David Ayres made his NHL debut tonight for the Carolina Hurricanes. You know I wouldn’t be covering the NHL unless there was a unique angle to this one. Turns out David Ayres is 42, a Zamboni driver and doesn’t have a HockeyDB account because, well, he’s never played in a professional hockey game as far as anyone can tell.
Ayres was forced into action tonight after goalies Petr Mrazek and James Reimer went down with injuries. Carolina’s in Toronto so who do they call? The local guy who practices with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. The guy drives a Zamboni at a local rink and it sounds like Carolina was in a bind. Enter Ayres. He’ll make $500 tonight, great money for an emergency goaltender who normally just has to sit there and do nothing.
This night for Ayres deserves a 30 for 30. Did I mention he needed a kidney transplant back in 2004?
42-Year-Old Zamboni driver David Ayres is now in net for the Carolina Hurricanes 👊🤘😳😮#CarolinaHurricanes #Toronto #MapleLeafs #LeafsNation #NHL #RaleighNC @AGoldFan pic.twitter.com/qnDdAkWFxh
— Kevin Smith (@Global_Smith) February 23, 2020
Update: David Ayres wins in his first NHL game:
Big Save Dave made $500 as the Carolina Hurricanes emergency goalie and got the win in his 1st NHL game! pic.twitter.com/3MsjgZrHnL
— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) February 23, 2020
Here’s Ayres first NHL save!
David Ayres makes his first @NHL save! 👏 pic.twitter.com/5KRIakC5Ts
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 23, 2020
Pay for David Ayres tonight: $500 and his game-worn #Canes jersey. Here's the contract he would have signed during the game. pic.twitter.com/hVbulQGzla
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 23, 2020
David Ayres just got a shot on goal and I've been a Leaf fan for like 30+ years so I was mildly shocked it didn't go in.
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) February 23, 2020
David Ayres has some balls pic.twitter.com/WCGcCG9hYc
— Ah yes, the Leafs. (@LeafsAllDayy) February 23, 2020
The Carolina backup-backup has made 6 stops on 8 shots including 3 by Auston Matthews and denied Zach Hyman his 20th. Team in front of him is playing possessed and David Ayres is thriving on adrenalin.
— Paul Hendrick (@HennyTweets) February 23, 2020
Hurricanes EBUG David Ayres entered the game in the 2nd with blue pants, got fresh looking red pants to start the 3rd. @UniWatch pic.twitter.com/tvMIlGSO8C
— Olegstradamus (@OlegKvasha) February 23, 2020
