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1985-86 Winnipeg Jets Police Safety Tips
Above average photos and player selection for 80's set

By Sal J. Barry
Published March 12, 2008

The 1985-86 Winnipeg Jets Police Safety Tips set is comprised of 24 cards that were issued in 12 two-card panels. These cards are also a bit taller and a bit wider than your standard hockey card. The thing that I enjoy so much about these "team issue" sets is that they feature many players who did not get a Topps or O-Pee-Chee card in a given year. This set not only has cards of lesser known players - it has a few cards of guys that lasted nary a season.

Player selection
Since it's a team issue, this set is pretty comprehensive. You get 21 player cards, including team mainstays like Dale Hawerchuk, Randy Carlyle, Thomas Steen, and Brian Hayward. There's also a team photo card, a card featuring the coaches and a card of General Manager John B. Ferguson.

Card design
The card fronts have a very basic design. One nice thing about these cards is that game-action player photos are used instead of static portrait shots. Under the player photo are logos for the Jets and the Kinsman Club of Winnipeg - the sponsors of the set. There's also the player's name, number and position as well as the words "Winnipeg Jets"…which tips us off in case we don't notice the Jets' logo or the fact that the player is wearing a Jets uniform. Sure, it's redundant. But it's a police set, so design seems to be an afterthought on a lot of these types of sets.

Stats & info
None. Well, no statistics. But the back of each card has information in the form of "Jets Tips", where it pairs a hockey term with a safety tip. Sometimes, the hockey term and safety tip are loosely related, such as on the back of Tim Watters' card:

"OFFSIDES"

A player is offside if he advances over the opponent's blue line before the puck.

Offside is like trespassing. Don't go onto other people's property unless invited.

Hmmm. That's some pretty good advice. But I would have written the second sentence like this:

Offside is like trespassing. Don't go onto other people's property before the puck.

Or something to that extent. Actually, these police cards should tell kids the right way to retrieve a ball or puck from your neighbor's property. Like, if you are playing street hockey, and the puck goes over the fence and into your neighbor's yard, are you allowed to get it? After all, the puck did go there first….


Final rating:

Not a bad set if you are a Jets fan - and there's got to be a few of you still remaining. The good player selection and nice game action photography in this card set more than make up for the otherwise ho-hum design.

BONUS: Top 5 cards
In no particular order, here are five cards from this set that I find interesting.

• Dan Bouchard - A neat photo of the 14-year pro, sliding across his crease, ready for a low shot. This would be one of Bouchard's last cards.
• Dale Hawerchuk - The captain of the Jets was the heart and soul of the team for almost a decade.
• Dave Silk - A member of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" U.S. Olympic squad, Silk was only featured on two cards - this being one of them.
• Anssi Melametsa - File this one under "One Card Wonder". This guy played 27 games for the Jets in '85-86, and this is the only hockey card made of him.
• Brian Mullen - A nice action shot of Mullen skating with the puck while being pursued by a Kings defender.

Click photos to enlarge