Hockey Card Finds: The most interesting man on the rink

In 2005, I started to get the collecting itch again after purging most of my collection in 2002 to assist with the purchase of my first house. With $10 burning a hole in my pocket at a flea market in Ohio, I purchased a lot of 50 hockey rookie cards from an older lady selling mostly knitted dolls.  She wouldn't let me look inside the small box, but she said her son had collected up until a few years ago and these were his "leftovers." I figured most of the cards were commons and I remember when I got back to my house, I had heard of a few of the guys, but some of the cards were from players in the 1970's. Not all are in the best shape, but for $10, what do you want? After a while, I decided just to put the box in the corner of my closet, and I simply forgot about it. So, 14 years later, I decided I would take out a card from the box at random and write a small post about the player. I'll count down from 50. Here goes:

42. 1978/79 O-Pee-Chee Jere Gillis RC #109

Jere Gillis was born on January 18, 1957, in Bend, Oregon and later raised in Montreal. He was the son of skier Gene Gillis and Rhona Wurtele a Canadian Olympic skier, who competed at the 1948 Winter Olympics. 

At a young age, Gillis would stand out on mostly any rink he played at. His speed and shot were lethal, and his dominance would lead him to a trip to the QMJHL. Gillis played junior hockey in the “Q” for the Sherbrooke Castors scoring 376 points in 4 seasons. He would outscore such Castors players as Jimmy Mann and Rick Vaive! This would lead Gillis into being selected 4th overall in the NHL Entry Draft in 1977 and 7th overall that same year in the WHA Draft. Jere ended up taking his talents to the NHL rather than the WHA. His first season in Vancouver would be his best. He scored 23 goals, 18 assists for 41 points in 79 games. The next 3 seasons that followed in Vancouver, however, were not so great. Gillis posted 25 points in 78 games in '78-79, 30 points in 67 games in '79-80 before going goalless in 11 games to start the '80-81 season. Vancouver then gave up on Gillis and traded him on November 11, 1980, along with defenseman Jeff Bandura to the New York Rangers for defenseman Mario Marois and right-wing Jim Mayer. In New York, Gillis put up some decent numbers in the first 35 games (10 goals, 10 assists). However, in the 1981-82 season, Gillis would go back to a slump and post only 3 goals in 26 games for the Rangers before they shipped him out as well. The Quebec Nordiques then acquired Gillis and forward Dean Talafous (who refused to report to New York and was substituted with Pat Hickey) for winger Robbie Ftorek and an 8th Round Draft Pick in 1982 (Brian Glynn). Jere never settled in Quebec and soon found himself a free agent after seasons end. From there, he would sign with the Buffalo Sabres. After a rough training camp, Gillis was assigned to the AHL to play for the Rochester Americans. He would only see action with the Sabres for 3 games that year going scoreless. The Vancouver Canucks came calling after that season for his services again. He would play for them for 2 seasons (37 games each year) with a few stops with the Fredericton Express in the AHL. 1986 would be his last season to play in the NHL when the Philadelphia Flyers called him up from the Hershey Bears of the AHL for 1 single game where he didn't post a point. After 10 seasons and almost 400 games in the NHL and 173 total points, Gillis would spend time playing in Italy for Brunico SG and then in the BHL (British Hockey League) playing parts of 2 seasons with the Solihull Barons and Peterborough Pirates (who were coached that season by Rocky Saganiuk). The competition in this league wasn't the greatest as Gillis would post 93 points (46 goals, 47 assists) in 18 games that first season in Solihull. He would pop up one more time playing for Acton Vale Nova in the QSPHL for 5 games posting 3 assists in 1996-97 before hanging up his skates for good.

While enjoying his retirement in Quebec, Gillis would convert to become a Scientologist. In an interview, Gillis would go on to say, "I made it to the NHL, but Scientology has made me more successful. It has given me an understanding of life and relationships that cleared up a lot of advice that I had before. And life is great!" Scientology was just the start to Gillis’ wild ride. He would go on to act and perform stunts in movies. Gillis has performed stunts in 86 films to be exact! His credits are quite impressive. Below are just some of the blockbuster films he has been a part of:

 - Battlefield Earth (2000)

 - Rollerball (2002)

 - The Sum of All Fears (2002)

 - Shattered Glass (2003)

 - Secret Window (2004)

 - The Notebook (2004)

 - The Aviator (2004)

 - 300 (2006)

 - Blades of Glory (2007)

 - Goon (2011)

 - Pacific Rim (2013)

As you can see, Mr. Gillis has led an interesting life. It’s quite possible he tosses back a few Dos Equis just like the old, bearded dude who is claiming to be “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. However, my money is on Jere Gillis. 

