About This Stamp
With the issuance of these two se-tenant stamps, the U.S. Postal Service® and Canada Post joined in celebrating ice hockey, the fast-paced sport played on frozen ponds and in rinks across North America.
One of the issuance’s two stamps portrays a modern hockey player skating on a pond in present day. The second stamp, which is positioned upside-down, or tête-bêche, pictures a vintage player, who represents the game’s past, set against a snowy background. The two vertically stacked stamps are arranged to mirror each other. One player is wearing a contemporary uniform and using modern equipment, and the other is wearing vintage garb and using old-fashioned equipment.
Designed by Subplot Design Inc., for Canada Post, the stamp artwork is intended to celebrate and reflect on the history of hockey. KC Armstrong shot the photographs. “USA” and “Forever” run across the top edge of each stamp. The sheet of 20 stamps includes 10 of each design. “The History of Hockey” appears in the center of the sheet flanked by the flags of the United States and Canada.
Although the exact origin of ice hockey is unknown, elements of the sport can be found in centuries-old stick-and-ball games played around the world. By the late 19th century, ice hockey had grown popular in the United States. American Malcolm Greene Chace, a competitive tennis player and Yale University student, became interested in the game and assembled a group of players from various universities. The team played games across Canada. In 1896, a team from Yale, which included Chace, faced Johns Hopkins University in the first college hockey game. Three years later, the American Amateur Hockey League formed.
Over time, the game’s rules, regulations, and equipment became more sophisticated. Ice hockey continued to be played outdoors, but indoor rinks soon became more common, thus extending the hockey season. Soon, professional leagues formed in North America. The National Hockey Association began play in 1910 and evolved into the National Hockey League in 1917. In 1924, the NHL added its first American team, the Boston Bruins. In 2017, the thriving league has teams located in cities across Canada and the U.S.
Susan Gilson was the art director of the Canadian version of the stamps. William J. Gicker was the art director of the American version of the stamps; Greg Breeding designed the typography.
The History of Hockey stamps were issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director
William Gicker
William Gicker served as Director of Stamp Services for the U.S. Postal Service from 2020 until his retirement in 2023. In that position he oversaw stamp development, stamp products and exhibitions, stamp manufacturing, stamp fulfillment, and the Postmaster General’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC).
Gicker began working for the U.S. Postal Service in 1998. Initially assistant editor of USA Philatelic, the quarterly stamp catalog produced by Stamp Services, he soon became editor where he oversaw the catalog’s award-winning program until 2013.
Named creative director of stamps in 2001, Gicker became manager and creative director of Stamp Development in 2015. Working closely with Postal Service art directors and CSAC, he managed the creative development and quality control of more than 800 stamp issuances and 1,700 individual stamp designs.
He has served as art director for some of the most popular stamps issued by the Postal Service: the five-year Art of Disney series; Star Wars; Holy Family; Harry Potter; and Hot Wheels. As both art director and designer, Gicker lists among his many stamps, Holiday Baubles; the first international rate Global stamp in 2013; and the Gifts of Friendship joint issuance with Japan. He was also art director for the first stamp to celebrate Diwali, eight more Global Forever® stamps, and several Christmas Madonna and Child issuances, the most recent in 2024.
A native of Pennsylvania, Gicker graduated from West Chester University with a bachelor of arts degree in English Literature. He and his family live in Washington, DC.
Designer: Subplot Design Inc.
Typographer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.