Dozerdog
12-11-2003, 09:16 PM
Goaltenders electrify garage
By Jim Wilkie
NHL Insider
Send an Email to Jim Wilkie Wednesday, December 10
Updated: December 10
5:20 PM ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Penguins 19-year-old rookie goalie Marc-Andre Fleury nearly stole the game, but an emergency backup goalie from the University of British Columbia nearly stole the show for the Canucks on Tuesday night in Vancouver's 4-3 overtime victory over Pittsburgh at GM Place.
Before Fleury turned back 33 shots in his final NHL game before joining Team Canada's preparation camp for the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Finland, the Canucks were in a desperate search for a backup goalie because No. 1 goalie Dan Cloutier had pulled his groin in the early skate Tuesday morning.
Chris Levesque was only supposed to keep the seat warm at the end of the bench. But when Pittsburgh right winger Konstantin Koltsov collided with Vancouver goalie Johan Hedberg as both were racing for a loose puck just inside the Canucks blue line with a little more than a minute left in the first period, the 23-year-old arts student came closer to facing NHL shots than Martin Brodeur does on some nights.
Hedberg's mask was knocked off when his head hit Koltsov's leg and he spent several minutes trying to shake off the cobwebs. The buzzing he heard was most of the crowd wondering if the red-headed university student would get the opportunity of a lifetime.
"A little frightened at first. I tried to play it cool on the bench, just kept chewing my gum and looking up at the scoreboard (with the) camera right in my face," said Levesque, who played three years of junior A in Manitoba for the Swan Valley Stampeders before joining UBC. "Luckily he wasn't hurt seriously, he shook it off and he went back in."
While Levesque worked on his gum and athletic trainer Mike Burnstein tended to Hedberg, Canucks head coach Marc Crawford was caught smirking by TV cameras.
"(Canucks winger) Mike Keane was on the bench and he yelled down at him, 'Don't worry, he'll get up,' " Crawford recalled with a laugh. "I started laughing. I thought that was pretty funny."
The Canucks would have helped out Levesque since the Penguins managed just 17 shots on Hedberg all night. Canadian university hockey is a decent level consisting of many former junior players, so Levesque could have handled easy shots. But Levesque is UBC's third-string goalie and has an 0-4-1 record, 4.77 goals-against average and .855 save percentage in seven appearances and hasn't started a game since September.
UBC's two other goalies were ineligible because of the NHL's amateur emergency call-up rules. Kevin Swanson was ruled out because he was a former professional, and Slovakian Robert Filc couldn't get the call because he is an undrafted European.
By Jim Wilkie
NHL Insider
Send an Email to Jim Wilkie Wednesday, December 10
Updated: December 10
5:20 PM ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Penguins 19-year-old rookie goalie Marc-Andre Fleury nearly stole the game, but an emergency backup goalie from the University of British Columbia nearly stole the show for the Canucks on Tuesday night in Vancouver's 4-3 overtime victory over Pittsburgh at GM Place.
Before Fleury turned back 33 shots in his final NHL game before joining Team Canada's preparation camp for the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Finland, the Canucks were in a desperate search for a backup goalie because No. 1 goalie Dan Cloutier had pulled his groin in the early skate Tuesday morning.
Chris Levesque was only supposed to keep the seat warm at the end of the bench. But when Pittsburgh right winger Konstantin Koltsov collided with Vancouver goalie Johan Hedberg as both were racing for a loose puck just inside the Canucks blue line with a little more than a minute left in the first period, the 23-year-old arts student came closer to facing NHL shots than Martin Brodeur does on some nights.
Hedberg's mask was knocked off when his head hit Koltsov's leg and he spent several minutes trying to shake off the cobwebs. The buzzing he heard was most of the crowd wondering if the red-headed university student would get the opportunity of a lifetime.
"A little frightened at first. I tried to play it cool on the bench, just kept chewing my gum and looking up at the scoreboard (with the) camera right in my face," said Levesque, who played three years of junior A in Manitoba for the Swan Valley Stampeders before joining UBC. "Luckily he wasn't hurt seriously, he shook it off and he went back in."
While Levesque worked on his gum and athletic trainer Mike Burnstein tended to Hedberg, Canucks head coach Marc Crawford was caught smirking by TV cameras.
"(Canucks winger) Mike Keane was on the bench and he yelled down at him, 'Don't worry, he'll get up,' " Crawford recalled with a laugh. "I started laughing. I thought that was pretty funny."
The Canucks would have helped out Levesque since the Penguins managed just 17 shots on Hedberg all night. Canadian university hockey is a decent level consisting of many former junior players, so Levesque could have handled easy shots. But Levesque is UBC's third-string goalie and has an 0-4-1 record, 4.77 goals-against average and .855 save percentage in seven appearances and hasn't started a game since September.
UBC's two other goalies were ineligible because of the NHL's amateur emergency call-up rules. Kevin Swanson was ruled out because he was a former professional, and Slovakian Robert Filc couldn't get the call because he is an undrafted European.