tsn.ca
Ward wins Conn Smythe Trophy
Canadian Press
6/19/2006 10:22:10 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (CP) - Cam Ward has joined some heady company.
The unflappable 22-year-old captured the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP on Monday night after leading his Carolina Hurricanes to a victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
The native of Sherwood Park, Alta., is the first rookie goalie since Philadelphia's Ron Hextall in 1987 to win the Conn Smythe and the first rookie netminder to capture the Cup since Montreal's Patrick Roy in 1986.
But to his teammates, Ward was no rookie.
His calm and poised demeanour throughout the playoffs gave Ward the look of a veteran, not a goalie with only 51 career NHL games under his belt - 28 in the regular season and 23 in the post-season.
Ward also tied Roy and Hextall's record for playoff wins by a rookie goalie with 15, one more win than he had in the regular season.
He saved his best for the most important game of the season, Monday's 3-1 series clinching game. Ward made 22 saves, including a jaw-dropping stop on Edmonton's Fernando Pisani in the third period when the Hurricanes had a one-goal lead.
Not bad for a guy who began the post-season as the backup to Martin Gerber.
But after a flu-ravaged Gerber was lit up by the Montreal Canadiens in the first game and a half of the playoffs, Ward stepped in and closed the door as the Hurricanes rallied from a 2-0 series deficit to survive the first-round scare.
Ward reeled off seven consecutive wins before being pulled in a Game 4 loss to New Jersey in the second round. He returned for Game 5 and allowed only one goal as the Hurricanes eliminated the Devils.
The Buffalo Sabres thought they had got to Ward after chasing him from the net in Game 3 and seeing Gerber start Game 4. But Ward got back in net midway through Game 5 and was rock solid the rest of the way as the Hurricanes won the Eastern final in seven games.
He may have kept his best for the Cup final against his childhood team - the Oilers. Ward allowed only 16 goals in seven games, stopping 186 of 202 shots overall for an eye-popping .921 save percentage.
He set the tone in Game 1 with the save of the 2006 playoffs, throwing his body across the crease and robbing Shawn Horcoff of what looked like a sure goal with a miracle glove save with 8:22 left in the third period.
``I started to raise my arms because I was sure it was in,'' Oilers winger Ryan Smyth, who set up Horcoff, would say the next day.
And that came in one of Ward's worst games, in which he gave up four goals on 38 shots.
A year ago at this time Ward was hanging out at his parents' place in Sherwood Park, his AHL season done in the second round of the playoffs. He was just happy to make the Hurricanes in training camp. Never in his wildest dreams did he envision being the backbone of a Stanley Cup champion eight months after breaking camp on the Carolina roster.
The former Red Deer Rebels star in the Western Hockey League was Carolina's first-round pick, 25th overall, in 2002.