Topps and O-Pee-Chee really had an issue with Don Awrey and Skip Krake in the late 1960’s. Not once, but twice in a row their pictures were mistakenly swapped onto each other’s hockey cards. The sad thing is, it was the same two pictures each year. Even sadder, Krake was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for the 1968-69 card while Awrey remained with the Boston Bruins and the mistake still happened.
The two cards from 1967-68 are number 37 of Don Awrey with Krake’s mug on the front and number 93 of Skip Krake with Awrey’s mug. The following year, it was the number 3 card of Don Awrey and the number 43 card of Skip Krake. All four cards are valued at $8 by Beckett Hockey Monthly. All four cards are pictured below.
Both started in the National Hockey League at the same time but it was Awrey that definitely had the more successful career. Don played three years of OHA junior hockey from 1960-61 to 1962-63 with the Niagara Falls Flyers. In 1963, the Flyers made a trip to the Memorial Cup finals but lost in six games to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Awrey played 969 regular season NHL games between 1963-64 and 1978-79 with the Bruins, St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers and Colorado Rockies. Don played defense on two Stanley Cup champion teams with the 1970 and 1972 Boston Bruins. He played 72 games for the Canadiens during the 1975-76 regular season but did not play a single playoff game for the club as the won the Cup.
Don was selected to the 1972 Team Canada team for the Summit Series against the Soviet Union. He played in just two of the eight games.
Paul ‘Skip’ Krake was a junior star for the Estevan Bruins in Saskatchewan. he played 249 regular season games in the National Hockey League with the Bruins, Los Angeles Kings and Buffalo Sabres. He made the jump to the World Hockey Association for the rebel league’s first season, 1972-73. Krake played four years in the WHA with the Cleveland Crusaders and Edmonton Oilers before retiring from the game after the 1975-76 season.
