangers.  Gump was 2-10-3, 3.67 before Rayner's retirement and 11-19-5, 2.74 afterwards.  His strong play in the second half of the season helped earn him the Calder Trophy as the league's best rookie.  To reward Gump for his play, the Rangers sent him to the minors and signed another rookie goalie, Johnny Bower, to take over in net.  Gump had reported to training camp over-weight and demanding a raise.  Gump Worsley is the only Calder winner to not play the season after winning the Calder.

  The following season, 1954-55, Gump and Bower switched roles.  Bower went to the minors and Gump was the starter.  Gump was the Rangers starter for the next nine seasons, although he was twice sent to the minors for Marcel Paille.  The Rangers were one of the worst teams during the Gump's time with them, only making the play-offs four times in 10 seasons.  During that time, Gump lead the league in losses three times.  Gump holds the tops two spots for most Saves and Most Shots Against in a single NHL season.  When a reporter asked Gump what team gives him the most trouble, Gump replied "The Rangers".  

1962-63 Topps Lorne Worsley

  After being a fixture on Broadway, Gump was involved in a blockbuster trade.  As part of the seven player trade, Gump was sent to his hometown, Montreal.  Going the other was legend Jacques Plante.  It was a contentious trade in Montreal.  Plante and Worsley entered the league at about the same time.  Worsley had a Calder trophy and led the league in losses three times.  Plante had 6 Stanley Cups, 6 Vezina trophies and a Hart trophy.  It didn't help matters when Worsley was injured in his first month as a Hab and spent the rest of the season, and start of the next, in the minors upon his return.  

  At age 35, it appeared Gump's NHL career might be over.  He began the 1964-65 season in the minors.  Injuries once again opened the door for Worsley.  After a injury to Charlie Hodge, the Canadiens recalled Gump.  Gump played well enough for the Canadiens to carry two goalies the rest of the season.  The tandem backstopped the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup victory, with Gump earning a shutout in game seven of the Finals. 

  Overall, Gump played six seasons for the Montreal Canadiens, wining two Vezinas and four Stanley Cups.  Everything was going great for Gump, until the NHL expanded in 1967.  Not only did the NHL expand in size, it expanded in time zones by expanding west, including two teams in California.  Gump was always trepid regarding flying, had a breakdown during a rough flight on November 23rd of 1968.  The Montreal Canadiens were flying to Los Angeles, with a stopover in Chicago.  After some turbulence between Montreal and Chicago, Gump left the team and drove back to Montreal.  He was off for over a month on medical leave before rejoining the team.  Gump regained his starting job from rookie Rogie Vachon, but injuries knocked him out of the play-offs.  The Canadiens went on to win their 4th Stanley Cup in five years.  

1969-70 OPC Gump Worsley

  The following season Gump found himself as the back-up to Rogie Vachon, who was about 16 years his junior.  By early December, Rogie had started 75% of the games.  Scheduled to start against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Gump was pulled aside, and the start given to to Rogie.  Gump had clashed with coaches over practicing and he was sent down to the minors to get more practice.  Instead of reporting, Gump retired.

  Gump's retirement last about four months.  He was talked into playing for the Minnesota North Stars.  The Canadiens traded his rights to the North Stars and Gump made his debut on March 4, 1970.  One of the factors for Gump unretiring was that Minnesota was a central team, there would be no long east-to-west flights.  He played four and half seasons for the North Stars.  His 2.12 GAA in 1971-72 was third best in the NHL.  He only played one more time in Montreal, a 7-2 loss in the 1971 play-offs.

1972-73 OPC Gump Worsley

  After injuries ended Gump's 72-73 season, he was certain that he had played his last NHL game.  After watching Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito give up a combined 45 goals in the Stanley Cup Finals, Gump figured he still had another year left in him.  Although Gump did the unthinkable, at least for Gump who was a strong proponent against the goalie mask.  When asked about wearing a goalie mask Gump replied "My face is my mask," and then suggested that any goalie who wears a mask is scared.   Although when Gump took the ice for his final season he did so wearing a goalie mask, at least for a few games.  Gump has said "I wore one for the last six games of my career", but evidence suggests he used it for at least his first game of the season, and the last game of the season, while playing without for a number games in between.  He wore a mask during his final season to protect his eyes, although he usually played without as he found the mask too hot.  

  Upon retiring, Gump's 860 career regular season games were 2nd most all time.  Upon retiring he became a scout for the Minnesota North Stars.  He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1980 and passed away in 2007.

  Gump was the second last goalie to play a NHL game without wearing a mask.  Andy Brown was the last and did it a few weeks after Gump last did.  This pictures of Gump wearing a mask are fairly rare, although there is a video of his final game online,  so when I came across this picture, which was decent quality, and combined with the fact he never had a proper career capper, I decided to action was needed.  Here is the Lost Card of 1974-75 OPC #397 Lorne "Gump" Worsley.

