1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Forum

BLUES

Got a weird one here, lol. The team photo on the card was apparently taken before the Blues traded for Ab Demarco Jr. and then apparently when the Blues reproduced that (slightly different, taken seconds apart) team photo after the season, they somehow proto-photoshopped Demarco into the back row. Maybe the trade was already made on team photo day but Demarco hadn't arrived yet, so they had a rando stand in a jersey and planned on pasting his head.

FLYERS

What stands out about this card is that there are 12...TWELVE...non-players on it. Luckily, half of them already had PIDs. But you gotta love the hockey spirit of Including Everybody.

BRUINS

There was no printed list for the 1972-73 Bruins, so I pieced it together by using the year before and the year after, and by cross-referencing rosters and individual photos.

Not sure if I'll be able to complete the other four. Gonna search again for listed team photos, might also try this Bruins strategy of bookends. In the meantime, I'm gonna switch to the 1951 Topps baseball team cards, but first, actually, I'll be positive ID-ing the card with the most HOFers in one picture, as far as I can tell. An exciting landmark, stay tuned!

Wait there's one with more than the 14 on the Canadians card .

Not a team card for a single franchise, no. 😎

RED WINGS

I overlooked a listed '72-73 Red Wings team photo, so now I'm only down to three teams to do, the Kings, Flames, and Canucks. I might have the werewithal to grind those out today using the Bruins bookend method, just so that the set is complete.

p.s. Gordie Howe!

KINGS

With the combination of a crisper version of the team photo on the card, other listed team photos, and cross-referencing rosters and individual photos, I was able to manage the Kings. Not looking forward to the next two, especially the Canucks. Then again, the harder it is, the more it's like an expert Sudoku puzzle, which can be a fun challenge.

One thing I've noticed is how many goalies from that era are in the HOF, like Rogie Vachon. Seems like half the league's goalies.

Just spent several hours trying to identify 100% of the people on the Atlanta Flames card, ugh. Brutal. I couldn't, in the end, so I sent emails to a couple people who might be able to firsthand confirm who's who. I know few care, but to me once I'm this close to finishing the set, I want to get it finished. 

Heard back already from Manery, who appears to be an extremely helpful person in general, since I contacted him via his international charity.

"The gentleman seated between Boom and Cliff is Bill Putnam. Bill was not one of the original ownership "group". I believe he came as a consultant who stayed to lead the club for a year or two. The gentleman standing beside Billy MacMillan is Norm Mackie. Norm was the head trainer in Atlanta for several years in addition to stints in LA  and St Louis. The gentleman standing beside Norm was the assistant trainer. I'm pretty sure his first name was Fred but I cannot remember his last name. Bobby Stewart would take Fred's position and work with Norm until the team moved to Calgary and Bobby became the head trainer in Calgary. Hope this helps."

So, if I can't identify that one assistant trainer, then I'll just update the card without a link to him, and I'll note that he remains unidentified in the list I always post in the comments section.

FLAMES

Luckily, I found a slightly clearer version of that team photo, otherwise it would've been totally impossible to identify all the players.

I can't even begin to show you the work for this one. It was several hours of painstakingly inspecting rosters, faces, hairstyles, partial uniform numbers, heights, archived news articles, and in the end the real MVP (Most Valuable Positive-Identifier) turned out to be Randy Manery, the third guy from the right in the front row. Still missing one assistant trainer, sadly, "Fred", the guy on the farthest left in the back row, maybe someday we'll find out Fred's last name.