Did you know that Patrick Roy wasn't the first goaltender when the Colorado Avalanche came into existence when they moved from Quebec in 1995? What's that? You already knew that? Okay, then I bet you don't know who was the team's first goaltender. You don't know? The answer to that is the masked gentleman you see in the picture above: Jocelyn Thibault.
The first round draft pick of the Quebec Nordiques in 1993, he had a fairly solid tenure in Quebec when the team moved to Colorado after the 1995 season. He only played a handful of games for the Avalanche in the team's first season before getting traded to Montreal as part of the Patrick Roy deal. Everyone knows what happened to the Avs that year, but Thibault carved out a decent, if not spectacular career for himself. He spent time in Montreal, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo in addition to the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise. He will forever be linked to the Patrick Roy trade, which seems unfair at times, given that there wasn't going to be many that could replace what Roy brought to Montreal.
Today's mask is from the Colorado Avalanche part of Thibault's career, and even though he only saw action for a couple of months with the team, the mask brought out the essence of the Rocky Mountains that the team calls home. Unfortunately, this was the best picture I could find, so if anyone has a better picture, tell me about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment