Career
He is currently a special assignment scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had previously served as the team"s longtime goaltending coach, winning three Stanley Cups in that position before resigning in 2013. After playing junior for the Verdun Maple Leafs, Meloche was the 70th player chosen in the 1970 amateur draft by the Chicago Black Hawks.
His first professional season was spent mostly with Flint in the International League with a two game stint with Chicago.
Chicago was strong in goal with Tony Esposito, so Meloche was dealt to the California Golden Seals, one of the weakest teams in the league. In his first season with the Seals in 1971-1972, he recorded a strong goals against average of 3.33 and four shutouts, including one against the league powerhouse Boston Bruins.
The Seals" fortunes in the National Hockey League continued to worsen but Meloche continued to play well as the club"s number one goaltender. Meloche faced a barrage of rubber directed at the Seals" goal for another four seasons up to the franchise"s relocation to Cleveland.
Moving to Cleveland for two seasons, Meloche solidly backstopped the Barons with only a slight improvement in the team
Following the Barons" merger with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978, Meloche was Minnesota"s primary goalie and experienced his greatest success. Meloche spent eight seasons with the North Stars, which included two appearances in the National Hockey League All-Star game in 1980 and 1982. Minnesota experienced playoff success as well, with an appearance in the finals in 1981 and the semi-finals in 1980 and 1984.
Meloche finished his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, playing three more seasons before retiring in 1988.
In total, Meloche played in 788 National Hockey League regular season games over 19 seasons with a Gaelic Athletic Association of 3.64 and 20 shutouts. Largely because of his stint with the dreadful Seals/Barons teams of the 1970s, his 351 losses are the fourth-most in National Hockey League history, only behind Martin Brodeur, Curtis Joseph and Gump Worsley.
He appeared in 45 playoff games and registered a Gaelic Athletic Association of 3.48 with 2 shutouts. Following his retirement from playing, Meloche served as a Penguins scout from 1989 to 2006 and also doubled as a goaltending coach/consultant during much of that time.