1972-73 O-Pee-Chee 116 Jim Lorentz Hockey Card (Front)
1972-73 O-Pee-Chee 116 Jim Lorentz Hockey Card (Back)
1972-73 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
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Card Notes
Jim was an outstanding CHL player with Oklahoma City before his first full season in the NHL with Boston. He played one year for St. Louis and appeared briefly for New York before being traded to the Sabres.
En Français
Jim brilla pour Oklahoma City dans la Ligue Centrale avant sa première saison complète dans la LNH pour Boston. Il joua un an pour St-Louis, puis brèvement pour New-York avant d’aller à Buffalo à la suite d’un échange.
Details
First off, this is not an error but an oddity. The photo is actually of Jim Lorentz in a St. Louis Blues jersey with the Sabres logo air-brushed on. The tell is the shoulder stripes and the crew neck collar. It is one of O-Pee-Chee’s better paint jobs.
12 games into the 1971-72 NHL season, on November 15, 1971, Jim Lorentz was traded from the St. Louis Blues to the New York Rangers with Gene Carr and Wayne Connelly for Andre Dupont, Jack Egers and Mike Murphy. He played just five games for the Rangers before being traded to the Buffalo Sabres on January 14, 1972.
In 1972-73, his first full season with the Sabres, Lorentz had a career high 27 goals. His best point total came two years later when he contributed 70 for Buffalo. The 27 was the first of four times over his career he would reach the 20 goal plateau.
Jim was part of the 1969-70 Boston Bruins Stanley Cup winning team. He played eleven of the team’s 14 playoff games that year, scoring a single goal. That marker came in game 2 of the quarter-final series against the New York Rangers. He opened the scoring in the 5-3 Boston win, putting one past Terry Sawchuk with help from Ed Westfall and Wayne Carleton.
He would not record his first of four NHL hat tricks until 1973-74. In a New Year’s Eve game against the Red Wings at Detroit Olympia, Lorentz scored three of Buffalo’s six goals in a 6-5 win. The first was assisted by Gilbert Perreault, his only point of the night.
Between 1968-69 and 1977-78, Jim Lorentz played 659 regular season and 54 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres. Prior to playing in the NHL, he was CHL rookie of the year with the Oklahoma City Blazers in 1967-68 and league MVP the following season. He led the league in scoring that year while the Blazers lost in the final to the Dallas Blackhawks.
From Hockey History Hub
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