A 42-Year-Old Zamboni Driver Wins in His N.H.L. Debut

A native of nearby Whitby, Ontario, he faces shots from professional players almost daily during the season, but he never thought he would be called into service in an N.H.L. game.

“These guys were awesome,” Ayres said. “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.’”

He did more than that, and was greeted with raucous cheers from the Hurricanes in their locker room after finishing a postgame TV interview.

“I had no idea I was going to get a shower before I got in the shower,” Ayres, the game’s first star, said with a grin. “I got one.”

Not long after the final buzzer, the Hurricanes were hawking T-shirts on Twitter sporting the stand-in goalie’s No. 90.

“It’s pretty special,” Hurricanes Coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I told the guys after the game, ‘Thank him because that just gave an incredible memory.’”

Warren Foegele scored twice, Martin Necas had a goal and an assist, and Lucas Wallmark, Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen provided the rest of the offense for Carolina.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/23/sports/hockey/NHL-emergency-goalie-zamboni.html