François Groleau Autographed Card

I featured François Groleau about a month ago with a signature card I'd found in a pack; today I bring you an in-person autograph of his that he signed in blue sharpie two seasons ago as a member of the Thetford Mines Isothermic of the LNAH:

It's from Classic's 1993-94 Pro Hockey Prospects set (card #47) and shows him wearing the St. John Flames red (away) uniform; they were the Calgary Flames' AHL affiliate at the time, who had picked him with the 41st overall pick in 1991.

The defenseman had two decent seasons in St. John, going 8-14-22 with 49 PIMs in 73 games in his rookie season, and had an impressive 6-34-40 harvest in 65 games before the Flames traded his rights to the Québec Nordiques. He had a goal and two assists in 8 games with their AHL affiliates - the Cornwall Aces - and another 2-7-9 in 16 playoff games, yet they didn't retain his services, probably because he finished his season well into the minuses despite his fine offensive statistics.

François Groleau Autograph Card

Today we look at François Groleau, a 40-year old defenseman drafted in 1991 (41st overall by the Calgary Flames) who is still active today, albeit it in the LNAH, a minor pro league based essentially in Québec.

A veteran of 4 AHL teams, an IHL team, and 5 teams in 3 European leagues, he managed to play 8 games in the NHL over three seasons with the Montréal Canadiens. They did take place after the team had traded Patrick Roy, though, so the team was in disarray.

He played most of his Juniors career with the Shawinigan Cataractes, of which I have this card to show for:

It's their white (home) jersey, and is from Classic's 1991-92 Draft Picks set, numbered 1075/1150, a number so high it almost didn't exist.

Other Cataractes alumni include Enrico Ciccone, Sergio Momesso, Alexandre Burrows, Mario Gosselin, Stéphane Robidas, Radim Vrbata, Jason Pominville, Alexandre Bolduc, Marc-André Bergeron, Zbyněk Michálek, Jean-Claude Bergeron, Jean-François Jomphe, Timo Pielmeier, Patrick Lalime, Patrick Lebeau, Stéphan Lebeau, Dominic Roussel, Daniel Shank, Patrick Traverse, Stéphane Morin, Steve Penney, and Claude Pronovost. Not a bad history, eh?