Luukkonen Takes the Faceoff for His Friend Eddie, Denmark’s Nordstrøm Stops 55 at Home
Plus: Johnny Bower’s Hall of Fame class turns 50, Wallstedt leads the NHL with 11 wins, the NCAA’s goalies of the month, and to close, the night Glenn Hall’s 502-game streak ended.
In this edition 11 stories
NHL
International
New on InGoal
At the end: this day in goalie history
Goalies in this edition 21 goalies
Every goalie named in this edition, from the NHL to junior and college.
NHL: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Buffalo Sabres), Johnny Bower (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jesper Wallstedt (Minnesota Wild)
AHL: Carl Lindbom (Henderson Silver Knights)
College: Jackson Unger (Colorado College), JJ Cataldo (Army), Uma Corniea (Princeton), Ève Gascon (Minnesota Duluth), Lisa Jönsson (Northeastern)
U SPORTS: Clara Genier (Ottawa), Emma Kloosterman (Laurier), Raphael Audet (Trinity Western), Zachary Roy (Nipissing), Jack Milner (StFX)
International: Emma-Sofie Nordstrøm (Denmark), Selma Luggin (Austria), Ann-Renée Desbiens (Canada), Aerin Frankel (United States), Andrea Brändli (Switzerland)
Junior: Aleksei Medvedev (Peterborough Petes), Martin Psohlavec (Saskatoon Blades)
NHLLuukkonen takes the faceoff for his friend Eddie, then beats Columbus
Before the Sabres played Columbus on Hockey Fights Cancer Night on Friday, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen walked the purple carpet at KeyBank Center with Eddie Golden, then lined up across from him for the ceremonial puck drop. Eddie is 10, a big Sabres fan, and being treated for lymphoblastic leukemia at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, where Sabres visits made the two of them friends. He wore a purple three-piece suit with a bowtie. “I thought I dressed sharp today but got one-upped by Eddie big time,” Luukkonen said. “I probably was more nervous than Eddie was; I haven’t taken too many faceoffs in my life.”
Luukkonen then made 24 saves in a 5-2 win, his fifth of the season, and was named the second star. Eddie was the first. “Every time I see Eddie, he’s smiling, and it makes your problems and everything feel small,” Luukkonen said. Coach Lindy Ruff: “I felt like we needed to win this one for Eddie.” Since the Sabres won in San Jose on Oct. 27, Luukkonen and Colten Ellis are 4-1-0 with a combined .916 save percentage, fourth-best in the NHL (Sabres.com).
On InGoal: Luukkonen on InGoal Radio Episode 248, and his latest Pro Read, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen Pro Reads 2.
NHLJohnny Bower’s Hall of Fame class turns 50
Carey Price and Pekka Rinne go into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, and that will make 46 goalies in the Hall. Fifty years ago, Johnny Bower was the 25th, in the Class of 1976. In a column for Hall of Fame week, NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs looks back at a goalie who spent about 10 years in the minors before the Maple Leafs got him from Cleveland in 1958, when he was 33, and who then won four Stanley Cups in Toronto (1962, 1963, 1964, and 1967) and two Vezina Trophies, the second shared with Terry Sawchuk. “I never figured an old codger like me would last as long as I did,” Bower said. He didn’t expect to get in so soon, six years after his last game, either. Dave Keon put Bower’s value to those Leafs this way: “Winning the Cup takes heart. John was our soul.” Bower passed away in December 2017 at 93 (NHL.com).
To learn more about Bower, Dan Robson’s biography Bower: A Legendary Life is a great read that we’ve enjoyed (Canada · US).*
On InGoal: Celebrating Carey Price and Pekka Rinne, from the day they were elected.
* InGoal Media is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases.
NHLWallstedt’s 11th win leads the league
Jesper Wallstedt stopped 23 of 24 shots as Minnesota beat San Jose 4-1 on Friday (ESPN). It was his 11th win in 16 games, the most in the NHL, one ahead of Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov, and he is 11-2-3 with a 1.99 goals-against average, according to his NHL.com player page. He has won four of his last five starts and allowed one goal in three of them. Days before the 2021 draft, he told InGoal Radio that the mental side of the game was a strength of his: “If I can get a good mental stage and just breathe calmly and speak to myself a little bit… When I’m talking to myself, it’s often a short sentence, and then I just like to refocus.”
On InGoal: Wallstedt and Fowler: Watch the Shooters, Not Just the Goalies, and Wallstedt on InGoal Radio Episode 129.
AHLLindbom’s 31 saves give Henderson a 1-0 win
Carl Lindbom made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season as Henderson beat San Diego 1-0 on Friday at Lee’s Family Forum. The Gulls outshot the Silver Knights 31-18, 14-4 in the second period, and Mitch McLain’s goal at 7:23 of the first stood up. Lindbom was the first star (AHL game report). The 23-year-old from Stockholm was Vegas’s seventh-round pick (222nd overall) in 2021 and played eight NHL games for the Golden Knights last season, winning two, according to his NHL.com player page. At the end of his first pro season in North America, he told InGoal Radio that the big step for him was learning to play to his own strengths instead of the big, blocking style he grew up practising in Sweden: “If my hands are great, if my reflexes are good, I got to play for that. … I can’t be this big blocky goaltender. That’s just not me.”
On InGoal: Lindbom on InGoal Radio Episode 302.
CollegeUnger, Cataldo, Corniea, Gascon, and Jönsson are the NCAA’s goalies of the month
The Hockey Commissioners’ Association named its national monthly honours on Friday. On the men’s side, two goalies share October’s award. Colorado College sophomore Jackson Unger, from Calgary, started all eight games for the 11th-ranked Tigers and went 6-2-0 with a 1.38 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage. Army junior JJ Cataldo, at .944 and 1.49, backstopped the program’s first 4-0-0 start in Atlantic Hockey America; his league award was in our Nov. 5 edition. Vermont sophomore goalie Jacob Oster shares the men’s rookie of the month award (HCA).
The women’s award, covering September and October, goes to three goalies. Princeton senior Uma Corniea was 4-0-0 with a .974 and 0.75 as the Tigers opened 6-0-0 for the first time. Minnesota Duluth senior Ève Gascon, also in our Nov. 5 edition, went 5-0-0 with four shutouts, a .982, and 0.40. Northeastern junior Lisa Jönsson, from Stockholm, was 4-0-1 at 0.79 and .967 as the Huskies rose to fourth in the national polls (HCA).
U SPORTSGenier and Kloosterman go 65 minutes without a goal, Audet stops 53
Neither goalie gave up a goal in 65 minutes on Friday in Ottawa, and a shootout decided it. Ottawa’s Clara Genier stopped all 39 Laurier shots, and Laurier’s Emma Kloosterman all 30 from the Gee-Gees, through regulation and overtime. In the shootout, Genier stopped Marra Klassen and Alexa Pongo, while Gillian Warren and Naomi Morin scored on Kloosterman for a 2-0 Ottawa shootout win (box score).
Notable performances in U SPORTS
- Trinity Western’s Raphael Audet made 53 saves on 55 shots in Saskatoon, and both goals against him came on Saskatchewan power plays in the first period, 47 seconds apart. Nolan Maier made 23 saves at the other end in the Huskies’ 2-0 win (box score).
- Nipissing’s Zachary Roy made 34 saves to shut out Ontario Tech 5-0 in Oshawa (box score).
- StFX’s Jack Milner stopped 35 of 36 shots and was the first star in a 4-1 win over UPEI (box score).
InternationalNordstrøm makes 55 saves for Denmark in her hometown
Denmark’s Emma-Sofie Nordstrøm made 55 saves against Finland on Friday at the Women’s World Championship, in Herning, where she was born. Finland won 4-1, and before Nikita Bergmann scored the hosts’ goal early in the third period, Finland had outshot Denmark 44-3. “This was one of our greatest defensive games. I saw the puck all the time, it went according to our plan,” Nordstrøm said (IIHF). She turned 24 the day before the game (Wikipedia). The St. Lawrence graduate was PWHL Hamilton’s fifth-round pick (54th overall) in June and is one of four goalies on its training-camp roster, which opens Nov. 18, two days after the tournament ends (PWHL Hamilton).
In Esbjerg, Selma Luggin made 42 saves in Austria’s first game in the top division, a 4-1 loss to Czechia, and was named Austria’s best player (Austrian Ice Hockey Association). Ann-Renée Desbiens was in goal for Canada’s 5-1 win over Sweden in Herning (AP via ABC News), and Aerin Frankel started the defending champion Americans’ 7-0 win over Andrea Brändli and Switzerland (IIHF).
