1980-81 O-Pee-Chee 30 Blaine Stoughton Hockey Card (Front)
1980-81 O-Pee-Chee 30 Blaine Stoughton Hockey Card (Back)
1980-81 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
Card Notes
Key goal for Whalers in ’78-79 WHA playoffs vs. Stingers.
Whalers coach Don Blackburn is a former Whaler player.
En Français
Il marqua un but important pour ls Whalers durant les éliminatoires de l’AMH de 1979 contre les Stingers.
L’instructeur des Whalers, Don Blackburn, a déjà joué pour les Whalers.
Details
In 1978-79, the New England Whalers and Cincinnati Stingers played a best of three series to determine the fourth and final seed for the WHA playoffs. New England won the series two games to one. In the semi-final, the Whalers then fell in seven games to the Edmonton Oilers. Blaine Stoughton had four goals and three assists for seven points in the seven playoff games he played that year.
As for Don Blackburn, he did play for the New England Whalers for parts of three seasons from 1973-74 to 1975-76. He was head coach of the team in the Hartford Whalers first season in the National Hockey League, 1979-80. He was replaced 60 games into the following campaign by Larry Pleau, a mainstay with the team throughout the seven years of the WHA’s existence.
Blaine Stoughton had a career year in 1979-80. His 56 goals put him in a three way deadlock atop the NHL, tied with Charlie Simmer of the Los Angeles Kings and Danny Gare of the Buffalo Sabres.
Stoughton would be a 50 goal scorer one more time in 1981-82. His 52 goals with Hartford placed him sixth in the NHL, two behind Rick Vaive of the Toronto Maple Leafs and a whopping 40 goals behind record breaker Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers.
In all, Blaine Stoughton played 526 regular season and just eight playoff games in the NHL between 1973-74 and 1983-84 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Hartford Whalers and New York Rangers. He was originally a seventh overall pick by the Penguins at the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft out of the Flin Flon Bombers.