Ayres’ big game for Canes voted NHL’s ‘Greatest Moment of the Season ... So Far’
Four months have passed since David Ayres slapped on his goalie gear, took the ice for the Carolina Hurricanes and lived out a dream.
It was an emergency situation. Ayres was the emergency backup goalie. Just like that, he was in an NHL game.
What happened after he entered the Feb. 22 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, in Toronto, made Ayres a household name in Canada and throughout the NHL. That he helped the Canes win the game 6-3 against the Leafs gave him a certain celebrity status that appeared lasting ... until the coronavirus and a global pandemic shut down the NHL and all other sports leagues.
But Ayres and his magical night at Scotiabank Arena have not been forgotten despite all that has transpired. Certainly not by the fans, who voted his play in net that night “The Greatest Moment of the NHL Season ... So Far” in a contest by NHL.com.
Ayres beat out the Canes’ Andre Svechnikov and his first lacrosse goal in the semifinals of the contest, the voting done on Twitter and Instagram. He then topped Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne, who scored a goal for the Predators in a Jan. 9 game, in the finals. Ayres won with 80.5 percent of the 11,560 votes.
“It hasn’t stopped,” Ayres said of the attention during a Zoom call on Thursday “I’m quite busy and there’s a lot of stuff going on. I think every single day there’s a request to do a few things, to be honest. But it’s a positive. Everybody’s kind of reaching out and saying how they enjoy it and how positive it is. If I can do it and put a smile on anyone’s face I’m happy with it.”
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour wasn’t smiling that night in Toronto, not after goalies James Reimer and then Petr Mrazek both left the game with injuries. In came Ayres, the designated emergency backup goalie at the game, available to either team if need be.
The Canes had a big need. They turned to the 42-year-old Ayres and he delivered, albeit after a shaky start, being named the game’s first star. The video of his wild reception in the Canes’ locker room after the game, and the words said by an appreciative Brind’Amour, went viral quicker than you can say David Ayres and he soon found himself in New York and on the morning shows.
Many quickly learned about a man who, yes, once worked at a rink and drove a Zamboni but also served as a practice goalie for the Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies, their AHL team. His goalie stick later was donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
A few days later, Ayres was in Raleigh and at PNC Arena for a Canes game. He sounded the warning siren before the game, gave many an interview with his wife Sarah and signed many an autograph. And kept smiling.
A few weeks later, on March 12, hockey stopped -- or was “flipped upside down,” as Ayres put it. No one can say when it will resume.
Having had a kidney transplant, Ayres is at higher risk for the coronavirus.
“Obviously you have to keep your distance from people and be safe,” he said.
Ayres has used his unexpected acclaim to help raise funds for kidney foundations in Canada and the U.S. He said about $90,000 was raised for the Canadian foundation in an emergency three-week fund raiser. The Canes sold Ayres jerseys -- No. 90 -- and also donated part of the proceeds to the foundations.
“To use the platform to reach out to everybody and help out has been amazing to me,” he said.
In a thank-you letter to the fans that Ayres wrote for NHL.com, he said: “Indeed I’m still living the dream. And by voting for me, it shows a lot of fans are living it with me and continue to support me.”
