Don't know if we'd ever want to call a hockey player -- and a goalie at that-- "Cinderella" to his face, but this does qualify as a Cinderella story:
The Hurricanes lost James Reimer with a lower-body injury in the first period, Petr Mrazek with an upper-body injury in the second period, Brett Pesce with a lower-body injury in the second period, and now have a 42-year-old zamboni driver in net on Hockey Night in Canada.— Brett Finger (@brett_finger) February 23, 2020
Ayres stands-in as goalie for the @TorontoMarlies (whose helmet he's wearing) and Leafs. 42 and a donor kidney recipient, so this is something of a Cinderella story!— Ross Whiteford (@redheadednomad) February 23, 2020
So, they send in the 42- year- old Zamboni driver and Canadian national, Dave Ayers, as the emergency replacement in the second period --
MIRACULOUS pic.twitter.com/EfPObX7V5G— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 23, 2020
"I said to the boys - even after they scored that second goal - I said, let me get these jitters out of the way. In the third period I'll be ready to go."— Brett Finger (@brett_finger) February 23, 2020
My god, this David Ayres is just wonderful. And for the record, he stopped all 7 shots he saw in the third period.
And, the rest, as they say, is history --
A moment he'll never forget pic.twitter.com/6tr03wNZ5N— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 23, 2020
A memory we'll all have forever pic.twitter.com/LUxqs8o3Wr— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 23, 2020
It's 40 years and a day since the "Miracle on Ice" at the Lake Placid Olympics when the amateur American hockey team beat the professional Soviet Russian team. For the Carolina Hurricanes and Dave Ayers, this was their "Miracle on Ice" four decades later.
(h/t Balloon Juice)
