Two weeks ago, things were going well for Evan Fitzpatrick.
The 21-year-old St. John’s native was making his second career American Hockey League start for the San Antonio Rampage against the Grand Rapids Griffins, and was less than two minutes away from his first professional shutout.
But the homestanding Griffins got a fluke goal on a carom off a San Antonio defender with 1:50 remaining and a tying tally with 24 seconds remaining on a blast from the point as Grand Rapids had an extra attacker on the ice.
To make it worse, Fitzpatrick was injured on the latter play and wasn’t available for overtime, which saw his replacement, Jared Comeau, give up a goal just eight seconds into the extra frame as the Griffins won 3-2.
Fitzpatrick hasn’t played since and a team release said it will be at least a week, perhaps longer, before he’s expected to recover from what’s being called a lower-body injury.
It may not have been a highlight, but the game in Grand Rapids is at least a chapter in what has been an interesting first pro season for Fitzpatrick, who played his midget hockey at Newbridge Academy in Dartmouth, N.S., before becoming a first-round QMJHL draft pick and eventually a Memorial Cup winner with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan last season.
A second-round draft choice of the St. Louis Blues, Fitzpatrick has been at every level of the Blues organizational ladder this winter, starting out with the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL, moving up to San Antonio and then to St. Louis, where he didn’t see any action, but was the backup to Jake Allen for a couple of big-league games before being sent back to the Rampage, then to Tulsa and back up to San Antonio again.
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Fitzpatrick’s 2017-18 campaign took a turn when he was traded from the QMJHL’s Sherbrooke Phoenix to Acadie-Bathurst, and his brother received a similar boost this season.
Lucas Fitzpatrick, 18, was battling through a tough first half of the schedule with the rebuilding Shawinigan Cataractes when he was dealt to the contending Bai Comeau Drakkar in mid-December.
Playing time hasn’t been easy to come by — the Drakkar added two other netminders during the league trading period — but the younger Fitzpatrick has been stellar when he’s received the call. He’s 6-0-0 in eight appearances with Baie Comeau, with two shutouts, a .938 save percentage and 1.26 goals-against average.
Compare that to his numbers in Shawinigan, where he had a 6-9-1 record, .867 save percentage and 4.82 GAA.
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A Newfoundlander will be an Atlantic University Sport women’s hockey champion.
The St. Thomas Tommies, backstopped by Abby Clarke of Springdale, will take on the St. Francis Xavier X-Women, whose roster includes forward Brooke Noseworthy of Dunville in a best-of-three conference final, beginning Sunday in Fredericton, N.B.
The X-Women knocked off Saint Mary’s 2-0 in one AUS semifinal, while the Tommies did the same to UNB, with Clarke allowing just a single goal in the two contests.
There will be at least one player from this province in the AUS men’s hockey championship series. That’s Tyler Boland of St. John’s, a second-year centre with the top-seeded University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds, who swept the UPEI Panthers 3-0 in a best-of-five semifinal.
There will be four Newfoundlanders in the AUS final if the St. FX X-Men prove to be the Varsity Red’s opponent.
The X-Men, coached by Goulds native Brad Peddle, and with a lineup that includes defencemen Aaron Hoyles of Gander and rookie rearguard Adam Holwell and forward Marcus Cuomo, both of St. John’s, were tied 2-2 with the Saint Mary’s Huskies heading into a fifth and deciding game in their semifinal Friday night in Halifax.
There was more than a spot in the AUS final at stake Friday night. Since the AUS will have two teams in the USports championship in Lethbridge later this month, the winner will also have berth in the national tournament.
