Hockey History As Told By Cardboard - Steve Christoff

Steve Christoff was a superstar growing up in Richfield, Minnesota.  As a member of the Richfield High School hockey team, he was MVP two years in a row, selected All-State First Team, and US High School All American. Going on to play at Minnesota for the Gophers, he led the team in scoring multiple years and helped them to their 3rd NCAA title.

In the NHL, he set the rookie record for playoff scoring with 8 goals for the Minnesota North Stars. But on this day in 1980, Steve scored the game tying goal in the second period, stealing the puck from the defender and backhanding a shot past Finnish goaltender Jorma Valtonen.  He was also credited with an assist on the game-winning goal to seal the gold medal for Team USA.

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USA!! USA!! USA!!

Well it's now official.  The US Men's Hockey Team roster was set at the conclusion of the Winter Classic yesterday in Michigan.  I have a few comments about some of the guys here and I kind of took offense at some of the missing names but other than that, I think this is one of the best possible lineups the selection committee could have assembled.  Barring a disaster of injuries and the like, I think Team USA will be able to stand skate-to-skate with any of the teams on the Olympics.

Let's first look at the forwards:

Ryan Kesler, Patrick Kane, Dustin Brown

Zach Parise, David Backes, Phil Kessel

Paul Stastny, Ryan Callahan, Joe Pavelski

TJ Oshie, Blake Wheeler, Max Pacioretty

Derek Stepan & James van Riemsdyk

Ok.  First and foremost in all the picks for Team USA, there are big injury concerns.  I think over half the roster has dealt with or is still dealing with an injury from this year (I think Parise is still on IR?).  I won't go into all the injuries but just check the NHL injury report and you will see.

The first eight guys on this list get a pass.  They all have proven themselves, they have all shown they are more than capable at competing in International play, and they are all top US players that would probably make it to most Top 10 lists.  They are also all returning from the 2010 Vancouver team which, as we all remember, got beat by Sidney Crosby.

With that being said, I don't think the same thing can be said for the last five guys.  Blake Wheeler?  Really?  I guess I can see Oshie because of his skating ability and size as well as special teams play.  I can even see van Riemsdyk, considering his resurgence this year playing alongside Phil Kessel.  But Pacioretty?  Over Bobby Ryan?  Derek Stepan?  Over Bobby Ryan?

What happened to Bobby Ryan? How do you put together an Olympic team without Bobby Ryan on it?  I don't know.  This was my biggest gripe with the forwards.  I don't get that at all.  UPDATE 1/3/14:  And apparently I'm not the only one.

Now the D-men:

Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan Suter, Ryan McDonagh

Cam Fowler, Justin Faulk, John Carlson

Brooks Orpik & Paul Martin

This collection of guys intrigues me.  The first four on the list are basically lock picks based on what we already know they can do.  I think the addition of Brooksie and Pauly, while solid, may not have been the best choices.  With Orpiks injury this year and Martin coming off a few himself, I'm not sure I want to see two pivotal Pens in extremely intense competitive play that doesn't go toward an NHL Playoff run.  Orpik probably got a pass because of his inclusion on the team in 2010.

What I can't understand here is why Keith Yandle or Jack Johnson weren't picked and can only speculated it was due to this season's play of Carlson and Faulk.  But I would take Yandle over Carlson any day of the week.  So what if the ice is bigger.  The recent memories of the committee members seem to be helping the bulk of the newcomers see their first Olympic ice-time in Sochi.

And finally, the goalies:

Jonathan Quick, Ryan Miller, & Jimmy Howard

I think these guys are mostly easy picks to make.  Ben Bishop got dumped because they thought he didn't have the experience in international play and weren't sure he would be solid, obviously ignoring his play for Tampa as of late.  Cory Schneider was a consideration too apparently but the committee obviously thought Howard gave them a better chance at winning if he was called upon.  I don't know if I agree with that necessarily since he hasn't been his stellar self this year for Detroit and he has dealt with injuries.  But, I really can't argue with the top two guys here.  For my buck, Miller is #1 with Quick right behind him.

What about the readers out there?  Any comments about any of these guys being included, not included, etc?  I'd also like to hear a few opinions from our rival team fans to the north.  I'm sure there are many.

