FOCUS ON PHILATELY: Honoring an all-time great (again) (06/10/01)

FOCUS ON PHILATELY

by Ingert Kuzych

Honoring an all-time great (again)

What sportsman of Ukrainian background has now appeared twice in the past nine years on a stamp of Canada (the first player to be so distinguished?)

Hint: He was an ice hockey player. And, no, it's not Wayne Gretzky. Give up?

The individual so honored is perhaps the greatest hockey goalie of all time, Terry Sawchuk.

Sawchuk appeared on a special six-stamp souvenir sheet that was released by Canada Post on January 18, in anticipation of this year's National Hockey League (NHL) All-Star Game held February 4 in Denver (see Figure 1). This was the second year in a row that such a sheet had been prepared for the All-Star event, and it is proving to be a popular item for Canada Post. Last year's issue featured Wayne Gretzky, also of Ukrainian extraction.

This year's stamps are slightly smaller than last year's, as is the entire sheet. The stamps still combine a circular, full-color, action painting of each of the players with a non-denominated label showing a photo of the player and his name. The three still-living players: Jean Beliveau, Dennis Potvin and Bobby Hull appear on the labels in color, while the three deceased stars: Terry Sawchuk, Eddie Shore and Syl Apps are shown in the original black and white photos of their time.

In addition to the sheet format, the stamps will also be available in unique hockey cards. Like last year, six different items were produced, one for each of the players on the souvenir sheet. A clear protective unit containing the actual postage stamp-portrait label combination along with a complimentary border design is affixed to each card (measuring 4 3/4 x 3 inches). The reverse of each card presents an image of the featured player along with his career All-Star statistics (Figure 2).

About Terry Sawchuk

Terrence (Taras) Gordon Sawchuk (1929-1970) did not have an easy life. In more than two decades of professional hockey he overcame the following injuries and ailments to earn his place as one of the greatest of hockey's goalies: a broken right arm that didn't heal properly and wound up inches shorter than his left, severed tendons in his hand, a fractured instep, infectious mononucleosis, punctured lungs, ruptured discs, bone chips in his elbows that required three operations, a ruptured appendix, and innumerable cuts on his face and body, one of which almost cost him the sight in his right eye.

Sawchuk experienced his first pains of anguish when he was 10 years old in his native Winnipeg. His older brother, Mike, a goalie, developed a heart murmur and died. Terry, who had worshipped his brother, inherited Mike's goalie pads; seven years later (1947) he broke into professional hockey's minor leagues with Omaha of the United States Hockey League.

He won the league's rookie award that season, spent the next two years with the American Hockey League's Indianapolis club (copping top rookie honors in 1948), and then joined the NHL's Detroit Red Wings full time in 1950. He promptly went on to win the NHL's Rookie of the Year award, thus becoming the first person ever to win outstanding first year honors in three different leagues!

Sawchuk's unorthodox and daring gorilla-like crouch immediately captured the imagination of Detroit fans; it also helped him capture many additional awards. He won the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the NHL's most proficient goalkeeper, three times and shared a fourth. He was selected to seven league-wide All-Star teams. His goals against average was less than two per game in each of his first five seasons with Detroit.

The Red Wings traded Sawchuk to the Boston Bruins in 1955, reacquired him two years later, and then lost him to Toronto in the draft in 1964. He was picked up by Los Angeles in the 1967 expansion draft and a year later returned to Detroit. He then went to New York for the 1969-1970 season, his last.

Sawchuk played more seasons (21), appeared in more games (971), and had more shutouts than any netminder in NHL history. He finished his career with 103 shutouts - the only goalie ever to reach the 100 mark. His record for most wins in a career (435) stood until last year. Sawchuk credited most of his success to his crouching style. "When I'm crouching low, I can keep better track of the puck through the players' legs on screen shots," he'd explain.

Appropriately enough, the stamp image depicts Mr. Sawchuk defending the net in the uniform of the Detroit Red Wings, the team with which he spent two-thirds of his career (14 of 21 seasons). Ironically, this doughty figure who survived so many injuries on the ice died as a result of an off-the-ice roughhousing incident in May of 1970.

A previous philatelic commemoration

Sawchuk's contributions to hockey were first recognized philatelically in 1992, when he appeared on one of three stamps issued to mark the NHL's 75th anniversary. Each stamp represented a 25-year period of the league, and the second commemorated the "Six-Team Era" of 1942-1967. The stamp displayed the crests of the six franchises that played at that time and the vignette portrayed Sawchuk, wearing a mask and in the uniform of the Toronto Maple Leafs, keeping the puck away from an opposition forward (see Figure 3).

There is a good chance that Canada Post will continue its All-Star souvenir sheet series. If so, don't be surprised if other Ukrainian Canadians appear on future releases.

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