After giving Everyone’s Favorite Goalie, John Curry, a fellow Hockey East alum earlier in the week – Northeastern senior Joe Vitale – the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins surprised us college hockey fans, and it seems others, by signing Northeastern junior goalie Brad Thiessen on Friday.
Although some had speculated he might leave school early (including myself very briefly last weekend before his team’s NCAA semifinal loss to Cornell), I don’t know if it was particularly expected. Especially a move to the Penguins organization, which seems to be stockpiling goalies like 1950s families stocked canned vegetables in fail-safe shelters. (At the end of the world, there is not such a thing as too many cans of creamed corn. Or, it seems, too many undrafted college goalies.)
What does this mean for Everyone’s Favorite Goalie? Is this a confirmation of his spot as the somewhat-revitalized Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup next season? Or does the Penguins organization think that they want to have some grand goalie cage match next training camp? Thiessen, Curry, Fleury, Dave Brown, Chad Johnson and Adam Berkhoel all go at it, and the two still standing get a chance in the NHL? That would make an amazing reality show…in Canada.
As for Thiessen, I’m kind of disappointed he won’t be back next year. Given the youth of Northeastern’s team, they were a lock to compete for the top spot in Hockey East again next year. Since Thiessen started every single game for the Huskies last year, no one is quite sure what type of goalies they have coming up behind him. Thiessen definitely was deserving of the Hockey East Player of the Year award, and really kept the Huskies in the mix all season long. Now the Huskies seem like a giant question mark heading into 2009-10.
And they are off! Sam the Minuteman was definitely the most athletic of the bunch, despite having one of the most unwieldy costumes. Maybe they should recruit him to play on the actual hockey team?