1976-77 O-Pee-Chee 197 Curt Ridley Hockey Card (Front)
1976-77 O-Pee-Chee 197 Curt Ridley Hockey Card (Back)
1976-77 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
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Card Notes
Curt is still short on big league experience, but the Canucks have plenty of confidence in his standup style of goaltending. Curt is steady on his feet and extremely agile. Curt played in 4 professional leagues.
En Français
Curt manque encore un peu d’expérience dans les “majeures”, mais les Canucks compte sur ce gardien “debout”. Curt est stable sur ses patins et extrêmement agile. Curt a joué dans 4 ligues professionnelles.
Details
The short, sweet NHL career of Curt Ridley came about from a short but nearly frantic journey. After playing just five games of major junior hockey with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Ridley was a second round pick by the Boston Bruins at the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft. However, he never played for the Bruins.
After five years in the minors, Curt got his NHL start in 1974-75, appearing in two games for the New York Rangers. Posting a 5.19 goals against average over those two games, the Blue Shirts felt Ridley was not their goalie of the future. On September 9, 1975, he was traded to the Atlanta Flames for Jerry Byers.
Curt did not play for the Flames and on January 20, 1976 was shipped to the Canucks. Over nine games with Vancouver, he put up a much improved 2.28 GAA. On April 2, 1976, Vancouver’s second last game of the 1975-76 NHL season, Ridley was in net for his first and only National Hockey League shutout. The Canucks downed the host California Golden Seals 5-0 with Curt turning away 28 shots.
For the next two seasons, Ridley split time in the Vancouver nets with Cesare Maniago. But, it wasn’t to be. He was shipped to Toronto midway through 1979-80 but played sparsely throughout the rest of his career.
Between 1974-75 and 1980-81, Curt Ridley appeared in 101 regular season games in the National Hockey League with the Rangers, Canucks and Maple Leafs. He played just two games in the post season, both losses against the New York Islanders in the opening round of the 1975-76 playoffs.