Hockey Card Finds: From college to King

In 2005, I started to get the collecting itch again after purging most of my collection in 2002 to assist with the purchase of my first house. With $10 burning a hole in my pocket at a flea market in Ohio, I purchased a lot of 50 hockey rookie cards from an older lady selling mostly knitted dolls.  She wouldn't let me look inside the small box, but she said her son had collected up until a few years ago and these were his "leftovers." I figured most of the cards were commons and I remember when I got back to my house, I had heard of a few of the guys, but some of the cards were from players in the 1970's. Not all are in the best shape, but for $10, what do you want? After a while, I decided just to put the box in the corner of my closet, and I simply forgot about it. So, 14 years later, I decided I would take out a card from the box at random and write a small post about the player. I'll count down from 50. Here goes:

43. 1983/84 O-Pee-Chee Gary Laskoski RC #156

The first goalie on this list is Gary Laskoski. Laskoski was born on June 6, 1959, in Ottawa, Ontario. During his college years, Laskoski would attend St. Lawrence University. He immediately became their starter. In his freshman season, Gary would play in 21 games with abysmal results (5 wins, 15 losses). His Goals Against Average wasn't anything to write home about either at 4.94 to go along with an .876 Save Percentage. However, St. Lawrence stuck with Laskoski as their back stopper for the next 3 seasons. With a Win-Loss record of 3-13, 10-10 and 7-7, it didn't appear that Laskoski had what it takes to be a starting goalie, let alone a backup goalie in the NHL. This is where the Los Angeles Kings come in. They offered Laskoski a tryout before the 1982/83 season started. His performance was so stellar, the Kings named him their starting goaltender for that season. Gary didn't even sign an actual NHL contact until after several regular season games had already been played. Instead, the Kings were paying him $200 a game! That season, the Kings goaltending was less than great. In the Smythe Division that year, you could find the Los Angeles Kings at the bottom of the standings with 27 wins total and 41 losses to go along with 12 ties. The Kings would use not only Laskoski in net, but also Mario Lessard (19 games), Markus Mattsson (19 games), Mike Blake (9 games) and Doug Keans (6 games). Laskoski would get the bulk of the work, however, and play in 46 of the teams 80 games winning 15 and losing 20 with 4 ties to his credit. His GAA was almost average for the era at 4.56 with a Save Percentage of .857. Even after that pretty average season, the Kings didn't go out to find a better goalie. The opening of the 1983/84 season saw the Kings sit Laskoski for the first month of the season before trying him back out as their starting goalie. It did not go well at all. Gary would hold onto the starting job from November until the end of December. His record of 4-7-1 to go along with a 4.96 GAA and a .829 save percentage didn't warrant him any more starts and the Kings decided to go with Mike Blake as their starter with Marco Baron and Markus Mattsson backing him up. As for Laskoski, well, he was sent down to the Kings affiliate the New Haven Nighthawks where he would finish out his last season of pro hockey before retirement. 

Information about Laskoski is hard to find. I tried multiple searches for information from him and there wasn't much, so I apologize. I think as of right now he's a retired Geophysical Technologist. At least I think that's him, but I could be wrong. Fun fact, Laskoski was the only goalie in NHL history that played in the NHL the season immediately after playing college hockey and not playing any games in the minors beforehand until Devon Levi became the second in 2022. Pretty wild.

Thanks for reading.

