Blueland Guest Goalie: Goalie Gumbo, Back Up Special!

Still haven't completed the retrieval of my pictures off of my old hard drive, so once again, I've 1/2 assed some pictures together for another post!


Today is Labor Day so I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of the hardest working guys in the NHL, some unsung heroes, back up goalies. Some back up goalies get a lot more work than others, but regardless, it's an important role. Whether you get a steady 30+ games a season or barely hit the ice, the back up goalie plays an integral part on the team. You know I love back ups, my favorite player in the NHL, Johan Hedberg, is a back up.


It's a pretty well known fact that if you are backing up New Jersey's Marty Brodeur, you need to get comfortable on the bench. Marty likes to play, and being that he's one of the best goalies to ever hit the ice, he gets his wish. In the 2008-09 season Marty went down with a bizarre elbow injury and was going to miss most of the season. Back up Kevin Weekes was given the opportunity to carry the team, it didn't work out. The Devils' AHL goalie, Scott Clemmensen, was called up and he ran away with the season. When Marty came back late in the season the Devils showed Scott their appreciation by...sending him back to the AHL. WTF?? Fortunately Scott's excellent play caught the attention of the Florida Panthers and on July 1, 2009 he signed a 3 year contract with the Panthers.



Scott Lee Clemmensen was born on July 23, 1977 in Des Moines, Iowa. Scott is the first person born in Iowa to play in the NHL. Scott took the college route to the NHL playing 4 seasons with Boston College. Clemmensen earned Hockey East All-Rookie Team honors in 1997-98 and league All-Tournament Team accolades in 1999 and 2001. He backstopped Boston College to Hockey East Tournament titles three times - in 1998, 1999 and 2001. In the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Scott was selected in the 8th round (215th overall) by the New Jersey Devils.



On January 20, 2004, Scott made his NHL debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Scott spent 6 seasons in the Devils system playing for the Albany River Rats, The New Jersey Devils and the Lowell Devils.



In 2007 Scott got a taste of non-Jersey NHL hockey for the first time when as an unrestricted free agent he signed a one year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Again, Scott spent most of his time in the AHL with the Marlies.



The next season Scott once again signed with the Devils. It looked like it was going to be another season as usual for Scott, playing most of his games in the AHL. Then on December 1, 2008 in a game against the Atlanta Thrashers, Marty Brodeur went down with the infamous "bruised elbow." Scott was called up and played so well that he signed his contract with Florida the next season.


Mathieu Garon - St. Louis Blues


Garon caught my eye when he was with the Penguins, basically because he's hot. Then I saw this:

Wowzers. Garon came through the with the Blue Jackets in November of 2009 when the Jackets beat the Thrashers 4 to 3.


Mathieu was born on January 9, 1978 in Chandler, Quebec. He started his pro career in 1995 in the QMJHL with the Victoriaville Tigres. In the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, Mathieu was drafted in the 2nd round (44th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens.



On October 6, 2000, Mathieu made his NHL debut in a relief appearance against the New Jersey Devils. Though Mathieu was in the Canadiens system for 6 seasons, he only saw action in 43 NHL games, spending most of him time in the AHL. One fun statistic..On November 23, 2000 Garon got his first NHL shut out...against the Atlanta Thrashers!



In 2004, Mathieu was traded (with a 3rd round pick) to the LA Kings for Radek Bonk and Cristobal Huet. During the lockout of the 2004-05 season, Garon played in the NHL for the Manchester Monarchs. Garon played the next 2 seasons with the LA Kings.



In July of 2007 Garon became a free agent and was signed by the Edmonton Oilers. Garon put up good numbers and took the starting job away from Dwayne Roloson. After suffering an ankle injury late in the season, Rollie took over again. The 2007-08 season was a good one for Garon, he was the top shoot out goalie in the league. He stopped 30 of 32 shoot out attempts for a perfect 10-0.



In January 2009 in a very fortunate (for Mathieu) trade, Garon was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins who would later win the Stanley Cup that season. Garon only appeared in 4 regular season games, but did appear in a play off game when he had to replace Fleury in that disastrous game 5. Fleury gave up 5 goals, Garon did not give up any. That summer Mathieu signed a 2 year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets.



Ty Conklin - St. Louis Blues
Conks is arguably the best back up out there today, except Moose of course :) He is a true journeyman, having played for six NHL teams. He also holds the distinction of having played in three of the four outdoor games held by the NHL.

• He was in net for the Edmonton Oilers when they lost to the Canadiens, 4-3 in the Heritage Classic on November 22, 2003.
• He was the goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 2–1 shootout victory over the Sabres in the 2008 Winter Classic.
• Thanks to Chris Osgood having a groin injury, he was in goal for the Detroit Red Wings' 6–4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2009 Winter Classic. After allowing three goals in the first period, he shut out the Blackhawks for nearly forty minutes, before yielding a goal with ten seconds left in the game.

