Detroit — Goaltender Rudy Guimond had an incredible season playing in Moncton last season, at one point stringing together a 24-game win streak to begin his junior hockey career.
With that type of streak, and obviously being a goaltender, you have to think Guimond might be a bit superstitious.
You’d halfway be correct.
“I’ll take from Michael Scott, maybe a little ‘stitious’,” said Guimond, noting the Steve Carell character in The Office who coined the phrase, which means not entirely superstitious. (Carell was, incidentally, a college hockey goalie at Denison.)
“Like, I don’t know if you’ve watched The Office before, but yeah, I mean, I have a couple. I have some routines and stuff, but it’s not like if I don’t do a certain thing I’ll go crazy or something.
“But yeah, just a consistent routine.”
Guimond, 20, was a 2023 sixth-round (169th overall) pick of the Wings. In Moncton, Guimond was 16-0-0 with three shutouts, 1.73 goals-against average and .940 save percentage. In the playoffs, Guimond was 8-1-0 with a shutout, 2.25 GAA and .916 SVS, helping guide Moncton to a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship.
The way Guimond played, his contribution to a winning program, made him an intriguing prospect going forward, and only deepens the goaltending depth in the organization (along with Sebastian Cossa, Trey Augustine, Michal Postava and Carter Gylander).
At this point, Guimond doesn’t give much thought to where he stands in the organizational depth chart, nor does he need to. It’s about concentrating on what he can do at Moncton to duplicate his personal and team success.
“I kind of just focus on me and focus on winning the President’s Cup (for winning the Quebec League) and hopefully, the Memorial Cup (for Canadian juniors),” Guimond said.
Guimond credited his success to the powerful lineup in front of him at Moncton.
“It was really amazing, but it was a testament to the group in front of me,” Guimond said. “With the (defense) corps, almost every guy was either drafted or signed (to a pro contract). I just had to do my job. It’s a testament to how well we played defensively and our system that made me successful.”
Guimond could have parlayed his junior success into an opportunity to play college hockey at Yale. But last month, Guimond made the decision to decommit from Yale and stay and continue his junior career in Moncton.
There were definitive, valid reasons on why returning to Moncton was a good choice. The Wildcats are returning a competitive roster, coach Gardiner MacDougall has all levels of hockey noticing his enthusiastic style in running a winning program, and the opportunity to play more games than in college all contributed to Guimond’s decision.
“There were other reasons as well, kind of a financial issue,” Guimond said. “I wasn’t able to afford what they (Yale) were offering me. But we also saw it as a great opportunity to play a lot of games (in Moncton) and get a lot of reps.”
The decision to return to Moncton was endorsed by Dan Cleary, the Wings’ director of player development, who is impressed with MacDougall’s program.
“Pretty incredible statistics when you think about it,” said Cleary of Guimond’s season. “I’m very close with Gardiner MacDougall and those guys in Moncton. They did a tremendous job, and their goalie coach (Antoine Samuel) did a great job, obviously. Rudy got into an environment where he fit comfortably and they embraced and helped him, and the team really shined.
“It’s a testament to Rudy and the people in Moncton. They really saw something and he played very well for them and they are extremely pleased.”
Getting drafted was a dream realized for Guimond, but it being the Wings who selected him was doubly special.
“I was a huge Red Wings’ fan growing up,” Guimond said. “I posted a picture of my 10th birthday (party). My mom made me a cake that had the Red Wings’ logo on it. It’s pretty crazy. I was very familiar with the team (when drafted), I knew some of the guys (in the organization) that were drafted, maybe not friendly at that point, but friends now and guys in the hockey world.”
The Wings’ roster of that era, when Guimond was watching and developing into a player and fan, left an impact.
“The reason I got into the team was I really liked Jimmy Howard’s (goaltending) pads,” Guimond said. “He was my guy at that point. And I met Nik Kronwall (during development camp) two years ago and that was like crazy, having watched him play.
“Definitely a dream come true.”
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