Ed Litzenberger was a scoring star in junior with the Regina Pats, in 1950-51 he led the league with 44 goals in 40 games and was also the leading point producer in the playoffs. In 1952-53, he played a pair of games for the parent Montreal Canadiens but spent most of his first two years as a pro in the QHL. In 1953 he was presented the William Northey trophy as the league's top rookie after a 26-goal performance. He began the 1954-55 season in Montreal but was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks after 29 games. Litzenberger got increased ice time in Chicago and scored 40 points in the last 40 games of the season and was named the Calder trophy winner. He didn't get a 1955-56 card issued, his rookie was part of the 1957-58 Parkhurst set. Here is my 1955-56 rookie creation.
Nick Mickoski played over 700 NHL games for four different clubs during the Original Six era. Beginning in the 1948-49 season, "Broadway Nick" spent parts of seven seasons with the Rangers and in 1950-51 he hit the 20-goal mark. Mickoski joined the Chicago Black Hawks in 1954-55 and was a fine two- way worker until he was picked up by the Detroit halfway through the 1957-58 season. After playing 66 games for the Wings in 1958-59, he was acquired by the Boston Bruins where he played his last NHL season. He retired in 1969 after spending three years with the Grand Falls Cataracts in the Newfoundland senior league.
Metro Prystai played three seasons with the Moose Jaw Canucks of the SJHL, leading them to three straight provincial championships plus a trip to the Memorial Cup finals. He also led the league in scoring for two of his three seasons. Prystai joined the NHL in 1947 with the Chicago Blackhawks but after 3 years he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings. He would win a Stanley Cup with the Wings in 1951-52 when he scored two goals and added an assist in the final game. By 1954-55, Prystai was given a return ticket to play in Chicago again. He plugged away in the Windy City for just over one season before he was hustled back to Detroit where he remained until his demotion to the minors in 1957-58. He rounded out his on-ice career with the Edmonton Flyers of the WHL later that year.
George "Red" Sullivan was ushered into the pro ranks with the Hershey Bears in 1949-50 and he managed to 3 game stop with the Bruins the same year. It wasn't until 1951-52 that Sullivan finally got a full-time job in Boston. But over the season and a half that followed, he failed to make a significant impression with the club's brass. By 1953, he was back in Hershey where he remained until the Chicago Blackhawks secured his rights in 1954. In the Windy City he gave fans their money's worth for two seasons before being traded to the New York Rangers in 1956. After 5 seasons on Broadway he was demoted to the minors in 1961. At that time, he joined the Kitchener Beavers of the EPHL and then the Baltimore Clippers of the AHL where he hung up his blades in 1963. He also would never have a Blackhawks card issued.
Harry Watson played 14 seasons in the NHL on four different teams from 1941 to 1954. At 18, he made the jump to the NHL, entering the league with the New York Americans in 1941. He scored 10 goals and recorded eight assists in his rookie year with the Brooklyn club before the Americans disbanded just two years later. The next season he went to the Detroit Red Wings, where he was an instant hit. In his first year there his 13 goals helped the Red Wings finish first overall in the regular season. In the playoffs he was dominant as the Wings beat Boston in four straight games to win Stanley Cup. Watson spent two years in the Canadian Armed Forces before he rejoined the Red Wings for the 1945-46 season. The next year Conn Smythe acquired him for the Toronto Maple Leafs and he helped the Leafs win the Stanley Cup four times during nine seasons at Maple Leaf Gardens. After the first eight games of the 1954-55 season, Conn Smythe sold him to Chicago for cash. He played three seasons with the Black Hawks before finishing his NHL career in 1957. His only 4 hockey cards are all in a Leafs uniform.
Billy Dea had a 20-year professional hockey career that began in 1952 with the Saskatoon Quakers of the WHL and ended after the 1971-72 AHL season, spent with the Tidewater Red Wings. During that time he appeared in 397 NHL games with stops in New York, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh and back in Detroit. The 1971-72 season was Dea's last in the NHL when, at the age of 39, he appeared in 42 games, scoring six goals and three assists. All that would get him 3 hockey cards, to as a Red Wing and one as a Penguin. Her is my 1958-59 Topps custom creation.
Ed Kachur played hockey for more than two decades but his NHL career consisted of less than two years of service with the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1956-57 and 1957-58. He would spend the next 14 years in the minors. Highlights of Kachur's minor league sojourn included winning the Calder Cup with the Buffalo Bisons in 1962-63, leading the AHL with 47 goals in 1967-68 and being named to the league's first all-star team that same year. What made Kachur's 47-goal output so special that year was the fact that it was the highest goal total by a player in any professional league. He retired in 1972 after playing a season with the Johnstown Jets of the EHL. He would never get a hockey card issued until the 1994 Parkhurst Missing Link set.
Lorne Ferguson had a long, eventful career that saw him suit up for three different NHL clubs. He turned pro with the Tulsa Oilers in 1949 and also went up to the NHL with the Boston Bruins, getting into three games and scoring a goal and an assist. The next season was Ferguson's first full year with the Bruins, and he posted 16 goals and 33 points in 70 games. In mid-season 1955-56 he was sent to the Detroit Red Wings. Ferguson finished that year with the Wings and spent all of the next campaign with Detroit, but in 1957 he was on the move again on when the Red Wings traded him to the Chicago Black Hawks. The 1958-59 season was Lorne Ferguson's only full season as a Chicago Blackhawk, and it would also be his last year in the NHL. Despite being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in the summer of 1960, the rest of Ferguson's career was spent at the minor pro level.
Danny Lewicki was a consistent scorer during nine NHL seasons spent with three teams. Although he weighed only 148 lbs., the tenacious forward drove hard to the net and didn't back down. "Dashin' Danny" debuted with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1950-51 and scored 16 goals and then played nine playoff games as the club won the Stanley Cup on Bill Barilko's overtime goal. Lewicki was a regular with the Leafs in 1951-52 but spent most of the next two seasons with the AHL's Pittsburgh Hornets. In July 1954 he was traded to the New York Rangers and scored a career-high 29 goals that season. Lewicki was a consistent offensive player in New York for three more years then played 58 games for the Chicago Black Hawks in 1958-59. Before retiring in 1963 he spent four years in the AHL with the Buffalo Bisons and Quebec Aces.
Ken Wharram provided speed, consistency and an exemplary work ethic during a 14 year NHL career spent entirely with the Chicago Black Hawks. Since Wharram weighed only 160 pounds, his speed, agility and on ice smarts proved to be his ticket to survival in the rough and tumble NHL. In September 1969 Wharram was coming off his seventh straight 20-goal season when he found himself in the intensive care unit diagnosed with myocarditis. His heart recovered to the point where he could lead a normal life but he made his retirement official prior to the opening of the Hawks' training camp in September 1970. He missed a hockey card in the 1959-60 sets.
You can purchase these cards, or any of my Missing Link creations, for $10 each postpaid, or $7.95 each for 3 or more. Email me at: [email protected], volume discounts available on larger orders.