By Patrick King, Sportnset.ca
Everywhere Raffaele D’Orso has gone, he has had to prove people wrong.
D’Orso, who stands five-foot-10 and weighs 175 pounds, has earned the starting goaltender job for the Val-d’Or Foreurs in the Québec Major Junior Hockey League this season. Although he’s now a starter, his road to success always seemed to stall because of his size.
"People didn’t really think I was going to be able to play in the ‘Q’ because I was a bit too small," D’Orso said.
While the naysayers always questioned his size, D’Orso remained confident in his abilities. Despite his unquestionable talent, D’Orso saw just how much his size meant at the QMJHL draft in 2005. It wasn’t until the Foreurs took a chance on him in the fifth round, 76th overall, that he finally heard his name called.
"I was supposed to be a second-round pick but I got drafted late because of my size," he said.
Although he was disappointed to see his draft stock fall, the product of Saint-Léonard, Que., persevered through the adversity. D’Orso displayed his immense potential at the 2006 world under-17 hockey challenge in Regina when he backstopped Team Québec to the gold medal over Team USA. D’Orso made 34 saves on 36 shots including 11 of 12 in the final frame, showing he was capable of delivering under pressure.
"I guess I proved everybody wrong with Team Québec at the under-17s and I think that helped me a lot to prove what I was able to do," he said.
His ability to perform under pressure at the under-17 gold medal game proved to be a sign of things to come.
"I think that’s his biggest asset," Foreurs teammate Brad Marchand said. "When all the marbles are on the line, he always comes out to play, he’s always ready and he always wants to win."
D’Orso proved more than capable of handling the reins last season, his first in the league. The rookie goaltender shone while winning four of the first five games of the season as veteran Alexandre Vincent was serving a five-game suspension.
Despite the strong play from D’Orso, the Foreurs were a team on the verge of greatness and decided to go with experience. Val-d’Or brought in fifth-year veteran Jérémy Duchesne with D’Orso to serve as his understudy.
"We expected to go to the final and go to the Memorial Cup and win the President’s Cup (as league champions)," Foreurs head coach and general manager Eric Lavigne said. "(D’Orso) understood we had to bring a veteran goaltender so he was not surprised by that decision."
The Foreurs went on to the league championship series but lost to the Lewiston MAINEiacs in four games. While it helped D’Orso to see what it took to win in the playoffs, he was also able to learn a lot about game preparation from the veteran.
"I got to learn from one of the top goalies in the league and see how you have to prepare yourself before each game," D’Orso said.
With Duchesne graduating from the junior ranks, Lavigne told D’Orso to be ready to handle the starting duties this season. Over the summer, D’Orso worked hard to gain endurance as well as improve on some of the technical aspects of his game.
Although the Foreurs are a young team this season, their goaltender has given them a chance to win.
"I think he’s been our biggest asset so far," Marchand said. "If it wasn’t for him our record would be a lot different right now."
"Knowing that we don’t have the best offensive team makes my job a little harder," D’Orso added.
With that said, Marchand, who’s considered to be one of the top snipers in the league, knows just how hard the Foreurs starter is to score on. And since the Foreurs are a young team, Marchand is a player highly sought in trade talks and could find himself playing elsewhere this season.
"If I happen to get traded and I have to come back here and play against him… I’m not going to be looking too forward to that. I don’t really like playing against goalies that are able to stop me," Marchand said with a laugh.
As for the team’s chances this season, Lavigne believes, with D’Orso in goal, his team can prove prognosticators wrong.
"The experts didn’t think we would make the playoffs but with (D’Orso), I think we are going to have a chance to make the playoffs," Lavigne said.
Should this young team in Val-d’Or make the playoffs this season, a lot of credit for proving the experts wrong will need to go to their goaltender, who does exactly that on a regular basis.
