Could you imagine having an emergency goalie come onto the ice for a hockey game? Well, the Toronto Maple Leafs know how that is, and it is the talk of the town. Saturday night brought a moment everyone in the hockey world could rally around. Not to mention the stand in won!
Ayres is actually a Zamboni driver for the Maple Leafs’ American Hockey League team, the Toronto Marlies. According to FOX Sports Carolinas, he is also a maintenance man at the Marlies’ arena, the Coca-Cola Coliseum.
After Carolina goalies James Reimer and Petr Mrazek left because of injuries, the Hurricanes were forced to turn to 42-year-old David Ayres, who was watching the game at Scotiabank Arena with his wife. Apparently, home teams are required to have an emergency goalie on-call who is available to either team.
Ayres entered in the middle of the second period after Mrazek went down. Even though he allowed two goals on the first two shots against, Ayres made the next eight stops to preserve the 6-3 win.
He has also been a practice goalie with the Leafs and Marlies for the last eight years. In fact, Ayres will be practicing with the Leafs at 12:30 p.m. ET this Sunday.
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