TTM Success: Jack Lynch

  Jack Lynch spent his career on some fairly bad teams, but no team rivals the 1974-75 Washington Capitals.  Traded midseason from the Detroit Red Wings to the Capitals, Lynch would play 20 games for Washington in 1974-75, scoring six points and registering a minus 52.  Based on his 20 games with the Caps, Lynch would have been on pace for -216 if he had played the entire season with the team.  The following season was a better one for Jack and the Caps.  The Caps won 11 games, up from eight the previous season and Lynch improved to a -52.  Unfortunately for Jack, his career ended due to injuries in 1979 before the Capitals started to be a competitive team.  He added a post-it note on the card on the right, pointing out that the player on the card is not him, but teammate Bill Collins.  Jack currently works for Ontario Tourism.

TTM Success: Brad Fast

  Back in July, I did a post on Brad Fast and it included a Question and Answer with Mr. Fast.  To Summarize, Brad Fast is one of three NHL players who have scored one career goal in one career game.  His goal was also the last ever game-tying goal in the history of the NHL.  Last month, I finally got the cards and stamps together to send him a TTM request.  Perhaps even better than the autographs, which look mighty sharp, is the note he included.  It's strange.  I believe he did me the big favour by answering the questions.  His note almost makes it seem like I did him the favour by asking the questions.  It's great with a win-win occurs.  I am really happy that Mr. Fast enjoyed it.  I love doing TTM since it brings me closer to the game and players.  Thank you, Mr. Fast.

TTM: Steve Penney

 In 1983-84, the Montreal Canadiens posted their first losing season since the 1950-51.  In the first round of the play-offs, their opponent were their rivals, the Boston Bruins, a team that finished 29 points higher than the Canadiens in the regular season.  The first surprise was that the Habs starting goalie would be rookie Steve Penney, a goalie who lost all 4 games he played in his career.  The second surprise, was that Penney led the Canadiens all the way to Wales Conference final, before losing to the New York Islander.  Penney, who led all goalis in GAA and shutouts in the playoffs, was being compared to another rookie netminder who come out of nowhere to carry the Canadiens in the play-offs, Ken Dryden.  Penney played solid in 1984-85, with the Canadiens bowing out of the play-offs, after losing a thrilling overtime game 7 against provincial rivals, Quebec Nordiques.  1985-86 mark a turning point in Penny's career.  It was a season marred by injuries, poor play and the emergence of rookie Patrick Roy.  Although the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1986, Penney didn't play enough games to get his name engraved on it.  The team did give him a ring.  In the off-season, Penney would be traded to the Winnipeg Jets, playing 15 more career games before retiring at age 27. 
   Burdened with expectations of being the next Ken Dryden and nagging injuries, Steve Penney, who was born in Quebec, never lived up to the hype his 1984 play-off performance created.  Mr. Penney signed and returned my card, all 3 copies of the picture, he never kept any as offered, and also included a signed Molson Ex card.  Thank you, Mr. Penney

TTM: Gaston Gingras

   Gaston Gingras had already played a season of professional hockey when he was selected by the Montreal Canadiens with the 27th overall pick in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.  Gingras, previously undrafted, had played one season with the Birmingham Bulls of the WHA.  Gingras would play 3 1/2 seasons with the Habs before a midseason trade sent him to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1982-83 season.  In what must have been the low-point in his hockey career, Gingras was sent to the AHL in 1984-85, where he spent the rest of the season.  During that low point, the best thing in his career happened, he was traded back to the Montreal Canadiens.  He would help thier AHL team, the Sherbrooke Canadiens, win the AHL's Calder Cup.  He finished the following season Montreal and helped them win the 1986 Stanley Cup.  Gingras would finish his career as a St. Louis Blues in 1989 before spending four seasons playing in Europe.  Gingras is still active coaching and teaching hockey at the youth level.  He has also made several trips to Nunavik to help teach hockey skills to Inuit youth.
  I had sent Mr. Gingras two cards to be signed.  Gingras did not have a card made of him during his second tenure with the Canadiens.  One of the cards I sent was a custom 1986-87 OPC of himself.  He kept the extra copy, as offered, and then also added another card and a over-sized card.  Great return from a member of the 1980s All-Star Moustache team.

TTM: Garry Unger

The Iron Man, Garry Unger, is best known for having the second longest consecutive game streak in the NHL. Garry played in 914 straight games from 1968 to 1979.  Mr. Unger started out as a top prospect for the Toronto Maple Leafs.  After a slow start to his NHL career, 2 pts in 15 games, Unger was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in a blockbuster deal, which involved HHOF Norm Ullman, and Frank Mahovlich and legends Carl Brewer and Paul Henderson.  In Detroit, Unger was put on a line with his boyhood idol, Gordie Howe.  In the 13 games after the trade, Unger had 15pts.

