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by Timothy Gassen (Author)
Rest In Peace to the paper hockey game program. For decades it was a ubiquitous game day companion for fans at pro hockey games, but now it is sadly replaced by electronic team web pages or cellular phone updates. Slowly, from the 1990s onward, the paper game programs were reduced in page count, and then in physical size, and then in frequency of publication. Then they were gone altogether. Actual paper game programs once were king of the informational grapevine for hockey fans. At their peak - in the golden age of 1970s major league hockey expansion - they were full sized 8 1/2" x 11" magazines, with color covers and 50-75 page interiors. They contained player rosters, and game schedules, action photos, and statistics. And feature stories. They had so many fascinating feature stories. Paper game programs were especially vital promotional tools for the fledgling 1972-1979 World Hockey Association. They not only provided advertising income for the home team, but they gave print space to include team-made feature stories about favorite players, opponents, or the league itself. These features contain behind-the-scene glimpses about the personalities that made the WHA game possible - and that is why I love them so much. You must understand, though, these stories were rarely hard-boiled news items written by independent news sources. They were positive in tone, and shied away from controversies. They most certainly were promotional in nature - but they also reveal so much humanity about 1970s major league hockey players and their WHA teams. Together these feature story highlights from the 1972-1979 WHA era help paint a more complete picture of the people who populated this unique major league. It is those people - those colorful, talented, rambunctious people - who make the World Hockey Association so memorable. We are able to remember them now largely because of the late, great, paper hockey game program.
