Saturday, April 1, 2023

Month of Mail - March 2023

I was able to add a dozen new NHL player autographs this past month. The grand total of unique NHL player signatures in the collection is exactly 7,331 for 91% of everyone to ever play in the league since it was founded in 1917. 


                           George Hay (d. 1975)
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958, George Hay scored the first goal in the Chicago Blackhawks history. He was a star NHL player during the 1920s. 

                            Herbie Lewis (d. 1991)
From 1928 to 1939 Herbie Lewis played nearly 500 games in the NHL, all with Detroit. He was a member of the Detroit Cougars, Detroit Falcons and Detroit Red Wings NHL teams. Lewis was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989. He helped Detroit win the Stanley Cup in 1936 and 1937. He was captain of the 1933-34 Red Wings.

                            John Sorrell (d. 1984)
From 1930 to 1941 John Sorrell played just under 500 regular season NHL games between the Detroit Falcons/Red Wings and New York Americans. He won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1936 and 1937.

                          Art Wiebe (d. 1971)
From 1932 to 1944 Art Wiebe played over 400 games in the NHL, all with the Chicago Blackhawks. The defenseman helped Chicago win the Stanley Cup in 1938.

                        Gus Marker (d. 1997)
From 1932 to 1942 Gus Marker played 336 NHL games between the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Maroons, Toronto Maple Leafs and Brooklyn Americans. He helped the Maroons win the Stanley Cup in 1935.

                        Reg Hamilton (d. 1991)
From 1935 to 1947 Reg Hamilton played well over 400 games in the NHL between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks. The defenseman helped Toronto win the Stanley Cup in 1942 and 1945.

                       George Redding (d. 1974)
From 1924 to 1926 George Redding played 35 games in the NHL with the Boston Bruins, scoring 3 goals and 5 points. He's also notable for dressing as the Bruins goalie for one game, 10 minutes total,  in an emergency situation during the 1924-25 season. 

                       Eddie Burke (d. 1993)
From 1931 to 1935 Eddie Burke played 106 games in the NHL between the Boston Bruins and New York Americans. He was the Americans leading goal and point scorer of the 1933-34 season with 20 goals and 30 points in 46 games.

             Leighton "Hap" Emms (d. 1988)
From 1926 to 1938 Hap Emms played 320 games in the NHL. He was a member of the Montreal Maroons, New York Americans, Detroit Falcons/Red Wings and Boston Bruins. He later had a long career coaching and managing in hockey, including a stint as GM of the Boston Bruins from 1965 to 1967.

                      Gerry McNamara
Goalie Gerry McNamara played 5 games with the 1960-61 Toronto Maple Leafs and another 2 games nearly a decade later with the 1969-70 Maple Leafs. He's best known for his time as General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, a position he held from 1981 to 1988.

                  Charles "Dinny" Dinsmore (d. 1982)
From 1924 to 1930 Dinny Dinsmore played 100 games in the NHL with the Montreal Maroons. He won the Stanley Cup in 1926 with the Maroons. He was also a strong football player who played for the Toronto Argonauts.

                            Mark Botell
Mark Botell played 1 season in the NHL. The defenseman recorded 14 points in 32 career NHL games with the 1981-82 Philadelphia Flyers. I found a cheap partial team signed 1981-82 Flyers team signed pennant with this nice Botell signature.


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The following autographs go in my collection of NHL managers and coaches who never played in the league. 

                      Frank J. Selke (d. 1985)
A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Frank Selke has his name on the Stanley Cup 9 times. He was General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens from 1946 to 1964. Just last month I had added an autograph of his son, Frank Selke Jr, who also became an NHL GM.

                    Pierre Gauthier
Pierre Gauthier was General Manager of 3 different NHL teams. From 1995 to 1998 he was GM of the Ottawa Senators, from 1998 to 2002 he was GM of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and from 2010 to 2012 he was GM of the Montreal Canadiens. He later worked as Director of Player Personnel with the Chicago Blackhawks, getting his name on the Stanley Cup in 2013 and 2015.

                       Pat Kelly
Pat Kelly played pro hockey for over a decade, never making it to the NHL and spending most of that time in the EHL with the Greensboro Generals and Clinton Comets. He later turned to coaching and in 1976 he became head coach of the WHA's Birmingham Bulls. In 1977 he was hired to be head coach of the NHL's Colorado Rockies. Kelly spent less than 2 years as a head coach in the NHL but did manage to take the Rockies to the playoffs for the first and only time in franchise history.

                  Spencer Carbery
Spencer Carbery played professionally in the ECHL until retiring in 2010. He quickly turned to coaching and started moving up the ranks, from ECHL to AHL and finally to the NHL. In 2021, he was hired as an assistant coach by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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