Strap on your hockey skates for the February cartoon caption contest

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

Ice hockey is a fast, intense and sometimes violent sport. The iconic photo is of a smiling hockey player missing his front teeth. Also, while not the standard by which the sport is evaluated, there is some truth to the meme, “I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out.”

The sport was celebrated on a 20¢ stamp issued Jan. 6, 1984 (Scott 2070), in a set of four marking that year’s Winter Olympics. The other stamps in the set feature ice dancing, downhill skiing and cross-county skiing.

In the 1984 Olympic ice hockey competition, the U.S. men’s team finished seventh in a field of 12. This was something of a disappointment after the U.S. men’s team had won the Olympic gold in the 1980 Winter Olympics.

It may be a stretch unless you have mastered ice skating, but put yourself in a hockey player’s uniform and tell me what you might be saying or thinking about the game, the Olympics, the stamp or whatever else occurs to you. You might focus on anything from postal service to the sport of politics.

Entries with a touch of humor or irony stand the best chance of winning the contest.

There will be two prizes given to the winners: one for the best philatelic line and one for the best nonphilatelic line.

Put your entry (or entries) on a postcard if possible and send it to me, John Hotchner, Cartoon Contest, Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125; or email it to jmhstamp@verizon.net. If you send an email, it is essential that you include your postal mailing address.

For each winner, the prize will be a 13-week subscription to Linn’s (a new subscription or an extension).

Entries must reach me no later than Feb. 24.

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