Emergency goalie David Ayres named honourary North Carolinian

Watch as the Carolina Hurricanes players come off the bench to congratulate emergency backup goalie David Ayres on his first NHL win.

David Ayres is proving to be anything but a one-night wonder.

The 42-year-old Zamboni driver’s 15 minutes of fame have lasted multiple days after earning a victory for the Carolina Hurricanes as an on-call emergency goaltender Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

On Tuesday, one day after a guest appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Ayres was proclaimed as an honourary North Carolinian.

Gov. Roy Cooper officially recognized Ayres for his memorable and inspiring accomplishment, tweeting out a signed document.

Ayres made history by becoming the first emergency backup to record a win, making eight saves on 10 shots in 28:41 of playing time after Petr Mrazek and James Reimer were injured and unable to continue.

“It was wild, it was fun,” Ayres said after his NHL debut. “These guys were awesome. They said to me, ‘Have fun with it, don’t worry about how many goals go in, this is your moment, have fun with it.’”

Several days later and hockey fans are still having fun with it.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.