1974-75 OPC #397 Gump Worsley

1974-75 OPC #397 Gump Worsley

OPC Goalies: 1980-81

  One of the things I been doing while my own computer sits in a storage container is going through the goalie cards of the OPC sets from 1980s.  I have been doing this by using the Trading Card Database website.  It appeared that there was no easy way of just viewing goalie cards for each set on the site, so started making Lists of goalie base cards for each set in the 80s.  I didn't include any All-Star, League Leaders, In Action or other subsets.  Just focused on the base cards.
  The first list I made was for the Goalies of the 1980-81 OPC set.  This was at a time when most goalies still wore masks, but some were already moving over to the helmet and cage or the combo mask, as introduced by Dave Dryden.  Unfortunately, OPC was still mainly using pictures from warm-ups for goalies, so masks were a rare sight in their sets at the time.  At least warm-up shots were a step up from the posed shots that littered the 70s.
  For the 1980-81 set, only seven masks and one cage made the set.  There were 28 other goalie cards that did not feature a goalie wearing a mask or helmet.  Only seven cards in the set could be considered action shots.
  There were a few curious omissions from the set.  Gerry Cheevers was not included since he retired in the offseason, although it would have been nice to have a career capper for him.  Although this oversight gave me a chance to add Cheevers to the Lost Cards series on this blog.  Also curious was the omission of Mario Lessard.  There was actually no Los Angeles Kings goalies in the set.  Canadiens #1 netminder Michel Larocque never made the cut, instead OPC inserted Canadiens rookie Richard Sevigny.  Sevigny only played 11 regular season games and none in the play-offs.  It would also been nice to see Rob Holland in the set.  Rob played 44 career games, with 34 of those coming in the 1979-80 season.  He never had a OPC card made of him.
  For the strange additions, the biggest head scratcher is Doug Soeteart.  Soeteart played 8 games in 79-80 and a total of 51 over the past five seasons, but OPC decided this was the year to have a Soeteart rookie card.  With the addition of Soeteart, the New York Rangers had three goalies in the 80-81 set.  Jim Craig made the set but based on the his Olympic play and Gold medal for the USA, it's difficult to argue against his inclusion.
  For top cards of the set, there is not a lot to choose from.  All the images are from the Trading Card Database website.  Here are my runner-ups.

1980-81 OPC #333 - Ron Low

  I considered docking points on this card since it is the same picture used for Ron' Low's card in the 1979-80 OPC set.  The only thing they changed was the "Now with Oilers".  In the 79-80 set, they had "NOW WITH NORDIQUES".  I guess the proper utilization of capital letters was an improvement.  The rest of goalie cards in this set are just too bland.  There are actually only three painted masks in the set.

1980-81 OPC #31 - Mike Liut

  Mike Liut had a classic mask while with the Blues.  Although it's a bit odd that he went to a plain white mask after donning a much more elaborate design while playing with the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA.

1980-81 OPC #190 - John Davidson

  I have to give the nod to John Davidson for being the top goalie card in the 1980-81 set.  it was a close call between him and Liut but Davidson's card screams 1980.  First , you have the painted mask.  Next is the exaggerated crouch positioning.  Lastly, is the net to goalie ration.  Even with a goalie on his back in today's game, there is less net showing.  One of the reasons there were so many goals back then.

  As for the worst goalie card in the set, that dishonour goes to Bob Sauve.  This is actually Sauve's fourth OPC card, all with the Sabres.  After two photo-day shots, he actually had a pretty nice card in the 79-80 set.  Sauve led the NHL is GAA in 1979-80 and OPC rewards him with another photo-day head shot.

1980-81 OPC #266 - Bob Sauve

  Overall, the 1980-81 OPC set is massively unsatisfying for a goalie card collector.  While at 35 goalies, it's one of the biggest sets for goalies, but the picture selection is dreadful overall.  It's the first set of the 80s, and certainly the forerunner for worst set, with regards to goalies.

1981-82 OPC Reboot: Hawks and Rockies

Chicago Black Hawks

  The Black Hawks only used two goalies during the 1980-81 season.  Bannerman would eventaully ease Esposito out of the role of starter, a position he held with the Black Hawks since 1969.  Both goalies made the 81-82 OPC set.

Rk             Player Pos Age GP  W  L T/O  GA   GAA SO  MIN
1       Tony  Esposito   G  37 66 29 23  14 246  3.75  0 3935
2    Murray  Bannerman   G  23 15  2 10   2  62  4.30  0  865
           Team Total          80 31 33  16 308  3.85  0 4800

1981-82 OPC #54 Tony Esposito

  In an era of having a 1A and a 1B netminding tandem, Esposito had a monopoly on the Black Hawks net.  He finished in the top 3 in goalie games played in the NHL for 9 consecutive seasons, including leading the league four times.  From the 1972-73 to the 1980-81 season, Tony O played in 83% of the Black Hawks regular season games.  There's a bit more action going on in the original card, but I like the colours in the reboot.  Narrow win for the reboot.

