Milligan, Anthony Lanier II return to Riders' lineup
14h ago
Some key players are back for the Riders as they get ready to host the Redblacks on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Koen MacInnes is ready for a rest.
The Saskatoon Blades’ rookie netminder entered the season with little expectation as the backup to workhorse goaltender Nolan Maier.
Spot duty at the beginning of the season quickly turned into a starting for role MacInnes after Maier went down with a lower-body injury to start 2020.
The successive starts started piling up. On Tuesday, MacInnes is expected to make his ninth straight start when the Victoria Royals visit SaskTel Centre.
“At the start of every week it looks like Nolan is going to play, but then, you know, stuff happens,” MacInnes said. “You’ve just got to go into the week with the mindset that anything can happen, and once you know you’re in, you’ve got to start preparing. That’s just how the last couple weeks have been.”
Maier has 136 games of WHL experience between the pre-season, regular season and playoffs.
MacInnes, who turned 18 this month, is relishing the opportunity to be the trusted man in net in Maier’s absence.
“It was huge,” MacInnes said. “I went a month and a half without a game before the first start when Nolan got injured. It was massive to get this opportunity and get some confidence in the games.”
The product of Burnaby, B.C., has an 8-5-1 record, a 2.93 goals-against average, a .905 save percentage and two shutouts so far this season.
“I’ve had a couple good performances. My good stats are just a product of the team’s play,” MacInnes said.
Head coach Mitch Love agrees. Even though MacInnes entered the year with little WHL experience, Love quickly became confident in his rookie.
“He has been solid. He has given us opportunities to win hockey games. We’re quite confident with our goaltending tandem here,” Love said.
While MacInnes entered the season knowing he would spend much of it backing up, he was prepared to step in as needed. Now he hopes to get as much of the starting duties as possible.
“You go into the year with high hopes,” he said. “I kind of set the bar as high as I possibly could. Obviously, I didn’t get too, too many starts in the first half, but they’re coming fast and furious now. Hopefully I can keep it going.”