Steve Mason (ice hockey)

Steve Mason
Born (1988-05-29) May 29, 1988
Oakville, ON, CAN
Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight 223 lb (101 kg; 15 st 13 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Right
NHL team
Former teams		 Philadelphia Flyers
Columbus Blue Jackets
NHL Draft 69th overall, 2006
Columbus Blue Jackets
Playing career 2008–present

Steve Mason (born May 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected 69th overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Playing major junior in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), he spent three seasons with the London Knights and Kitchener Rangers. In the 2006–07 season, he was named OHL Goaltender of the Year. He joined the Blue Jackets in 2008–09 and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year. Internationally, he won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2008 World Junior Championships while earning tournament MVP and Best Goaltender honours.

Playing career

Mason grew up in Oakville, Ontario, playing mostly A hockey until his Bantam year, when he moved up to the AAA level with the Oakville Rangers of the OMHA's South Central AAA League. He was drafted after his minor midget season with Oakville by the London Knights of the OHL in the 11th round of the 2004 OHL Priority Selection.

In 2004–05, while attending Abbey Park High School,[1] he led the Grimsby Peach Kings club to the OHA Jr.C. title in 2004–05 and in 2005–06 was assigned to the Petrolia Jets Jr.B. club when his playing time was limited with London. Despite this, Mason was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third round, 69th overall, in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He started the 2007–08 season with the Blue Jackets, but was returned to London after being a healthy scratch for Columbus' first two games of the season. While competing for Team Canada at the 2008 World Junior Championships, he was traded by the Knights to the Kitchener Rangers on January 4, 2008, hours before the semi-final game.

Upon returning from the World Junior Championships with a gold medal, Mason was briefly recalled by the Blue Jackets on an emergency basis in February, but did not appear in a game and was quickly returned.[2] Mason suffered a knee injury towards the end of the regular season, but with the playoffs approaching, he tried to play through it for several weeks. After defeating the Plymouth Whalers in the first round, Mason was pulled out of the lineup and underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on April 18, forcing him to miss the remainder of the OHL playoffs, as well as the 2008 Memorial Cup.[3] Kitchener won the OHL championship without Mason, but lost 4–1 in the Memorial Cup final against the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL).

Columbus Blue Jackets (2008–2013)

Mason in 2009

Before his first professional season, Mason underwent an additional knee surgery in September, causing him to miss the first month of play in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Blue Jackets' minor league affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.[4] Shortly after recovering and joining the Crunch's lineup, Mason was called up by the Blue Jackets on November 4, 2008, in the absence of injured starter Pascal Leclaire. He made his NHL debut on November 5, starting against, and defeating, the Edmonton Oilers 5–4.[5] He recorded his first NHL shutout several games later on November 22, making 15 saves in a 2–0 win against the Atlanta Thrashers.[6]

Mason continued to start games upon Leclaire's return from injury and was named NHL Rookie of the Month for November after posting a 5–2–1 record, including three straight wins and two shutouts.[7] In the midst of shutout streak, having not allowed a goal against the Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, he was named Rookie of the Month for a second-straight month in December. Along with Mason's three straight shutouts, he posted a 7–5–0 record, 1.41 goals against average (GAA) and .950 save percentage for the month.[8] Chosen to play for the rookies at the 2009 NHL YoungStars Game, he opted, however, to skip the competition. It was later revealed on January 30, 2009, by Blue Jackets General Manager Scott Howson that Mason had been suffering from mononucleosis for the previous three-to-four weeks. After three more starts, on February 8, Mason was put on the injured reserve.[9] He returned to the lineup on February 13 against the Detroit Red Wings in a 3–2 Columbus victory.[10] Mason finished the season with a 33–20–7 record, 2.29 GAA and .916 save percentage. For his season's performances, he was awarded the 2009 Calder Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year honours, edging out Kris Versteeg of the Chicago Blackhawks and Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks in the process.[11] Additionally, on April 27, 2009, the NHL announced that Mason was nominated for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender, along with Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins and Niklas Bäckström of the Minnesota Wild.[12] Thomas was eventually awarded the trophy.

The next three seasons were a disappointment for Mason, however, as he was unable to duplicate the play of his rookie year, and the Blue Jackets failed to make another playoff appearance.[13]

Philadelphia Flyers (2013–present)

Mason was traded on April 3, 2013, to the Philadelphia Flyers for goaltender Michael Leighton and a 2015 third round draft pick.[14] On April 8, Mason signed a one-year contract extension worth $1.5 million.[15] Mason had four wins and two losses in Philadelphia and posted an impressive 1.90 GAA and a .944 save percentage, leading to speculation that Mason would replace Ilya Bryzgalov as the starter for Philadelphia.[16] In the off-season, on June 25, 2013, Bryzgalov was bought-out by the Flyers,[17] where the team subsequently signed goaltender Ray Emery, effectively promoting Mason to the starter's role.[18] On November 12, 2013, Mason recorded his first shutout for Philadelphia against the Ottawa Senators in a 5–0 win.[19] On January 18, 2014, Mason signed a three-year contract extension with the Flyers worth $12.3 million for an annual average of $4.1 million.[20]

International play
Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
World Junior Championships
2008 Czech Republic

Mason first competed for Team Canada at the under-20 level in the eight-game 2007 Super Series against Russia. He then led Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in Pardubice, Czech Republic. Prior to the semi-final game against Team USA, Mason was traded within the OHL from the London Knights to the Kitchener Rangers. After defeating Team Sweden 3–2 in overtime of the gold medal game, he was named as the player of the game, as he was in the semi-finals. Mason was undefeated in five games with a tournament-best .951 save percentage and 1.19 GAA. He was named to the tournament all-star team, received top goaltender honours, and was named tournament MVP.

