Steve Penney

[Eskie Jetski]

I'm watching the ESPN Classic Canada Montreal-Quebec games right now and I'm wondering whatever happened to that guy? He looked like one of the league's top goalies in the early-mid 80s but when Patrick Roy took over, the guy fell off the face of the earth.

[cursednumber6]

As a Bruin fan I hate the guy to this day since he stoned a good team in one series and barely beat them the next year. However, he was the prodcut of a very good Montreal defensive team. He would square up to the puck well but had a weak golve and average blocker. In other words, if you could elevate the puck at all, you could beat him.

[Hoser]

Penney had injury problems. Back spasms and sprains, and knee troubles. Doug Soetart was his back-up in '84-'85 and played pretty well, so they kept playing him in '85-'86. Roy joined the fold that year and the three of them, Penney, Soetart and Roy, shared goaltending duties. Penney kept having niggling injuries and wasn't playing well and Soetart had shoulder troubles so Roy ended up starting most of the games. After Roy shined in the playoffs in '86 there was no reason to keep Penney (or Soetart) around. He was by far the worst of the three at the time. Penney was dealt to the Jets for Brian Hayward. I don't really know why the Jets wanted him; he ended up the third-string guy behind Daniel Berthiaume and Pokey Reddick.

He was demoted to the Jets' AHL affiliate and went an improbable 0-14-4 in 28 games with the Moncton Hawks in '87-'88. After that he was done, a combination of injuries and nobody wanting him anymore, I imagine.

He really only had the one good year and playoffs.

[FiveForDrawingBlood]

I think they found holes in his armour and exploited them. Expecially Quebec in the '85 playoffs, once they found out Penney was fighting shots from the blueline.

Habs pulled an old trick on the Bruins that playoff year...put in a goalie nobody knows and surround him with a good defense and play a tight shell. For short term it might just work. Nothing to lose as Bruins were a powerhouse and Habs barely scraped into playoffs.