Today is the 10th Anniversary of the Inaugural Heritage Classic

We've all seen it, the iconic photo of José wearing his toque on top of his mask, with his breath steaming in the cold Edmonton air. Today is the 10th anniversary of that Heritage Classic, played between Montreal and Edmonton on November 22, 2003.

On NHL.com they published a special "Sunday Long Read" on it last Sunday. There are videos and quotes and all sorts of things if you want to check it out.

A quote from José about the cold: The goalies, we had it the worst. Players would go on the bench and it was like a five-star resort there. They had heaters and hot packs, whatever they needed. Me and Ty needed to stay in net.

Here is a nice recap of the event. You can see some shots of José in the dressing room along with on the ice.


And here's a video just about his toque.


And his quote: We had a practice the day before and the old-timers had a practice and they had the toque on during practice with the pom-pom and the vintage kind of look. When my brother saw the practice, I think he saw Guy Lafleur skating around with that toque. He told me it would be real cool if I put it on top of my helmet. So I kind of kept it in mind. I talked to Gervais and his assistant, Bobby Boulanger. Bobby did a great job of putting tape in so it stuck properly. I thought I would put it on for warmups and then take it off for the game. After warmups, all the guys said, “It looks so cool; you’ve got to keep it for the game.”

Wild may have to accelerate search for backup goalie

From Mike Russo after the Wild's game tonight.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/232609421.html

Posted by: Michael Russo under Wild game coverage Updated: November 19, 2013 - 11:00 PM

Ugly, ugly performance tonight by the Wild really for the first time this season when the Montreal Canadiens outskated them from start to finish en route to a 6-2 victory.

The two goals make it sound closer than it actually was. Nino Niederreiter and Dany Heatley each scored with the Wild trailing by five goals, Heatley’s coming with 1.3 seconds left.

Max Pacioretty, who entered the game with two goals, an eight-game goalless drought and all but disappearing from USA Olympic talk, scored three goals (a natural hat trick) on 10 shots.

Josh Harding was pulled for the first time this season, and it was far from his fault. He held the Wild in a scoreless first period and did all he could in a one-sided second period. Coach Mike Yeo gave him the mercy pull so he didn’t have to endure any more punishment and could now have enough in the tank to start Wednesday in Ottawa.

From everything I’ve been told, the plan was to go with Darcy Kuemper in Ottawa (although Yeo was denying that after the game).

Regardless very doubtful that happens now. Kuemper, who gave up three goals on seven shots last month in Toronto, came in and gave up three goals on nine shots to the Canadiens. He was beaten on the first two shots he faced, meaning at that point, he had stopped four of 9 shots this season.

He is 3-7 in the minors with a goals-against just under 3.0. This is a problem, especially with Matt Hackett (who has actually been worse statistically in Rochester) no longer in the organization and Johan Gustafsson having next to no North American pro experience.

Niklas Backstrom is sidelined with a concussion. The Wild has a ton of games coming up, including back-to-backs the next three weeks and in four of the next five (not counting Wednesday). He is doing light workouts but not skating, so my guess now is the Wild will have to somehow add an experienced backup, whether it be trading a draft pick for a Scott Clemmensen-type or signing a Jose Theodore or a Rick DiPietro or a Mathieu Garon or somebody.

But Harding can’t do it all himself and it’s hard to be confident with Kuemper right now until he goes to Iowa and gets his game in order. He just doesn’t look comfortable in net. This kid knows how to play goal. He's played at a high level before. But right now, he's struggling.

Still, goaltending by Harding and Kuemper had nothing to do with tonight’s loss. The Wild, 10-1-2 in its previous 13, just had a clunker that happens over the course of every season.

With Backstrom out, Wild might be in market for goalie

Here is the article Mike Russo of the StarTribune wrote about the Minnesota Wild's current goalie situation.

With Backstrom out, Wild might be in market for goalie

Article by: MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune, November 16, 2013 - 12:47 am

With Niklas Backstrom sidelined by a concussion and a meaty part of the Wild’s schedule on the horizon, General Manager Chuck Fletcher might be in the market for a goaltender.