1981-82 OPC #67 Murray Bannerman (RC)

  This is exactly the type of card that needed a reboot.  I like this reboot so much that I will even call this one a remastered edition.  Bannerman had one of the best masks of all-time.  It's a farce that OPC put out three cards of Bannerman before showing off the mask in the 1984-85 set.  Bannerman would have 6 OPC cards and only two have his mask on display.  This is a banner card for the reboot, man.

Colorado Rockies

  Like the Colorado Rockies pitchers of the 1990s, Colorado Rockies goalies of the 1980s were getting lit up.  The season was so bad for the Rockies goalies that all three goalies that started the season with the franchise, would never play again in the NHL after the season was over.  The team would finished the season, and start the next, with two goalies acquire via mid-season trades, Phil Myre and Glenn "Chico" Resch.  The gaggle of Rockies goalies finished the season with a 4.21 GAA, which wasn't even close to being the worst.  In fact, they were only the 5th worst.  Long live the 80s.
  Bonus question; Name the last team to have a team GAA of 4.21 or above.  Hint:  One of the players from that team scored his 1000th point last season.

Rk         Player Pos Age GP  W  L T/O  GA   GAA SO  MIN
1        Al  Smith   G  35 37  9 18   4 151  4.75  0 1909
2    Hardy  Astrom   G  29 30  6 15   6 103  3.76  0 1642
3       Phil  Myre   G  32 10  3  6   1  33  3.41  0  580
4    Jari  Kaarela   G  22  5  2  2   0  22  6.00  0  220
5     Glenn  Resch   G  32  8  2  4   2  28  3.74  0  449
       Team Total         80 22 45  13 337  4.21  0 4800

1981-82 OPC #80 Glen "Chico" Resch

 Poor Chico.  Chico had been splitting time with Billy Smith of the New York Islander since 1974.  He had finished in the top 10 in GAA in every season he qualified.  The Islanders, after years of coming up short, had finally won the Stanley Cup.  With the Islanders poised for another Cup run, life was good for Chico.  Then came March 10th, 1981.  Chico was traded to the Colorado Rockies.  His career stats before March 10, 1981, Chico was 157-69-47, 25 SO, 2.55 GAA and a .661 win percentage.  After March 10th, 1981, Chico was 74-155-35, 1 SO, 4.15 and a .357 win percentage.  Poor Chico.
  Although his OPC cards would get better after the trade.  For his seven cards with the Islander, zero had him with his mask on.  The 81-82 OPC is a bit of a painted monstrosity, but including it, four of his final six cards has him masked.  The 85-86 OPC is actually a really nice shot. 

Bonus Rockies

1981-82 OPC Hardy Astrom

   The man who got Don Cherry fired, or so says Don Cherry.  Dear Don, if he was the worst goalie you ever seen, why did you start him for 49 games in 1979-80?  Supposedly, Hardy Astrom is the root cause of Don Cherry tirades against Swedes.  Hardy had a single OPC card made of him.  It was from the 1980-81 set.

1981-82 OPC Phil Myre

   Like Chico, Phil Myre was an in-season acquisition.  In 1970-71, Myre had a winning record, 13-11-4 with the Montreal Canadiens.  He would not have a winning record in a single season until 1979-80, after being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers.  He would go 18-7-15.  Like Chico Resch, he was the back-up goalie for the game Bob Nystrom won the Stanley Cup for the New York Islanders in overtime of game six. While Resch celebrated, Myre lamented.  Less than a season, later, they would be creasemates in Colorado.  For OPC cards, Phil Myre is the picture boy for shit pictures.  He had eight OPC cards, and not a single card has him in his full equipment.
  He also had a really cool blog.  Unfortunately, he's not allowed to update anymore since he became a scout for the Montreal Canadiens. 

1981-82 OPC Al Smith

   The man who was getting the bulk of the starts before the Rockies made trades for Myre and Resch, was Al Smith.  Smith  played more games in the WHA than in the NHL, and had a lot more success in the rival league as well.  It was hard to find a decent picture of Al Smith with the Rockies.  He only played a single season with them.  Al Smith has some real lowlites when comes to OPC NHL cards.  He looks like a trainer in the 1971-72 set.  In the 1976-77 set, he just totally creeps me out.  Is that a mullet or a comb over?  Seriously, would you want your daughter bringing that home?

    Wings and Oilers are next in the Reboot.