PLAYOFFS!!1 (1954-style) and sorta Elvis.

Four guys back and none have Geoffrion.

I’ve recovered (sort of) from the Leafs’ traumatic collapse loss event that shall go unmentioned and I’m coping by paying attention to baseball through at least the end of this round.  Still, most of the stuff that has been appearing in the mail is hockey-oriented, including these two.

The Detroit Red Wings won the 1954 Stanley Cup and seem to have done so without understanding that leaving Bernie Geoffrion unattended right in front of your own goal is normally not conducive to winning.  Fortunately for them, they still had Terry Sawchuk v1.0 in goal.  Terry would finish the playoffs 8-4 with a 1.60 GAA that season, back it up by winning 40 games in 1954-55 and another Stanley Cup, then be unceremoniously dumped on the Boston Bruins (unfortunate souls, they) to make room for a kid named Glenn Hall.  Hall himself would be out in two years and it would cost the Wings a young John Bucyk to get Terry back.  Asset mismanagement like that would put the Wings into a 41-year Cup drought.

This year, though, they were riding high, besting Montreal in seven in the Final.  Montreal would lose the next Final, also in seven, before deciding enough was enough and winning the following five.

I’ve always liked the 1954-55 Parkhurst release, not least because it’s got a dozen of these action cards packed at the back of the set.  This includes a shot of a pre-rookie Jacques Plante, some Leafs/Wings tilts and this gem from the Final.  It would be nice if it were possible to determine which game it was.  Nice wordy writeup on the back, too.  This card isn’t perfect, but it’s the last card in the set and it goes for a crazy premium in NM, so it’ll do.

“Hound Dog” is stuck in my head as I post this.

Tom McCarthy’s NHL career was pretty short, spanning just 60 games over parts of four seasons between 1956-57 and 1960-61.  He had a lengthy career overall, though, playing in the East Coast, Western and American Leagues until his retirement in 1969-70.   At one point or other, he belonged to five of the Original 6 organizations, missing only Chicago for the full set.  He was also briefly the property of the Canucks (who picked up the AHL Rochester Americans), but retired before the first team took to the ice.

I also think he looks kind of like Elvis here.  I’m not sure anyone ever saw Tom and Elvis together, so maybe there’s a great secret the world has not yet been made aware of.

Tom had decent size for that era and scored well in the minors. Wonder what held him back.