Blueland Guest Goalie: Manny Legace

Everyone that knows me know that for me, it's all about the goalies. My husband and friends tease me and say "Oh it's never the goalie's fault, is it?" Well of course it isn't. He's the last line of defense, the simple fact that the puck is in front of him mean the defense failed...ANYWAY.

Since I went to a lot of of games this season and have tons of pics of the goalies around NHL, I thought it would be fun to put some pics to use in a weekly spot called "Blueland Guest Goalie." I thought I would start with Manny Legace because I know my fellow hockey blogging Ms. Conduct likes him.

Sunday, November 30, the St. Louis Blues came to town. Apparently nobody cared because it wasn't carried on tv. I guess it didn't matter to anyone that Keith Tkachuk might (and did) score his 1000th NHL point.

I was excited to see Manny Legace!





I had seen the Blues' fair haired boy last year for the All Star Games.






Manny must be good people, he talks to my Moose!

Emmanuel "Manny" Fernández Legacé, was born on February 4, 1973 in Alliston, Ontario. My husband, who is from Connecticut would probably agree that Manny is good people because he was drafted 188th overall by the Hartford Whalers in 1993.

Manny spent some time with the Canadian National Team in 1993-94. He went on to spend 4 seasons (1994-1998) with the AHL's Springfield Falcons. He saw a bit of time in the IHL and ECHL as well.

In 1998 the Carolina Hurricanes traded Manny to the LA Kings where he got his first NHL start. He played well in limited outings, but eventually signed with the Detroit Red Wings in 1999.

Manny spent the next 7 years playing musical goal tenders with Detroit. He and Chris Osgood battled (at different times) with Dominic Hasek, Curtis Joseph and Ken Wregget for starting and back up positions on the Wings roster. He played a few games in Russia during the lock out, but decided to sit out the rest of the time to be near family. Manny won a Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2001-02.

After not winning the cup with Detroit in 2006, Manny decided to leave the Wings and signed with the St. Louis Blues. He signed a one year contract and played well enough that in spite of his season being cut short by an injury, the Blues offered him another 2 year contract.

And that's where it kind of started going down hill. Manny hit a bit of a slump in the 2008-2009 series and The Blues placed Manny on waivers. Unclaimed, he was assigned to the St. Louis Blue's AHL farm team, the Peoria Rivermen.

No question it was the right decision to bench Manny as the starter. Chris Mason was on fire and Manny was having some issues. But down to the AHL? This man was an All Star 13 months before. He's won a Stanley cup! Did he deserve to be dumped that far that quickly? NO WAY in my humble worthless opinion.

Everything that I've read has said that Manny has a fantastic attitude and showed up in Peoria giving it his all. You go Manny! Hope to see you in the NHL in 2009-10

My favorite thing about seeing Manny this time was that he was mesmerized by whatever we had going on the screen. He knew Mason pretty much had this game won, no need to worry so he just watched our jumbo tron. He laughed at all of the video clips, paid attention to all of the games and seemed to enjoy all of it.