SEATTLE — As the saves stacked, and the first shutout in Winter Classic history neared closer, the chants from the 47,313 crammed into a baseball stadium for a hockey game grew louder and more frequent.
Jo-ey! Jo-ey! Jo-ey!
And Joey Daccord — precisely the type of longshot, late-blooming, feel-good sports story made for the holidays — heard every one of those voices.
“It’s truly the coolest thing in the world to have that… just have that support from them,” the first winning goaltender of 2024 said. “We have the best fans in the world.
“I honestly felt like I was out on my buddy’s backyard rink.”
Yes, beneath the spectacle of it all — the silly costumes and flying fish, the booming fireworks and mascot fights, the Sir Mix-A-Lot and Marshawn Lynch cameos — Daccord channelled a carefree love of the game that has buoyed his disjointed but determined professional journey.
Of Daccord’s 34 saves on New Year’s Day, he’ll never forget flashing the glove to rob a wide-open Jack Eichel backdoor. Snagged with swagger.
Nor the feeling of the fresh air and the roar of the crowd as he walked out of the Mariners dugout to the infield sans mask. Only a beanie. “It was insane,” he smiled.
And, yes, Daccord was in such a playful spirit that he was trying to score the first outdoor goalie goal when the desperate Vegas Golden Knights pulled Logan Thompson late in their 3-0 loss.
“I thought Joey was gonna settle one down there with just under a minute to go and try and shoot it at the empty net,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “Maybe that was one of the only disappointments for the crowd today.”
With a sly grin, Daccord admitted he wanted to catch, place, and fire for the open cage: “I would’ve shot, but it just bounced.”
A seventh-round draft pick by the Ottawa Senators in 2015, Daccord has waited nearly a decade to get his NHL bounce.
Ping-ponging around farm clubs in Belleville and Charlotte and Coachella Valley, until this winter the Boston native had made more appearances in a single ECHL season (the 2019-20 Brampton Beast) than he had in a single NHL one.
Hockey is littered with late-pick, slowly developed talents like Daccord. Few of them, however, get a moment this grand on a stage this beautiful.
Teammate Jared McCann, 27, points out that he and Daccord are the same age (27). One of them has made 543 NHL appearances, the other just 42.
“There’s a lot of guys in the NHL who have to wait for an opportunity. Especially as a goaltender, right? You don’t see a lot of young goalies becoming starters. But Joey has earned every single opportunity to be in the NHL,” McCann said. “He’s such a focused guy who works his bag off every day. He makes the saves look easy, even the hard ones.”
Hakstol, too, points to Daccord’s dogged work ethic and willingness to sharpen his game in the AHL before injury opened this door for the greatest streak of his life.
“He’s worked for it, right?” Hakstol said. “He didn’t just land here out of nowhere.”
With Monday’s victory over the reigning Cup champs, the Kraken extended their point streak to nine games (7-0-2). Daccord, “the backbone” of Seattle’s climb from the Pacific cellar, extended his personal streak to eight (6-0-2). Both are franchise records.
The way this season started so out of sorts in Seattle, the Kraken was at risk of losing some of the goodwill and momentum it had built with its thrilling playoff series victory over the favoured Colorado Avalanche last spring.
But a scorching December, a deepened commitment to defence and details, and some A-plus goaltending from the club’s unlikely No. 1 has the Kraken making strides toward the wild-card chase.
Seattle’s roll isn’t built on superstars or flashy goals, but rather grinders who must elevate but can’t afford to let up.
“We’ve given ourselves a chance, an opportunity to keep climbing,” Hakstol said.
Few epitomize that ethos — just give me a chance — than Daccord, who is savouring each save and every chant.
“Just a special day for everybody. For our team, for the city, for hockey. It was an incredible day and just so grateful to be a part of it,” said Daccord, eye-black smeared on his flushed cheeks.
“It was something that I’ll never forget and probably one of the coolest days of my whole life. So, just super grateful.”