The Smokies net now belongs to Trail native Chayse Johnson.
The 18-year-old backup has been thrust into the starter’s role after Saturday’s injury to Cooper Michaluk, who is out six to 12 weeks with a lower body injury.
The 20-year-old who is the BCHL leader with nine wins, left the game in the dying seconds of the second period against West Kelowna after doing the splits in a slide across the net to fend off a scoring chance.
Michaluk initially got to his feet, but returned to the ice and needed help from two team mates to get to the dressing room as he was unable to put any weight on his left leg.
Johnson recorded 24 shutout minutes until Otto Hanson’s rising wrister ended the game less than four minutes into overtime giving Trail the 3-2 victory, their record 9th straight win on the road.
Johnson says he has remained game ready since game one.
“I just work as hard as I can every day in practice,” said Johnson.
“You just never know when the opportunity is going to present itself and I just make sure I’m ready to go whenever the boys need me,” he added.
Smoke Eaters goaltender coach Pierce Diamond says the key to Chayse’s development has been consistency.
“Finding ways to make sure when he’s practicing and when he’s preparing for games, he has that same preparation throughout the year,” explained Diamond, who added that Johnson responded when he did get his first start of the season on Oct. 17 in Powell River.
“I thought he did a ten-out-of ten job,” said Diamond.
Johnson says his game is built on a solid foundation.
“I’d say I’m definitely a structure first goaltender, I rely at lot on my positioning and my tracking,” Johnson noted.
“I think I’m very athletic and I can bring structure and raw compete whenever I need to,” he concluded.
Chayse admits he is is vocal and emotional. Diamond points out while positive attributes, they sometimes need to be reigned in.
“His competitiveness, his work ethic and his athleticism are probably some of his strongest suits but at the same time you want to make sure you’re not using that 24/7,” Diamond commented, feeling Chayse is finding a balance physically and mentally.
“It’s a way of getting control of his game, getting control of the mental side too, while it’s great to have all of those tools in your tool box, but you don’t want to have to use them all the time,” stated Diamond.
After 84 minutes of action this season, Johnson heads into Wednesday’s home game against Salmon Arm with a record of 2-0, with a 1.43 GAA and .943 SP.
The Smoke Eaters have called up Matus Volovar from the VIJHL’s Peninsula Panthers to backup Johnson.
The 18-year-old from Slovakia is 7-1 this season, with two shutouts, a 1.76 GAA and .931 SP.
