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 centerman Pit Martin to score the Chicago Black Hawks 160th goal of the season against the Detroit Red Wings at The Olympia, on January 17, 1973. It was Martin’s 19th goal of the season, and 188th of his impressive 324 career markers. The unassisted goal was plotted early in the first at 2:29, with Martin also assisting on the Hawks’ second goal scored by Jim Pappin on the power play at 10:52. Chicago would add another four goals to defeat the Red Wings 6-4 in the high-scoring affair. Regarding condition, the rubberized Red Wings logo exhibits some light toning along with a faint mark, while the Goal Puck Program label remains fairly clean with just a few tiny blemishes. An especially noteworthy career, Martin would secure 809 points in 1101 NHL regular season games. The 1970 Bill Masterton Trophy winner drowned in a snowmobile accident in Lake Kanasuta near Rouyn-Noranda in 2008.
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