Wildcats' new goalie settles in
Published Saturday November 28th, 2009
Moncton plays two road games this weekend in QMJHL action
SHAWINIGAN, Que. - Shane Owen found himself looking for a new hockey job this month. He hopes he's found a new home in Moncton.
The Moncton Wildcats' goaltending situation got a little more interesting with the acquisition of Owen earlier this week.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League club signed the 19-year-old free agent this week and he delivered a solid performance in his debut, stopping 26 shots in a 5-1 win over the No. 4 nationally ranked Drummondville Voltigeurs Thursday.
"I couldn't have asked for a better start," said Owen, who played the past two seasons with the Erie Otters in the Ontario Hockey League.
"I just wanted to play my game, take it shot by shot, period by period and go from there."
Moncton is on a two-game weekend road trip. It visits the Shawinigan Cataractes here tonight and the Victoriaville Tigres tomorrrow. Both games are 5 p.m. starts. Owen joins a Wildcats crease that already includes Louis Domingue, a highly-touted 17-year-old netminder who has been pulled in each of his last two starts, and Wendell Vye, a 19-year-old Moncton native.
Owen was the starting goaltender in Erie this season until the Otters received 20-year-old Jaroslav Janus back from the American Hockey League earlier this month. Janus, who played for Slovakia at last year's world junior championship, was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2009 NHL draft.
Owen had a 4.31 goals-against average, .880 save percentage and 3-6 record for Erie this season.
Owen cleared OHL waivers and then joined Moncton.
"There were rumours going around that Janus was coming back, so it was a bit of a nerve-wrecking time for me," said Owen, who was a backup for the Otters in the last two seasons.
"I was worried for a bit, but I just wanted to get on a team. I landed here and I'm pretty excited to be here. I've heard good things about the town, the people, the organization. I want to make the most of it."
Just one game into his Wildcats career, the Barrie, Ont. native isn't sure what the road ahead will look like.
"I guess it's up to me. How well I play will determine how much I get to play. That keeps me on my toes and I know I'll have to be good if I want to play," said Owen, a butterfly netminder who checks in at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds.
"I hope to bring this team as far as I can, chase the Memorial Cup, keep practising as hard as I can and go from there."
Moncton head coach and director of hockey operations Danny Flynn received a report on Owen from Erie general manager Sherry Basin, who worked previously with Flynn with the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
"Shane's got 60-plus major junior games and playoff experience in the OHL under his belt and he looks like he'll provide a good, calming influence for us," said Flynn, whose team is 14-8-1-2 on the season.
"There are so many even teams in the league that goaltending on most nights is a big factor in who gets the two points."
Domingue has a 2.71 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and 9-8 record. Vye has done a very solid job in his first QMJHL season with a 2.06 goal-against average, .928 save percentage and 4-3 record. Flynn said the team will carry three goalies for now, but that isn't the long-term plan.
"As director of hockey operations, your job is to try to make your team better every day. I like the goaltending we have here, but I thought this was an opportunity to add an experienced guy who could possibly help our team," Flynn said.
Meanwhile, Wildcats forward Pierre-Marc Lessard is expected to be out of the lineup for at least a week with a concussion.
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