SOME impressive goaltending by Thunder Bay’s Ryan Fanti has him on an impressive run at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
The Bulldogs netminder posted his third straight shutout Saturday night as UMD edged the Colorado College Tigers 1-0 in a shootout.
In all he turned aside all 25 shots he faced through regulation and a five-minute overtime, then handled all three attempts he saw in extra shots.
Friday night the junior goalkeeper was also spotless handling each of the 23 chances fired his way in a 5-0 blanking of the Tigers.
Prior to that, Fanti was called upon to make 35 saves back on November 6 as the Bulldogs won 3-0 at Western Michigan.
In posting the trio of consecutive starts without giving up a tally, it’s the first time a UMD netminder has achieved this since the 2017-18 campaign when Hunter Shepard accomplished the feat.
In all, Fanti hasn’t given up a goal in his past 185 minutes and 19 seconds of game action.
Sporting some crafty numbers between the pipes, he has a solid 7-1-1 record in nine games played with a stingy 1.36 goals-against average along with an equally solid .946 save percentage.
Among all NCAA Division I stoppers who have played a minimum of 300 minutes so far during the 2021-22 season, the Thunder Bay Kings alumnus sits third-best nationally in terms of lowest average.
As for his save mark, that places Fanti in a tie for top spot in all of U.S. college hockey.
He’s also just one off the NCAA-lead in shutouts with his three.
The business major at UMD now sits five shy of the Bulldogs record for shutouts in a season, set by Shepard in 2017-18.
As a sophomore last season Fanti went 11-7-2 with a 2.36 average and a .907 save percentage.
He’ll look to extend his shutout streak Friday night as the Bulldogs head out on the road to take on the rival University of North Dakota.
FRANCHISE MARK: Now with over 100 NHL starts to his credit, the 42-save performance vs. the New York Islanders this past Thursday, was one of the best for New Jersey Devils stopper Mackenzie Blackwood.
This was the third shutout in his Devils’ career that featured 40 or more stops along the way and established a franchise record for his efforts.
With that he becomes the New Jersey leader in that department, surpassing the two that Hall of Fame netminder Martin Brodeur had with the club.
Meanwhile, in stonewalling the Islanders, it was the seventh shutout of his time in the league of which only 248 others have done this in NHL history.
He also now sits one behind Murray Bannerman’s eight, which is the fifth-most of anyone from northwestern Ontario who has competed in the NHL.
The others from the region who posted more shutouts were:
Bruce Gamble (22), Wayne Stephenson (14), Matt Murray (13) and Carter Hutton (13).
Blackwood’s next win will be No. 49, which will knot him with Kenora’s Rick St. Croix for seventh in career victories by those from the area.
That local Top 10 list includes: Stephenson (146), Murray (127), Bannerman (116), Gamble (111), Hutton (94), Alex Auld (91), St. Croix (49), Blackwood (48), Steve Passmore (23) and John Adams (9).
NEW LEAGUE: With a fresh start in the Ontario Junior Hockey League this season, local product Christian Cicigoi is making the most of his time with the Haliburton County Huskies.
The 20-year-old goalkeeper has gone a respectable 7-2 record in his past nine starts.
Overall in the current 21-team OJHL, Cicigoi sits tied for third in wins (8), 10th in goals-against average (2.63), 11th in save percentage (.917), seventh in saves made (342) and sixth in minutes played (706:28).