“He’s been awesome.”
That was Coach Groulx’s assessment of rookie goaltender Connor Ingram’s play this season. So he wasn’t worried about the young netminder making his first career playoff start Wednesday night against the Rochester Americans. Ingram proved his coach right as he turned aside 33 of the 36 shots he faced in the Crunch’s 6-3 victory.
With the win, the Crunch advance to the second round of the playoffs to face the winner of the Toronto/Utica match-up.
It’s easy to look at the final score and dismiss the goaltender as an afterthought. Yet, without Ingram’s strong play early in the game and when the Crunch were shorthanded (which was often), this series could easily still be going on.