Mike Chiasson was in the stands at Fenway Park for the Boston NHL Winter Classic earlier this year when Pittsburgh Penguins starting goaltender Tristan Jarry was injured in the first period and had to leave the game.
For Chiasson, who hails from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, he knew what that meant.
“I handed my daughter over to my wife and said, ‘I have to go’ and left her,” Chiasson, 37, said.
Chiasson is the emergency backup goaltender, or EBUG, for the Penguins. Along with Jarry’s injury, that meant that if substitute Casey DeSmith also got injured and couldn’t continue, Chiasson would come in.
Chiasson put on his gear and waited in the dugout in case his services were needed.
We have an EBUG observation at #WinterClassic 👀 pic.twitter.com/6i8HcDXymQ
Although Chiasson never ended up playing, he said it was about the sixth time he had dressed for a match as EBUG. It happened again recently when he dressed for Pittsburgh’s game against the Florida Panthers on Jan. 24.
The Emergency Goalkeeper is meant to fill the void when injuries occur to goalkeepers on short notice or in the middle of games. EBUG can play for both teams.
Fans love it. It gives an ordinary citizen the chance to be an NHL goaltender, even with the game on the line.
The most famous emergency caretaker is David Ayres, 42, a daytime Zamboni pilot who played for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 2020 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Chiasson has never played professionally. He played in the QMJHL with the Rimouski Oceanic before four seasons with the Acadie Axemen, the last in 2011.
“Who would have thought that technically I could still play in the NHL at 37 without actually playing those 12 years?” he said.
Chiasson’s day job
By day, Chiasson works as a goalie development professional for the Lemieux Sports Complex’s youth hockey program. The site also serves as the Penguins’ training facility.
Chiasson also trains regularly with the home team, serving as a third goalkeeper to relieve the team’s two goalkeepers. In these practices, he must face his lifelong friend, Sidney Crosby of Cole Harbour.
The couple played together on hockey and baseball teams growing up.
On summer days, when a teenaged Chiasson just wanted to sleep in, he remembers many mornings when the phone rang and Crosby was on the other end and wanted to play some road hockey. Chiasson’s mother was telling Crosby that Chiasson was still sleeping.
“Obviously it worked really well for him and maybe I should have invited him to some of those early morning games,” Chiasson said.
Crosby was unavailable for an interview, but in a statement via the Penguins, he said it was great to see Chiasson’s impact in Pittsburgh.
“Mike is a great goalkeeping and skills coach and I’m happy to see the success he’s had with the young players here,” he said.
“It’s quite surreal to consider him an EBUG. I saw how hard he worked and every morning he was there when he was called. It would be great if he had the opportunity to go there one day.”
Their lives have taken them to some of the same places, including Rimouski.
Chiasson started playing for the Oceanic in 2005-06, which was Crosby’s rookie season as a Penguin.
career highlight
On the Océanic, Chiasson played in a team undergoing reconstruction. On December 29, 2005, a road game against the Quebec Remparts, Chiasson stopped 67 of 71 shots in a 5-4 victory in what he called the game of his life.
Months later, the teams will meet again.
“I just remember the papers saying, ‘Can Chiasson do what he did last time against those guys?'” he said. “And they all found out pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to happen.”
Chiasson allowed three goals in about four minutes and was taken out. His replacement didn’t do much better, allowing three goals in eight minutes. Chiasson came back and the beating continued.
At the end of the second period, it was 11-2 Quebec and the coach wanted to withdraw Chiasson, again.
“I felt bad for the little guy, I said, ‘Look, no reason to put that rookie back in this game. I’m just going to finish it,” Chiasson said.
Chiasson allowed five more goals in the 16-3 loss. Seven of the goals were to Alexander Radulov, a former first-round NHL pick.
College Hockey
Chiasson played another season for Rimouski, then started playing for Acadia in the 2007-08 season.
After a brief stint with the Atlantic Hockey Group, Chiasson landed a job in 2011 as manager of youth hockey programs with the Penguins, which he did for two years. The role was to help grow hockey at the grassroots level in the Pittsburgh area.
Chiasson was then recruited by the Axemen to be an assistant coach for the men’s hockey team. Chiasson saw it as an opportunity to gain more coaching experience and add to his resume.
Some of the team’s players were rookies when Chiasson played with the Axemen.
“It’s hard to go back to a young age and separate that,” he said. “But on the other hand, I think it’s good to be able to connect with the guys and be a voice for them to come in and just be more of a player coach for them.”
Back to Acadia
Acadia hockey coach Darren Burns said that was one of the reasons he hired Chiasson.
“He was outstanding because he’s a great communicator and he’s a very well-respected guy and he has a calm presence about him.…I always thought it was really important to have a younger assistant coach. because as our staff, and unfortunately myself, getting older, having a young man who can be the link between the players and the coaches, I think that’s key,” Burns said.
Burns envisions Chiasson eventually finding himself in a front office role due to his calm demeanor and intelligence.
After two seasons with the Axemen, Chiasson returned to Pittsburgh in 2015 and once again served as director of youth hockey programming.
Since August 2019, he has worked exclusively as a goaltending development professional at Complexe sportif Lemieux.
No time for another league
With the time Chiasson spends on the ice with his day job and helping out with Penguins practices, it doesn’t really make him want to play in a league.
“I’m pretty on my skates,” he said. “The last thing I’m looking to do is run to the rink at 11 a.m. to play in a beer league game,” he said.
Chiasson believes he’s a better goaltender now than when he was playing, which he attributes to a better understanding of the game now and the practice time he’s logged for the Penguins .
Life as an EBUG
As an emergency goalkeeper, Chiasson obtained two tickets for home games, which he dutifully attended. If his phone rings during the game, it might be the night he gets dressed.
It’s a role he continues to enjoy.
“I don’t know how long it took me to do it, but the body still feels good,” Chiasson said. “I don’t want to look back and say, ‘Why did I quit?'”
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