Jocelyn Thibault Jersey Card

The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Montréal Canadiens tonight, and I thought I could I'd feature a goalie who has played for both teams, Jocelyn Thibault.

A Montréal native, Thibault had a so-so career in Juniors that was rich in controversy, including accusations that his father issued his head coaches threats if they didn't play the diminutive goalie enough; all those efforts may have worked, however, as the Québec Nordiques made him the 10th overall pick in 1993, ahead of such players as Brendan Witt (11th), and All-Stars Kenny Jonsson (12th), Adam Deadmarsh (14th), Jason Allison (17th), Finnish legend Saku Koivu (21st), Todd Bertuzzi (23rd), Janne Niinimaa (36th), Bryan McCabe (40th), Éric Dazé (90th), Miroslav Satan (111th), Tommy Salo (118th), Patrick Lalime (156th), Manny Legace (188th), Pavol Demitra (227th), and Kimmo Timonen (250th).

The Nordiques really wanted to hand Thibault the net, often playing him ahead of Stéphane Fiset although Fiset was better and readier; plans changed a bit when the team moved to become the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, and even more so when the Habs made Patrick Roy available on the trade market following an infamous game against the Detroit Red Wings.


At the time, Avs GM Pierre Lacroix went back to an offer previous Habs GM Serge Savard had made him a couple of months earlier, (Roy for Fiset and power forward Owen Nolan), but new (and newbie) GM Réjean Houle insisted on receiving Thibault as well as two forwards who would become disappointing, Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko. Oh, and Houle threw in Habs captain Mike Keane in there as well, to avoid a controversy with his refusal to learn French to appease the team's fanbase.

So instead of trading the best goalie in the world for another #1 netminder and an All-Star winger, Houle gave away said best goalie as well as his captain and top penalty-killer for an unproven kid in nets and two wingers who wouldn't close out the decade with the team.

Poor Thibault, who had tremendously huge pads to fill with his frail 5'11", 170-pound frame - and never could. As a matter of fact, it's only when he was traded out of Montréal's pressure-cooker to the Hawks that he finally met the expectations that had been put on him, earning an All-Star Game nod in an 8-shutout season in  2002-03; indeed, he has more shutouts with the Hawks (28, in parts of six seasons) than all other teams he played for combined (11 with five teams over parts of 10 seasons).

It's fitting, then, that I first feature him wearing the Hawks' red (then-away) uniform, on card #10 of Pacific's 2001-02 Atomic collection and Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set:

It features a white game-worn jersey swatch.

Tony Amonte Jersey Card

For Day Three of my Tough Guys month, I decided I could feature Tony Amonte again, what with Team USA having had an awful last-place showing at the World Cup, on a team that was supposed to resemble the seminal 1996 group that had won it, with Amonte scoring the deciding goal against Team Canada on September 14th - my birthday - at the then-Molson Centre.

Drafted by the New York Rangers, Amonte scored 35 goals in his rookie season to finish third in Calder Trophy voting, behind Pavel Bure and Nicklas Lidstrom, and ahead of the likes of Pat Falloon, Donald Audette, Kevin Todd, Benoît Brunet and Derian Hatcher. He accumulated 76 points the following year, but had a disappointing 1993-94, leading the Rangers to trade him to the Chicago Blackhawks, essentially for Stéphane Matteau.

It was with the Hawks that the five-time All-Star would become the pre-eminent power forward in the NHL, hitting the 40-goal mark three times, with 35- and 31-goal seasons as well. Like Charlie Sheen, he had one speed: "Go!", and made the opposing goalie's crease his home, fighting off cross-checks to the back to stay in position.

Perhaps not as talented as the likes of John LeClair and Keith Primeau, and certainly not as mean as Keith Tkachuk or Mark Messier and Eric Lindros, he still willed his way into a 900-point career (416 of them goals), and played in four deep playoff runs (i.e. more than 10 games played).

In addition to his World Cup title, he also has a silver medal from the 2002 Olympics. He also captained the Hawks from 2000-02, between Doug Gilmour and Alexei Zhamnov, as can be attested by card #8 of Pacific's 2001-02 Atomic collection and Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set:

It contains a red game-worn jersey swatch while showing him in the Hawks' black uniform.

Sergei Zholtok Jersey Card

Since I'm quoting 4-year old posts of late, I figured I could revisit the career of Sergei Zholtok (Sergejs Žoltoks in Latvian), particularly with a swatch card from his days with the Montréal Canadiens, from Pacific's 2001-02 Atomic set (card #30 of the Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set):

The white swatch, probably from the white (then-home) uniform, matches the picture on the front, and comes two years after he posted a 26-goal season to lead the Habs, which is why he's listed (though not pictured) as a member of the Minnesota Wild, even though the Canadiens had sent him to the Edmonton Oilers - for Chad Kilger - midway through the 2000-01 campaign). He did captain the Wild as part of their rotating captaincy of the early 00s; his stint took place in January 2003.

Never a huge NHL point-producer - his best seasons saw him hovering around the 40-point mark - he did post point-per-game statistics overseas, as well as in international tournaments, where he collected 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points in 20 Juniors games with the Soviet and Russian teams, and 32 points (on 21 goals) in 34 games representing Latvia at various World Championships.

A post-mortem tribute (among many) can be found here. A dry recounting of the events that led to his demise can be found here.