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Monday, December 27, 1999
From zero to a hero!
VANCOUVER -- The chant rose in unison behind the closed doors.
"Freddie, Freddie, Freddie."
This was no group of fans.
It was the Flames dressing room -- a group of teammates paying tribute in what is becoming a post-game tradition.
A salute to Freddie Brathwaite, arguably the best goalie in the NHL right now.
Freddie!
For two months, Brathwaite has been the difference between success and failure for the Calgary Flames.
Again last night he proved invincible, shutting out the Vancouver Canucks.
It's his second shutout in three games.
"Sure we're chanting Freddie -- we do it for the best player on the ice and there has been no question who that has been," said defenceman Derek Morris.
"I don't know how he does it, but every single night he is the most amazing player I have seen."
Amazing is an understatement.
Brathwaite came into the game with an amazing run of allowing just one goal in his last 171 minutes and 17 seconds of work. He added another 60 to that.
He's become the league leader in save percentage.
His goals against average dipped below 2.00 last night, and has him battling Chris Osgood and Roman Turek for the league lead in that category.
Of course they play for Detroit and St. Louis respectively, both teams which had lost just nine games each going into action last night.
The Flames, led by Brathwaite, have lost just one of 12 games this month in regulation time.
And they've asserted themselves back into a playoff race that appeared out of reach just a month into the season.
"We know that Freddie is going to be there for us -- he's making all the saves look easy," said Morris.
"He's proven he is going to be a good goalie for a long time."
Brathwaite is still trying to divert the success to his team's defensive style -- and he is only partially accurate in his humble tribute.
"I don't look at the stats," says Brathwaite. "Those other guys are up there because THEY are the best in the league. I'm up there because the guys are playing great in front of me.
"Hopefully, it continues.
"If I win, that means the team is winning, and we are moving up the ladder and that's all I concern myself with.
"One day I could be here and the next I could be down and everyone could be saying, 'what happened to Freddie?' "
It was Brathwaite who held the Flames in early last night, while his team fought off the Christmas break doldrums and quit playing like turkeys.
It took half a period for his team to even get a shot on net but they got a much better return for their efforts than the Canucks.
On just their third shot of the game, Morris took a drop pass from Marty St. Louis and fired a slapshot over Canucks goalie Felix Potvin's shoulder for an early, and thoroughly undeserved, lead.
That was enough for Freddie, though, as he earned his 10th first-star selection of this season, in just 22 games.
The Flames added an insurance marker in the second period, when defenceman Phil Housley joined a four-man rush, taking a drop pass from Jason Wiemer and firing a Rocket-esque backhand over the shoulder of Potvin.
Brathwaite, of course, needed a little luck to preserve the shutout. In the third period, Mark Messier's shot clanked off the post, dangled perilously on the goal line before being swept out of danger.
But if you have to be good to be lucky, Brathwaite has proven he deserves those breaks.
No one has been better that Fred Brathwaite.
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