Antti Niemi went from IceHog goalie to star at the NHL level.
Corey Crawford approached that same status a couple of times last year, and has a good shot at shining at the next level as he heads into next season as the Chicago Blackhawks No. 1 goaltender.
And, of course, there are also those who are waiting in the wings behind Crawford, hoping to be the next homegrown goalie to make it big. Kent Simpson, who made his professional debut in the Rockford IceHogs season finale last year, is one of those, and he’s working toward it at the Chicago Blackhawks prospect camp this week.
“Niemi and Crawford just showed you that if you work hard, prove to everybody that you can handle it, and you earn it, you’ll get your shot,” Simpson said after Thursday’s scrimmage, during which he gave up two second-period goals in a two-minute stretch, but was otherwise impenetrable. “It’s always good to work your way up like they did. It makes you tougher, and it’s how most organizations want to do it.”
Although they made an offer to Martin Brodeur, and are rumored to be in the market for Roberto Luongo, the Blackhawks are still saying publicly that Crawford is their guy for 2012-’13.
“I’m very comfortable and confident with Corey,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said from the team’s practice facility Wednesday. “We’re expecting Corey to bounce back and recapture that consistency in his game and be a top goalie. We believe he can do that.”
Crawford gets the early nod over backup Ray Emery for the Blackhawks’ starting goaltender, and Simpson — just one of seven goalies at prospect camp — is expected to have to battle with, among others, Rockford’s Carter Hutton and Alec Richards, for AHL time in the net.
But he’s had a strong showing this week, and could be in the mix in the future.
“There are a lot of good, young goalies coming up through the organization. We’ve been pretty good at that lately,” said Ted Dent, IceHogs head coach, who is one of the lead coaches at prospect camp. “For these guys, it’s a great opportunity to show their stuff with all the management and coaching staffs and everybody watching them. This is where (Andrew) Shaw made his mark last year, and it helped get all the way up later in the season.”
It also helped get both Niemi and Crawford on the radar screen early on their pro careers. Simpson, who went 22-9-1 for the Everett Silvertips of the WHL out of Edmonton, Alberta, two seasons ago, is looking for that kind of boost, but he’s ready to be patient for his time in the spotlight, too.
“It’s just great to get into it and start feeling this atmosphere that is the NHL,” Simpson said. “It’s tough to make that jump, and it’s tough to keep it going. But we keep seeing guys doing it in front of us, and we keep seeing it happen. I’ll do anything for my shot at it.”
