Waiting their turn
For emergency goalies, brief moment in spotlight can last a lifetime,
Eric Semborski was coaching youth hockey players at the Philadelphia Flyers training facility, a rink where he had interacted occasionally with NHL players in Voorhees, N.J., when he got the call Saturday morning.
A series of events had taken place that would result in the 23-year-old former college club goalie becoming an NHL player himself. Semborski was pulled aside by his boss and found himself talking to a representative of the Flyers.
“He started taking down my player history,” Semborski told USA TODAY Sports. “Then he said the Blackhawks would need a goalie in a couple hours and to go home and get my gear. It’s not something I ever thought about.
“To go from club hockey to the Wells Fargo Center? I dreamt about being in the NHL as a kid, but I knew it was never going to happen.”
It happened when Chicago Blackhawks starter Corey Crawford needed an appendectomy, and just like that Semborski had joined a small and little-known club of emergency backup goalies. They wake up as bankers, embroidery store owners or video producers and end the day as pro hockey players.
NHL teams are required to have a backup goalie suited up at all times and, even in the case of injury or illness, teams can typically recall a minor league player to fill in. The Blackhawks were on the road, unable to shuffle the lineup with minor league recalls on such short notice and went to a list of area goalies provided by the Flyers.
Chicago also could not sign goalie coach Jimmy Waite because they are in a salarycap crunch and — as a former professional — Waite’s salary would have counted against the cap.
Semborski was a spectator as Scott Darling, the Blackhawks’ No. 2 goalie, remained in net for the 3-1 loss. Coach Joel Quenneville told reporters the hockey world “almost saw” Semborski take the ice after Darling allowed three goals in the second period.
“These guys are the best in the world,” Semborski said. “I wasn’t ready for that.”
Rob Laurie, 46, has been an emergency backup goalie three times for three teams: the Anaheim Ducks, Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild. One of his most vivid memories came in January 2014 when then-Canucks coach John Tortorella yelled at a referee because he thought a Los Angeles Kings player was trying to take out goalie Eddie Lack to force Laurie into action.
“Torts ripped the ref really bad,” Laurie said. “I think he felt the (Kings player) was trying to injure Lack on purpose.”
Although Laurie and Semborski haven’t made it into a game, other emergency goalies have, including Alexander Pechursky, a Russian who played in the minors at the time. Pechursky took the ice for the Pittsburgh Penguins in January 2010 and entered after the third-string goalie was pulled. Pechursky allowed one goal on 13 shots as the Pittsburgh Penguins fell to the Canucks 6-2.
Before a rule change in 2013, NHL teams could suit up only goalies such as Semborski — a goalie who had never played pro hockey on any level — to oneday contracts.
“You were limited, because anybody like a goalie coach or anybody who used to play pro couldn’t sign a one-day contract,” Sharks assistant general manager Joe Will said. “That’s why you saw a lot of Canadian college goaltenders, because, in the United States, you couldn’t use an NCAA-eligible guy because they’d lose their scholarship or eligibility.”
That led teams from the ridiculous to the sublime. In 2011, the Wild signed 51year-old Paul Deutsch, the owner of an embroidery and screen print shop who started playing goalie at 37. In 2008, the Washington Capitals tapped Web video producer Brett Leonhardt, the first of two occasions he served as the team’s emergency backup.
The amateurs-only rule was eliminated, allowing former NHL goalies who serve as goalie coaches or consultants — such as Arturs Irbe and Dwayne Roloson — to fill in.
The most notable example came when both Florida Panthers goalies, Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya, were injured in a March 2015 game, leading them to sign goalie coach and ex-NHL netminder Robb Tallas during the game. He wasn’t needed.
In the most extreme circumstances during a game when both goalies are forced out because of injury, NHL rules state teams are “entitled to dress and play any available goalkeeper.” That would allow any adult to hit the ice. The players on each team’s emergency list typically live near the arena or attend the games just in case.
“The GMs talked about (it) and said, ‘Listen, we need to have somebody ready to go,’ ” Dallas Stars goaltending coach Jeff Reese said. “That’s why these lists exist.”
Laurie was one of the first benefactors of the rule change that allowed former pro goalies to serve as emergency backups, although he never reached the NHL and last played professionally more than a decade earlier for the El Paso Buzzards of the Central Hockey League. But he was playing beer league hockey in the Los Angeles area when he befriended Jonas Hiller, the Ducks’ starter at the time, and that led to his status as the go-to emergency goalie in Southern California.
Emergency goalies often don’t make it out of the locker room because the minor league call-up arrives in time for the contest, something Laurie experienced in his first backup stint after Hiller fell ill.
“Dream over,” said Laurie, who took warm-ups with the Ducks. “I guess I might as well start taking my stuff off. Then (Ducks forward) Corey Perry told me, ‘No, dude. Get out to the bench. He’s not ready yet.’ I was like, ‘He’s right. I’m going to go out there for the anthem.’ ”
Laurie, who has since moved to the Detroit area, headed back to the locker room a couple minutes into the game when the minor leaguer arrived.
He got to remain out in the backup spot for the entire game in his next two emergency backup stints.
As a former pro, Laurie earned $500 for each of the three games.
“I think I put it into the bank,” Laurie said. “I don’t remember doing anything special with it. Actually, I haven’t even really thought about the money. The coolest thing was having the chance to do it — and getting the jersey.”
Semborski, at least when he returned to work as a youth hockey coach Sunday, felt like a pro for a few more moments as he posed for a few photos and even signed an autograph.
“I don’t expect to ever get that opportunity again,” Semborski said. “It was all just so surreal.”