Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2017
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/8/2017
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.
At the onset of the NHL Puck Program, goal pucks were offered to collectors mounted on aluminum plaques. These were costly to produce and sold poorly. Fewer than 150 were produced for sale to collectors, and very few remain. Offered here is one such plaque.
This particular puck was used by Ed Westfall to score the New York Islanders 29th goal of the season vs Chicago, at Chicago Stadium, on Nov 8th 1972. Unassisted, the even strength goal was Westfall’s 5th of the season, and 131st of his 231 career goals. Scored at 4:24 of the second, the goal proved to be the lone highlight of the night for the Islanders, breaking Esposito’s shutout despite enduring a 6-1 loss. Regarding condition, the rubberized Black Hawks logo remains fairly clean with a pair of minor chips to an edge along with scratches to the surface, while the plaque itself exhibits just a few minor blemishes.
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