Andersen has Ducks’ backs
GOALTENDING: It hasn’t always been easy for Danish netminder to get to this point
ANAHEIM — He may be the hottest thing in goalie pads these days, but Frederik Andersen didn’t exactly have a GPS to guide him from his humble Denmark beginnings to North American sporting stardom.
In almost every conceivable way, Andersen—Freddie to his Anaheim Ducks fans and teammates — is living large in a different world than the one where he was first introduced to professional hockey.
It came in his homeland, hardly a hockey hotbed, where his father Ernst was making a living playing for a team known as the Herning Blue Fox.
“I guess I was born into it because my dad played,” Andersen said. “He took me to the rink before I could walk, I think.”
Born into the game, perhaps, but there’s been a lot of miles on the 25-year-old to get him to where he is today, easily the sharpest goaltender in these playoffs and a big reason the Ducks opened the Western Conference final with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
The road had all sorts of twists, from following in his father’s footsteps, to getting drafted in the NHL twice, to essentially falling into the starting job with the Ducks.
If anyone can appreciate the performance of Andersen so far, it is Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, who has had an up-close seat to watch Andersen get his feet wet in the NHL last season and then seize the starting job in his second year in the league.
“Experience is a huge factor,” Boudreau said Monday. “Last year, for everything it was his first year basically on the big stage being in the NHL. Now he’s been through it. You go through a series and you learn things.
“I think he’s embraced it and come a long way. He’s another year older, he knows what to expect of himself and he’s not afraid of the league.”
Andersen has been in the Anaheim net for all 10 games this postseason, compiling a 9-1 record, a 1.86 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. In eight of the Ducks games, he has allowed two goals or fewer.
With help from the stout defenders in front of him and making effective use of his 6-foot-3, 236-pound body, Andersen has proved brilliant at getting a clean look at most shots fired his way, including the 32 he stopped in Sunday’s big win.
“He’s a big goalie who’s going to battle on every shot,” Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane said on Monday. “When you’re playing a bigger goalie, sometimes it’s not the easiest thing to take away his eyes. He seems to see everything that comes his way.”
Andersen’s 35-12-5 record this season established Andersen as a reliable quantity for Boudreau and when he reached his 50th career win in his 68th start in March, the Great Dane joined former Montreal Canadien Bill Durnan as the fastest goalies in NHL history to reach that mark.
It wasn’t always that easy, however. There were times in his young life where a career with the Blue Fox would be a more likely destination than the Ducks of Anaheim. Originally taken by Carolina in the seventh round (187th overall) in the 2010 NHL draft, Andersen never signed with the team.
The Ducks had interest, however, and took him 100 spots earlier and two years later in the 2012 draft. He made his NHL debut last season, playing in 28 games before grabbing the starter’s spot this season.
“Freddie’s been good and steady for us all the time,” Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. “He makes most of the saves that he should ands ome that he shouldn’t. Those are what you need out of your goaltender.”