Emergency goaltender Dave Ayres steps up in Hurricanes' win over Toronto
Dave Ayres, available to both the Hurricanes and the Maple Leafs as the emergency goalie on Saturday night, entered the game after both Carolina goalies were injured and stopped eight of 10 shots in the Hurricanes' 6-3 victory. Credit: AP/Frank Gunn
TORONTO — Dave Ayres is 42 years old. He works as a Zamboni driver for the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. And as the emergency goalie for Saturday night’s Hurricanes-Maple Leafs game in Toronto, he found himself in an unusual role midway through the second period after Carolina netminders James Reimer and Petr Mrazek were injured.
Just 2:17 after Ayres entered the game, he faced his first shot. John Tavares scored.
Just 94 seconds later, he faced his second shot. Pierre Engvall scored.
That moved the Leafs within a goal — but Ayres stopped their final eight shots to help the Hurricanes earn a stunning 6-3 victory. Mobbed by his Carolina teammates after the final buzzer and cheered by the Toronto fans, he was named the game’s No. 1 star.
“Obviously, that second period was a little shaky, but I told the boys in the dressing room, ‘Once we come out for the third, I’ll be settled down and ready to win this one,’ ” said Ayres, who began the game sitting in the stands with his wife.
“It was awesome. It was the time of my life out there,’’ said Ayres, who had a kidney transplant 15 years ago. “I’ve been on this ice many times without fans, but put fans in the mix and it’s a whole different game. Once in a lifetime.’’
As the emergency goalie, Ayres was available to both teams. “One of the guys [Erik Haula] said to me, ‘Just have fun. We don’t care if you let 10 goals in,’ ” Ayres said. “That’s what settled me down, and it was great.”
What will Ayres remember most? “These guys,’’ he said. “How great they were to me. The crowd in Toronto was unreal. Even though I was on the other team, they were so receptive. Every time I made a save, I could hear them cheering for me. Awesome.”
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe wasn’t quite as thrilled about the experience. “When the goalie switch happened,’’ he said, “I talked to the team and said, ‘If we don’t change how we’re playing, they don’t even need a goalie. There are no chances, no shots, there’s nothing happening.’ They didn’t need a goaltender the way the game was going.’’
Ayres is the oldest goalie in NHL history to win his regular-season debut and the first emergency goalie to record a victory. He has been a practice goalie with the Leafs and the Marlies for the last eight years. The native of nearby Whitby, Ontario, faces shots from professional players on an almost-daily basis during the season, but he never thought he’d be called into service in an NHL game.
Reimer started against his former team but left just 6:10 into the first period with a lower-body injury after Toronto's Zach Hyman shoved a Hurricanes defenseman on top of him in the crease.
Mrazek came in but also had to leave after a thunderous collision with Leafs forward Kyle Clifford while attempting to play the puck near the faceoff dot in Carolina's zone in the second.
“I had a couple of text messages that told me to get in there,'' Ayres said in front of a throng of reporters. “I hadn’t seen the footage [of Mrazek’s injury]. I was in the media room by myself and a guy came in and said, 'Get going. Get ready.’
“It was wild. It was fun,“ said Ayres, who gets paid $500. He'll get to keep his jersey, too.
“It’s pretty special,“ Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I told the guys after the game, 'Thank him because that just gave [us] an incredible memory.’ ''
''These guys were awesome,“ Ayres said. “They said to me, ’Have fun with it, don’t worry about how many goals go in, this is your moment, have fun with it.’ ''
He did more than that and was greeted with raucous cheers from the Hurricanes in their locker room after finishing a postgame TV interview. “I had no idea I was going to get a shower before I got in the shower,'' Ayres said with a grin. “I got one.''
Not long after the final buzzer, the Hurricanes were hawking T-shirts on Twitter sporting the stand-in goalie’s No. 90.
“He probably dreams of playing in the National Hockey League,“ said Warren Foegele, who scored twice for the Hurricanes. “What a moment for him. Something he’ll never forget, and something we won’t either.''
