CORRECT ANSWER: Ken Wregget, who spent half of his career in a rubber factory in Toronto before heading to greater success in the Keystone State. An injury effectively ended his big-league career, as it opened the door for Manny Legace in Motown.
1. Bryan McCready 95 Toronto, Ontario 2. Mark Calandra 85 Ipswitch, Massachusetts 3. Gilles Carmel 80 San Diego, California 4. Realto Margarino 75 5. Justin Deonarine 73 Toronto, Ontario 6. Jason Kurylo 70 New Westminster, British Columbia 7. David Zetterman 67 Stockholm, Sweden 8. Mike Taylor 65 Newfoundland 9. Aaron Cronk 60 Hamilton, Ontario 10. Bill Clare 44
THREE-POINT QUESTION: Name the winning goaltender in the 1982 "Miracle on
Manchester" National Hockey League playoff game.
CORRECT ANSWER: Mario Lessard was the one in net when the Kings erased
their five-goal deficit to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in this very
memorable contest.
FIVE-POINT QUESTION: The 2000 International Hockey League All-Star game
was faced with controversy when enthusiastic Salt Lake City fans successfully
voted five of their Utah Grizzlies to the starting lineup. Name the goaltender
who was amongst the five selected.
CORRECT ANSWER: Rich Parent, who was having an outstanding season with
Utah, but did not play in the game because he had been called up to the Tampa
Bay Lightning. Followup question - who took his place?
BONUS QUESTION: It's rare for a goaltender in the top minor leagues to
win forty games in one season, since anyone that successful is likely to
be called up for some big-league action. Name the last goaltender,
in either the American Hockey League or the International Hockey League,
to record forty regular-season victories in one season.
CORRECT ANSWER: Aided by the lockout, Olympic gold medal-winning goalie
Tommy Salo spent the year on the farm with the Denver Grizzlies in 1994-95,
winning forty-five games (and a slew of trophies and honours) before picking
up a cup of coffee with the Islanders.
PICTORIAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in the following picture (click on the image for a closer look):
CORRECT ANSWER: Ken Wregget, who spent half of his career in a rubber
factory in Toronto before heading to greater success in the Keystone
State. An injury effectively ended his big-league career, as it opened the
door for Manny Legace in Motown.
THREE-POINT QUESTION: Aside from the much-publicized Arturs Irbe, name
the goaltender who has played in both the National Hockey League and the
ECHL this regular season.
CORRECT ANSWER: There are a total of six (including Irbe): Andy Chiodo
(Wheeling/Pittsburgh), Dany Sabourin (Las Vegas/Calgary), Adam Munro
(Gwinnett/Chicago), Dan Ellis (Idaho/Dallas) and Matt Underhill
(Florence/Chicago). I really hope that Underhill makes it on a long-term
basis, just because every time I read his name I think of the country-club
scene from "Fletch".
FIVE-POINT QUESTION: For more than five consecutive seasons, only two
goaltenders tended net for this 1970s National Hockey League franchise.
Name them.
CORRECT ANSWER: Phil Myre and Dan Bouchard was "my" answer; they manned
the twine for the Atlanta Flames for each of the first five seasons in
Flames history and part of the sixth - Myre was traded on December 12, 1977,
ending the streak. I also accepted Ken Dryden and Michel Larocque of the
Montreal Canadiens, because of the vague definition of "more than five
seasons".
BONUS QUESTION: According to him, this National Hockey League goaltender
would start each season with one pair of socks in his skates. As the skates
loosened up over the course of the season, he would add socks; he says that
one year, he ended up playing with sixteen pairs of socks on his feet.
Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: This has always been one of my favourite stories from
Gary "Suitcase" Smith (and he had a lot of them).
PICTORIAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in the following picture (click on the image for a closer look):
CORRECT ANSWER: This is the first Austrian-born-and-trained player to
skate in the National Hockey League, the Blues' Reinhard Divis.
THREE-POINT QUESTION: Until last season, Gary Smith was the only goaltender
in National Hockey League history to skate with eight separate franchises.
Last year, this currently-active netminder tied Smith. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Ron Tugnutt played with the Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton
Oilers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators,
Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets and Dallas Stars. Perhaps most
remarkable is that he's lasted this long after spending his formative NHL
years in the Quebec City shooting gallery.
FIVE-POINT QUESTION: Following the tragic death of Philadelphia superstar
Pelle Lindbergh, which Flyers goaltender started in net for the club's
next league game?
CORRECT ANSWER: It was supposed to be Bob Froese, of course. On the Wednesday
following the accident, Froese was hit in the protective cup by Lindsay
Carson, and passed blood following the memorial service that afternoon.