Expectation were high in the following season, 1968-69, but Unger struggled to meet them, scoring 44 points in 76 games.  The following season, Unger bounced back, as he focused more on shooting than passing.  He finished 2nd in the NHL with 42 goals.  For the 1970-71 season, the Red Wings had lured legendary NCAA coach, Ned Harkness to take over.  Harkness was a strict task master, whose demands included players having short hair.  The "Darkness with Harkness" era had begun.  Harkness and Unger butted heads throughout the season.  Unger was known for his blonde hair, flashy cars, flashy clothes and flashy women, he was dating Miss. America, 1969.  The Red Wings, occasionally known as the Dead Wings, struggled to a 12-22-4 record and Harkness was removed as coach, only to be promoted to General Manager.  Within a month, Unger was traded to the St. Louis Blues.

Unger would represent the St. Louis Blues in seven straight all-star games and score 30+ goals in each full season in St. Louis.  He would finish his career with stops in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Edmonton.  The once flashy playboy found religion near the end of playing days.  Unger tributes his consecutive game streak to his sister, who had polio.  “Back then it was difficult for me to complain about a sore ankle or leg when I knew that in two weeks it was going to fine, yet my sister was never going to be able to walk again,”

   Mr. Unger currently works at the Banff Hockey Academy.  He signed both cards I sent him, and also added a signed business card, two signed 8x10s and a Tim Horton 8x10.  I am not sure why he sent the Tim Horton picture.  Unger and Horton were teammates briefly in Toronto.  My guess is that he wants to remind people that Tim Horton was a hockey player, and not just a donut shop.  I really appreciate Mr. Unger's generosity.  I will be hanging the signed Blues picture on my wall.  Thank you Mr. Unger.

TTM: Rejean Houle

  1969 was the last NHL draft in which the Montreal Canadiens had the option of making two "cultural selections" at the start of the 1st round, in lieu of their 1st and 2nd round picks.  Montreal effectively traded-in the 8th and 20th overall picks for the 1st and 2nd overall picks, as long as they selected two french-Canadians with those picks. The Canadiens excerised that option and used the 1st overall pick to select Rejean Houle.  Houle played 635 career NHL games and won five Stanley Cups, all with Montreal.  His role on the Canadiens was a checking forward.  In the middle of his career, he spent 3 years in the WHA playing an offensive role.  In 1975-96, Houle scored 51 goals and 103 points for the Quebec Nordiques.

  While Rejean Houle had a successful playing career, younger generations of fans know him best for being the man who traded Patrick Roy.  He was the GM of the Canadiens from 1995 to 2000.  Houle is still involved with the Montreal Canadiens as an ambassador.  He signed 2 of 2 and added a picture and card.  Request was sent to the Montreal Canadiens Alumni.

TTM: Claude Loiselle

Claude Loiselle played 616 games over 13 seasons.  He played on two of the more surprising underdogs stories of the NHL play-offs during his career, the 1988 New jersey Devils and the 1993 New York Islanders.  Loiselle was a  fringe player with the Detroit Red Wings, starting in 1981, until the 1985-86 season when he had a career high of 14 fighting majors and 2.96 PIM per game.  Mr. Loiselle signed 4 cards for me, including an extra Pro Set which I had offered for him to keep.  He then added a 4x6 signed picture.  Unfortunately, he had to fold it in half to fit it in the SASE I sent.  Even  though bent, I was very happy to receive the extra picture.  I sent the request to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where Loiselle works as an assistant general manager.  

TTM: Patrice Brisebois

  Patrice Brisebois played 1009 NHL games over an 18 year career, 16 of those years spent with the Montreal Canadiens, including a Stanley Cup in 1993.  In the early 2000s, Brisebois became the favourite whipping boy of Canadiens fans.  A situation that came to a head in 2003, when new GM, Bob Gainey spoke out about the booing calling the fans "a bunch of gutless bastards".  In 2005, Brisebois signed with the Colorado Avlanche for two seasons before returning to the Canadiens in 2007 for two seasons.  After retiring, Brisebois, has spoken about the tough years in Montreal and the bouts of depression brought on by those years.  Mr. Brisebois signed both of my cards and then added a card and a picture.  My request was sent to the Montreal Canadiens Hall of Fame.

