Mike Condon

When the Montreal Canadiens hosted the Boston Bruins at the 2016 Winter Classic, Mike Condon made a save that would follow him for the rest of his career. Playing on the penalty kill at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough — not far from where he grew up in Holliston, Massachusetts — Condon turned what looked like a hopeless backdoor chance into one of the defining moments of that outdoor game. InGoal Magazine later went back to Condon for a full breakdown of that sequence, and what emerged was the story of a save far more calculated than it appeared ^[1].

Condon was born on April 27, 1990, in Holliston, Massachusetts. Before his NHL career took shape, he was doing his Princeton University homework on the buses of the ECHL — a detail InGoal noted when describing a pro career few expected to materialize ^[1]. The Ivy League background and the minor-league grind were part of the same path that eventually brought him to the NHL, undrafted, through the Montreal Canadiens organization.

His NHL debut came with the Canadiens in 2015-16, and he played a significant role from the start. In 55 games that season — the largest workload of his NHL career — Condon posted 21 wins against 25 losses with a 2.71 goals-against average, a .903 save percentage, and one shutout.

Following that first season in Montreal, Condon moved to the Ottawa Senators, where he spent three seasons and put together the statistical high-water mark of his career. In 2016-17, across 40 games, he went 19-14 with a 2.50 goals-against average, a .914 save percentage, and five shutouts — all career bests. The next season, 2017-18, he appeared in 31 games, finishing 5-17 with a 3.25 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage. His final NHL appearances came in 2018-19, also with Ottawa, where he went 0-2 in two games.

Over 129 NHL regular-season games, Condon finished with 45 wins, 58 losses, and 17 overtime losses, along with a 2.79 career goals-against average, a .905 career save percentage, and 6 shutouts.

The injuries and rehabilitation that kept him out of NHL action in his later years were the subject of a podcast interview on InGoal Radio that multiple Pro Reads reference as a turning point in how InGoal engaged with him ^{[2] [3] [4]}. Even as his playing career stalled, Condon's willingness to break down game situations in detail made him a recurring participant in InGoal's Pro Reads series.

InGoal Magazine has covered Mike Condon in four podcast appearances and six Pro Reads.

Those Pro Reads, available to InGoal members, span work from his time with both the Canadiens and the Senators. His Winter Classic breakdown was the first ^[1], followed by an overtime 2-on-1 situation in which he ultimately faced Sidney Crosby — whom Condon referred to simply as "87" — during a 3-on-3 situation against the Pittsburgh Penguins ^[5]. A third segment examined a backdoor robbery against the Winnipeg Jets power play, a sequence Condon himself described as having "a lot of moving parts" ^[4]. His fourth Pro Read covered a power play sequence against the Columbus Blue Jackets, in which Condon addressed his positional choices, Senators penalty-killing responsibilities, and pre-scout information about the opposing power play ^[3]. The fifth broke down a partial breakaway chance that escalated into a one-on-one against the Chicago Blackhawks, with Condon detailing his reads on timing, shot-versus-deke cues, and hand and elbow position ^[2]. His sixth examined a rush that turned into what he called a near 2-on-0 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and included his explanation of how knowing which players were on the ice for Tampa Bay factored into his decision-making — including reading hand position on a trailer to anticipate direction: "As soon as I see his hand go up, I know he wants to try to take it the other way," Condon said. "And watching guy's momentum too. When they are coming that fast, it's hard to stop." ^[6]

Condon also appeared on InGoal Radio in episode 32 ^[7] and episode 152 ^[8], as well as episode 312 ^[9]. Most recently, he was a guest on episode 360, where the conversation turned to the mental side of goaltending ^[10].