Mike Condon completes his hometown anti-hero Winter Classic story
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – In the previous seven Winter Classics in the NHL, there was customary advice for its participants. Watch out for bad ice. Do whatever it takes to reduce the glare. And, of course, try to block out the fact that upwards of 60,000 people are watching your every move.
Mike Condon heeded that last bit of advice on Friday.
Well, as best he could.
He grew up in Holliston, Mass., about 30 minutes from Foxborough. He used to sit in the last row of Gillette Stadium to watch the New England Patriots as a kid; and now he was playing in an NHL game on that very field for the Montreal Canadiens, blood rivals of the host Boston Bruins.
His family was there. His friends were there. And victory was his, as Condon made 27 saves in the Canadiens’ 5-1 win.
“I tried to keep my eyes out of the crowd. I'm sure there's plenty of people I could recognize in each section but I tried not to look too much,” said Condon (11-9-3) after the game. “I was just trying to keep my head on the ice the whole time, but when the final buzzer rang I looked around. I just tried to take as many mental photos as I could and just to try to remember this feeling.
“Bruins, Habs, Gillette Stadium, New Year's Day, I don't think you could script it any better.”
No, you couldn’t. Because the script would have been rejected for being absurdly unrealistic.
The undrafted rookie who decided to attend Princeton University instead of playing junior hockey. The goalie that was called up to replace the NHL’s reigning Vezina Trophy winner after his injury, playing for the most storied franchise in the League. The 7-1-2 record to start his career; the 2-7-0 December that nearly cost him the chance to start the Winter Classic, until two good starts solidified it.
The kid who grew up a Patriots fan putting Tom Brady and Bill Belichick on his goalie mask, getting autographed messages from both on it before the Winter Classic and then wearing that mask with those autographs in the middle of the stadium they ‘built.’
The son, inspired to start playing hockey by his father, winning the biggest game of his life as that father, a Massachusetts state trooper who also happens to be a die-hard fan of the team Condon shut down, watched.
Absurdly unrealistic. And yet, it’s Mike Condon’s reality.
“I'm pretty sure anything that Tom Brady touches turns to gold. So I was pretty happy,” he said of his mask. “Hopefully got some mojo on my helmet there. I'm a huge fan of his, huge fan of this organization, and I'm just happy to pay respect to them on the ice.”
As for Condon’s father, Ted Condon helped protect the Canadiens’ team bus as part of the police escort as it traveled from Boston to Foxoborough on Thursday for practice. On Friday, he tailgated like the rest of the fans before settling in to watch his son.
The Canadiens knew he was there. And they knew they wanted to make Condon look as good as they could in front of him.
“Every save he made, I thought about his dad. We saw him [at the Winter Classic]. He’s a big, mean cop. But he definitely took a lot of pride in being here, and was holding back emotions,” said Montreal captain Max Pacioretty.
“So for me, every time I saw him make a big save, I thought about how his dad was reacting to it. And it gave me a boost. I’m guessing it gave everyone else a boost too.”
They made it easy on Condon in the first period, outshooting the Bruins 14-3. But he returned the favor in the game’s final 30 minutes, making sprawling saves and surviving some close calls, like the puck that glanced off his shoulder and bounced right past his right goalpost in the third period.
“The kid did show a lot of confidence,” said coach Michel Therrien. “He works extremely hard and feel extremely happy for him for the way he performed especially for him back home.”
At some point, Therrien will welcome back Carey Price as his starting goalie. Mike Condon will be knocked back down the depth chart. This accomplishment in the Winter Classic will be seen at best as a critical win that reboots the Habs’ season, or a heartfelt footnote in a larger story for Montreal.
But then again, Condon’s learned never to assume he knows what the script calls for.
“Hockey is a crazy game. Anything can happen. So you've just to make sure you're prepared for the opportunities you get,” he said.
Mike Condon was prepared to win the Winter Classic, as unlikely as that opportunity seemed earlier this season.
“It’s something that he’ll remember for the rest of his life,” said Pacioretty.
____
Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS
