We all love sports for different reasons, the competition, the stories, a distraction from real life and many times for the underdog story. On Saturday we celebrated the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest underdog stories of all time, the United States upset victory over the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics. Forty years later we just witnessed another unforgettable story. Goaltender David Ayres won his first career NHL game which is a cool story in its own right but dive deeper and you’ll find out that the 42 year old Ayres day job is actually that of a Zamboni driver for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.
Ayres was the emergency backup for Saturday’s Maple Leafs game against the Hurricanes and unfortunately for Carolina their starter and backup both got hurt and so the call to the bullpen was made. Ayres played the last 28-plus minutes and made eight saves on ten shots for the Hurricanes in their improbable 6-3 win on the road against one of the best offensive teams in the NHL. Look Ayres up on elite prospects and you’ll see only an eight game pro hockey career for the Allan Cup Hockey League in 2014-15 and now he has a win as an NHL goaltender. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet he won’t even make any money because of the type of contract he signed, an “amateur try-out agreement”
Check out some highlights from one of the coolest stories in sports so far in 2020.