Marlie drinks up NHL atmosphere
BOSTON— A day in the life, indelible.
One day and likely no more Drew MacIntyre was a Toronto Maple Leaf.
In his unembellished white goalie mask, he stopped NHL pucks — only in practice, true, but it had been 16 months since the last time even that happened, 43 minutes in the net for the Sabres over parts of two late 2011 games. Mostly, as a back-back-back-up, occasionally summoned from the minors in an injury crisis, he functioned merely as a bench door opener.
And here he was, a feel-good sidebar thrust into the heady atmosphere of the post-season, inhaling every precious second of it.
With Leafs No. 2 Ben Scrivens attending his grandfather’s funeral in Alberta, Toronto found itself netminding-needy. A call was put to the Marlies on Wednesday and MacIntyre learned his services were required after coming off the ice that night, having just backstopped the farm club in their sweep of Rochester. Got on a bus, got on a plane, got on the ice at Boston University, squeezing in an introduction to James Reimer first.
Scrivens is expected to return in time for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final Saturday so this is a fleeting experience. “Short and sweet but I’ll take it.’’
The 29-year-old exemplifies endurance and the compulsion of dreaming large, verging on hopeless fantasy.
A year ago he was living in a onebedroom hotel room, a baby in the crib, a toddler in the other bed, doing the financial math with his wife as they tried to stretch out his $525 weekly pay while playing for Reading in the ECHL. Coming off his worst career season ever, he struck out for Europe, joining Prague in the KHL, where someone by the name of Zdeno Chara was a teammate as locked out NHLers snapped up temporary gigs overseas. Broke his ankle during an off-ice workout in the parking lot, recovered only to discover Reading had signed another goaltender in his absence, worked out for a month with his hometown university squad in Charlottetown and got not a sniff of interest from any low tier minor club.
Then the stars aligned unexpectedly. In Toronto, Reimer hurt his knee, leaving Scrivens as interim starter and Jussi Rynnas backing up. The Marlies were casting around for a solution to their resulting dilemma. Leaf goaltending consultant Rick St. Croix remembered MacIntyre from the two years he’d had him with the Manitoba Moose. GM Dave Nonis also had good recall. A door opened and MacIntyre charged through it, arriving in Toronto in mid-February, outstanding for the Marlies ever since, from tryout to two-way NHL deal in a whirlwind year during which he’d worn the sweater of half-a-dozen teams. At home in P.E.I., MacIntyre has a closetful of jerseys-past, though there should actually be more of them. “Most teams don’t give out jerseys. A lot of them try to save the buck so they don’t give them out.’’ Not for keeps, anyway, to passing through journeymen. MacIntyre still aspires to be more than that. And why not? There is precedence. Tim Thomas, drafted 217th by the Quebec Nordiques in 1994, spent years in the minors and Europe, not emerging as an NHL starter until age 32. Twice awarded the Vezina Trophy, he led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup championship in 2011 and became the oldest Conn Smythe winner that spring, at 37. Evgeni Nabokov, picked 219th by San Jose, required seven years of seasoning in the minors before becoming a regular NHL starter. These are inspirational stories, something to cling to, but they’re also a rarity. As recently as last fall, MacIntyre considered giving up. He gets emotional recounting it. “I’m not going to lie. It crossed my mind. People who were very close to me were dropping hints about what I was going to do, whether go to school or something. When the Central league and the East Coast clubs are saying no, no . . .’’ Instead, it was MacIntyre who said no, not yet. Now he’s secure as a Marlie as they await their next playoff opponent, turning heads with his acrobatic play, sipping a thimbleful of the post-season with the Leafs and maybe, just maybe, destined to become more than just a minor league footnote with four NHL games on his resume — two with Vancouver in ’07-08 and two with Buffalo a long four years later. On Friday, he was living in the moment. “I’m a Canadian kid. I’m very thankful to even just get this opportunity.’’ In fact, he’s already more than just an asterisk. He has become, much to his own shock, a bit of a YouTube sensation. Last week, in a playoff game against Rochester, with the score tied, MacIntyre made a save that must be seen to be believed. The behind-the-back stop on Zemgus Girgensons still beggars belief. With one pad stretched out, MacIntyre wrapped his left arm backwards — the way it might be lifted by a cop making an arrest — and got his glove on the puck. Ryan Hamilton, the Marlie captain up with the Leafs, has seen MacIntyre try that trick before in practice. And he watched it performed for real on TV. “I was, like, did he just do that? The whole arena went quiet at first. Whenever that happens, you know something special has happened.’’ MacIntyre said the amazing save was part instinct, part muscle memory.
“I didn’t have time to square up to him and move my blocker over. So I had to go the other way because I knew that was my only chance in the split-second that I had. And I knew he was going high. It was kind of a desperation thing. I’ve tried it in practice but never before in a game.’’
It’s made him uniquely famous in the annals of gobsmacking goaltending.
“It’s crazy how that video has taken off. I’ve never had this many text messages in my life. It’s cool.’’
Pulling on a Leaf jersey though, that was even cooler. And he can keep it.