Autographs From The National - An Olympic Hockey Hero

I had mentioned before that I was able to get another autograph at the National show a few weekends ago.  That auto came via a redemption of sorts with the fine folks at In The Game.

For their redemption program, if you busted a "Special National" version box of ITG: Decades 80s at their booth, you would receive the box loaded multi-player, multi-GU card featuring current, former, and future Blackhawks and an additional 1/1 Show Stamped card based on some numbering system on the boxes (which I will show in a future post).  In addition, you were entitled to an autograph ticket for former Olympic Team USA and "Miracle On Ice" team member, Mark Wells.

Wells played collegiately as a forward for Bowling Green back in the late 70s before joining Team USA after college.  For those of you that didn't know, I am a graduate of Ball State University, fellow MAC conference and rival school for BG.  More on that later. 

Mark was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in his sophomore year of college and eventually made the team in Nova Scotia.  He put his NHL career on hold so that he could take part in the Olympics which basically doomed his future career.  Montreal sold his rights to Detroit, his "hometown" team however he wanted to stay a Canadien.  He never quite made it to the NHL roster however and was signed by the Rangers after the 1980 season. He toiled around the minor leagues, playing with New Haven, Flint, Fort Wayne, and also Oklahoma City.  Unfortunately, Wells never was able to crack the roster of any NHL team and retired in 1982 without playing in a single NHL game.  A pretty sad ending to a career with tons of promise and a Gold medal to boot.  I would encourage anyone interested to look up his story.  If you can find it, it's very sad testament to the fragile nature of life and how easily things can be taken from us.  But, I want to stay positive here so, moving on...

With autograph ticket in hand, we made our way back to the ITG booth at the appropriate time.  Much to my surprise, there was anything but a line waiting for Mr. Wells to sign.  I didn't have anything for him to autograph as my intentions were not to bother with the in person autographs in the first place.  There were dealers with 8x10s and various other memorabilia, I just had no intentions of looking.  ITG was very kind to provided a large scale "blow up" of their regular issue autograph cards for Mark to sign for anyone without an item. 

As I approached the table, I quickly remembered he was a Bowling Green guy and I just so happened to be wearing one of my Ball State Football shirts.  One glance was all it took, "Ball State football, huh?", he said.  I said, "Yes, sir.  And I know you were a Falcon."  He proceeded to ask if I had played football to which I responded with laughter and asked him if "fantasy" counted.  We struck up a conversation about watching small conference schools and the competition level between MAC teams vs. bigger conferences.  He had asked about whether BSU had a hockey team yet or not.  Back when I was a student, an intramural-type team was formed but I was unaware of an actual NCAA sanctioned team.  He said that was a shame because more schools need to get programs going, to which I agreed.  As I didn't want to take up more of his time, I thanked him for signing and stepped aside so that my collecting pal, Sal could get his 400 cards and photos signed (slight exaggeration; he only had 240). 

I heard after talking to some folks at the show that Mark has had some health problems over the years due to a back condition that he has had multiple surgeries for.  Mounting financial/medical issues led him to do what most could not and that was sell his medal.  Last year it was consigned to Heritage Auctions and sold for over $300,000.  Unfortunately, that was the second sale, captained by a private collector that had bought it from Mark some eight/nine years ago when he was in dire straits.  Mark had only received a mere fraction of what it was purchased for from auction, something like less than 15% of that auction value.  I will say this though...Judging by his spirits and attitude at the show, I couldn't tell that he was probably in some serious pain having to sit in one spot for hours on end, especially on those metal folding chairs.

What a great experience for me though, even if it was only short lived.  I now have an Olympic gold medalist's autograph and a member of the symbolic team of heros better known as the Miracle On Ice.  I was definitely too young to remember when that all went down but I have seen the video, watched the documentaries, heard the commentary, and even saw the movies (both the 1981 Steve Guttenberg version and the Disney remake with Kurt Russel).  Even still, despite knowing the outcome already, the story gives me goosebumps every time, not only because of the excitement of the sport itself, but of the cultural impact the event had and still has to this day.  Mark Wells was a part of that little "miracle" and even though he may no longer have the reward for the hard work and effort, no one can ever take away the memories and experience he has with being an Olympic champion.  No amount of money can ever buy that.