1976-77 O-Pee-Chee Cardboard Cameos

For their 1976-77 NHL hockey card series, O-Pee-Chee roughly split the cards between studio photos and on-ice shots. Coming from an era when there was no internet, no digital photography and not even close to every game was televised, it’s fun to try and figure out who might be in the background of these older hockey cards.

A good portion of the in-action type cards from this series were taken at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Therefore, many Capitals found themselves in the background on a number of hockey cards that seasons. Notably, Yvon Labre seemed to appear in almost every card!

The 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee set consisted of 396 hockey cards. A full set is valued by Beckett Hockey Monthly at $300. The top card that year was the Bryan Trottier rookie card. The first ever card of the New York Islanders great is valued at $60. No, the Trottier card did not feature any other players in the background.

Brad Park of the Boston Bruins is pictured standing beside #20, fellow defenseman Dallas Smith. This card is valued at $2.00 by Beckett.

Danny Gare of the Buffalo Sabres is pictured skating beside team captain Jim Schoenfeld. The card is valued at $2.00.

Doug Risebrough of the Montreal Canadiens looks to be recovering from a check into the boards by Jack Lynch of the Washington Capitals. This card is also valued at $2.00.

On his 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee hockey card, Guy Lapointe is pictured with Ken Dryden. In his 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee card, it’s Dryden’s backup Michel ‘Bunny’ Laroque. Lapointe’s card is listed as just a semi-star and is valued at $1.50.

 Wayne Cashman pesters Ron Low of the Capitals while Nelson Pyatt looks on. Like Lapointe’s card, Cashman’s is valued at $1.50.

Yvon Lambert of the of the Montreal Canadiens ties up the crease in front of Bernie Wolfe of the Capitals. Bob Paradise of Washington is wrapped around Lambert in what today would be a holding penalty. Do you know who the mystery Montreal forward is? This is a common card and valued at $1.00.