Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction Spring 2022
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2022
From the Early-1970s Hockey Diversified Inc. “NHL Registered Goal Puck” program, we have a puck used to score a goal by the New York Rangers’ Pete Stemkowski in 1972-73. 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. As mentioned, this particular puck was used by Pete Stemkowski to score the New York Rangers 212th goal of the season vs the Atlanta Flames, at MSG, on Feb 4, 1973. Unassisted, it was Stemkowski’s 18th goal of the season, with a total of 206 career goals scored. The final goal of the match, scored at 15:27 of the third, it was Stemkowski’s third goal of a hat trick, with the Rangers crushing the Flames at home, 6-2. The rubberized Rangers logo is clean, with some light discolouration to the Goal Puck Program label. From the Barry Meisel Collection.
Instrumental to the hobby as one of the founders of the MeiGray Group in 1997, a hobby entity paramount in the authentication of game-worn jerseys and equipment, pioneer collector Barry Meisel enjoyed almost two decades as a successful sports journalist. Beginning with his days interning for the Binghamton Evening Press while a senior in college, Meisel explains how his passion for collecting was fueled, stating “My plan was to get a game-worn jersey for every team I covered once I became a pro hockey writer. I got a Barons, then a Broome Dusters, Binghamton Whalers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers. It was the late '80s. My first career was born. From the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin to the Morristown, NJ, Daily Record, to the New York Daily News”.
In his dozen years with the New York Daily News, Meisel covered the New York Islanders, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and New York Giants. He also spent the early-1990s serving as the News’ investigative sports reporter, with additional time as a columnist for The Hockey News (1982-90) and The New York Giants Newsweekly (1990-96), with a few book authored including 'Losing the Edge: The Rise and Fall of the Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers’. Despite building a vast and encompassing grouping of items, Meisel notes, "I have my favorites. The Scotty Press that still sits in my home office. My 1983-84 Detroit Red Wings Ken Holland, the minor-league goalie in Binghamton who became a lifelong friend, and who had a cup of NHL coffee before becoming a Hall of Fame General Manager. And my 1994 Stanley Cup Finals New York Rangers white Craig MacTavish, who was wearing this jersey in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden on June 14, 1994. MacT knocked the final faceoff into the corner with 1.6 seconds left on a 54-year Jinx, the night the Rangers allowed the Monster of MSG to one day Die in Peace. This jersey is on display at the Garden, to remind every Blue Seater from old Section 433 that the wait was worth it”.
Classic Auctions in honoured to have been chosen to sell the Barry Meisel personal collection, with dozens of high-quality jerseys offered including an endless supply of important New York Rangers specimens from Marc Staal, Glen Hanlon, Mattieu Schneider (last MSG home game of the millennium) Kelly Hrudey and others, All-Star Game jerseys from Mark Messier, Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, and inaugural season jerseys for the Quebec Nordiques, Chicago Cougars and Kansas City Scouts. The Meisel collection even boasts a rare single-season New York Golden Blades jersey! Additional gems that will have bidders salivating includes prominent lumber, with game-used sticks from HOF members Jean Ratelle, Billy Smith, Bryan Trottier and Igor Larionov, along with a tremendously rare copy of a 1946-47 New York Rangers media guide that predates the club’s first known Blue Book media guide.
As always, we hope these long-loved treasures find new appreciative collectors, with Meisel stating it best, “It's time for Classic Collectibles and my good friend Marc Juteau to help me find my gamers new homes. Time for others to enjoy the greatest hobby alive."
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