The last post in this series had a common theme, and this one is no different. As you probably deduced from the title, they all feature goaltenders from the Minnesota Wild. I found four of them grouped together in my stack of cards awaiting to be scanned.
The first one is this Manny Fernandez from 2001-02 Upper Deck. Fernandez was traded to the Wild from Dallas in June of 2000. If you look closely, you can see Stars logos on the side and chin of his mask. I believe the pads/gloves are also from his days in Dallas, but they don't contrast the Wild green all that much.
This one is pretty much the exact same thing, only from another angle this time. One thing I will say is I really miss those jerseys. Before the edge-ification at the hands of Reebok, the Wild had some of the coolest jerseys in my opinion. I even had a home white version when I was younger and loved it.
Here we've got a bit of a lesser known goaltender, Derek Gustafson, who went undrafted and only played in five NHL games over two seasons with the Wild between 2000-2002. The reason he's included here is the mask he's sporting on this one from 2001-02 Pacific. It's from his time with St. Lawrence University (ECAC), where he is best known for a record setting four-overtime win against Rick DiPietro and Boston in the 1999-00 playoffs.
Not sure if anyone else noticed this, but isn't it kind of odd that Gustafson has Eagle leg pads and blocker, but then a Koho glove? I'm sure it was just a personal preference thing at the time, but for some reason something always seems off when the brands don't match like this. I mean, don't these things usually come in sets? Here's one from 2001-02 Topps.
That's it for now. These four were welcome additions to the project from a collection of cards that would otherwise never see the light of day, let alone their own post on the blog. They also bring me four closer to my goal of 100 cards for the project. Only 44 to go.
Goaltending Gallimaufry Count: 66
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