On today’s date in 1950, Ted Lindsay netted a hattrick to help his Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings defeat the NHL All-Stars 7-1 in the fourth NHL All-Star Game.
Lindsay not only opened the scoring but netted another goal before the end of the first period, taking the Red Wings into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.
Late in the third period, Lindsay scored another goal, this shorthanded, to stretch the lead to 7-1.
The stamps were issued in souvenir sheets of six, pictured here, as well as panes of six.
2004 ‘NHL ALL-STARS’ SET
In 2004, Canada Post commemorated Lindsay on a 49-cent stamp (Scott #2017c) as part of its six-stamp “NHL All-Stars” issue.
Released in panes of six stamps (SC #2017), the issue also featured:
- Larry Robinson (SC #2017a);
- Marcel Dionne (SC #2017b);
- Johnny Bower (SC #2017d);
- Brad Park (SC #2017e); and
- Milt Schmidt (SC #2017f).
Printed by Lowe-Martin using seven-colour lithography, the stamps have general tagging along each side.
An official first-day cover was also serviced with a Montréal cancel.
EXACT TEAM COLOURS
It was Canada Post’s fifth “NHL All-Stars” issue.
“There’s a particular shade of orange in this year’s NHL All-Stars stamp set that hockey fans will recognize as authentic,” said Alain Leduc, then stamp design manager, in 2004. “It’s the exact colour specified and approved by the National Hockey League for its trademark shield logo.”
The series’ designers chose to use painted illustrations rather than photographs as “a means of equalizing quality through the series,” Leduc said, adding it’s “very important to recognize the face of each player at stamp size.”
Based entirely on original photographs, the portraits were digitally retouched by artist Pierre Rousseau, who has often added colour to black-and-white photos (and even changed the shade of a jersey).
“He’s created these portraits to look as though they’d all been taken by the same photographer,” Leduc said.