Nothing like a vintage Jacques Plante card to kick off the blog. I was thinking of starting with a Bruins card since they are my favorite team, but instead I just randomly picked a card out of  my box. I picked this up in a trade about a year ago at the local shop. The owner and I are essentially the only hockey collectors in the area and he had this card in his shop for  as long  as I can remember. I don’t recall exactly what I gave up for it, but it wasn’t too much; probably some baseball rookies that may or may not pan out.

My thinking is that whenever you can pick up a card of an all-time great in pretty decent condition, you have to do it. What I like about this card is that in 61-62, Plante won the Vezina AND the Hart that year, a feat that was not repeated until the 97-98 season by Dominik Hasek. Overall he finished with six Stanley Cups, seven Vezina trophies, and one Hart Trophy. Oh, and over 400 wins. Not a bad little career.

Additionally, Plante was a pioneer; everyone knows that he introduced the goalie mask, but he brought about a few other innovations to the game. He was the first goalie to regularly skate behind the net to stop pucks for his defensemen. He was the first to raise his arm during an icing call to let his defensemen know what was going on. He also perfected the stand-up style of goaltending that relied heavily on angles and positional play.

One last thing you may not have known; his last season was with the Boston Bruins, coming over in a trade. He played 8 games for the B’s, compiling a 7-1 record with a 2.00 GAA and 2 shutouts. All this was done at the ripe ol’ age of 44.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978 and died in 1986.

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