“I wouldn’t say Backy’s day-to-day because you never know with concussions, so we’ll have to evaluate how Nik’s doing,” Fletcher said Friday morning. “If it’s going to be longer-term, we’ll have to look at doing something. If it’s shorter-term, we’re confident with the guys we have. But ultimately we need Darcy Kuemper and Johan Gustafsson developing in Iowa and not spending the whole year up here.”

Fletcher is comfortable with Josh Harding continuing to get the majority of starts with Kuemper or Gustafsson making the occasional spot start. But with the Wild at the start of a stretch where it plays 17 games in 30 nights with back-to-back games in each of the next four weeks and five of the next six, the team will need a reliable second goaltender.

If Backstrom is out long-term, Fletcher can either sign a free-agent goaltender or make a trade. The three most established North American free agents are former Islander Rick DiPietro, former WildJose Theodore and longtime NHLer Johan Hedberg.

Of the three, DiPietro is the only one currently playing. Bought out by the Islanders last summer, DiPietro is on a tryout with the Carolina Hurricanes’ AHL team, the Charlotte Checkers, and is 0-3 in four games with a robust 5.57 goals-against average.

Theodore, the former Hart Trophy winner with the Montreal Canadiens, went 15-11-3 in 32 games for the Wild in 2010-11. Fletcher is a fan, signing Theodore after Harding tore his ACL and MCL in the preseason. Theodore, who lives in Boca Raton, Fla., said Friday he works out with a trainer four times a week and is skating daily.

Hedberg, released from a tryout with the Rangers this fall, has been doing part-time scouting with the New Jersey Devils and doesn’t seem keen on moving far from family.

“We haven’t gone through the process yet, but you’re always trying to know who’s available,” said Fletcher. “In the short-term, you don’t want to overreact and clearly Kuemper and Gustafsson are quality goalies who can play. We’ll make the right decision based on what we know medically. It’s not like I’ve called 20 teams yet.”

Gustafsson backed up Harding on Friday against the Panthers. The Wild wanted Kuemper to start for Iowa against San Antonio in case it needs him to start at Ottawa on Wednesday.

Mike Russo Mentioned José in Conjunction with the Wild

Minnesota Wild goalie, Niklas Backstrom, was elbowed in the head earlier this week and is currently out with a concussion. It's unknown at this time how long he'll be out. But tonight during 1st intermission between Minnesota and Florida, Mike Russo said that the Wild are "doing their due diligence in inquiring about other goalies" in case Backstrom's injury is long-term. They mentioned 3 free agent goalies, José, Rick DiPietro, and Johan Hedberg. Russo said DiPietro is on a tryout in the AHL for Carolina right now but is not having good results. He said Hedberg isn't officially retired, but almost.

Then he mentioned José and said he actually talked to him today. José said he's working out 4 days a week [with a trainer] and getting ice time every day with Marco Sturm (who he played with his first season in Florida.) Russo feels José would be very interested if Minnesota made the call. But it's going to be dependent on how long-term Backstrom's injury is and won't make a quick decision.

So we'll just have to continue and wait and see.

This day in history, 1996, José's first NHL victory

On this day in 1996 (11/6/96)  José earned his first NHL victory against Anaheim.

I don't have any photos from that game, but I do have this one from the following night against LA. So at least we can see 20-yr-old José the night after his first NHL win.

José Artwork Made for Me

A few weeks ago a young woman from Italy contacted me through my goalies blog. She enjoyed my blog :) and wanted to share her artwork with me. And when she found out José was my favorite, she made these for me. She calls them digital sketches. I call them AWESOME!! :)

Thanks so much, Simona!! Her other artwork and photographs can be seen here.

Video from the March 3, 2011 game, Wild vs. Rangers

I've been looking back through José's season in Minnesota, and the other night I wanted to watch one of his games, so I watched the March 3, 2011 game against the Rangers (I have NHL Gamecenter, so I can watch any game from the past 5 seasons in their archive.)

José had such a great game that night and saved 40 of 41 shots. After that game his record in his last 10 games at Madison Square Garden was 9-0-1.

I asked a friend of mine who has better software to record a few of my favorite parts, so I'll share them here.





And of course we don't know what José said to Backstrom when he went over to the bench, but he obviously thought it was funny. I don't know that I'd ever seen Backstrom GIGGLE before. ;) And the look on José's face was priceless.