It seems every season we get at least one incident where an NHL team has an injured goalie and, due to short notice and cap implications, are forced to sign someone to an amateur contract for an emergency fill-in. We never see these guys get into game action but, apparently, that was under consideration for the Blackhawks on Saturday.
With regular starter Corey Crawford undergoing an emergency appendectomy the Hawks found themselves in this situation. Unable to sign and use goalie coach and former NHLer Jimmy Waite because he would have counted against the cap, Chicago signed amateur Eric Semborski to play back up. He took warmups — and made a save on Patrick Kane — but that’s as much action as he was expected to see.
But with a 1-0 lead in the second, the Blackhawks allowed back-to-back goals to Ivan Provorov that were 31 seconds apart and then allowed a third goal five minutes later. The team kept Scott Darling between the pipes for the rest of the game, which they eventually lost 3-1, but coach Joel Quenneville admitted he did consider giving Semborski a shot.
“Who knows if he’d have gotten a chance to play, it was under consideration,” Quenneville said. When pressed on what it would have taken for him to actually put Semborski in, the Hawks coach said: “Well you almost saw it.”
And that wasn’t the only moment the Hawks nearly put him in net. Chicago pulled Darling late in the third for an extra skater and, if the Flyers had converted and empty-netter to make it 4-1, the amateur backup would have experienced real live NHL action.
Making this story even better is the fact Saturday was Semborski’s father’s birthday.
“The guys were welcoming him,” Quenneville said. “He had a good attitude and a good approach as well. I was happy for him to get a chance to play, or dress and take warmup and be a part of it.”
Semborski played goalie at Temple University and is currently an instructor for the Flyers’ Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. He is a Flyers fan whose heart was broken by the Blackhawks in 2010.
He will not be paid for his appearance on the bench, but will reportedly get a jersey, some pucks and a hat, among other mementos.
“I should be paying them,” Semborski said after the game. “That was awesome.”