On February 22, 2020, David Ayres went to a hockey game the way plenty of people do: he grabbed some snacks and found a seat. Ayres, 42, worked as an ice-maintenance and operations manager for the Toronto Marlies — the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate — and also served as the emergency backup goaltender (EBUG) for that night's game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Under NHL rules, every team needs a neutral EBUG on hand who can be called upon by either club if both of a team's rostered goaltenders go down injured in the same game. It's a rule that almost never actually gets used.
That night, it got used. Both of Carolina's goaltenders, James Reimer and Petr Mrazek, were injured within the same game, and with no other options left, the Hurricanes turned to Ayres — signing him to a one-game contract on the spot and sending him out to play for the team he wasn't even supporting. Carolina led 3-1 when he stepped onto NHL ice for the first time in his life.
It did not start smoothly. Toronto scored on each of Ayres's first two shots faced, cutting the lead to 4-3 and threatening to turn the feel-good story into a footnote. Then he settled in. Ayres stopped the next eight shots he saw in a row, and Carolina held on for a 6-3 win — a win that officially belonged to the Zamboni driver.
Ayres was named the game's first star. Toronto's own fans, despite watching their team lose, gave him a standing ovation. "It was awesome. I had the time of my life out there," he told reporters afterward. He became the first emergency backup goaltender in NHL history to be credited with a win, and at 42 years and 194 days old, the oldest goaltender ever to win his regular-season debut. Per league rules for an EBUG appearance, he was paid $500 for the game and got to keep his jersey. The stick he used that night now sits in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
It's the kind of story that sounds made up — an arena maintenance worker grabbing snacks in the stands one moment, starring in an NHL win the next — except it isn't. It happened exactly like that, in front of a full building, with the win officially on the scoresheet.