[irbefan4life]

So here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for, left in suspense from my almost unrealistic box breaks this Christmas. I promised there would be game-used goodness, and boy I will not disappoint. The memorabilia will cover the 1950s/60s, 1979-80, the early 1990s, and the late 2000s. Let's begin the journey, shall we?

The first is a non-NHL game-used 1950s-1960s fibreglass goalie mask made by the Winnwell Corporation, a company that has been around since 1906 and is still in business today. Though the provenance is not of the NHL, it is regardless, an important showcase in the evolution of goalie protection. It is of the second generation of goalie mask, after the pretzels and into the era of face-only but not full-skull protection. The name on it says Bill Mertz, but records of the minor leagues of the 50s/60s are spotty at best. The straps are all original and highly vintage, and all of the original protective inserts in the helmet are also original, hardened over years of sweat and game action. To the professors who may point out that this mask appears small...it is not. I tried it on and for a period piece, it fits as it should on an adult male such as myself.

Front:



Company logo:



Back strap showcase:



Back foam insert showcase:



The next piece takes us to a hectic time for the NHL, the era of non-original 6 dynasties. This next piece is a 1979-80 season game-used Detroit Red Wings stick belonging to a goalie you may have heard of, Rogatien Vachon. Other than being the face of the Los Angeles Kings during the 1970s, he also accumulated a total of 355 career NHL wins with the Habs, Kings, Wings, and Bruins, and he also earned three career Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens in 1968, 1969, and 1971. Needless to say that he is a legend of the game, and as such, there are several photos. One unusual tidbit about Vachon I did not know before owning this stick was that he would retape his stick completely between each period and he would never use his practice stick in game. Meaning, if you have a heavily used Vachon stick with lots of puck marks on it, there's probably something wrong there.

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What Christmas game-used day could be complete without an addition to my Arturs Irbe collection? This here, is an Arturs Irbe game-used San Jose Sharks goalie stick. With this addition, I now own 1 Sharks stick of his, 1 Canucks stick of his, and 3 Hurricanes sticks of his. All that's left for me is a Stars one and his entire NHL journey is covered.












And finally, because three pieces of goaltending history isn't enough, why not pad the stats with a set of game-used pads belonging to Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers. Deslauriers was drafted 31st overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, by the Edmonton Oilers. He first appeared in game action in the NHL's regular season in 2008-09, appearing in 10 games. The following year, he became the starter for the Oilers, appearing in 48 games, before being relegated back into the AHL the following year. He was then signed as a free agent by Anaheim and after playing four games with them in 2011-12, he was placed on waivers and disappeared into the AHL. In his NHL career, to date, he has appeared in 62 games, recording a 23-32-4 record with a 3.24 GAA, a 0.901% save average and 3 shutouts. These pads were worn in the 2007-08 NHL pre-season, as well as the AHL regular season with the Springfield Falcons. As the pads were originally purchased by the first owner from the Oilers equipment sale at the end of the 2008-09 season, it is also possible that Deslauriers appeared in the October 17, 2008 game against Calgary while wearing these pads. Already by November of 2008, he was wearing a different set. All ITG cards from 2007-08 also depict Deslauriers wearing these pads.

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And a photo of him wearing these pads in the pre-season and at the beginning of their life, before getting so much wear.

http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-ph...o/76983634

[opierocks]

Impressive!

[mrsudol@gmail.com]

that mask is my favorite! impressive

[pens1fan]

Sweet addition!!! Love the Vachon and Irbe sticks. Congrats!!!!

[mq13]

Holy Smoke!!! Great additions and the Mask is Awesome! As always a great showing Bruce.

[irbefan4life]

Thanks for all of the comments everyone, it is always appreciated. With my work, I am not always able to reply in a timely fashion to my own threads, but I am always happy when people took the time to look at my newest pieces, especially with the amount of time that actually goes into posing the pieces, photographing them, and then cropping them before moving them to photobucket and then writing up my descriptions.

And...I may have another piece of history coming the mail...