Who's that guy in the lacrosse helmet?

deepbluejacket

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I picked up a set of 1975-76 Topps earlier this year and spent some time looking at it last night. It's the first year with action shots of the lowly Washington Capitals. There are a surprising amount of photos of Capitals splayed out, desperately trying to get to the puck (or just collapsing exhausted.) This card caught my eye:



In the back, there's a blur to the left of Marson's head. What is that guy wearing? It looks like a football helmet!

Wait! There he is again!



And by sheer chance, I was flipping through Ken Reid's Hockey Card stories and who should show up!



*That's not Terry Crisp, as Ken Reid and Crisp explain in the book.

At least now we're getting somewhere. We've got a nine on his jersey, but that's not enough.



Ok, maybe #19?

The first place I check is the Washington Capitals checklist card. There is no #19 listed.

According to hockey reference, that gives us two candidates: Pete Laframboise and Jack Lynch. Both wore #19 during the season. Laframboise was traded to Pittsburgh after playing 45 games, while Lynch got the number when he arrived from Detroit and played 20 games.

I can't find photos of either man wearing all that headgear, and hockeyreference doesn't have box scores going back that far.

Here's Pete's 1975-76 card:



Only problem is, that's basically also his 1974-75 card:



So did he have the soup strainer mustache in '74? Even if he did, we can't really see though his Dark Helmet gear to get a good look at his face. The deciding factor is probably the Gagnon card. Our masked man shoots left-handed, as Laframboise did. Lynch was a righty.

Except...Bailey didn't arrive in Washington until February 10, 1975. Laframboise had been dealt away on January 21. And Dark Helmet is pictured on a card with Bailey! That points back to Lynch. There's a maze of sticks here, but that Koho in the middle could be our guy's, and that's a righty. The Gagnon card may have just given the illusion that our guy was a lefty. The Crisp card is a confusion. It's only when we get back to Marson that our blur in the background is revealed as a righty. So we're probably looking at Jack Lynch.



Jack Lynch is erroneously listed as wearing #9, not #19 on the Capitals checklist card. It also has Bailey wearing #15, where his card clearly has him in #9.

So until proven otherwise, Jack Lynch it is. Lynch is best known for racking up a staggering -54 rating in just 20 games that season. Possibly because he couldn't see anything!

Mike

PS. Further perusal of the 1975-76 OPC set online shows Bob Gryp in a posed photo wearing #19! But that photo is probably from the start of the 1975-76 season, as hockeyreference says he wore #12 and #18 in 1974-75.
 
Great stuff as always

Jack Lynch seems reasonable, I had those cards as a card and forgot about the helmeted one

Its actually an old lacrosse helmet

x2_f9c82c0.jpeg


also thought it was funny that Pete's last name means The Raspberry

Here's a photo attributed to Jack Lynch as well with road red helmet version

s-l1600.jpg
 
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I had a lot as well... the Mike Marson looked like he had a big gold Pirate earring... due to the print spot... The terry Crisp I’m positive is Don Saleski, the Garnett Bailey also has J. Bob “Battleship” Kelly..., and it definitely is a lacrosse helmet... lol!! Awesome post!!! Cheers!! Paul!!
 
Yep, as soon as I saw that second card, I knew it was a lacrosse helmet...used to play and very familiar with the styles of old helmets haha. Crazy he wore it in the NHL though, must have really liked them better than hockey helmets.
 
Cards and stories like these is what makes vintage cards so cool and special. I love the Ken Reid books and his Instagram post.
 
Wow! That was very interesting topic. Loved reading this. I have never heard about the lacrosse helmet case. Thank you for sharing this for us.
 


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