When asked about participating in these historic games, Conks said:

“I count myself very lucky," he said of the opportunity. "There’s not a guy in this league who wouldn’t like to play in these games.”

Ty Curtis Conklin was born on March 30, 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona. Ty grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and an early recruit and graduate of the now-famed Minnesota hockey prep school, Shattuck-St.Mary's. Later, he played in the United States Hockey League, seeing some time with the Green Bay Gamblers.



Ty decided to get his learn on and started the 1998-1999 season with University of New Hampshire. Conks had a remarkable college career.

• Named captain of the UNH Wildcats, October 5, 2000
• Elected by his teammates, he was the first goaltender to captain the Wildcats since 1961
• NCAA East First All-American Team, 2001
• NCAA East Second All-American Team, 2000
• Top Ten finalist for the Hobey Baker award
• Left the University of New Hampshire holding eight goaltending records

Despite having a fantastic college career, Conks went undrafted. A self described "late bloomer" he spent his draft eligible years off of the radar in either post-graduate at Shattuck or his time with Green Bay. On April 18, 2000 Ty was signed as a free agent by the Edmonton Oilers.



Conks spent most of his first two seasons in the AHL playing for the Oilers affiliate (shared with Montreal), the Hamilton Bulldogs. While there he played in the longest game in AHL history against the Houston Aeros. This quadruple over time game went for 134 minute and 56 seconds. That night Ty also set the records for most saves in a game by making 83 saves in their 2-1 win over the Aeros.



In 2006 Conks signed as an unrestricted free agents with the Blue Jackets, but was traded to Buffalo in the same season. In 2007, Conks signed a one year contract with Pittsburgh, and the next season a one year contract with Detroit. Ty found a little bit more stability the next season when in 2009 he signed a two year contract with St. Louis...again!


Good luck Ty! It's always a pleasure to watch you play.


Conks also has a nasty Lady Gaga habit that I totally support!

Puck Tracks Episode 7: Ty Conklin from Greg Wyshynski on Vimeo.

Does a devil shit in the woods?

I don't know but they definitely take giant steaming craps on the ice at the RBC Center.

The RBC Center and I don't have the greatest history together. When I saw the Thrashers play here in January, we got shut out 2-0.

In fact, the last GOOD memory I have of the RBC Center is of the 2004 NHL Draft. I have no idea who that guy is with Ovy, he just stopped for a picture and I jumped out and took one.






My birthday is April 29 and I thought it would be fun to see one last hockey game of the season. It was a win-win situation.

• I see more hockey
• I see my Devils again
• It's play off hockey
• The Devils can't be eliminated that night (I'm not driving 6 hours for heart ache again)

So I made me a sign, bought me some tickets, took a day off of work and headed for Raleigh! I made Marty a "happy early birthday" sign, too. His birthday is May 6. We were even born in the same year!

Canes fans rock. We get to the arena and it looks like the parking lot for the Super Bowl. There are tents, cookers, bbq, picnics...pretty much everything you can imagine. Best of all, I didn't get heckled at all walking from the parking lot to the arena sporting a Marty Brodeur shirt and the sign pictured above. The arena had a party vibe, too. They had live bands, activities and tons of news coverage. We made our way through security and found a spot down on the ice.

There were probably 5 or 6 Devils fans down there with me.

Across the ice I see this:

Okay, liking the guy I understand, but sexy???? Jokinen???

Finally the teams come out for the warm ups. I'm so excited to see Marty and the rest of my Devils.
Hey, who is that good looking guy? Yay, it's Clemmer! We missed you, Scotty. Scott Clemmensen and Cam Ward warm up...neither one will need it.

*swoon* The reason I'm here. The most winning goal tender of all time, my beloved Martin Brodeur.

Marty warming up, he WILL need it...BADLY.

Marty shooting the puck. He's been clocked shoot the puck over 80 mph and that is in full goalie gear with a goalie stick.

Marty likes my sign. He appreciated the birthday sign, I could tell.

Marty chilling.

No comment

Marty doing the lean.

Close up of Marty's mask.

Colin White likes my sign.






Clemmer pacing around looking bored. Cam Ward photobombed his pic.

Clemmer read my sign.

Awwww, isn't that cute. They let Clemmer warm up for a few seconds.

Marty: Hey Wardo, how are you.

Leighton: I'm not Ward, I'm Leighton.

Marty: So Cam, I hear you are a big fan of mine.

Leighton: I'm not Ward, I"m Leighton.

Marty: I've been watching you, you are really good. Not "ME" good, but pretty good. Maybe one day, you can be almost as good as me, Wardo.

Leighton:

Colin White looking pretty shaggy.

Shanny, Clarkson and Havelid in warm ups.

Clarkson looking seriously hot. That's about all he did that night.

