Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction February 2018
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/27/2018
In 1972 founders of a company named Hockey Diversified Inc. envisioned that each puck shot into the net to produce an official goal scored in an NHL hockey game would develop a degree of intrinsic collector value for hockey fans everywhere. The founders took this idea to the NHL and procured the rights to all such NHL pucks during regular season and playoff games for a period of five years. Pucks shot into the net for a goal were collected by the referees, given to the time keepers to label and then shipped to Hockey Diversified to further label with scoring details. The pucks were then marketed to the public by Hockey Diversified Inc. Unfortunately this idea was ahead of its time and pucks sold poorly. The program lasted only two seasons, 1972-1973 and 1973-74. Hockey Diversified Inc. dissolved shortly thereafter. Classic Auctions is honored to have been chosen by an original founder of Hockey Diversified to sell, at upcoming auctions, residual, unsold pucks from that “NHL Registered Goal Puck” collection.
Each puck originally distributed by Hockey Diversified could be obtained by mail with the buyer’s choice of team and possibly player. A label was affixed to each puck listing the scorer, team and date, along with a code that divulged which team-goal said puck accounted for. This particular puck was used by iron man Garry Unger to score the St. Louis Blues 77th goal of the season against the Buffalo Sabres at St Louis Arena, on December 16, 1972. Assisted by Brent Hughes and Mike Murphy, it was Unger’s 14th goal of the season, and 150th of his noteworthy 413 career goals. Secured on the power play, the first period marker would put the Blues ahead, only to have the Sabres rally with a mid-period goal in the third for a hard fought 4-3 Buffalo victory. Regarding condition, the rubberized Blues logo remains fairly clean, while the Goal Puck Program label exhibits just a few tiny blemishes. There is also a small chunk missing along an edge facing the Blues logo. Unger once held the record for consecutive regular season appearances, with an impressive 914 back-to-back games played.
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