17 Wax Packs of 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

First of all, it was high time I retired the Whalers header that's graced the top of this blog for the past couple of months. Instead, you'll be looking at a random assortment of goalie cards for the foreseeable future. Now, onto the post...

Just over a year ago I scored a whole slew of 1982-83 and 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee wax packs from the local hobby shop. I really enjoyed ripping the packs slowly, and managed to stretch them out for quite some time. I finished opening and sorting all of them a few months back, but am only just getting to scanning them in and updating my collection on Zistle now.

I'll post the best of the 1982-83 packs in another post, but for now here are some of the highlights from the 17 packs of 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee hockey:

#2 - Denis Potvin - Highlight

The cards are for the most part sorted by team. First there is the statistical leaders card for the team, then a Highlight card depicting one player, like the Potvin above, followed by the base cards for that team. This Potvin card may be my single favorite card from the 17 packs, a great Stanley Cup photo indeed. This one will get some serious consideration for induction into The Ultimate Hockey Card Set.

#3 - Mike Bossy

Bossy came out of the first couple of packs.

#13 - Ken Morrow

#16 - Denis Potvin

#24 - Glenn Anderson

I'll spoil the suspense right now, I didn't pull base cards of the four Oilers I'd want most (Gretzky, Messier, Kurri or Coffey).

#27 - Grant Fuhr

I did get Fuhr's second-year card...

#37 - Kevin Lowe

#43 - Boston Bruins Leaders - Rick Middleton

Here's what the leader cards look like. Definitely not my favorite of the team leader designs from the 80s...

#60 - Buffalo Sabres Leaders - Tony McKegney

#61 - Bob Sauve - Highlight

Awesome pads, Jofa helmet, and Titan stick.

#65 - Phil Housley (RC)

The rookie card of one of the greatest US-born players of all-time. Housley's 1,232 career points have him in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame. Unfortunately for Phil, despite playing in 1,495 career games he never captured a Stanley Cup.

#67 - Gilbert Perreault

Sal from Puck Junk recently pulled a very cool Perreault card...

#75 - Lanny McDonald - Highlight

#86 - Rejean Lemelin

I think I've mentioned this before, but I love the Molson practice jerseys sported by many of the Flames in this set.

#96 - Denis Savard - Highlight

#105 - Steve Larmer

I pulled both sides of the infamous Larmer/Ludzik error, Steve Larmer's card that actually depicts Steve Ludzik...

#106 - Steve Ludzik

...and Steve Ludzik's card that actually depicts Steve Larmer...

#114 - Doug Wilson

#116 - Corrado Micalef - Highlight

I'm not that familiar with Micalef but that mask is awesome.

#135 - Hartford Whalers Leaders - Blaine Stoughton

Did you know that Stoughton had four consecutive 40+ goal seasons with Hartford? It's true, in fact two of those four were 50+ goal seasons.

#138 - Ron Francis

Second year card of Francis, sporting some fantastic early-80s Whalers garb. Glad those Cooperalls didn't stick around. I picked this one up already from the quarter box at the local hobby shop, but I needed another one for my Whalers collection so it was a welcome double.

#139 - Marty Howe

#147 - Blaine Stoughton

#152 - Marcel Dionne

Great detailed look at the crown from the old Kings sweater on this card.

#163 - Dave Taylor

#181 - Bobby Smith

#215 - Wayne Gretzky - Goal Leader

I didn't end up with Gretzky's base card, but I was lucky enough to pull this NHL Goal Leaders card featuring the Great One. What a different game it was back then, seven different 50 goal scorers in 1982-83!

#219 - Paul Gardner/Al Secord - Power Play Goal Leaders

#220 - Randy Holt - PIM Leader

#221 - Pete Peeters - GAA Leader

#226 - Mel Bridgman

An airbrushed nightmare. That helmet looks like something out of Star Wars. I immediately recognized this one from a Puck Junk post a while back.

#251 - Rob McClanahan

My first card of one of the key members of the 1980 Miracle on Ice US Olympic hockey team. Rob scored 5 goals in that tournament, including the game-winner in the Gold Medal game.

#260 - Bill Barber

#268 - Pelle Lindbergh (RC)

Probably my best pull from these packs. I actually pulled two of these Lindbergh rookies, although I traded one away a while back.

#272 - Darryl Sittler

#287 - Quebec Nordiques Leaders - Michel Goulet

#288 - Michel Goulet - Highlight

#290 - Dan Bouchard

#293 - Dale Hunter

#302 - Anton Stastny

Didn't get Peter, guess Anton is good enough.

#308 - St. Louis Blues Leaders - Brian Sutter

#309 - Mike Liut - Highlight

This one would make my top 5 from these packs, another awesome mask.

#310 - Wayne Babych

There are two things that make this card great. The helmet, and the uni-brow.

#324 - Rick Vaive - Highlight

#325 - John Anderson

#343 - Rick Vaive

#366 - Bob Carpenter

#369 - Mike Gartner

#372 - Doug Jarvis

#373 - Al Jensen

#380 - Dave Babych

That's a wrap. While I did strike out on the two big cards from the set (Gretzky's base card and the Gretzky/Messier Highlight card), and also experienced some centering issues, these were a ton of fun to rip. For less than the cost of a blaster I ended up with over 170 different cards to start hand collating a set with. I got a lot of the mid-level cards including the Lindbergh and Housley rookies, second year cards of Francis and Fuhr, and a bunch of other Hall of Famers.

In the next few days I'll try to post the results of the 20 packs of 82-83 O-Pee-Chee. I like that set much better and had more success with those packs than I did these.