Hockey Classic 1975-76 Topps

With the hometown Wild finally playing in the NHL's Winter Classic, I thought it would be apropos to select a classic hockey set. Topp's set from the 1975-76 season is a simple design, with the team name at the top in large letters, the player name at the bottom and a neat little hockey puck in the lower left corner for the player's position.

The photos are typical with a mix of poses and action shots. Here we have future Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire in a typical pose (he never really smiled when he coached the Wild either). Pierre LaRouche looks like he's about to mix it up, and Rick Hampton is sporting one heck of a uni-brow! 

Of course, you can't have a classic hockey set without hockey hair! Bob Nystrom looks like a bad guy from a Bond movie, and for some reason I'd expect a guy named Buster Harvey to have hair like that!

Craig Cameron should have sued Topps for a better photo.

The backs of these cards are two-toned which makes them pretty easy to read and have full career stats. I like the cartoon in the right corner, and bulleted pointers about the player. The biographical information in the upper right is nice too. The silhouetted player on the left has nothing to do with their position, but kind of cool anyway. 

This set was released just a bit too soon for me to open packs. In fact, I don't think I even knew these existed back then, but over the years I did collect a few cards here and there in the hopes of completing the set. Then one day I found an ad posted locally and boom, I was able to finally mark this off the checklist. Most of my cards are in reasonable condition, though centering issues abound and chipped corners common. Therefore, I might try to upgrade a few cards and release a few dupes back into the wild. For set collectors like me, this isn't a terribly difficult endeavor, but high quality cards will make the wallet lighter.