1978-79 O-Pee-Chee 28 Gilles Meloche Hockey Card (Front)
1978-79 O-Pee-Chee 28 Gilles Meloche Hockey Card (Back)
1978-79 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
Card Notes
Gilles is nicknamed “The Robber Baron” because of his scintillating ability to stop the puck to defense opponent.
Of course, 1978-79 was the year the Cleveland Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars. Thus, the terrible artwork on the front of this Gilles Meloche hockey card. If you can look past the awful airbrushing job that turned Meloche into a Minnesota North Stars goalie, you can’t look past the fact that his ‘opponent’ in the background is also wearing an away jersey.
In fact, the away jersey worn by the ‘opponent’ in the background is simply the uniform of the Cleveland Barons.
Regardless, this is a hockey card of perhaps one of the most underrated goaltenders of the 1970’s. Meloche had the misfortune of spending much of his career in the California Golden Seals / Cleveland Barons organization. He did help the North Stars in 1980-81 in their run to the Stanley Cup final. He appeared in 13 playoff games that year, sharing duties with Don Beaupre before the team was ousted by the New York Islanders in the final.