As much as they dislike giving up goals, hockey goaltenders hate growing cobwebs from a lack of work.
That was the dilemma Ty Edmonds of the Prince George Cougars faced for the better part of the opening period Wednesday night in Calgary, where he and his Team Cherry teammates took on Team Orr in the BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospect Game.
Aside from clearing a few loose pucks away from his crease, Edmonds had only one shot to block in 10 minutes of playing time. But that would change in a hurry.
Ranked as the top goaltending prospect in the Western Hockey League and one of two goalies to don a Team Cherry red jersey, for half the game Edmonds had to face some of the best draft-eligible shooters from the world's top three junior hockey leagues. Not only that, he was auditioning for scouts from every NHL team in a front of a Scotiabank Saddledome crowd of 11.631 and a national TV audience.
It was a time in the spotlight that could well shape the future of the 17-year-old from Winnipeg come draft day in June and Edmonds lived up to the pressure.
Traffic in front of Edmonds increased substantially later in the first period, when he had to turn aside seven shots and he proved his worthiness even more in a busy first half of the second period, when play at both ends of the ice opened up considerably. Team Orr was much better in at getting pucks to the net and establishing a forecheck and Edmonds proved equal to the task. He came out to challenge a blast from Jake Virtanen of the Calgary Hitmen, then stood the test of a one-timer from Brenden Perlini of the Niagara IceDogs, deflecting the puck away from the net.
Team Orr took advantage of the first power play of the game to open the scoring with nine minutes gone in the second period. Defenceman Aaron Ekblad (Barrie Colts) hit the crossbar low behind Edmonds and Leon Draisaitl (Prince Albert Raiders) fired the rebound off the crossbar. Team Orr maintained possession in the Cherry end and the puck went back to the point for Ekblad, whose hard low shot was deflected into the net by Brendan Lemieux (Barrie Colts), whose father Claude played 19 seasons in the NHL. That was the only blemish on Edmonds' record in what turned out a 4-3 Team Orr victory.
Five seconds after Lemieux scored, Team Cherry's Michael Del Colle (Oshawa Generals) tied it up on a pass from Cherry captain Sam Reinhart (Kootenay Ice), and both teams made the midpoint goaltending switch. That brought Alex Nedeljkovic (Plymouth Whalers) into the game and Edmonds took his seat on the Cherry bench, having made 16 saves on 17 shots. Blake Clarke (Saginaw Spirit) gave Orr the lead on another power play at 13:16 and Josh Ho-Sang (Windsor Spitfires) made it a 3-1 game late in the period, batting a loose puck out of the air past Nedeljkovic.
Nikolay Goldobin (Sarnia Sting) closed the gap early in the third period, picking the corner behind Orr goalie Julio Billia (Chicoutimi Sagueneens). Goldobin later nailed the post on a penalty shot and set up Reinhart for the tying goal at 13:53 of the third. Jared McCann (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds) scored the winner on a wrist shot with 3:29 left.
Edmonds will return to Prince George later today and should be back in the Cougars' lineup Friday night when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first of a two-game set at CN Centre.