TTM : Howie Meeker

Howie Meeker is a legend of hockey.  Meeker won four Stanley Cups, and a Calder Trophy, in 8 years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, before being forced to retire due to a back injury.  His contributions to the game of hockey are much greater than his NHL playing career.  He revolutionized the role of the color commentator by providing more in-depth analysis and the use of the telestrator.   Meeker also gained popularity by providing honest commentary and calling it how he saw it.  Meeker has been very opinionated about the (lack of) hockey skills being taught to kids and hosted his own segment on Hockey Night in Canada called  Howie Meeker's Hockey School during the mid-1970s.  Howie was inducted to the HHOF in 1998.   Mr Meeker signed my card and added two pictures.  On the Parkhurst card, Howie first signed in black but then started going over it in blue.  A great return from a true legend of hockey.

TTM: Gilles Gratton

Gilles Gratton is known more for his off ice personality than what he did on the ice.  "Gratoony the Loony" once refused to play since the moon was not lined up with Jupiter.  He was also known to growl at opposing players and to hang around the rink in the buff.  What he'll be best remember for is his hockey mask.  Often voted as one of the top hockey masks of all-time, his tiger mask has been attributed helping turning goalie masks from just a piece of equipment, into a work of art.

I sent Mr. Gratton a card and 2 copies of a picture.  He kept a copy of the picture as offered and sent back a signed picture and 2 cards.  He added the New York Rangers card.  He also sent a letter back answering my questions.  Mr. Gratton does not have the Tiger mask.  He left it at the arena when he retired.  It is currently in the HHOF. He has asked for the mask but the HHOF won't release it.  It really is an awesome mask.

  Check out the interview The Score did with Gilles Gratton.  It's funny that the two pictures I used to make my picture to TTM, are both featured in the video.  I guess The Score uses the same search engines as me.

TTM: Jamie McLennan

Jamie McLennan played 254 NHL games over 11 NHL season.  He was a career back-up goalie who had his best season with St. Louis.  In 82 games with the Blues, McLennan was 38-27-8, with a 2.20 GAA.  McLennan is an analyst on TSN, the NHL Network, NHL radio and writes for The Hockey News.  I sent the cards to The Hockey News.  I sent him 2 cards to be signed; he returned 6 signed cards.  Perhaps it was because I forgave him for playing on the NY Rangers.

TTM: Frank Udvari

Frank Udvari was an NHL referee from 1951 to 1966.  In 1966, he became the supervisor of Officials and was inducted into the HHOF in 1973.  Udvari was the referee during the 1955 game when Rocket Richard went postal and was subsequently suspended for the playoffs, inciting the Richard Riots.   Mr. Udvari signed my card and picture.  On top of that he sent a signed 8x10 picture of his HHOF display and a signed biography sheet from the legends of hockey.net.  He paid for the larger envelope and postage.   A generous return from a HHOFer.

TTM: Jim Peplinski

Jim Peplinski played 711 games with the Calgary Flames.  He won a Stanley Cup in 1989 and took time off in 1988 to play for Team Canada at the Olympics in Calgary.  He retired in 1990.  He re-retired in 1995 after a six game comeback attempt.  Mr. Peplinski has found success after hockey, running several car dealerships and also being a co-chair for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.  I sent Mr. Peplinski one card.  He returned the signed card, a signed 3.5 x 5 card and his business card.

TTM: Don Cherry

  Don Cherry has been involved with hockey for the past 60 years.  From player to coach to analyst.  Although some would agrue he's more of a loudmouth ass than an analyst.  Love him or hate him, no one can argue about his passion for the game of hockey, or the passion he has for his country or fans.
  On October 18th I sent Mr. Cherry one card and a picture, an 88-89 OPC Tribute.  I also included an extra of the picture for him to keep, which he did.  One December 12th, I received my 2 items plus an additional 2 items.  No Hockey TTM collection is complete without a Don Cherry autograph.  Thanks Don.

TTM Success: Dean Sylvester

  Great return from Dean Sylvester.  I was organizing some of my cards when I came across the Victory card on the end.  I remember having him on a fantasy hockey team and I wondered what ever happened to him.  So I figured I should see if I can get the card signed.  After going through a few pages of google search results I found what appeared to be a good address.  I wrote a letter and I got the cards in the mail today.  This is my best return so far and what makes it the best is that he added two cards and he also responded to my letter with one of his own.  He answered a question I had, (a back injury forced his early retirement), and commented on some of what I wrote.  

  I am far more excited about this return than any of the others I have gotten back so far.  So excited I am going to try to get his SPA rookie.

  Did you know Dean Sylvester scored the 1st ever hat trick in Atlanta Thrasher history?