Rupp: Marty, we got this, you'll never see a puck.

Marty: Cool.

Rupp: Seriously, we are going to dominate them.

Marty: I'll believe it when I see it.

Clarkson proving boys are gross.

Awwwww, Zach with a big smile. Enjoy it while you can, there won't be shit to smile about for the rest of the night.

Hello Patrick Elias.

We were very excited to get the Captain, Jaimey Langenbruner back. We thought it would be big. We were wrong.

Warming up Clemmer...???? Eh, you never know. He might play a game *snort*

And the award for the best Devils playoff goes to Swedish Hot Chocolate, Johnny Oduya. Marty is photobombing his pic.

I mentioned that Canes fans rock. Well of course when you have 18,000 people in an arena, there will have to be SOME assholes. We are down for warm ups and there were some other Devils fans there. This lady, her husband and her two kids show up and their seats are on the glass and of course they want them now. The other Devils fans scoot down a bit to make room. The guy who is claiming the seat gets belligerent and yells at the Devils fan to "shut the f*ck up." That's always nice in front of your young kids. The wife flips out and starts screaming for security. Some very large security guards come over to address the issue. The lady and her husband who have seats there plus a lady behind them are completely melting down to the security guard about how this is a problem all the time and they want him to make all of us go somewhere else, yada yada. Security explains that we have a right to be here according to arena rules. It was VERY uncomfortable. The people continued to unload for the rest of the warm up.

Warm ups finally wind down and I go to get my stuff to leave and notice that crazy bitch had taken my "happy early birthday Marty" sign down and put up her own programs (it said let's go Canes.). So I picked up my sign and on the way out as I'm scooting by them I make sure to press my bag on the glass and drag her signs all the way down the aisle. They fall on the floor and I step on them. Passive aggressive behavior at it's finest. Incidentally on the way out, several Canes fans were telling us that that dude is always drunk and obnoxious.

On to the game!

We had pretty good seats, met some new friends and had some friendly rivalry. Again, all of the Canes fans were cool.

The intro video for the series is hands down the coolest video I've seen in an arena yet.

It was done to look similar to the movie "300." It showed horses approaching a city and it said "riders from the north approach hell bent on victory." The riders had Devils jerseys on. The guys guarding the city were of course wearing Canes jerseys. Then it said "They encountered a force they had not planned on" and it showed a cartoon goalie take his stick and flick a bunch of pucks off of his blocker. Then they kick a Devils player into a pit (a la 300). SO FREAKING cool. I've looked on youtube for it, but no luck.

Goalie match up.

On one end we have Marty Brodeur, the greatest goal tender of all time.

On the other we have Cam Ward, no slouch himself. He pretty much single handedly led the Canes to their Stanley Cup in 2006 and won the Conn Smythe for himself.

Game 5 between these two was a goal tending clinic with a total of over 80 shots and only 1 goal.

I mentioned before, the fans were great. Also, the arena was absolutely electric. There was so much energy and never a quiet moment. This lady was one of my favorite fans. She had a flag for every nationality that was on the Canes. She would periodically wave each flag and would wave the flag from the country of the person who scored. She also had a USA flag, but I didn't get a picture. She was like the United Nations of the RBC Center.






Wallin crashed Wardo's net.

Some proof that we actually DID go out of our zone at least once during the game.

Face off.

Wardo looking very majestic with his stick.

WOW! Wardo made a stop. Not a slam on Wardo at all, a slam on the fact that the Devils didn't shoot at the net.

More action.

Clarkson attempting to make a nice screen on Wardo. He was there a lot, didn't do any good though.

"Dear God, please let them shoot the puck at the other net. If they can't do that, let them pass it to me and I'll shoot it. Amen. I'm sorry about that sister in law thing."

Shut up Ric Flair. I hate you.

Not even Parise could score.

Second Period

As craptastic as this game turned out to be, it was worth it for this one picture. Marty made an amazing glove save and I got it with my camera.

Marty making another save.

Marty can make saves all night, but until the Devils start shooting the puck on Cam Ward...they aren't going to score. This was the shot clock sometime in the 2nd period. We actually had a bet as to whether the Canes would take 30 shots before the Devils got to 10.






Action near Marty...as usual.

More action.

Marty tracking the puck.

Wardo doing some fancy footwork himself down at the other end.

Some discussions in front of Marty's net.

Action

Third period

More of the same = vomit

Some discussions in front of Wardo's net.

Clarkson and Gleason decide they need to have some discussions in private.

Meanwhile, back at Cam Ward's net...

Clarkson and Gleason are still busy.

Well fights couldn't energize the Devils and they went down 5-0. gag Once again I had to do the walk of shame out of the RBC Center. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I shouldn't go back!

Guess the Devils didn't think much of my birthday, or maybe they will win game 7 because it is closer to my actualy birthday!!! Game 7 GO DEVILS!