Let the goalie battle begin

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This article was published 23/09/2016 (2770 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The crease isn’t big enough for the three of them. So something is going to have to give in the battle to be the Winnipeg Jets starting goaltender.

All three candidates were on the ice for the first time Saturday, with two having just returned from the World Cup of Hockey.

Ondrej Pavelec is the incumbent No. 1 but finds himself heading into the final year of his contract trying to fend off the toughest challenge of his career.

“To be honest, I just turned 29, I’ve been around for a while. Of course it’s in my head, that’s normal. But I don’t feel nervous, I don’t feel any different from years before,” Pavelec said following his first training camp session after suiting up with the Czech Republic team, where he didn’t see any tournament action.

“It’s something new for me, but nothing changes at all. You have to go on the ice and play as hard as you can and play your best and things happen. Really I’m not worried about it.”

Pavelec went 13-13-4 during an injury plagued 2015-16 season with a 2.78 GAA and .904 save percentage. He said competition is a reality of any type of employment.

“There are goalies here who want the No. 1 spot. But if you look around the NHL, it’s the same situation pretty much everywhere. It is what it is. That’s hockey,” he said. “In every single job you have, you have to be good at it to keep the job. That’s pretty simple. Of course it’s competition, but we are one team. Who’s going to be better is going to play. It’s simple.”

Connor Hellebuyck was part of Team North America, which captivated hockey fans with their speed and skill. Hellebuyck was the third-string goalie and didn’t see any game action but was still beaming about the experience Saturday.

“It was ridiculous how fast that team was. It was so fun to watch,” he said. “Just knowing I got to play with that was a huge honour for me.”

Hellebuyck had Jets fans salivating last season when he briefly took over the No. 1 role after Pavelec got injured, posting a 13-11-1 record with a team-best 2.34 GAA and .918 save percentage. Despite the success, he soon found himself on the farm with the Manitoba Moose for the duration of the season.

Hellebuyck believes last year’s taste of the NHL has him more prepared than ever for the challenges ahead.

“It gave me the confidence, it gave me the tools I need to succeed at this level. Going into it you never really know what to expect. Now I got a couple games under my belt, so now I know what to expect. I think I trained the right way and had a really good summer, so I’m ready.”

He said the World Cup experience will also serve him well in the long run as he tries to prove himself again during training camp.

“There’s always competition. So you’re not really looking too much into that. You just go do what you do, get better every day and let the process take place,” he said. “I had my fun. I got what I got from the World Cup. Now I’m ready to kind of apply it and see where the season’s going to take me.”

Michael Hutchinson ended the season as the No. 2 goalie, but many pundits see him as the most likely to lose his spot and end up with the Moose. Unlike Hellebuyck, Hutchinson would need to pass waivers to be sent down. Would Jets management risk losing him for nothing?

“You just want to come in and focus on what you can control and try and stop as many pucks as you can. At the end of the day, if you stop the pucks and help the team win, everything’s going to sort itself out,” Hutchinson said Saturday. “I can’t get concerned with what other guy’s are doing or what possible situations there could be. I have a job here and that’s just to come and stop the puck.

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Hutchinson went 9-15-3 last season with a 2.84 GAA and .907 save percentage. Those were disappointing results coming off a much stronger first year with the Jets. He said a rough November was mainly to blame, but improved following some “tweaks” in his game.

“We got it back on track to where it was before. From there I was extremely happy with how my season went from there,” he said. “This year is just trying to remember what I did last year when I was feeling good to be successful and just kind of building off that.”

Hutchinson said he was happy to see Pavelec and Hellebuyck back on the ice Saturday — even though he’s fighting with them for playing time.

“They’re great guys, we all get along off the ice. It was nice seeing them, catching up on there summer and how the World Cup went for them. It was an amazing experience they just had. Other than that, I’m just trying to focus on myself,” he said.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Mike McIntyre
Sports reporter

Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when that dream fizzled, he put all his brawn into becoming a professional writer.

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