Tiger Trauma
11-06-2007, 01:18 AM
Medicine Hatter, Medicine Hat Tiger and now Calgary Flame Matt Keetley made his National Hockey League debut on Monday night, mopping up for Flames No. 1 goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff in the late stages of the team’s 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Denver.
The 21-year-old Gas City native made two saves on two shots in the final nine minutes and 48 seconds of the game.
Keetley had spent the last week with the NHL club, but playing behind Kiprusoff — a notorious workoholic in the Flames net — no one knew when the former Medicine Hat Tiger standout would make his debut.
“It’s great to see anybody make it, because these guys work so hard to get there,” said Willie Desjardins, Keetley’s former coach with the Tigers, on Monday night after catching the game highlights.
“It doesn’t just happen. It’s especially great to see a player make it, who, at one time, maybe nobody thought he could do it.
“When they can make it through with belief and hard work and support from their family; I think it’s really special when you see that.”
Keetley went undrafted in the WHL’s bantam draft but joined the Tigers late in the 2003-04 season as an emergency backup. The next season he challenged No. 1 ‘tender Kevin Nastiuk for the starting position during a terrific rookie campaign ended with a fifth-round selection by the Flames in the NHL Entry Draft.
Keetley proceeded to re-write the Tigers record book during the next two seasons and was named the 2007 Memorial Cup tournament’s outstanding goaltender last spring.
He joined the NHL club on Oct. 23 when Curtis McElhinney was demoted to the Flames farm club in Quad City, Illinois, but hadn’t seen the ice before Monday.
The Flames next play Thursday when they host the Vancouver Canucks — a 7 p.m. game that will be shown on Rogers Sportsnet.
On Monday, only a handful of Hatters watched the live broadcast of the game versus the Avalanche.
“It made me proud,” said Clint Davison, a bartender at the Silver Buckle Inn, which showed the pay-per-view broadcast of the game.
“To see a Medicine Hat boy in there, it was a great feeling.”
www.medicinehatnews.com
Way to go matt!
The 21-year-old Gas City native made two saves on two shots in the final nine minutes and 48 seconds of the game.
Keetley had spent the last week with the NHL club, but playing behind Kiprusoff — a notorious workoholic in the Flames net — no one knew when the former Medicine Hat Tiger standout would make his debut.
“It’s great to see anybody make it, because these guys work so hard to get there,” said Willie Desjardins, Keetley’s former coach with the Tigers, on Monday night after catching the game highlights.
“It doesn’t just happen. It’s especially great to see a player make it, who, at one time, maybe nobody thought he could do it.
“When they can make it through with belief and hard work and support from their family; I think it’s really special when you see that.”
Keetley went undrafted in the WHL’s bantam draft but joined the Tigers late in the 2003-04 season as an emergency backup. The next season he challenged No. 1 ‘tender Kevin Nastiuk for the starting position during a terrific rookie campaign ended with a fifth-round selection by the Flames in the NHL Entry Draft.
Keetley proceeded to re-write the Tigers record book during the next two seasons and was named the 2007 Memorial Cup tournament’s outstanding goaltender last spring.
He joined the NHL club on Oct. 23 when Curtis McElhinney was demoted to the Flames farm club in Quad City, Illinois, but hadn’t seen the ice before Monday.
The Flames next play Thursday when they host the Vancouver Canucks — a 7 p.m. game that will be shown on Rogers Sportsnet.
On Monday, only a handful of Hatters watched the live broadcast of the game versus the Avalanche.
“It made me proud,” said Clint Davison, a bartender at the Silver Buckle Inn, which showed the pay-per-view broadcast of the game.
“To see a Medicine Hat boy in there, it was a great feeling.”
www.medicinehatnews.com
Way to go matt!