Blogs from the Broadcast Booth - Les Stoodley

I nicknamed him Mr. Stingy and stingy he was. He wore number 29 during the four years he played goal for the Moncton Wildcats but my fondest recollection of Corey Crawford's time with the team, is being an outstanding, kind, considerate young man.

He was only 16 when he came to the Cats and for a couple of seasons, Corey and New Brunswick native Matt Davis shared the team's goaltending chores. Matt was later traded to Lewiston and Corey became the first string puck stopper.

Soft spoken, polite to a fault, seldom displaying any degree of anger but that's a great mask for the competitive spirit he has. I'm certain Crawford will make it to the NHL and be as outstanding there as he was in the Q.

We all remember the 2004 playoff run when the Cats demolished Baie-Comeau in four straight, then came the famous battle of the bridge with the PEI Rocket. It's fair to say Corey Crawford came of age in that series. He was by far the most dominate Moncton player in the six game matchup. Time after time at home but more importantly, on the road, he robbed the Rocket of sure goals, leaving players, fans and this play-by-play guy shaking their heads with his sensational play.

A couple of times we called it the Crawford Wall but that didn't come close to what was happening on the ice. It was out and out robbery and finally, out of nowhere it seemed, came the Mr. Stingy mantle.

Corey laughed his head off when I told him about his new nickname, then in his usual casual manner shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just got lucky, Les, just got lucky."

The Cats went to the President's Cup final in '04. After disposing of the Rocket in a tough 6 games series, they whipped Rimouski 4-1, that series is material for a later blog.

The Wildcats met the Gatineau Olympiques in the championship series. By the way, I was lucky enough to be part of what I believe is a QMJHL first. My son Kurt, a pretty good defenceman in his day, who helped win a provincial championship for Chebucto in the Nova Scotia Midget League, was working as a TV broadcaster with A-Channel in Ottawa. He joined me for the games at the famous "Bob" arena and did the color commentary the night Gatineau claimed the Presidents Cup. As far as we can determine, we were the only father/son team to broadcast a Cup winning game in the Q.

But back to Corey Crawford. Here's the reason I started today's story. We were in Sherbrooke, the last year the Castors played there before moving to Lewiston, Maine. It was in the middle of winter, lots of ice and snow and very cold. The team went out for the evening meal at a downtown restaurant. Bus driver Gilles Robichaud dropped us off in front of the eating establishment and then parked the bus on a side street. After dinner, we headed across a very icy open space to get back on the bus. I was having trouble on the slippery surface and was creeping along being careful not to fall and break my old brittle bones. As I moved along the ice I felt a big strong right arm reach under my left shoulder, "Having trouble with it, Les?" asked Corey Crawford. "Yes, I'm not as used to ice as you are," I replied, "I just need to get to the snow to get some footing." This teenager piloted me across the ice, to the safety of the sidewalk.
"Thanks so much for the help," I said as he released my arm. "No thanks needed," said this thoughtful goalie, "sometimes the younger members of the team need to help the older ones," he replied with a grin.
Mention Corey Crawford to me and instantly, with grateful heart, I go back to that evening in Sherbrooke when Mr. Stingy showed so much kindness to a much older, non-playing member of the Moncton Wildcats.