Sarah and David Ayres are photographed in their Bowmanville, Ont. home on Dec. 17 2020.
Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
David and Sarah Ayres go to the gym on weeknights. They almost never go on a Saturday, lest he gets pressed into service as an emergency backup goalie in an NHL game.
They went to a fitness centre despite that last Feb. 22, and David overdid it big time. As he exercised, he added more and more weight to the leg-press machine, until he lifted 900 pounds. “I’ve never seen Dave leg press as much weight for as long as he did,” Sarah says.
For two years, he had served as an emergency netminder at all Maple Leafs games at Scotiabank Arena. The league requires home teams to have one ready in case the starter and backup for both themselves and the visitors get injured.
To that point, it had happened only once in NHL history – and never to David Ayres.
“I did as many reps at the gym as I could,” says Ayres, who is six feet and 200 pounds. “I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good workout. I thought there was no way I would ever get to play.”
Shortly after that, the couple drove to Toronto from their home in Bowmanville, about an hour to the east, fully expecting to be spectators as they had so many times.
When they got to the rink, they left David’s gear in the car – it’s not as though he would need his pads and blocker anyway – and bought Reuben sandwiches and fries at a concession stand. Then they ascended a long series of stairs until they reached Section 317, where they stand and watch games from the rail.
“On the way up, Dave complained that his legs were killing him,” Sarah says. “He said, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I had to play tonight?’”
They never imagined it would happen. They never imagined that David, a 42-year-old former Zamboni driver with a transplanted kidney, was going to play the lead in the feel-good hockey story of the year. They never imagined it would captivate so many people that it would prompt Disney to make a film.
Early in the first period, James Reimer, the starting netminder for the Carolina Hurricanes, suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Petr Mrazek.
That left nobody else if Carolina’s backup got hurt, so David fetched his equipment from the parking garage and began to get dressed in a lounge beneath the stands.
Sarah started to text family and friends to let them know to tune in to the Hockey Night In Canada telecast in the highly unlikely event that David entered the game. It was the third time he had put gear on, but circumstances had never been so dire that he was needed.
Sarah was in Section 317, peering down at her phone, when she heard the crowd roar with 8 minutes 41 seconds left in the second period. Looking up, she saw Mrazek sprawled motionless on the ice. He had incurred a concussion in a collision with Toronto’s Kyle Clifford.
Stunned, she texted a message – “WTF” to David, who was unaware of what had just transpired.
“The second goalie is down!” she told him.
At the time, the Hurricanes were applying a name bar to the back of a jersey for David. The game was delayed for 10 minutes until he was prepared to play.
“I was sick to my stomach the whole time,” Sarah says. “I thought, ‘If he messes the bed, it is not good for any of us.’”
When Ayres skated out, he was so flustered he headed for the wrong goal. Players shouted, “No, no, no! The other end.”
“After all these years of practice, I was very excited,” David says.
He had been a practice goalie for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL for eight years and for the Maple Leafs for two.
“I could feel that all eyes were on me,” he says. “I was thrilled to be in the net, but it was one of those moments I would have liked to be watching myself.”
Carolina was ahead 3-1 when he came in, but there was half a game to play. Carolina scored again to make it 4-1, then Toronto scored on its first two shots
“I threw all of my expectations out,” Sarah says. “I told myself to just enjoy it, that it was something that would never happen again.”
Ayres made one save before the teams headed to their dressing rooms to rest between the second and third periods. During the intermission, Reimer took a seat beside Ayres and told him to relax, that he was doing fine.
Before they went back out onto the ice, Ayres told his teammates if they scored one more goal, he would shut the door on the Maple Leafs.
“They looked at me like I had three eyes,” he says.
In the final 20 minutes, he made seven saves and the Hurricanes won, 6-3. He became the first emergency backup goalie in NHL history to be credited with a victory (on March 20, 2018, 36-year-old accountant Scott Fisher entered a game for the Chicago Blackhawks, but did not play long enough to officially get the win) and was selected as the game’s first star.
“I was halfway down the hall when one of the game operations officials stopped me and told me to wait,” Ayres says.
Then he was summoned out for a celebratory skate onto the ice.
“I have seen many games in that arena, and when the Leafs lose, the place usually empties out pretty quickly so I thought nobody was going to be out there,” he says. “When I stepped onto the ice, I looked up and the arena was three-quarters full and everyone was on their feet.”
David did a national television interview after the game, and then Sarah was asked to join him for another. With apologies to the Stanley Cup champion Lightning, theirs was arguably the biggest story of the season in the NHL.
Ayres, whose usual recompense for being the emergency goalie is free admission, was paid $500 by the Hurricanes.
The following day, Ayres flew to New York and was shuttled around in a limousine as he made multiple television appearances and met NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. On Tuesday, he and Sarah flew to Raleigh, N.C., and were honoured before a Hurricanes game. David signed autographs for fans lined up on the concourse, where one guy asked him to sign his forearm so he could use it as an outline for a tattoo. The Hockey Hall of Fame added his goalie stick to its collection and James Corden, the late-night television talk-show host, hooked him up with officials at Disney, which is beginning to make a feature film.
“This is the craziest thing that has ever happened to us,” Sarah says. “There is nothing even to compare to it. I can’t believe it has been 10 months.”
COVID-19 suspended the NHL season and life has mostly returned to normal for the Ayres’s.
“The brakes went on,” Sarah says. “Things went from crazy to a sudden halt.”
Although COVID-19 has slowed things down, David continues to get requests for personal appearances, and fans send items to his home for him to sign. “It’s a little out of our comfort zone,” Sarah says. “It’s not like we don’t feel worthy, but it is a lot to take in.”
They are a normal suburban couple that fortune shined upon and are trying to make the most of it. They have been married for three years and David has since adopted Sarah’s three children, ages 10 to 16.
He has given up his job as a facility-operations manager and occasional Zamboni driver at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto (at the former Maple Leaf Gardens), and now works for a company that makes ice for hockey rinks. Ayres, who played minor hockey as a youth, plans to return as emergency backup goalie this season – if the Leafs play at Scotiabank – and says he feels more confident now if he gets to play again.
He spends most of his leisure time on charity work, and was recently honoured for helping to raise nearly $100,000 during the pandemic for the Kidney Foundation of Canada. He had his transplant in 2004, with his mother as the donor.
“It has given me a platform to do good things,” he says.
Before COVID and everyone having to wear a mask, people recognized him. And Sarah, everywhere they went. Now, until at least the next NHL season, they will return to anonymity.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
