1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Pat Stapleton #249 NHL All Star Chicago Black Hawks

Description

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Pat Stapleton #249 NHL All Star Chicago Black Hawks The man who caught the final puck of the 1972 Summit Series gets his own All-Star tribute on this 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Pat Stapleton #249 NHL All Star Chicago Black Hawks card. Part of the O-Pee-Chee exclusive All-Star subset in the high number series, this card was never issued by Topps and features a different design from the regular player cards, with a sky blue background, black vertical 1971-72 NHL ALL STAR lettering, a yellow nameplate, and a white star in the lower right reading 2nd Team Defense. Stapleton is pictured in the iconic red Chicago Black Hawks jersey with the Indian head crest, holding his stick and gazing calmly toward the camera. Pat Stapleton, born in Sarnia, Ontario, was a compact and highly skilled offensive defenseman who was named a Second Team All-Star three times, in 1966, 1971, and 1972. He set a Chicago record with 50 assists by a defenseman in 1968-69, anchored the Black Hawks blue line alongside Bill White through two trips to the Stanley Cup Final, and represented Canada in the 1972 Summit Series. He famously scooped up the puck after Paul Henderson's series winning goal in Moscow and kept its whereabouts a playful mystery for decades. He later jumped to the WHA where he won the Dennis A. Murphy Trophy as the league's top defenseman and served as a player coach. The reverse is the Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, printed in Canada with the heading NHL All-Stars and Etoiles de la LNH, presenting his All-Star Game statistics from 1966-67 through 1971-72 with column headers in both English and French, along with a cartoon of a star studded hockey player. The front shows bright blue color and clean gloss with no creases or wrinkles, though a faint light surface line is visible across the lower jersey area that appears to be a print or handling mark rather than a crease. Centering is slightly shifted to the left and marginally low. The corners show light softening on all four with the lower right showing the most wear. The edges are clean with trace fuzzing and no meaningful chipping. The back shows even toning with clean printing, no writing, and no staining. Taking the surface line into account along with the corner wear, a conservative raw grade of VG-EX 4 is prudent, with EX 5 possible if the line is judged to be purely cosmetic. A great card for Summit Series collectors and Black Hawks fans. Ships in a protective sleeve and rigid top loader from Alex Collect. Grade Estimate: VG-EX 4