Two Stéphane Fiset Autograph Cards

In keeping with yesterday's theme of Los Angeles Kings goalies, I'll feature Stéphane Fiset today, one of my favourite goalies of the 1990s.

I was lucky enough to pull autographs of his in packs of successive seasons of cards; the packs were purchased on Ebay at two bucks apiece, and opened within weeks of one another, last summer. Both are signed in black sharpie and made of black/silver foil.

First, wearing the Kings' white (home) jersey, from In The Game's 1998-98 Be A Player Signature Series (card #214):

And, second, from ITG's 1999-00 Be A Player Millenium Signature Series (card #119), here he is wearing the Kings' black (away) uniform:

Both cards show his usual butterfly stance, his center of gravity very low (I always had the impression he was trying to sit on the back of his skates when I was watching him), but playing ''wide'' and taking up a lot of left-to-right prime real estate.

I didn't follow him that closely with the Kings, for a variety of reasons ranging from a lack of interest in the sport in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the fact that I'm on the East Coast and he was on the West - time zone differences, plus not all games were available to all regions back then - and because I was mostly interested in the Québec Nordiques / Colorado Avalanche franchise he was no longer a part of.

But from 1990 to 1996, I saw over a hundred of his games and was rooting for him with all of my heart.

Stéphane Fiset Autographed Card

As a young boy/young goalie entering my teens in the late 80s, it was all about Patrick Roy. No other NHL goalie could touch him, in my book, and those who won awards (say, like Ed Belfour's Vezina as a rookie, or Mike Vernon stealing the Stanley Cup on the Forum ice in 1989) were all just stealing Roy's trophies.

Only two goalies didn't have that effect, and both times it was because they'd been spectacular in international play for Team Canada in tournaments I'd paid close attention to - Sean Burke (1988 Calgary Olympics, then with the New Jersey Devils), and Stéphane Fiset (1990 World Juniors, then with the Québec Nordiques).

I hadn't paid much attention to the 1989 World Juniors, so I didn't witness Fiset being pulled in a 7-1 loss to the Soviet Union, but I saw every single game of the 1990 version where he was named Top Goalie and won gold. And he belonged to the Victoriaville Tigres, the same team Roy had been on. And then he played with the Nordiques, my favourite team. It was all working out.

Except the Nordiques were terrible. As a matter of fact, despite having played 6 games in 1989-90 and 3 more in 1990-91, Fiset didn't get his first win until the 1991-92 season, eventually going 7-10-2 in 23 games. And by the time they were good enough, they seemed to favour an even younger draftee, Jocelyn Thibault, a skinny pimple-faced teenager with yellow equipment from his junior team.

And then the team became good and both goalies shared net duties, and the team moved to Colorado. As luck would have it, near mid-season, Fiset had the best statistics in the NHL - leader in wins, save percentage, and goals-against average. It was looking great. The Avs even decided they'd trade Thibault away - only it was for Roy, the best goalie in the world. Fiset played backup for the rest of the year and earned a Stanley Cup in the process. A few days later, he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings.

He spent parts of 6 seasons with the Kings, his ice time decreasing with every passing season, first sharing duties with Jamie Storr, then being surpassed by Félix Potvin. Eventually, as he had spent the entire campaign in the AHL with the Manchester Monarchs, he was traded to the Montréal Canadiens, playing in only 2 games with his hometown team before retiring.

He still ranks among my favourite goalies of the 90s, though. This card (#452), from Upper Deck's sleek 1991-92 Upper Deck (High Numbers) set, features Fiset coming into contact with the Canadiens' Lyle Odelein and was signed in person in slick blue sharpie, outside the RDS studios (which are conveniently situated near my house), as he was a guest on a hockey-related show.