1974-75 O-Pee-Chee 205 Gilles Meloche Hockey Card (Front)
1974-75 O-Pee-Chee 205 Gilles Meloche Hockey Card (Back)
1974-75 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
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Card Notes
Has quickly developed into one of the best young goaltenders in the NHL. Gilles is an outstanding “angles” goalie and he has one of the fastest glove hands in the league. Was named West Division rookie of the year in 1971-72. Originally the property of Chicago, Gilles was traded to the Golden Seals in October of 1971. He is now starting his fourth year with California.
En Français
Gilles est rapidement devenu l’un des meilleurs jeunes gardiens dans la LNH. Il couvre très bien les angles et sa main “gantée” est extrêmement rapide. Recrue de l’Année dans la Division Ouest pour 1971-72. Gilles, qui appartenait initialement aux Black Hawks, passa aux Golden Seals en Octobre 1971, à la suite d’un échange.
Details
Gilles Meloche was a fifth round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks at the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft. He got into just a pair of games with the Hawks in 1970-71 with Tony Esposito securely in the team’s number one spot. Fittingly, a guy that would become a goalie that would face a ton of shots with the Golden Seals was hammered with 46 in his first NHL game.
On March 16, 1971, Meloche started for Chicago in a game at Pacific Coliseum against the Vancouver Canucks. He made 42 saves in the 7-4 Blackhawks win. Bobby Hull had a goals and four assists for a five point game.
Three nights later, he played his second and last game with Chicago, a 5-2 road win over his soon to be team, the California Golden Seals. Gilles made 24 saves in the win while Gary Smith was pounded with 48 shots in net for the Seals.
On October 18, 1971, Meloche was traded to the Seals with Paul Shmyr for Gerry Desjardins. In that 1971-72 NHL season, Gilles put up a 3.33 goals against average and four shutouts over 56 games with California. He received just a single vote for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year but was the only player in the top 4 from the West Division. Ken Dryden, Rick Martin and Marcel Dionne finished ahead of him.
Between 1970-71 and 1987-88, Gilles Meloche played 788 regular season and 45 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Blackhawks, California Golden Seals, Cleveland Barons, Minnesota North Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins.