1979-80 O-Pee-Chee 80 Tony Esposito Hockey Card (Front)
1979-80 O-Pee-Chee 80 Tony Esposito Hockey Card (Back)
1979-80 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
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Card Notes
Tony has won or shared the Vezina Trophy 3 times and won Calder Trophy in 1969-70. Tony’s 67 shutouts are tops among goalies.
En Français
Tony a gagné le Trophée Vézina à trois reprises et reçut le Trophée Calder en 1969-70. Avec 67 blanchissages, il détient un record.
Details
Of course, what O-Pee-Chee is trying to say on the back of this 1979-80 Tony Esposito hockey card is that his 67 shutouts were tops among current goaltenders in the NHL at the time. The French translation would suggest that it was an all-time record but Terry Sawchuk held the record at the time with 103.
Tony would go on to record a total of 76 blanks over his NHL career. That mark places him tied for 10th with Ed Belfour, one behind Roberto Luongo. Esposito still holds the modern day record with 15 shutouts during the 1969-70 season. George Hainsworth recorded 22 in 1928-29 but the game of hockey played then is nearly unrecognizable compared to today.
Esposito’s final career shutout came in his fifth last game. On January 15, 1984, he turned away all 35 shots in a 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in a home game at Chicago Stadium. Unfortunately, in his next game three nights later against the New York Islanders, he was lit up for nine goals on 39 shots with the Hawks falling 9-1. Both Mike Bossy and Bill Carroll recorded hat tricks for the visitors.
Between 1968-69 and 1983-84, Tony Esposito played 886 regular season and 99 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks. He was the Calder Trophy and Vezina Trophy winner in 1969-70 with Chicago and went on to win the Vezina two more times. Tony was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988.