#107 -- Gordie Roberts

I really became aware of Gordie Roberts at the end of his career, when he was a steady blueliner for the Blues and Penguins. He must have been a blast to watch earlier, though, when he was putting up decent point totals and simultaneously racking up triple-digit penalty minutes. I've never thought of him that way, just as the wise old sage of the defense on those awesome early-'90s Penguins teams.

Reading about him at Hockey Draft Central is kinda interesting; he apparently had a mobile phone business in 1985(!) and also ran a wine shop. Presuming that's not Brendan Shanahan-style media guide funnery, that's a bit different. In recent years he's been involved in hockey on a management/scouting level. Right now he's a pro scout for the Canadiens.

Gordie's also a member of a hockey family; his brother and two nephews both played, among them David Roberts, one of the most frustrating players ever if you need him to complete a set. I finally got him for my all-time Blues collection by bugging his European team.

Here's a slightly out-of-date but interesting look at his North Stars career, which mentions two things I should have got to earlier: he was named in honor of Gordie Howe, and he's a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. So give it up for Gordie, whydontcha?

#108 - Harold Snepsts

Harold Snepsts is one of the earliest players that made a lasting impression on my young mind, alongside more obvious selections like Gretzky/Bossy/Potvin. His physical appearance was and is pretty distinctive -- the man-mountain build, receding hairline, and of course that mustache. I think that mustache has made him into something of a cult figure in recent years, and it's kind of overshadowed his abilities as a defenseman -- people remember him less as a good, solid player and more for the 'stache.

This card came in his first season outside of Vancouver, and is the first to show the scourge of 1970s-1980s O-Pee-Chee cards -- airbrushing. Snepsts had been traded to Minnesota in time for this card to be updated, but there were no photos of him as a North Star -- so -- someone got drafted to hurriedly update his uniform. In other seasons, you'd see a severely cropped photo with just a hint of the jersey, but in 1984-85, O-Pee-Chee went 99.9% with full-body action shots, so there was nowhere to hide. This is hardly the most egregious example of the airbrusher's art -- a quick glance and you wouldn't notice anything (the autograph does obscure it even more, too). The artist managed to make Harold's shoulders even more imposing.

He lasted only one season in Minnesota, then bounced around between Detroit, St. Louis, Vancouver again and the minors for a few years. I'm pretty sure he's a youth coach in the Vancouver area these days, and does some work with the Canucks.

Harold Snepsts' stats at hockeydb.com
Profile at Legends of Hockey
Profile at Hockey Draft Central
Profile at Hockey's Tough Guys