DiPietro’s First NHL Win Took Seven Years, Ivankovic Reaches 1,000 NCAA Saves
Plus: Callie Shanahan joins Team USA's goalies for the Canada series, Ève Gascon becomes Minnesota Duluth's career shutout leader, Kalyssa Bayne's Saint Anselm-record 76 saves in her college debut, and to close, Henrik Lundqvist's first NHL shutout, 21 years ago today
In this edition 10 stories
NHL
College
International
Birthdays
NHLDiPietro's first NHL win comes seven years after his debut
Michael DiPietro had to wait a long time for this one. The 27-year-old stopped 25 of 27 shots on Friday as the Bruins came back from 2-0 down after one period to beat the Ducks 4-2 in Anaheim, and he didn’t allow a goal after the first intermission (NHL box score). With the game still 2-0, he stopped Nikita Nesterenko on a short-handed breakaway, and Boston scored on that same power play to start the comeback. Coach Marco Sturm called him “our best killer” (NHL.com).
The longest wait from NHL debut to first win
By InGoal’s count from NHL game data, the win came in his sixth NHL game and 2,804 days after his first, a start for Vancouver against San Jose on Feb. 11, 2019 (NHL.com). That is the longest wait between a goalie’s first NHL game and his first win in league history, by InGoal’s count of every NHL game since 1917-18. Next on the list are Frédéric Chabot, now the Wild’s goaltending coach (2,455 days, 1991-97), Johan Holmqvist (2,197, 2000-06), Dylan Ferguson (1,952, 2017-23) and Olaf Kolzig (1,934, 1989-95), who went on to win the Vezina Trophy in 2000.
He’s a late bloomer by Bruins standards, too. At 27 years and 129 days, DiPietro is only the second Bruins goalie in almost 49 years to get his first NHL win at 27 or older. The other is Tim Thomas, who was 28 years and 187 days old when he won in Edmonton on Oct. 19, 2002 (hat tip to @Marcussi_MA on X for spotting it).
The Canucks drafted him in the third round in 2017 (64th overall) out of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, and he has since played one season in the ECHL, with the Maine Mariners, and six in the AHL, the last of them in Providence (NHL.com, BostonBruins.com).
He earned the chance in Providence. Last season he led the AHL in goals-against average (1.91), save percentage (.930) and wins, going 34-8-1 in 45 games and allowing two goals or fewer in 33 of them, as the P-Bruins finished first overall. The league voted him its MVP, the Les Cunningham Award, making him just the ninth goalie to win it, and gave him the Baz Bastien Award as its top goaltender for the second year running; Dustin Wolf (2022 and 2023) is the only other goalie to win it back to back. He was the First Team All-Star goalie both seasons, and the players’ association made him the first winner of its Doug Messier Award as the AHL’s most outstanding player (AHL, AHL, AHL). A year earlier, in 2024-25, his 2.05 and .927 already ranked among the AHL’s top three (AHL stats).
“Definitely a dramatic way to get the first one; didn’t make it easy on myself,” DiPietro said, and he’s keeping the puck close: “The puck is going under my pillow tonight, and then it’s going to go in my pocket tomorrow.” Defenceman Frederic Brunet, his teammate in Providence, scored his own first NHL goal in the game and said of DiPietro: “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve played with, and I think no one deserves it more than him” (BostonBruins.com).
The NHL’s oldest first win
DiPietro still has a way to go to catch the league record. The oldest goalie to earn his first NHL regular-season win is David Ayres, who was 42 years and 194 days old when he got it in his debut on Feb. 22, 2020, when both Hurricanes goalies, James Reimer and Petr Mrazek, were hurt in Toronto. Ayres, a Toronto arena operations manager who practised with the Leafs and Marlies and had once driven the Marlies’ Zamboni, was the emergency backup on call for either team that night. He came on with 8:41 left in the second period, stopped eight of 10 shots and finished a 6-3 Carolina win over the Maple Leafs (NHL box score, NHL PR).
On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 298 with Michael DiPietro, the messages DiPietro writes inside his blocker and, from that list, Olaf Kolzig on the focus lessons that turned his career around. Also listen to InGoal Radio with Frédéric Chabot (Episode 206), Dylan Ferguson (Episode 214) and Olaf Kolzig (Episode 299).
NHLSilovs stops MacKinnon's penalty shot
Colorado beat Pittsburgh 5-2, but Arturs Silovs won one duel with Nathan MacKinnon. With the game tied 2-2 early in the second period, Erik Karlsson hooked MacKinnon on a breakaway, and Silovs turned away the penalty shot with his left pad. He finished with 27 saves (NHL.com, NHL game center).
