Tuesday, August 29, 2017

An even bakers dozen

Still have quite a few goalie cards to show off, so I increased the number on tonight's post to 13.  I'm working my from the higher numbers to the lower ones, so it's easier for me to replace the cards back in the plastic case that I'm keeping them in temporarily. 

I tried to group the cards again this evening, it was a little tougher this time with the cards I wanted to show, but we'll see how I did...


The only horizontal card for today features the 03-04 Upper Deck card of Ron Tugnutt.  I looked up this mask last night and noticed that as Ron moved around later in his career, the "splash" design was common to each team he moved to.  I also noticed with this card is that quite a few of the goalie cards so far have also had pucks very close by.  Tugnutt's card is #307.


The first panel of 3 fit together for me because the masks are all blue.  I remember when Eric Fichaud on the right was going to be the next Leafs big goalie prospect.  But he wound up buried behind Felix Potvin at the time, and never played a regular season game in Toronto before being traded to the Islanders.  Love the whale on his mask though, as it was something you don't see very often. 
Damian Rhodes in the middle is another of the great head shots that I'm hoping to find more of. His 95-96 Upper Deck card shows him before he was traded to Ottawa that season and became a regular starter.
I always loved the white wolves on Jocelyn Thibault's Nordiques mask; it was probably one of the top 2 or 3 masks in the history of the team.

Thibault's card is #316, Rhodes is #337, while Fichaud is #338.


Tugnutt appears again on this panel, this time in a Canadiens uniform.  The "splash" theme didn't come in Montreal until the next season for Tugnutt, so for now we have his 94-95 Upper Deck card to use. 
Tommy Salo's mask I don't remember too well, but I believe that is a lighthouse on the one side, fitting for the Islanders.  Maybe I'll find something with a better photo than this 98-99 UD card.
Is it just me, or is JVB's mask on the right look like it's 3 sizes too big for his head?  The NY logo looks absolutely massive.  I prefer his Philly mask design, which I'm hoping to find later on.

Tugnutt is #321, Salo is #317 and Vanbiesbrouck is #339.


A trio of goalies from the old Southeastern division are on this panel.  Steve Shields' mask continued on with his Gerry Cheevers tribute mask that he wore as a Bruin.  I'd actually forgotten that Shields spent time here in South Florida.
Ondrej Pavelec spent his entire career with the Thrashers/Jets until he finally moved on this summer to the Rangers.  Hopefully there he'll get a bit more defensive support.  I always liked the old Thrashers logo, so this 07-08 Victory card may be the only one that features the old Atlanta squad.
What I've loved so far is doing some research on some of the designs, just to find out the inspiration.  Michal Neuvirth's mask is no exception.  Turns out that this is a tribute mask, it's a bit tough to see, but the left side has a portrait of Czech goalie legend Jiri Holecek, while the right side (not visible) has Olaf Kolzig painted on.  The eagle on the top of the mask for me is the icing on the cake.

Shields' card is #329.  Pavelec's card is # 334.  Neuvirth's card is #332


The last panel features goalies sporting Western Conference jerseys.  Dwayne Roloson on the left has a great wilderness design on his Minnesota Wild mask, featuring a bear on one side and a wolf on the other. 
Jose Theodor's Avalanche mask continues the gargoyle theme that I showed on last night's post.  The chin also matches the shoulder patch with the Bigfoot foot print. 
JS Giguere's mask is the half duck, half cyborg artwork that I don't remember.  Seeing these 3 masks makes me think I need to start watching some more western conference games this year.

Roloson's mask is #342.  Theodore's is #305, and Giguere is #319.

13 more cards off the list.  I'm loving this project so far...

thanks for reading, Robert

2 comments:

  1. The Rhodes card is probably my favourite from your lot. Love a card where it shows a close-up of the mask.

    Tugnutt first started his splash design during his time with the Canadiens - the splash is actually suppose to be Molson Canadian beer, apparently. There's a nice pic of it on a '94 (95?) Score card.

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    1. I did find that image online of Tugnutt's Score card, which I believe is '95. Did not know about the beer angle, if that's the case then the mask is even more awesome to me...

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