EMERGENCY GOALIE ISSUE PUT TO REST BY NHL
League decides to leave rule alone and enjoy the publicity
It was after the Zamboni driver had allowed two goals on three shots that the NHL began to worry they might have an embarrassing situation on their hands.
Moments earlier, the Carolina Hurricanes lost their starting goalie in the first period and their backup goalie in the second to freak injuries in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs last month. So a call went out to the emergency backup goalie, who happened to be in the arena.
It was followed by another phone call.
“I called (Hurricanes GM)
Don Waddell during the second intermission and said, ‘Can’t one of those two guys please come back?’” said Colin Campbell, the NHL’S executive vice-president and director of hockey operations.
Turns out, it was unnecessary. In what has become one of the greatest (and unlikeliest) moments in NHL history, David Ayres stopped all seven shots he faced in the third period to lead the Hurricanes to a 6-3 win.
Since Ayres’ remarkable win, he has appeared on the Today Show and on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and received his own Upper Deck hockey card. It’s the kind of positive exposure that the NHL cannot buy.
So when the NHL decided to evaluate whether changes needed to be made to the emergency backup position — one idea was forcing teams to travel with a full-time third goalie — it seemed like a waste of time. And it was.
“At the end of the discussion, the jury is happy where we’re at with it,” said Campbell. “I think the process works. It was a lot to do about nothing.”
Indeed, it’s not often the NHL has to call upon the emergency backup goalie. When it does, the results have been positive. Two years ago, Scott Foster, an accountant and part-time beer league goalie, played 17 minutes for the Chicago Blackhawks and stopped every shot he faced in a 6-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets.
“It was a fantastic story for them,” said Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. “It wasn’t so fantastic for us when you’re sitting there and you’re not winning that game. But those guys that go in there gave their best and the results turned out fine.”
PANTHERS GM ‘NERVOUS’
While the Hurricanes were obviously concerned they were going to give up two points after both goalies were knocked out of the game, they weren’t the only team impacted by the decision to go to an emergency backup goalie for the final two periods.
“We were nervous. Very nervous,” said Panthers GM Dale Tallon. “I thought maybe they’d score 10 goals.”
Tallon had every right to be nervous. It wasn’t only that
Ayres was a 42-year-old who had never played major junior hockey. It was that he spent his off days working as a practice goalie for the Leafs and their minorleague affiliate.
And now, with Florida chasing Toronto in the standings, he was in a position to help the Leafs win — by losing.
Instead, the opposite happened.
“It turned out that it didn’t affect anything and the better team won that game,” said Tallon. “That was the reality of that night.”
When asked what would have been his reaction had Ayres given up 10 goals, Tallon shrugged.
“What could you do?” he said. “It didn’t, so I don’t worry about hypotheticals.”
TIGHT RACES
With a month left in the season, the races for the final two wild card spots have never been tighter. Five teams in the East — the seventh-place Islanders, eighth-place Blue Jackets, ninthplace Hurricanes, 10th-place Rangers and 11th-place Panthers — are separate by five points.
In the West, it’s even more bunched up, with five teams
— the seventh-place Canucks, eighth-place Predators, ninthplace Jets, 10th-place Coyotes and 11th-place Wild — separated by three points.
“It is very tight,” said Cheveldayoff. “You go on a run one way or another and it just feels like there’s opportunities there for you. But on the other side of it, it’s a difficult proposition to see teams each and every night doing the same thing.”