Month of Mail - February 2024

The month of February, 2024 was a fantastic month for my NHL officials collection and my Women's of hockey collection. I also found 4 more NHL player signatures, raising the grand total of unique signatures to 7,559 for 93% of everyone to play in the NHL.

                         Dick Bittner (d. 2002)

Goalie Richard "Dick" Bittner played 1 game in the NHL with the 1949-50 Boston Bruins. He's also notable for representing USA at the 1949 World Championships. 

                         Alex Ritson (d. 2008)

Alex Ritson played 1 game in the NHL with the 1944-45 New York Rangers.

                        Tony Savage (d. 1974)

Gordon "Tony" Savage spent one season in the NHL and played with both the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. Between the two clubs, he played 49 games. The defenseman started the year in Montreal, was traded to Boston but then after only 8 games with the Bruins, was traded back to Montreal and finished the season a Canadien.

                   Colin Chisholm

Colin Chisholm played 1 game in the NHL with the 1986-87 Minnesota North Stars.

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                      Dave Nonis

Dave Nonis was General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks from 2004 to 2008 and GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2013 to 2015. This one goes with my collection of NHL coaches & managers who never played in the league. Nonis was one of the most notable recent GMs I was missing so it was great to finally get a reply from him after years of trying. 

                       Bob Myers

Myers spent 22 years in the NHL and worked well over 1,000 games. He officiated the 1980 Stanley Cup finals.

                          Tim Peel

Peel worked over 1,300 games in the NHL and also worked the 2014 Olympics.

                    Ian Sandercock

Ian Sandercock worked in the NHL during the 1980s.

                   Stephane Auger

Stephane Auger spent 15 years as an NHL referee.

                   Mark Faucette

Mark Faucette started officiating in the NHL in the mid 1980s and worked over 900 games in the league.

                      Craig Spada

Craig Spada refereed 247 games in the NHL over his career.

                      Jake Brenk

Jake Brenk was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 2001 and played some pro hockey but never made it to the NHL as a player. In 2015, Brenk made it to the big leagues as a referee.

                    Paul Flaherty

Paul Flaherty worked as an NHL official during the 1970s and 1980s. He later worked as a video replay official at Boston Bruins games.

                      Brian Sopp

Brian Sopp was an NHL linesman during the 1965-66 season. He left the NHL to return to studies and graduated from Harvard.

                     Kyle Rehman

Kyle Rehman has been an NHL referee since 2008.

                   Andy McElman

From 1993 to 2016 Andy McElman worked 1500 NHL games.

With this new small lot of Canadian women hockey legend autographs, I'm only a couple of signatures away from having all women to represent Canada at the Olympics in hockey.

                  Laura Schuler

Laura Schuler played on Canada's inaugural 1990 World Championship team and was a key member of the National team throughout the decade. She brought home a silver from the 1998 Olympics.

                     Nancy Drolet

Nancy Drolet was a long time member of Canada's national team. She won Gold at the 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001 World Championships. She also won Silver at the 1998 Olympics.

                 Karen Nystrom

Karen Nystrom was a member of Canada's 1998 Olympic team. She was also on Canada's 1992, 1994 and 1997 World Championship Gold medal winning teams. 

                    Judy Diduck

Judy Diduck helped Canada win Gold at the 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1997 World Championships. She was a member of Canada's 1998 silver medal winning Olympic team. She was also a star ringette player. Her brother, Gerald, played in the NHL.

                     Kelly O'Leary

Kelly O'Leary represented US at the World Championships in 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1997.

                        Kelly Dyer

Kelly Dyer was easily one of the best female netminders of the early 1990s. She was a staple on the US National team and is one of only a handful of women to play professional men's hockey.

                       Eve Gascon

Eve Gascon is one of only 3 women to play in the QMJHL. She now plays college hockey in Minnesota.

                      Erica Howe

Erica Howe currently plays for PWHL Toronto. She has represented Canada internationally at the 2008 U18 World Championships and the 2016 World Championships.