Jakiel has brush with B’s
Was next man up for Kings
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Somehow, Steve Jakiel always has found connections with Boston.
A native of Santa Clarita, Calif., the former Curry College goalie has found his path intertwined with the Bruins in several ways. He attended Bruins games as compensation for helping out at goalie camps while in college, but his connection to the team runs even deeper.
“My family advisor growing up through youth hockey was Bobby Orr,” he said. “So I had some Boston connections, and that’s how I found Curry, was through that. When I was looking to transfer, I had worked a couple camps at Curry, Dale Dunbar ran Pro Star Hockey. … Working with Bobby and Dale, it was, ‘If you want to play right away, it’s in Boston.”
Jakiel, 32, nearly played his first NHL game on Saturday night against the Bruins. A finance manager at Dr. Pepper, he serves as the Kings’ emergency goalie. The role requires him to be at half the home games, where the team provides him tickets and he usually goes with his wife.
While getting set to head over to Staples Center for Saturday’s game against the Bruins, something was a little different.
“Iwasonthewayandthe standard procedure is you show up, put your stuff in the locker room, and go upstairs,” he said. “This time I got a call from the VP of player personnel, Jeff Solomon. He said (Jonathan) Quick might be feeling sick today. Just be ready to go if we need you.”
The Kings’ two AHL goalies in Ontario — Cal Petersen and Peter Budaj — already were preparing for their game. That left Jakiel, as advertised, as an emer- gency backup for Jack Campbell.
Jakiel needed to dress right away once Quick was deemed unavailable. He got on the bike and prepared as if he was the backup goalie. It’s the closest he’s come to getting into a game with the Kings since becoming the emergency backup four months ago.
There was an open tryout two years ago, and the Kings picked someone else, who since has quit. That opened a window for Jakiel, who was coaching the Junior Kings for a couple of seasons. The team was aware of him and offered him a chance to be one of the two emergency backups.
Jakiel played college hockey at Curry after serving as the backup at Michigan as a freshman. With more of an opportunity to play, and some previous connections to Boston, it was a move that made sense.
Growing up, Jakiel would practice at a rink where current Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller skated, as well.
“It was me, him, Shane Harper who bounced around and had time with the Panthers, the group of us around the same age played together in summers and trained a bit together,” he said. “I saw Miller before the game in the tunnel, which was pretty cool.”
After watching the Bruins play often, getting a chance to debut as an NHL goalie against them added another layer to the craziness.
“I do have some strange connections to the Boston area,” he said. “It ended up working out for me. It would have been pretty cool.”