Celebrate International Goalie Day with 65-year-old EBUG Doug Melvin

Douglas Melvin just might be the most interesting goalie in the world.

At the very least he’s one of the most inspiring, and a perfect representative for our annual celebration of International Goalie Day, a designation created by InGoal Magazine’s own Paul Campbell seven years ago to mark Nov. 1 in honour of Jacques Plante’s definitive contribution to the position by putting on a mask for the first time in an NHL game.

It’s fitting then that Melvin, who at age 65 is still taking a regular turn as an EBUG for the ECHL Idaho Steelheads and visiting teams, was once coached by Plante during a stint with the Philadelphia Flyers, a team he began helping as a practice goalie at the age of 14!

Melvin popped onto the InGoal radar recently after reprising his role as an EBUG for the visiting Toledo Walleye just last week, taking part in warm-ups and sitting on the bench behind starter Jan Bednar after the Detroit Red Wings called Carter Gylander up from the ECHL to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Our brief — and it turns out, somewhat ill-informed — discussion about his most recent ECHL exploits on last week’s episode of the InGoal Radio Podcast was shared with Melvin by fellow goalies and thankfully he reached out, allowing us to learn that published stories about his EBUG experience not only underestimated his age by four years, but significantly undersold his incredible life as a goalie — and beyond. It started as a teenager with the Flyers, includes training camps in Philadelphia and with the Boston Bruins, detoured into becoming both an accountant and Green Beret, and still includes a couple months a year practicing at a professional level, including two-a-days at training camp with Idaho.

Comments

Let's talk goaltending!

We welcome your contribution to the comments on this and all articles at InGoal. We ask that you keep it positive and appropriate for all - this is a community of goaltenders and we're here for each other! See our comment policy for more information.