A small mail post in comparison to my last few. I was still able to acquire 13 more unique NHLers autographs and a couple other hockey autographs of non NHL players. I'm still awaiting a big package of lower end autographs so next mail post should have a little more meat on it.
Nolan Schaefer and Tony Hrkac
Younger brother of former NHLer Peter, Nolan Schaefer
appeared in 7 games for the 05/06 San Jose Sharks. He did very well in his short NHL career, posting 5 wins and
a 1.87 GAA.
Tony Hrkac won the 1987 Hobey Baker Award and then went on
to play a dozen seasons in the NHL.
He won the Stanley Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars.
Ryan Bayda and Brett Festerling
Between 2002 and 2009 Ryan Bayda played nearly 200 NHL games
for the Carolina Hurricanes. In
that span the only season he did not play any games was the Hurricane’s Cup
winning 2005/06 campaign.
Brett Festerling has played 84 games for the Anaheim Ducks
starting in 08/09. He most
recently played for the Winnipeg Jets.
Jame Pollock and Jason Jaspers
Defenseman Jame Pollock suited up for 9 games with the 03/04
St. Louis Blues.
Between 2002 and 2004 Jason Jaspers saw 9 games of NHL
action with the Phoenix Coyotes.
Gene Ubriaco and Jim Hay
Gene Ubriaco was one of numerous players whose NHL career
was started by the 1967 NHL expansion.
He was an original Pittsburgh Penguin and also saw time with the Chicago
Blackhawks and Okland Seals. After
retiring having played just under 200 games Ubriaco returned to the NHL as a
head coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Between 1952 and 1955 Jim Hay played 74 games for the
Detroit Red Wings.
Mike Moller and Tom Thurlby
Mike Moller scored the game winning goal for team Canada
that gave them the 1982 World Juniors gold medal. After that he played well over 100 NHL games between the
Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers.
He played 6 regular season games and scored 2 goals for the Stanley Cup
winning 1987 Oilers team, not enough to get his name on the trophy.
Tom Thurlby played 1 NHL season, 20 games for the inaugural
1967/68 Oakland Seals.
Mike McHugh and Yves Heroux
Mike McHugh played a handful of games for the Minnesota
North Stars before he played 8 games for the inaugural 1991/92 San Jose
Sharks.
Yves Heroux played 1 NHL game and it came with the 1986/87
Quebec Nordiques.
Tony Joseph
A couple posts ago I mentioned how I had sent the wrong info
to David Steckle, well this is the other part of the mixup. Luckily for me both players actually
sent me back an autograph. Tony
Joseph, who played 2 games for the 88/89 Winnipeg Jets, signed a blank index
for me so I made up a custom index
to match the others.
To end this post a goalie and a coach who go in my "other" binder of hockey autographs,
Kevin Nastiuk
Kevin Nastiuk has a ridiculous amount of NHL rookie cards
considering he never actually appeared in a game. The closest he got to the NHL was serving as the Carolina
Hurricanes backup goalie.
Claude Ruel
Claude Ruel had two stints as head coach of the Montreal
Canadiens. He was bench boss when
they captured the 1969 Stanley Cup and has his name on the trophy a half dozen
more times as Habs director of player development. He started to sign his name on the bottom and then scratched it out for some reason and signed his full name above.
