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A star is born
Sabres' goalie Miller serves notice in YoungStars Game
Posted: Sunday February 02, 2003 2:15 AM
Updated: Sunday February 02, 2003 2:49 AM
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Ryan Miller smothered the puck -- and the Western Conference rookies. AP |
By Jon A. Dolezar, CNNSI.com
SUNRISE, Fla. -- A Hobey Baker Award may not be the most impressive thing on Ryan Miller's resume anymore.
In the second annual YoungStars Game, the Sabres' rookie netminder stole the show by allowing only three goals in the the Eastern Conference's 8-3 victory Saturday.
Capitals rookie center Brian Sutherby took home the MVP award thanks to a three-point game, but Miller earned respect from his peers by shutting down a Western Conference team featuring Tyler Arnason and Rick Nash, the top two rookie scorers. Allowing three goals on just 13 shots wouldn't get Miller a 'W' too often in the regular season, but on All-Star weekend it's equivalent to a minor miracle.
"I think goalies know that it's going to be high scoring going in, so they have reasonable expectations for themselves," Eastern Conference co-coach and Ottawa assistant Perry Pearn said. "I know Ryan Miller is going away feeling pretty good about what he did today and I hope the same thing for David Aebischer, because he made some great saves, too. You aren't going to stop every one of the 4-on-1s or 3-on-0s that you face."
The 22-year-old Miller got off to a slow start by allowing two goals on three shots in the first period. But the puck was rarely in his end and he wasn't tested until almost eight minutes into the game.
Rostislav Klesla made a pretty rush up the right side and feathered a backhand pass across to Niko Kapanen. But the fundamentally sound Miller made a great play by staying low to the ice in order to make a sliding post-to-post save on Kapanen's scoring chance.
"You just have to prep yourself and try to have fun," Miller said. "I went out there to try to make a few saves and have some fun with it. We came out on the winning end, so that's a bonus, but I don't think anybody really cares too much. You want to win, but we had a lot of fun with the Western Conference players."
West goaltender Aebischer was jealous of the defensive help Miller received from Jay Bouwmeester, Dennis Seidenberg, Henrik Tallinder and Anton Volchenkov. The East's defensive quartet limited the West to 13 shots on goals, less than half of the 29 shots the East took in the 30-minute game.
"They got a lot more shots than we did. It was a workout for me, but I don't know if it was a workout for Miller," Aebischer said.
As a sophomore at Michigan State, Miller won the 2001 Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top college player and was a finalist again last season. He set an NCAA record with 26 career shutouts, including a single-season record 10 in 2000-01.
Miller is 5-4-1 with a 2.45 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage since making his NHL debut on Nov. 19. He posted his first career shutout on Jan. 14 at Minnesota and was named to the YoungStars Game just four days later.
His only regret about his first All-Star weekend is that he wasn't on the ice longer. Due to a 30-minute game with a running clock, the YoungStars Game lasted barely 45 minutes.
"I think maybe if we played a full game it could showcase everybody more," Miller said.
If he keeps playing like did on Saturday, Miller will be showcasing his skills in the big boy All-Star Game soon enough.
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