74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #22 - Larry Lund

Larry Lund played with Gordie Howe, can you say that? Larry didn't play in the NHL or was ever drafted in the NHL so in that way, Larry is no better than me. Larry was an excellent minor/WHA hockey player and unfortunately he was never able to get himself on with an NHL club and before the WHA was finished, Larry was.

Larry was an offensive forward who peaked in 74-75 with 33 goals and 108 points. During 74-75 Larry actually had more points than Gordie Howe and no one can ever take that away from him. In addition to being in the WHA Hall of Fame, Larry owns a Brew Pub in his hometown of Penticton BC.

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #21 - Ron Ward

There are two things that Ron Ward did very well in life. The first is evident from this picture as well as from his hockeydb photo. This man knew how to grow body hair better than anyone on the planet. I think based on what appears to be a mohair sweater under his equipment that he could out do Robin Williams.

The second thing he did well was rack up points in the minor leagues. Ron had 7 career points in the NHL over 89 games but was averaging more than a point a game in his WHA career. The statement on the back of the card says it all. "If there were no WHA, there's a good chance that Ron might not be playing major league hockey today".

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #20 - Dave Dryden

I don't think I have paid as much attention to these cards as I have since I started these posts. Looking at this card, I was able to learn lots of cool stuff and apparently Dave and I have LOTS in common. Here is the front side of the card. Dave and his brother Ken do have very similar autos which was one cool thing I discovered.

The similarities between Dave and I are pretty cool too. First we are both named Dave. Second, we both graduated from the University of Waterloo. Third, we are both teachers and I used to play goalie when it came to road hockey and even strapped the pads on a few times in ice hockey too. My lone minor hockey league start was a win! Lastly, we were both born on the 5th day of the month. I am definitely thinking a TTM letter is coming your way Dave, hopefully you don't mind signing for a fellow Dave.

BTW, if you are Canadian, then hopefully this Dave's post reminds you of the best Dave song in the world.

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #19 - Mike Pelyk

Mike Pelyk was another NHL'er who was lured to the WHA by a hefty contract. Some sources I have seen suggest that he was offered a million dollars to jump to the WHA. I am not sure over how many years that contract was intended to be fore, but in the end he was back in the NHL by 1976 and out of hockey by 1978.

Here is the back side of the card. Apparently he was the property of the Stingers and was loaned to the Blazers. I am curious to know how common these deals were back in the day? Hard to imagine a player like Brent Seabrook or Scott Hartnell being lent to another club in the same league.

Interestingly enough, this card is Mike's only WHA card despite playing two years in the league. Another neat fact is he would only ever appear in one other set after this year and that is the 76-77 OPC set.

For all interested, here is his final hockey card

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #18 - J.C Tremblay

Card number 18 is J.C Tremblay and this 5-time Cup winner and 6-time All-Star has one of the nicest signatures I have ever seen on cardboard. Jean -Claude had a pretty amazing NHL career before he jumped to the WHA where he continued to play at a very high level. He lead the Nordiques in scoring the first year he was in the WHA which is impressive since he was a defenseman.

Here is the back side of the card. I only realize when I was doing this post that my card has a nasty crease/ripple by his name on the back. Might have to upgrade this one too eventually. J.C was named to the WHA Hall of Fame but was never able to get into the NHL Hall of Fame.

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #17 - Anders Hedberg

As far as legit rookies go, there are none bigger in the set than Anders Hedberg. Anders was without a doubt one of the biggest superstars in WHA history and as a rookie he scored 53 goals and had 100 points. The following three seasons Anders followed it up with 50, 70 and 63 goals respectively. Even when he made the jump to the NHL as a Euro-pioneer he still was among some of the better scorers in the league with  three consecutive 30 goal seasons. A knee injury did wipe out his 81-82 season but he did battle back and score 30 goals once more and in his final year he still finished 5th in team scoring with 20 goals and 51 points in just 64 games.

I think the back of this card is one of the most informative I have ever read in my life. For years and years I wonder why stats from the euro-leagues always was light on information and appeared to be missing vital stats in my opinion. But apparently, stats aren't that important especially back in the 70's and 80's so websites like Hockeydb and hockey card makers often had difficulty finding the same stats we use in North America because they often weren't recorded. For another example of what I am talking about, check out Vladislav Tretiak's stats on hockeydb.

74-75 OPC WHA Set Card by Card #16 - Tom Simpson

Now we are repeating all teams in the set as this is the second Toros player to appear in the set. Tom Simpson was a 40 goal guy in junior and a 50 goal guy in the WHA. Sadly he never made it to the NHL and was playing in Amsterdam before the 1980's.

Here is the back side of the card. Tom appears to have enjoyed playing other sports and despite his solid shot and skating he was never good enough to carve a career in the NHL. Originally Tom was drafted in 1972 by the St. Louis Blues in the 6th round ahead of "King" Richard Brodeur.