Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction February 2024
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/20/2024
Backing-up superstar Ken Dryden for numerous seasons with the Montreal Canadiens throughout most the 1970s, Michel “Bunny” Larocque was drafted 6th overall in 1972 and earned/shared four Vezina Trophies during his career along with a quartet of Stanley Cup championships. Also enjoying National Hockey League time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues to the tune of 312 NHL games played, offered here is this mask worn by Larocque during his short stint with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1982-83 season. Made by Michel Lefebvre, a noted maker who produced masks for many NHLers, including Michel Larocque, during the 1970s and 1980s as well as into the 1990s and 2000s, the mask was shown to him recently and he confirmed he made that mask for Larocque. Measuring approximately 13 1/2" from top-to-bottom and done up in an orange, white and black colour way, Larocque’s elongated Flyers mask features his nickname "Bunny" going down the forehead in white letters and two (2) black and white Playboy bunnies over each cheek. Still complete with the original backplate and strapping harness, all the original foam is observed on the interior of the mask and backside of the backplate and remains in good condition. Showing just light use in the form of a few puck marks and other light scratches and scrapes, indicative of Larocque’s short time in Philly, the coveted face covering displays beautifully and was originally part of the Richard Curry collection.
With actual game photographs from Bunny Larocque's short stay in Philadelphia almost non-existent, a pair of images we found show Bunny wearing a mask with a slightly different paint job then on this mask. Also there is one with the "Bunny" on the forehead and the other without. The mask being offered here was touched-up/partially repainted at some point for display purposes, most likely by Michel Lefebvre himself. On the aforementioned images, the pattern of holes on the mask seem to be matching what is seen on the mask being offered.
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