Fowler Cool As A Cucumber

It might have only been a preseason game, but still, it was
Jacob Fowlerâ€s very first NHL game on Monday night, and he played admirably for the Montreal Canadiens.
Through the 35 minutes he was in the net (and the ensuing shootout), he looked
as calm and collected as could be.

More than the sound positioning and the excellent puck
tracking, thatâ€s what stood out for me. There are markets where that may not be
as important a trait. Still, in hockey-mad Montreal, which has a long line of
goaltending royalty such as Jacques Plante, George Vezina (aptly nicknamed the
Chicoutimi Cucumber), Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, and, more recently, Carey Price,
itâ€s almost essential.

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If someone watched without knowing anything about Fowler,
they wouldnâ€t have thought he was a rookie. The way he handled himself gave his
teammates the confidence they needed to come back from behind and get the win.

Being a goaltender is no easy task; being the last line of
defense is a huge responsibility, and it takes a particular kind of temperament
to relish that responsibility without crumbling under the enormity of the task.
Fowler appears to be just the right kind of person. Speaking after the game, he
said:

I just love to play hockey. I love to go out on the ice,
whether itâ€s in front of 20,000 people or by myself. I think hockey is just
what makes me calm. A lot of people get wrapped up in different things; for me,
itâ€s just wanting to let the game come to me and enjoy being a hockey player. […]
Itâ€s part of who I am; I just love coming to the rink every day, and itâ€s not a
job for me.

–

That seems to be a trend in Montreal lately: players who
live and breathe hockey and never want to leave the ice. It sounds like Fowler
will fit perfectly with Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, two other hockey junkies,
so to speak. The Canadiens†scouting staff has done wonders in the last few
years, finding players of that caliber, as well as those of a similar ilk. Of
course, finding Demidov was easy, but betting on Hutsonâ€s love of the sport and
his skill, which allowed him to overcome his small stature, wasnâ€t. As for
Fowler, he was a third-round pick, and so far, it looks like that pick will
turn out to be a steal.

Asked to describe his game-saving stop in overtime, the hero
of the night explained:

Itâ€s hard to put into words. In those types of moments,
whether itâ€s preseason or not, you want to give your team a chance to win, and I
was able to get across and get enough of it. It was fortunate that one didnâ€t
go in, and we ended up getting the win.

–

As good as heâ€s been in this tiny sample, donâ€t get any
ideas – Fowler will spend the season in the AHL. At his age, he needs to see
plenty of action to develop correctly, and he wouldnâ€t get that in the NHL
right now. The organization will no doubt remember how much they believed in
Cayden Primeau and just how much his development suffered from being underplayed
during the pandemic.

No one ever stayed in the AHL for too long. Fowler is a diamond
in the rough, and itâ€s worth taking the time to polish him just right before
bringing him up to the NHL.

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