The Flyers called up Darren Jensen from the American League's Hershey Bears,
and Jensen was solid (three goals on thirty shots) in a 5-3 win over the
Edmonton Oilers (the team that had defeated the Flyers in the previous
spring's Finals). The win also was Philadelphia's eleventh in a row!
BONUS QUESTION: Who scored the first two goals Tony Esposito would allow
in his National Hockey League career?
CORRECT ANSWER: On December 5, 1968, Tony allowed two goals to his brother,
Phil Esposito, and none to any other Bruin, as Boston and Montreal battled
to a two-all draw.
PICTORIAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in the following picture (click on the image for a closer look):
CORRECT ANSWER: I'm sure that a lot of you were waiting for my favourite
goaltender, "Captain" Kirk McLean, to make his appearance in the pictoral
question. In the summer of 1994, I painted my goalie mask to look exactly
like this mask, only to be disappointed when McLean returned with a new helmet
design following the subsequent lockout. One of the game's last "standup"
goaltenders, when he was on his game no one looked smoother.
THREE-POINT QUESTION: Name the two current National Hockey League goaltenders
to wear sweater number twenty in honour of Vladislav Tretiak.
CORRECT ANSWER: Toronto's Ed Belfour, who had Tretiak as a coach when he
broke into the National Hockey League with Chicago, and San Jose's Evgeni
Nabokov, who idolized Tretiak as a youth. Expect the number of 20-wearers
to multiply over the next few years.
FIVE-POINT QUESTION: After being named team most valuable player in 1964,
this goaltender was lose in the National Hockey League's waiver draft.
Three summers later, the same goaltender was - after being chosen his
team's most valuable player once again - chosen in the expansion draft.
Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Terry Sawchuk, who had possibly the most eventful career
of any player in league history - between the injuries, accolades, pitfalls
and personal battles, he must have had a very strong character to survive.
Non-sequitur of the week: did you that Sawchuk became an American citizen in
1959? You do now!
BONUS QUESTION: Andrew Brunette scored the final goal against Patrick
Roy in his long National Hockey League career. Who scored the first?
CORRECT ANSWER: After not allowing a goal in his 1984-85 call-up, Roy
started for the Canadiens on October 10, 1985 against the Pittsburgh
Penguins. Mike Bullard scored the first goal for the Penguins (and
against Roy) just 2:44 into the game, and in fact the Pens held the lead
for most of the game but the Habs recovered thanks to some timely Roy saves
(and two Mats Naslund goals) to win, 5-3. Mario Lemieux scored the second
goal against Roy, while Terry Ruskowski scored the third.
Gilles Meloche was in net for the Penguins.
PICTORIAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in the following picture (click on the image for a closer look):
CORRECT ANSWER: This is one of my favourite masks in the league right now,
largely because of its historical nature. When Steve Shields joined the
Bruins, he painted his mask as an homage to Gerry Cheevers' "stitches"
facemask. Even though he's in Florida now, he still wears it. Fantastic!
THREE-POINT QUESTION: This former Boston University netminder was elected to
his school's Hall of Fame on June 17, 1989. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Jim Craig recorded a 50-10-3 record in his two years of
action with the Terriers (at the time, freshmen were not allowed to
participate). He was also named to the ECAC All-Decade team of the 1970s
and was a member of BU's 1978 national championship team.
FIVE-POINT QUESTION: This five-foot-five goaltender, who quit dental school
to pursue a professional hockey career, recorded a shutout in his National
Hockey League debut. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: After spending four years at the University of Michigan,
Robbie Moore attended the University of Western Ontario's school of denistry
for one year before signing with the Philadelphia Flyers in the fall of 1978.
He made his National Hockey League debut on March 6 of the following year,
blanking the Colorado Rockies by a 5-0 score. In his six-game big league
career, Moore recorded two shutouts - not a bad ratio!
BONUS QUESTION: Among the goaltenders without a National Hockey League loss
to their credit, name the one with the greatest number of non-losses (wins
and ties) to his name (as of March 29).
CORRECT ANSWER: Between November of 1989 and November of 1990, the Philadelphia
Flyers' Bruce Hoffort registered a record of four wins and three ties. After
an early retirement, he spent some time as an assistant coach at his alma
mater, Lake Superior State University.
PICTORIAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in the following picture (click on the image for a closer look):
CORRECT ANSWER: One of my favourite Toronto goaltenders of all-time, even
though he spent barely more than one season there, Peter Ing put forth a
respectable performance behind one of the worst Maple Leaf squads in recent
history. He's possibly best-known as the "other" goaltender in the trade
sending Grant Fuhr from Edmonton to Toronto.