What Do the 1969 Bruins and a Small Helmeted Guy Chouinard Have in Common ?

Hi everyone! The answer is that they are all about skinning things, but we’ll get back to that in a minute… How’s everyone doing this fine day? It’s about 25 below here in Ottawa, and it looks like this is going to be the norm for the next few days, which is a real bummer if you just want to go outside and you know, enjoy winter. Or take a ride in the car to avoid losing digits in the freezing wind. That’s actually become a problem around here as I was told today that my car has likely suffered so much from the cold this last week that it is probably frozen to the point it won’t start anymore. It’s just a theory, really, from the CAA – that’s Triple-A to my American friends out there – guy who came to give my car a boost, and when that failed could not tow it to the Honda dealership to look into the real issue because no battery means no turning off the parking brake. Active parking brakes mean no tow. So now a wrecker has to come by to haul my Honda Civic over to the dealership, where I’m either going to be faced with a 30-second fix (fingers crossed) or a several-day fix necessitating massive repairs and hundreds of dollars. Should be a fun weekend!

I kind of feel like the Oakland Seals just after their game against the Boston Bruins November 10, 1969: beaten down, tired, wondering when this day will be over, and as Spence Conley wrote in this week’s article, skinned. In this horrendous negative-star contest, the Bruins directed 63 shots at the Seals’ beleaguered netminding tandem of Gary Smith and Charlie Hodge. The contest was really just a preview of the hell the Bruins were going to unleash onto the rest of the NHL for the next few seasons. In fact, the Seals got to relive this night in March the following season when those same Bruins launched another 63 shots and scored a 7-0 victory. Yup, Bruins-Seals match-ups were indeed hard to watch if you were a Seals booster.

Ok, maybe I need to lighten the mood a bit, so here’s a brand new Overexposed induction for you, and it comes courtesy of the 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee set, an otherwise nice-looking ensemble of hockey photos in my opinion. Today though… ah, not so much. This week’s cardboard atrocity features Atlanta/Calgary Flames great Guy Chouinard shortly after his trade to St. Louis. You know what that means, folks… airbrushin’ a-plenty! That and a helmet that would not only tear every hair off your head, but likely your skin cap as well. You can check out Guy’s worst all-time card right here.

Until next time, stay gold!