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Before every ECHL hockey game, Alaska Aces goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux runs through the same routine to prepare his body and mind to stop the puck and, above all, win.
He begins with 15-20 minutes of stretching. Then he puts on his lower-body equipment before going through a series visualization drills for three or four minutes. Next, Lamoureux puts on his upper gear. Finally, eight minutes before warm-ups, he finds a spot to stretch some more and think of saves to come. "Then,'' Lamoureux said, "I'm locked in.'' Aside from his technical excellence, competitiveness and athleticism, Lamoureux's attention to detail has served him greatly this season. Wednesday, it helped generate the first of what is likely multiple league awards: League coaches voted him onto the ECHL All-Rookie Team. Not that it came as a surprise to Aces veteran defenseman Matt Shasby. "I've never seen a goalie, or even a player, go through the same routines before every game,'' Shasby said. "He has that whole routine, and I've never seen him stray from it.'' Lamoureux's production has likewise been remarkably consistent in a season in which he has authored a league record-tying seven shutouts. At 32-16-2, he leads the league in wins, ranks second in save percentage (.922) and minutes played (3,011) and sits third in goals-against average (2.33). And in 50 starts, Lamoureux has never been pulled from a game. As pro debut seasons go, that's impressive, and just the kind of campaign required for him to reach his goal of playing in the NHL. More than 400 players who have logged time in the ECHL have ascended to the NHL. Aces coach Keith McCambridge said that when he recruited Lamoureux last summer after the goalie's standout career at North Dakota, he was immediately intrigued by Lamoureux's willingness to start at the bottom of pro hockey's ladder. "He said, 'If I have to come to that league and dominate it before I go to the (American Hockey League), that's what I'll do,' " McCambridge recalled. "That's what a coach loves to hear.'' Lamoureux, 24, said he naturally would have liked to start his play-for-pay gig in the AHL, one step below the NHL, but planned from Day 1 to create his own breaks. "My mentality goes back to when I left home (Grand Forks, N.D.) to play junior hockey -- my first year in junior there were three guys capable of being the starter,'' Lamoureux said. "I developed that mentality to bring it every day in practice, and I carried that through to college and the pros. "I don't feel like I'm owed anything. I've got to continue to work on my game and earn my playing time. I don't want to just play. I want to excel.'' Still, it is not just on the ice where Lamoureux has helped the Aces produce the second-best record in the 21-team league. When McCambridge held individual mid-season meetings with his players while the team slumped, he initially didn't think of meeting with Lamoureux, whose played remained strong. On second thought, the coach huddled with the goalie and came away rewarded. Lamoureux, McCambridge said, is clearly not just a puck-stopper, but a student of the game -- and ever attentive to details. Lamoureux talked about how the slumping Aces weren't their tenacious selves in front of the opposing net, how an increase in turnovers caused the team to slide and how missing the net with shots complicated the game for the Aces. "Out of everybody, he was in the top three of the feedback I valued the most as far as insights and analysis,'' McCambridge said. Lamoureux said he has always preferred to be part of a team instead of a stereotypical solitary goalie off on his own. "Goaltending is often viewed as an individual performance,'' he said. "I look at it as, I'm a piece of the puzzle to have team success. "We've played 7-6 games and 1-0 games. For me, it's all about being a winner, and finding a way to win." Shuffling the deck The Wheeling Nailers dominated the All-Rookie Team with four of the six selections. Nailers picks were forward Bryan Ewing (43-47--90 totals in 65 games, plus-1 rating); forward Jordan Morrison (25-48--73 in 61 games, minus 2); defenseman Elgin Reid (13-21--34 in 47 games, plus 13); and defenseman Mitch Ganzak (7-33--40 in 62 games, plus 13). The other forward selected was Bakersfield's Matt Pope (30-33--63 in 54 games, minus 4).