Following his rookie NHL season, Mason was named to Team Canada's summer orientation camp for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He was not named to the final roster, but he was reported to have been designated an injury replacement, along with St. Louis Blues goaltender Chris Mason.[21]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T/OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2003–04 Oakville Rangers Min. Midget AAA OMHA 27 22 4 1 1215 41 5 1.58 — — — — — — — — —
2004–05 Grimsby Peach Kings NDJCHL 23 16 5 2 1239 61 2 2.96 — — — — — — — — —
2005–06 London Knights OHL 12 5 3 0 497 22 0 2.66 .931 4 0 1 150 7 0 2.80 .911
2005–06 Petrolia Jets WOHL 9 6 3 1 522 22 0 2.53 .931 — — — — — — — —
2006–07 London Knights OHL 62 45 13 4 3733 199 2 3.20 .914 16 9 7 931 54 0 3.48 .910
2007–08 London Knights OHL 26 19 4 3 1569 73 2 2.79 .916 — — — — — — — —
2007–08 Kitchener Rangers OHL 16 13 3 0 961 33 1 2.06 .915 5 5 0 313 10 1 1.92 .946
2008–09 Syracuse Crunch AHL 3 2 1 0 184 5 0 1.63 .937 — — — — — — — —
2008–09 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 61 33 20 7 3664 140 10 2.29 .916 4 0 4 239 17 0 4.27 .878
2009–10 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 58 20 26 9 3201 163 5 3.05 .901 — — — — — — — —
2010–11 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 54 24 21 7 3027 153 3 3.03 .901 — — — — — — — —
2011–12 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 46 16 26 3 2534 143 1 3.39 .894 — — — — — — — —
2012–13 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 13 3 6 1 712 35 0 2.95 .899 — — — — — — — —
2012–13 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 7 4 2 0 378 12 0 1.90 .944 — — — — — — — —
2013–14 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 61 33 18 7 3486 145 4 2.50 .917 5 2 2 244 8 0 1.97 .939
2014–15 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 51 18 18 11 2885 108 3 2.25 .928 — — — — — — — —
2015–16 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 54 23 19 10 3150 132 4 2.51 .918 3 0 3 176 12 0 4.09 .852
NHL totals 405 174 156 55 23,037 1031 30 2.69 .911 12 2 9 659 37 0 3.37 .895

[22]

International

Year Team Event Result GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2008 Canada WJC 1st 5 5 0 0 303 6 1 1.19 .951
Junior totals 5 5 0 0 303 6 1 1.19 .951

Awards

Junior

NHL

International

Records

References

  1. ↑ "Steve Mason traded to Philadelphia Flyers". Inside Halton. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Blue Jackets send Steve Mason back to OHL". CBC. 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  3. ↑ Reed, Tom (April 17, 2008). "Hot Jackets property has knee injury". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
  4. ↑ "Blue Jackets lose Steve Mason for 4-6 weeks". CBC. 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  5. ↑ "Goalie Steve Mason makes his mark with Columbus Blue Jackets". The Hockey News. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  6. ↑ "Mason helps Blue Jackets blank Thrashers". Sports Network. 2008-11-22. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  7. ↑ "Blue Jackets goalie Steve Maso named NHL rookie of the month". Canadian Press. 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  8. ↑ "Blue Jackets G Steve Mason named rookie of the month again". National Post. 2009-01-02. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  9. ↑ "Jackets admit goalie Mason needs a rest". CBC. 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
  10. ↑ "Blue Jackets mark Mason's return by snapping Red Wings' win streak". USA Today. 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
  11. ↑ "Ryan, Versteeg, Mason selected as nominees for Calder Trophy". TSN. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  12. ↑ "Mason, Thomas, Wild’s Backstrom Vezina finalists". Associated Press. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
  13. ↑ "Blue Jackets notebook: Steve Mason playing well in Philly". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Flyers acquire Steve Mason from Columbus; Adam Hall from Tampa Bay". Philadelphia Flyers. April 3, 2013. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  15. ↑ Anthony SanFilippo (April 8, 2013). "Mason signs Extension". Philadelphia Flyers. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Flyers trade for Steve Mason means Ilya Brzygalov is a goner". bleacherreport.com. 2013-05-03. Retrieved 2013-05-03.
  17. ↑ "Flyers buyout contract of Ilya Brzygalov". National Hockey League. 2013-06-23. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
  18. ↑ "Flyers address goalie need, sign Ray Emery". ESPN. 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  19. ↑ "Mason stonewalls Senators in 5-0 victory". Philadelphia Flyers. 2013-11-12. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
  20. ↑ "Steve Mason signs three-year extension with Philadelphia Flyers". CBS Sports. 2014-01-18. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  21. ↑ "Blues' Mason added to Canada's stand-by list". CTV News. 2010-02-13. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  22. ↑ "Steve Mason OHL Stats". Archived from the original on November 2, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2007.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steve Mason.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Patrick Kane		 Winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy
2009 		Succeeded by
Tyler Myers
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