Patience a virtue for Petes backup goalie
With starting goalie Hunter Jones a workhorse, Petes also see huge upside to rookie 16-year-old second goalie Tye Austin
Peterborough Petes rookie goalie Tye Austin is patiently biding his time but shows signs of big potential.
When you play behind the goalie, Hunter Jones, who leads the OHL in minutes played, patience is important.
Whenever Austin has been called upon he’s proven himself to be quite capable and on Sunday picked up his first OHL win with a 29-save effort in a 6-3 comeback victory against the Hamilton Bulldogs. It was the third Petes win in a row, a streak they’ll carry into their 7:05 p.m. game Thursday when the North Bay Battalion visit the Memorial Centre.
Austin made several big saves when his team trailed 3-1 and 3-2 which allowed them to rally.
“It’s something I’ve been dreaming about since I was young and wanted to come to the OHL. It was a pretty neat experience to finally have gotten a win,” Austin said. “It definitely felt good to make a couple of those saves. The team did a great job of helping me defensively in the third period and getting those goals felt great.”
The six-foot-four, 199-pound native of Dunrobin, Ont., a third-round OHL draft pick in April, has started three games and appeared in six this season. His 4.27 goalsagainst-average and .871 save percentage doesn’t accurately reflect how well he’s played. Three times he’s come into relieve Jones in blowout losses.
“He’s done a very good job for us,” said Petes head coach Rob Wilson. “We knew we were going to play him in one of the three (last) weekend. Obviously, Hunter has been very good for us. Tye is a big guy with a great glove. He can catch. The potential is huge. He’s just a big, big kid. We really like what we’ve seen with him and (associate coach and goalie coach) Andrew (Verner) has been working hard with him.”
Jones has seen more minutes than any other OHL goalie starting 23 of 26 games and appearing in 24 while playing 1,306 minutes. He leads the OHL in saves with 701 and is among league leaders in wins (14), GAA (2.71) and save percentage (.927).
Wilson said he and Verner have mapped out Jones’ minutes to insure he gets proper rest. They’re not concerned about him getting burnt out.
“We’ve only had two three-in-threes,” Wilson said. “We’re well aware of (Jones’) ice-time. We’re OK with that. What we wanted to make sure is that we brought Tye in smartly, too, so that we didn’t shake his confidence. We had to be aware of everything.”
Wilson said Austin has dealt with it well. “He knows he has to bide his time and let’s be honest, Hunter has been strong in net,” Wilson said. “Tye has definitely given us confidence we can use him a little bit more.”
Austin says he knew as a 16-year-old rookie he had to be patient.
“I came in with the mindset of just enjoy the experience and learn some valuable lessons. Jonesy has been doing really well so of course he’s going to get the bulk of the games. I’m just trying to do my best and have fun.”
Each game he feels a little more comfortable.
“My confidence has been getting better and I’m settling into the league. My playing time shouldn’t drastically change but hopefully they see good things for the developing years,” he said. “I think I’m getting used to the speed and understanding how to adjust to new teams.”
It’s a big lifestyle change moving away from home and going from midget to junior hockey.
“I was practising two to three times a week last year. Now I’m on the ice every single day sometimes twice a day. It’s a big schedule change,” Austin said.
Jones is helping with his adjustment, he said.
“He’s actually been a really good help In the room and on the ice as well. Just seeing how calm and how he keeps his movements simple. I think it’s helped me to try to play a similar game,” Austin said.