Two vintage pucks and some game-worn NHL gear from the 1930s have been consigned to Heritage Auctions’ October event by the family of one of the game’s early stars.
Two historic hockey pucks will be among the items offered in an upcoming sports memorabilia auction.
Chicago Blackhawks right winger Harold “Mush” March was responsible for two famous goals and the pucks he shot into the record books will be on the block.
Marsh fired a shot after a face-off in the second overtime of game 4 of the 1934 Stanley Cup that found the net to become the first overtime goal to ever decide a championship. He also scored the first ever goal in Toronto’s famous Maple Leaf Gardens.
Those two famous pucks, along with March’s 1935/36 Blackhawks jersey and 1934 Blackhawks jacket, will form the centerpiece of the hockey offerings in Heritage Auction Galleries’ October 2009 Vintage Sports Memorabilia auction, Oct. 1-2, in Dallas. The Saskatchewan-born March died in 2002 at age 93. The pucks were consigned by his son, Harold, Jr.
Marsh’s inaugural goal from the Gardens left the arena with him last night, and returned in 1999 when Marsh took dropped it in a ceremony prior to the final game held in the famous venue.
"For NHL fans in general, and Blackhawk fans in particular, this really does represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Chris Ivy, Director of Sports at Heritage. “These pucks are key pieces of both hockey history and the storied Chicago Blackhawks franchise.”
Heritage has listed pre-sale estimates on the pucks at $10,000 and up.
March was a scrappy winger, known for his diminutive size, his fearless play and his fidelity to Chicago. He is one of the few players of the era to spend his entire career with the same team, all 17 years of it, a mark only topped by Dit Clapper, the revered 20-year Boston Bruins defenseman. He was not known as the greatest scoring threat, but he certainly had a penchant for scoring important and timely goals, namely the 1934 Stanley Cup OT winner.
March described his most famous goal in John Devaney and Burt Goldblatt’s 1975 book The Stanley Cup, A Complete Pictorial History:
"Well on that goal that won the series, they had a face-off,” March related. “I shot it and it went through Cude’s legs (Wilf Cude, the Detroit goaler who later starred with the Montreal Canadiens) and into the net. I didn’t realize it at the second, you know, that we’d won the Stanley Cup, but it was great. I rushed in and got the puck and then the fellows grabbed me and wheeled me on their shoulders all the way around the rink. It was nice to see my name on it for the first time. It’s always nice to be a champion."
“We’re very excited to be the first ones to offer Marsh’s famous pucks to collectors,” said Ivy. “He was a great player and a crucial figure in two Blackhawk Stanley Cup titles, as well as several great moments besides the two these pucks represent, and we fully expect Chicago fans who bleed red and black to recognize how important this memorabilia is.”
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