Steve Penney

Steve Penney's first real impact in the hockey world came while backstopping the Shawinigan Cataracts of the QMJHL in 1980. In his third year with the club, he won thirty games and garnered the attention of the Montreal Canadiens who drafted him that same year.

But Penney's ascent to the NHL would be slow and indirect. From the junior ranks he found himself toiling in Flint, Michigan of the IHL. Two seasons of minor-league duty was all he would accept. In 1983, he resolved to attend the Canadiens' training camp to give his career one more chance. If he was returned to Flint, he planned to quit and take his old job of delivering beer in Ste. Foy. But while at camp, he fell under the guidance of Jacques Plante who helped raise Penney to the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the AHL.

Meanwhile, Jacques Lemaire became the Habs' head coach. He found the inconsistent play of his goaltenders, Rick Wamsley and Richard Sevigny, to be intolerable. To make his point, he summoned Penney from the AHL just in time for the playoffs of 1984. The startled rookie seized his opportunity by winning nine playoff games?three as shutouts. He became the toast of Montreal.

The following year, he became the Canadiens' number-one stopper, winning 32 regular-season and playoff games. He was voted to the NHL All-Rookie Team of 1985.

But as quickly as Penney's fortunes rose, they fell away. In 1985-86, he slipped to the club's backup role, appearing in only 18 games. And by the following year, he'd been shipped to Winnipeg where he played only a handful of games before GM John Ferguson broke the news that he didn't fit into their plans. Penney appeared in 28 games with Moncton of the AHL before hanging up his pads in 1987-88.