von Ozbourne Posted August 28 Report Posted August 28 I've been curious about these pictures for a while but never saw anything that mentions where the images were taken from or who they were of. Figured it would be fun to take a guess. The first one is the first default player, but is not used anywhere in the game as best I can figure. The clues are the round logo, wide arm and hem stripes, lighter pants with hem stripes and a hint of a shoulder patch on that left arm. Possibly Goals for Kids? It kind of looks like a Winnipeg uniform. The two patches in the left and right chest look like the NHL75 logo and a captain/alternate's "C" or "A". The helmet is also giving me '90s CCM vibes and he is a left-shot. All this together makes me think Thomas Steen. [He wore an "A" in the '91-'92 season and that arm number looks a bit like the "2" in his "25"] The right-catching goalie could be a mirrored image, but if it's not, it's possible to look at the striping on the sleeves and pants and get Maple Leafs 3rd uniform vibes from that same '91-'92 season. Grant Fuhr is a rare right-catching goalie who happened to play for Toronto that season and he did wear all white pads that year. The left-catching goalie is possibly obvious in that he has black pads and a birdcage and Los Angeles is one of the default selected teams in NHL'94, so left catching Kelly Hrudey would make sense. The default lefty player is a bit more tricky. Assuming the uniform is not overly doctored, it seems that this player is in a sweater with a coloured yolk, wide arm and hem stripes and stripes down the sides of the pants. The only two teams that fit the bill in this time were Edmonton and New Jersey. But beyond that it just looks like a lefty in a CCM helmet with a double digit number. Could be a few guys, even more if it turns out that yolk stripe was drawn on and the number of possible teams is increased. The default righty player is not much better. Similar look to the other player so maybe another Edmonton/New Jersey player? But it look like this one is wearing lighter pants that also have a hem stripe. Something that only two teams, Rangers and Jets had at the time. The light patch on the pant leg is reminiscent of the logos that some teams will place there from time to time, but I'm more inclined to think it looks like a Tackla manufacturer logo given it's size and location. And another CCM shaped helmet. Given the non-zero probability that during the process of airbrushing out the logos, the rest of the uniform was doctored like a newly traded player on an O-Pee-Chee card, the equipment and the pose are possibly the only chance of matching up an original photo for the two skaters. Why do this? Just curious. 1 Quote
Matt55 Posted August 30 Report Posted August 30 (edited) Fun game. Steen and Fuhr are excellent educated guesses. For the Hrudey guess: The bars of the birdcage mask seem pretty curved at the eyes; Hrudey’s unusual mask had straighter bars, so I don’t know about him. Jeff Hackett? Edited August 30 by Matt55 Quote
von Ozbourne Posted August 31 Author Report Posted August 31 Oh, I'd forgotten about Hackett as a Shark. You might be on to something. I was trying to think of bird cage goalies from about 1991 since the other two seemed to be from that year. Off the top of my head I recalled a few that didn't match up. Ken Wregget [white pads], Mike Vernon [white pads], Chris Terreri [white pads], rookie Felix Potvin [solid dark pads but wrong uniform stripes], Dominik Hasek [everything], was reminded of Pat Jablonski [but he's right handed] Actually I came across an image of John Casey that seemed the closest [Cooper helmet with no chin guard], but he dropped the bird cage after 1989, so I doubt they would have used an image that was that old. Quote
smozoma Posted September 3 Report Posted September 3 Jeff Hacket was my guess as well My guess for the other goalie would have been Tom Barrasso Quote
smozoma Posted September 3 Report Posted September 3 The awkward arm placement of the lefty goalie looks like Hacket to me: https://www.beckett.com/player/jeff-hackett-283801 https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/1993-94-PowerPlay-312-Jeff-Hackett-Chicago-Blackhawks-V78010/PRD7IFSZ8YF6P8M Quote
smozoma Posted September 3 Report Posted September 3 But now I think Fuhr is more likely for the righty.. Seems like Furh kept his glove open more, Barrasso tended to have it closed... https://hockeycardworld.com/products/1994-95-leaf-78-grant-fuhr-buffalo-sabres Quote
Matt55 Posted September 3 Report Posted September 3 I watched Barrasso a lot in 90s Pittsburgh. I agree - body stance is more likely Fuhr. Quote
77 Posted September 5 Report Posted September 5 youd think theyd come from the offical 94 card set https://www.ebay.com/itm/314255697641?chn=ps Quote
von Ozbourne Posted September 6 Author Report Posted September 6 I was a Penguins fan in the Lemieux era [he and Hawerchuk deserved a lot more credit for doing what they did despite not playing on the Oilers] and used to think of the goalies as Barrasso and Wregget, but had to admit that that was not likely. Despite the lack of the weird chin guard, I'm currently subscribing to the hypothesis of Fuhr and Hackett. And the righty skater being a Ranger on account of the pants, but not sure who. One would think the hockey cards might have similar pictures, but I'm picturing that scenario being one of the game being made first, and then the card set being a promotional bit that was made after the fact and with help from a third party [possibly Pro-Set?] Quote
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