Picture Time!

There is something fundamentally wrong with the picture to the left. I get that people love their pets and all that, but this type of portrait photograph is just disturbing. Luckily for you, HBIC is cleaning up his folder of hockey pictures again, and that means all the odds and ends will go on display today. Some of these pictures are old in terms of how long I've been hanging on to them, and others are simply old pictures. There are some pretty interesting aspects to each, though, and I'll point those out with a little blurb about each one.

I want to start with a shout-out to FOHBIC (Friend of HBIC) Brenda. Brenda has been in Vancouver this past week dealing with a family matter, and HBIC wants nothing more for her to return with a smile on her face. In order to help her obtain that smile, I happened across this unfortunate microphone placement in front of Vancouver's Roberto Luongo during an interview. I can hear the fans taunting him now. Looking forward to seeing you again, Brenda, and all the best on the left coast!

Moving on, another Vancouver team honoured some of its city's history when the WHL's Vancouver Giants wore jerseys representing the Vancouver White Spots on November 17, 2011. Except that very few people know who the White Spots were. So here's the story. In 1946-47, the White Spots played in a league called the Pacific Coast Junior Hockey League. The problem was that they only had two opponents that season, and the league folded after just one campaign. The team was named the White Spots after the legendary Vancouver White Spot restaurant chain, and was a clever advertising scheme thought up by team owner and White Spot restaurant owner, Nat Bailey. And that explains the one-season wonders known as the White Spots.

The OHL's Kitchener Rangers always have phenomenal uniforms, and this year's edition for Remembrance Day was no different. The captaincy designations on the right side are a nice touch as the players wore the poppy patches over their hearts - a fantastic tribute to the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for our freedoms. The Rangers always have classy uniforms when it comes to honouring the Canadian troops, and they looked top-notch in their 2011 Remembrance Day jerseys.

If you're not a fan of the numbers on helmets, there was a man who pioneered such a thing back in the late 1970s. Borje Salming was a very popular Leaf, but he wore numbers on the front of his helmet in either 1976-77 or 1977-78. How do I know this? The man wearing #23 is Randy Carlyle, and Carlyle only played two seasons for the Leafs. Much like we saw the Chicago Cougars wearing numbers on their chests as we see with a number of NHL teams today, it appears Salming was the pioneer for the front helmet number back in the '70s.

Speaking of Salming, here he is later in his career in battle with the Colorado Rockies. Does anyone miss the old colours of the NHL when almost no teams wore black? The Rockies looked fantastic, even if they did stink on the ice. Bring back the colour!

Not sure where or when this photo was taken, but this picture is definitely for the ladies. Derek Sanderson, most notably of the Bruins, is wearing an interesting hat and not much else. You can thank Life magazine for that one, ladies. Sideburns and all.

Remember when the Nintendo Entertainment System came out, and everyone was awed by how cool those little eight-bit sprites looked? Those players in Ice Hockey with the sticks that couldn't have a diagonal line in them because it took two straight lines on different planes? Yeah, you know what I mean. Well, apparently someone used the old NES to design the eight-bit Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins' 2011 Christmas jerseys. Horrible design, Penguins. You're on the cusp of 2012, not 1985.

Found a pretty interesting old photo of the Rangers' Lester Patrick giving his son, Lynn Patrick, some advice as a member of the New York Rangers. That photo is from December 4, 1934, and the Patricks were truly hockey's first family. I may have to spend a day mapping out the family tree of the Patricks because their achievements are quite astonishing.

I wrote about the St. Louis Eagles not long ago, and I was lucky enough to find a team picture of the 1934-35 St. Louis Eagles a few days back. A number of the players that were in my article are in the picture, leading me to believe that it was taken at the start of the season rather than the end of the season. If you look closely, though, there's a player two in from the right named Frank Finnegan. The reason he's interesting is that I found a contract for a D. Edward Finnegan from the St. Louis Eagles floating around in cyberspace, and thought it might have been his! It appears that Mr. Finnegan was paid $4000 for his efforts in 1934-35 - pretty decent money in the midst of the Great Depression!

So there are some photos to whet your appetite for some hockey awesomeness. Personally, I love me some hockey history, and the St. Louis Eagles are an interesting story now that I can add a team photo and a contract!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!