It was the second penalty shot Silovs has faced in the NHL. The first came on Nov. 1, 2025, in Winnipeg, during a Penguins power play: he left his crease to play the puck, lost it in the corner, and threw his stick at the puck to keep Kyle Connor from scoring into the empty net. Because he threw it in his own zone, the officials awarded Connor a penalty shot, and Connor scored on a backhand (Scouting the Refs, NHL game center).
On InGoal: Arturs Silovs’ incredible Game 7 save and Pro Drills featuring Arturs Silovs.
AHLHrabal and Rousseau post shutouts
Notable performances in the AHL
- Michael Hrabal, 21, turned away all 31 shots in Tucson’s 3-0 home win over San Diego on Friday and was first star. The Prague native was a second-round pick (38th overall) of the Arizona Coyotes in 2023 and played three seasons at UMass before turning pro with the Roadrunners, now Utah’s affiliate.
- William Rousseau, 23, made 28 saves in the Iowa Wild’s 2-0 win in Rockford, also as first star. The goalie from Trois-Rivières, Que., came out of the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and has split the past two seasons between Iowa and the ECHL’s Heartlanders.
Box scores from the AHL’s official game reports (Tucson, Iowa); backgrounds from NHL.com (Hrabal, Rousseau).
CollegeIvankovic's 1,000th NCAA save comes in a win at No. 1 Denver, Heil blanks Bentley in his first start
Denver raised its national championship banner before Friday’s game, and Michigan spoiled the night. Jack Ivankovic stopped 27 of 28 shots in the Wolverines’ 4-1 win at Magness Arena, a rematch of last April’s Frozen Four semifinal, and the only shot that beat him was a Kyle Chyzowski power-play goal with 3:41 left (College Hockey News). Halfway through the third period he made the 1,000th save of his college career (The Detroit News), and the sophomore is the 27th Michigan goalie to get there (Michigan Athletics). Michigan is 5-0. Denver coach David Carle tipped his cap: “their goaltender, you tip your hat to him” (The Gazette). The teams play again Saturday.
At North Dakota, freshman Caleb Heil needed only 14 saves for a 5-0 shutout of Bentley in his first college start. It had been a long road to get there: he committed to UND three years ago and went back to junior more than once on the coaches’ advice, the last time when new coach Dane Jackson asked him for one more season with the USHL’s Madison Capitols. “It’s been a long time coming, being committed here for a while,” Heil said. It’s the second year running that a UND freshman goalie has won his first start with a shutout, after Jan Špunar did it at Clarkson last October (Grand Forks Herald). Heil, from Victoria, Minn., is a Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick (seventh round, 2025) (NHL.com).
Around the NCAA
- Owen Bartoszkiewicz stopped all 30 shots in Michigan Tech’s 3-0 win over Alaska on Friday (College Hockey News).
CollegeGascon becomes UMD's career shutout leader, Bayne's Saint Anselm-record 76 saves in her debut
Ève Gascon made 24 saves in Minnesota Duluth’s 3-0 win at Bemidji State on Friday, the Bulldogs’ WCHA opener (College Hockey News). It was her third shutout in four games this season, and it made her Minnesota Duluth’s all-time leader in career shutouts (UMD Women’s Hockey). She is 4-0 and has allowed two goals in a little more than 240 minutes, a 0.50 goals-against average and a .978 save percentage (UMD Athletics).
In New Hampshire, Saint Anselm freshman Kalyssa Bayne faced 79 shots in her college debut, the Hawks’ season opener, and stopped 76 of them, 29 in the third period alone. That’s a Saint Anselm record for saves in a game, well past Ava Hills’ 67 in 2024-25 (Saint Anselm Athletics). Assumption won the NEWHA game 3-2, outshooting the Hawks 79-17, and scored once in each period (College Hockey News). Bayne is from Coral Springs, Fla., and came to Saint Anselm from St. George’s School (Saint Anselm Athletics).
InternationalCallie Shanahan joins Frankel, Philips, and McNaughton at Team USA's camp
USA Hockey has invited 31 players to a women’s national team camp at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich., from Oct. 23 to 30, with two games against Canada: Oct. 28 at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ont., and Oct. 30 in Plymouth (USA Hockey).
The camp roster lists four goalies: Aerin Frankel of the Boston Fleet, Gwyneth Philips of the Ottawa Charge, Wisconsin’s Ava McNaughton, and Callie Shanahan of the New York Sirens (USA Hockey). Shanahan, from Commerce Township, Mich., is going into her second PWHL season; the Sirens took her 28th overall in the 2025 draft out of Boston University (BU Athletics).