At the IIHF Asia Championship in Jeonju, South Korea, China’s Chen Shifeng has made 91 saves on 99 shots in two losses, 45 against Korea and 46 against Kazakhstan (IIHF). The 21-year-old from Beijing is a sophomore goalie at Tufts University, just outside Boston, where he goes by Stephen Chen, and he played for the Boston Junior Rangers before that (Tufts).
On InGoal: No Weird Tricks Required: Aerin Frankel and the Power of Goalie Basics, and Canada’s goalies for these Worlds in our Oct. 20 edition.
JuniorPeterborough adds Memorial Cup champion Aleksei Medvedev
The Peterborough Petes acquired Aleksei Medvedev from London on Friday for three OHL draft picks. The 19-year-old from St. Petersburg, Russia, a Vancouver Canucks second-round pick (47th overall) in 2025, won the OHL title and the Memorial Cup with the Knights in 2024-25. That season he went 22-8-2 with three shutouts and won the Dinty Moore Trophy as the OHL rookie goalie with the lowest goals-against average. He leaves London with 41 wins in 78 OHL games. “Aleksei is one of the most experienced goaltenders in our league, having already signed his ELC with the Vancouver Canucks,” Petes general manager Michael Oke said (OHL).
Notable performances in the WHL
- Saskatoon’s Martin Psohlavec, 18, made 43 saves on 46 shots and was the third star as the Blades beat Calgary 4-3 on Friday (WHL game report).
New on InGoalThe InGoal Magazine app for iPhone
On InGoal: Goalie News now waits for you every morning in the InGoal Magazine app for iPhone, along with Pro Reads with the video right in the article, Pro Drills, and InGoal Radio that keeps playing in the background. Members sign in with the email on their InGoal account, no password needed.
This Day in Goalie History
November 7
HistoryA back injury ends Glenn Hall’s 502-game streak, and an emergency goalie comes out of the stands
On this day in 1962, a pinched nerve in his back ended Glenn Hall’s run of 502 straight complete regular-season games, spread over eight seasons, 552 counting the playoffs, a record for goalies that still stands. NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs writes that Hall left the game against Boston 10:21 into the first period and that Denis DeJordy came down from the stands to take over, making 24 saves in a 3-3 tie. Three nights later, DeJordy started in Montreal and won 3-1 with 33 saves (NHL.com). Some accounts have Hall pulling out before the game; all agree that his streak ended that night, against the Bruins (Wikipedia). Hall passed away in January at 94.
Hall told InGoal Radio in 2019 that he never missed a game through junior and the minors either. “I was lucky. I never missed a game in all that time,” he said. “Nice to be healthy enough that you could at least play.”
Also on Nov. 7
- 1957Jacques Plante marked his 200th regular-season game with a 20-save shutout of Detroit in Montreal.
- 1959Hall played his 300th regular-season game, 33 saves in a 2-2 tie in Montreal.
- 1981Glenn “Chico” Resch played his 300th regular-season game and made 46 saves in a Colorado Rockies win in Edmonton.
- 1988Greg Millen played his 500th regular-season game, 30 saves for St. Louis in a 3-3 tie in Montreal.
- 2002Dan Blackburn earned his first NHL shutout, 26 saves for the Rangers against Calgary, at 19 years, 171 days, the fourth-youngest goalie to get one.
- 2013Brian Elliott won his 100th regular-season game for St. Louis against Calgary, and Jonathan Quick marked his 300th with a 19-save shutout of Buffalo in Los Angeles.
- 2017Franklin Pierce goalie Austin Christopher was credited with an empty-net goal at 18:42 of the third period of a 5-3 NCAA Division III win over Fitchburg State, according to the Franklin Pierce box score.
- 2019Devan Dubnyk played his 500th regular-season game, for Minnesota in San Jose.
The NHL game details in this list come from the NHL’s game records at NHL Records.
On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 29: Mr. Goalie Glenn Hall and Episode 336, celebrating the life of Glenn Hall. Resch on InGoal Radio Episode 162.
Born on Nov. 7Leclaire and Shepard
Happy birthday to former Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire (44) and Hunter Shepard (31), who played for the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators and is now with Barys Astana in Kazakhstan.
End of this day in goalie history
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