Steve Penney: 3 Autographed Cards

I started following hockey a bit during the 1984-85 season and more seriously in 1985-86, when the Montréal Canadiens won an unexpected Stanley Cup on the strength of a miracle performance by rookie goaltender Patrick Roy.

Before Roy, the Habs' net belonged to youngster Steve Penney, who also hails from Ste-Foy, a suburb of Québec City; Penney tended the nets for 54 games in 1984-85, a rare feat at the time, especially for a rookie.

Speaking of his rookie year, the card below is from Topps' 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee set (card #269), Penney's rookie card:

OPC was good for taking most of their pictures for their cards between plays or during pre-game warm-ups, and in the case of goalies, many without a helmet, sporting a towel around their necks as was customary for back-ups at the time.

The card above is from Topps' 1985-86 O-Pee-Chee set (card #4), the season where Penney got a Stanley Cup, serving as Roy's back-up, although the league forgot to engrave his name on the trophy. Still, the Habs gave him a ring and put him in the team's picture.

Penney was kind enough to include the above card as a bonus, one in which he appears in the team's home (white) uniform, which was almost impossible to get from 80s OPC cards. This card is from the 2008 Molson Export Montréal Canadiens Alumni set, created as a complement to the 1999 set in time for the team's centennial.

Ironically, superstar blogger Sal had the same three cards signed at the beginning of the season.

I sent Penney the two O-Pee-Chee cards and a fan letter explaining that his years with the Habs (and Roy's, of course) were what inspired me to be a goalie as a kid on February 13th, 2012. He added the Molson card, signed all three in blue sharpie with his number (37) tagged at the end, and I received them back on February 22nd. Barely more than a week later! What a guy!