Hockey Card Finds: Better than Gilles Brazeau

In 2005, I started to get the collecting itch again after purging most of my collection in 2002 to assist with the purchase of my first house. With $10 burning a hole in my pocket at a flea market in Ohio, I purchased a lot of 50 hockey rookie cards from an older lady selling mostly knitted dolls.  She wouldn't let me look inside the small box, but she said her son had collected up until a few years ago and these were his "leftovers." I figured most of the cards were commons and I remember when I got back to my house, I had heard of a few of the guys, but some of the cards were from players in the 1970's. Not all are in the best shape, but for $10, what do you want? After a while, I decided just to put the box in the corner of my closet, and I simply forgot about it. So, 14 years later, I decided I would take out a card from the box at random and write a small post about the player. I'll count down from 50. Here goes:

44. 1982/83 O-Pee-Chee Normand Aubin RC #316

Normand Aubin "Norm" was born July 26, 1960, in Saint-Leonard, Quebec. Aubin was the #2 overall selection in the 1976 QMJHL Entry Draft by the Sorel Black Hawks just behind Gilles Brazeau who was drafted #1 overall by the Montreal Juniors. Eventually, Aubin would make Montreal pay for that decision. Norm had a successful first season in the QMJHL as a 16-year-old. He would play 50 games for Sorel and put up 51 points (25 goals, 26 assists). The next season /1977/78), Sorel became the Verdun Black Hawks and Norm Aubin would start his reign as a QMJHL legend. Aubin was on fire. In 71 games, he would post 62 goals to go along with 73 assists for 135 points! The crazy thing about Aubin's '77/78 season is that it wasn't even his best. His second-best year came in 1978/79. In the 70 games he played, he would score 80 goals and 69 assists for 149 points! This would prompt the Toronto Maple Leafs to select Aubin in the 3rd Round, 51st overall in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. Norm Aubin would have a monster year in the 1979/80 season. Knowing that this would be his last year of junior hockey, Norm would be traded after 21 games with Verdun (where he posted 41 goals and 29 assist for 70 points!) to the Sherbrooke Castors for center Andre Cote and right-wing Jean-Marc Gaulin. Aubin. However, the trade didn't slow down his scoring pace that season it only fueled it. He finished that season scoring 91 goals, 89 assists for 180 points! Also, during that season in a game against the Montreal Juniors, Aubin would make them pay for passing on him in the 1976 QMJHL Draft by potting 8 goals and 3 assists in a single game! Take that Gilles Brazeau! The Sherbrooke Castors with Aubin leading the way finished first overall in the regular season winning the Jean Rougeau Trophy as the beast team in the regular season. However, they could not defeat the Cornwall Royals who would beat them 4 games to 2 in the finals. 

Once his junior career came to a finish, Aubin was ready for the next step in his professional hockey career. The 1980/81 season, Norm would find himself in the AHL playing for the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs affiliate in the New Brunswick Hawks. In 79 games played, he was able to lead the team in scoring with 89 points (43 goals, 46 assists). The next season, the Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard decided they needed their own developmental hockey team and created the Cincinnati Tigers of the CHL. Aubin would split his time with the Tigers and Maple Leafs that season. In his 43 NHL games played in 1981/82 he would post 14 goals, 12 assists for 26 points. These numbers didn't quite wow the Maple Leafs brass, so Aubin would start the 1982/83 in the Maple Leafs AHL team the St. Catharines Saints team. Aubin would then again be called up to the big club and this time he would not impress. The Leafs only played Aubin in 26 games, and he posted 4 goals and 1 assist. 1983/84 would be his last season with the Leafs organization. With the St. Catharines Saints of the AHL, Aubin would play in 80 games and post 94 points (47 goals, 47 assists), which was good for 3rd on the team behind Mike Kaszycki and Bruce Boudreau - yeah, that Bruce Boudreau. A change of scenery came for Norm Aubin during the 1984/85 season as he signed with the Edmonton Oilers, only to be sent down to the minors to play the season for the Nova Scotia Oilers. In Nova Scotia he was a point per game player (48 games, 49 points). However, the Oilers were a hot team that season and they eventually won their first Stanley Cup, without the services of Norm Aubin. After retiring from the game of hockey for years, Aubin would come out of retirement in 1999/00 to play in 3 games with the Sorel Royaux going scoreless. When Norms playing days were over, he worked as a negotiation's specialist working in the field of powdered steel and metal. The metal his company made was to build GM and Chrysler motors. Also, Norm's son, Mathieu Aubin, was a 5th Round Draft Pick from the 2005 NHL Draft. He played 11 seasons of minor hockey in the AHL and ECHL. I guess you can say, after it is all said and done, Normand Aubin is definitely better at hockey than Gilles Brazeau.