On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 346 with Olympic gold medallist Aerin Frankel, Lenny Mosca on coaching Frankel in Boston (Ep. 372), and Gwyneth Philips on her off-season reset.
InternationalKeller makes 44 saves in Biel, Wüthrich blanks Kloten
Around Europe
- In Switzerland’s National League, Antoine Keller stopped 44 of 46 shots as HC Ajoie won 5-2 at EHC Biel-Bienne on Friday (National League).
- Philip Wüthrich turned aside all 29 shots in HC Ambri-Piotta’s 5-0 win at EHC Kloten (National League).
- Sandro Aeschlimann made 42 saves on 44 shots in HC Davos’ 3-2 win at HC Lugano (National League).
JuniorRangers pick Danai Shaiikov, 19, makes 42 saves to blank Québec
Notable performances in the CHL
- QMJHL: Danai Shaiikov, 19, stopped all 42 shots, 18 of them in the second period, as the Gatineau Olympiques won 2-0 in Québec on Friday, with both goals in the third. He was first star. Shaiikov, from Almaty, Kazakhstan, was a New York Rangers pick in this year’s draft (third round, 67th overall).
- WHL: Tobias Tvrznik, 19, made 40 saves for a 2-0 home win over Penticton and was first star for the Wenatchee Wild. The Czech goalie is a Colorado Avalanche pick (fourth round, 2026).
- OHL: Vilmer Salen Forsberg, 17, made 25 saves as the Brantford Bulldogs beat Barrie 1-0 on a first-period power-play goal, and was first star.
Box scores from the leagues’ official game reports (Gatineau, Wenatchee, Brantford); draft details from NHL.com (Shaiikov, Tvrznik).
HistoryRoy passes Sawchuk for the most wins in NHL history, 26 years ago today
On this day in 2000, Patrick Roy became the winningest goaltender in NHL history. His 448th regular-season win, 4-3 in overtime for Colorado in Washington, moved him past Terry Sawchuk’s 447 (CBC). Roy made 27 saves, Olaf Kolzig made 30 at the other end, and Peter Forsberg ended it with a power-play goal in overtime (box score). Roy had tied the record three nights earlier against Columbus, and afterward he said he had wanted it over quickly so his wife and friends didn’t have to follow him around for long. “I was honest when I said I wanted to enjoy it and didn’t feel any pressure” (AP via CBS News). He finished with 551 wins, a record Martin Brodeur passed in 2009.
That was the record as everyone counted it that night. The NHL has since revised Sawchuk’s total to 445, so by today’s stats Roy passed him two wins earlier, on Oct. 12, 2000, in Vancouver (NHL.com).
Hat tip to hockey historian Mike Commito, whose post flagged the anniversary we had recorded as Oct 12.
Also on Oct. 17
- 1972: Denis Herron, 20, earned his first NHL shutout, 24 saves for Pittsburgh against the Islanders; by the NHL’s stats he is the ninth-youngest goalie to get one (NHL.com).
- 1978: Glenn “Chico” Resch beat Montreal for the Islanders and started a 23-game unbeaten run (15-0-8) that lasted until Jan. 14, 1979 (NHL.com).
- 2005: Henrik Lundqvist, a 23-year-old rookie in only his fourth NHL start, made 23 saves at Madison Square Garden for his first NHL shutout, a 4-0 Rangers win over Florida (UPI). He went on to 64 shutouts, all for the Rangers, and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023 (NHL.com).
- 2009: Evgeni Nabokov played his 500th NHL game, a 31-save win for San Jose on Long Island (NHL.com).
- 2013: Pekka Rinne played his 300th NHL game, for Nashville against Los Angeles (NHL.com).
- 2015: Marc-Andre Fleury played his 600th NHL game and beat Toronto with 26 saves for Pittsburgh (NHL.com).
Game counts in this list are from the NHL’s current stats, which can differ from the totals of the day.
On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 161 with Henrik Lundqvist, The King Yet Lives: better numbers on Lundqvist, InGoal Radio Episode 154 with Pekka Rinne, Episode 85 with Evgeni Nabokov, and Episode 300 with Marc-Andre Fleury.
BirthdaysDuchesne
Happy birthday to former Philadelphia Flyers goalie Jeremy Duchesne (40).
Have goalie news, a big save, a signing, or a coaching hire? Send it to news@ingoalmag.com.