Baseball Hall of Famer Walker is honorary goalie
Larry Walker is trading his baseball mitt for a goaltender’s glove.
Walker, the long-time Colorado Rockies outfielder/first baseman, will serve as the Colorado Avalanche’s honorary emergency goalie for Sunday’s game against the visiting Vegas Golden Knights.
The Avalanche announced the news regarding the 53-year-old Walker, who harbored dreams of becoming a professional goaltender while growing up in Maple Ridge, British Columbia.
The NHL elected not to alter its emergency backup goaltending protocol at its recent meetings. The topic was brought to light after Zamboni driver David Ayres, 42, made headlines last month after serving as an emergency goaltender in Carolina’s 6-3 win over Toronto.
Walker’s hockey aspirations ended after he failed to make the cut with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats. He shifted gears soon after and signed with the Montreal Expos in 1984. JETS 4, OILERS 2 >> Kyle Connor scored twice in the third period, including an empty-netter, as Winnipeg defeated host Edmonton. Blake Wheeler and Patrik Laine also scored for the Jets (37-28-6, 80 points), who won their fourth game in a row and moved into sole possession of the top wildcard playoff spot in the Western Conference, breaking a tie with idle Nashville and Vancouver.
Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 36 saves.
Tyler Ennis and Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers (37-25-9, 83 points), who lost in regulation for just the second time in their past seven games (4-2-1). Mike
Smith stopped 21 of 24 shots.
The score was tied 2-2 when Connor took a pass from Wheeler just over the Edmonton blue line and skated in alone on Smith, beating him between the pads with a wrist shot from the slot just 29 seconds into the final period.
Connor capped the victory by scoring with 40 seconds left.
After a scoreless first period, both teams scored twice in the second.
Ennis tallied just nine seconds into the period. Teammate Kailer Yamamoto knocked down Hellebuyck’s clearing attempt behind the Winnipeg net and then beat the goalie to the loose puck, knocking it in front of the goal, where Ennis slipped past a defender and poked it just over the goal line.
The Jets tied the score at 9:25 as Wheeler’s pass deflected off Edmonton’s James Neal in the slot and just inside the left post.
Winnipeg made it 2-1 at 16:28 off a miscue by Smith. The goalie came out of his crease to track down the puck in the right-wing corner, but it bounced off his stick and into the restricted area below the goal line where goaltender aren’t allowed to handle the puck. Winnipeg’s Cody Eakin backhanded the puck to Laine, who put a one-timer into the net.
McDavid, who missed the Oilers’ previous game because of an illness, tied the score at 18:23, taking a pass from Zack Kassian, beating a defender and driving to the net. McDavid avoided a pokecheck from Hellebuyck and held onto the puck until the goalie went down.