We are all familiar with the very catchy nickname “Red Light” for former Montreal Canadiens goaltender André Racicot. It was a derisive nickname meant to symbolize that the goaltender was unable to prevent the opposing team from scoring, and doomed the Canadiens to high scoring contests.
Sure enough, a mere glance at his statistics today would certainly start to lend to that impression, but has Racicot been fairly represented by history? Or has unfair expectation led to false urban legend?
Certainly things didn’t start off well for Racicot. In his first and only NHL game of his rookie season in 1989-90, he lasted a mere 13 minutes in net for the Canadiens, giving up three goals on six shots, for a terrifying goals-against average of 13.