Is there another rivalry brewing between goalies of the Bruins and Canucks?
In addition to stopping pucks, Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman is famous for the demonstrative postgame hug he and fellow goalie Linus Ullmark share after each Bruins win.
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As the eight goalies at the NHL All-Star game prepared to take the ice for the All-Star Skills Competition, he attempted to extend the netminder love to his fellow puck-stoppers. The NHL posted a video of him doing his trademarked throw-the-arms-back-into-an-embrace move with Connor Hellebucyk of Winnipeg, Dallas’ Jake Oettinger and even Igor Shesterkin of the rival Rangers.
But Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko walked right past him without saying a word. Swayman looked surprised until Shesterkin moved in for his hug.
It’s unclear why Demko ignored the gesture. While Demko (Boston College) and Swayman (Maine) were both in Hockey East, their college careers didn’t overlap and they haven’t faced each other much playing in different conferences a continent apart. Fellow Canuck J.T. Miller did choose Swayman as his goalie to shoot on in the one-on-one skills competition.
It wouldn’t be the first feud between Bruin and Canuck goalies. During the 2011 Stanley Cup Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo first criticized Bruins’ Tim Thomas’ positioning on a Canucks game-winner and then defended it by saying.
“I’ve been pumping his tires ever since the series started and I haven’t heard one nice thing he had to say about me, so that’s the way it is,” Luongo said.
Thomas later responded.
“I guess I didn’t realize it was my job to pump his tires,” Thomas said with a grin. “I guess I have to apologize for that. I still think I’m the goaltender on the union side and I stick with all the other goalies. In being one and knowing what it takes to perform at this level and with this amount of pressure, I understand to a certain extent what every other goaltender is going through.”
Vancouver plays at Boston on Thursday.
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