Zachary Fucale

Zachary Fucale
Born (1995-05-28) May 28, 1995
Laval, QC, CAN[1]
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 187 lb (85 kg; 13 st 5 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
NHL team (P)
Cur. team		 Montreal Canadiens
St. John's IceCaps (AHL)
NHL Draft 36th overall, 2013
Montreal Canadiens
Playing career 2015–present
Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament
2012 Piešťany
IIHF World U20 Championship
2015 Canada

Zachary "Zach" Fucale (born May 28, 1995) is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender. He currently plays for the St. John's IceCaps of the American Hockey League (AHL). Fucale was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2nd round (36th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Junior career

Zach Fucale was born in Laval, Quebec, but grew up in Rosemère, Quebec.[2]

Before being drafted into major junior hockey, Fucale played for the Saint-Eustache Vikings of the Quebec AAA Midget Hockey League. The Halifax Mooseheads selected Fucale eleventh overall in the 2011 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) Entry Draft.[3]

In his first season with the Mooseheads, Fucale set a QMJHL record for most wins by a rookie with 32[4] For his performance, he was named to the QMJHL all-rookie team[5] and awarded the Raymond Lagacé Trophy as defensive rookie of the year.

In 2012, Fucale was named to the Subway Super Series as a QMJHL representative. On November 8, 2012, Fucale made the start for team QMJHL in the series and stopped all 10 shots he faced before being replaced half way through the game.[6] In November 2012, Fucale was named the #1 North American Goaltender in the NHL Central Scouting rankings for the upcoming 2013 NHL Draft.

The 2012–2013 campaign saw Fucale become the Mooseheads' all-time leader in wins with 79, surpassing the mark previously held by Jean-Sebastien Giguere.[7] During the 2012–13 playoffs, he maintained a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.02 and a save percentage of 0.918, recording 16 wins with the Mooseheads against only one loss as they captured their first President's Cup (QMJHL).

In the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament held at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Fucale maintained a 0.902 save percentage while maintaining a 3.52 GAA to help the Halifax Mooseheads capture their first-ever Memorial Cup. Playing with a talented Mooseheads club that included future NHL rookie of the year Nathan MacKinnon and Canadian Hockey League player of the year Jonathan Drouin, Fucale turned aside 40 shots to beat the Portland Winterhawks 6–4 in the championship game. He was named to the tournament all-star team.[8]

On January 21, 2014, Fucale became the youngest goalie to reach 100 wins in QMJHL history, at 18 years, 7.8 months. At the same time he set a new record for achieving that mark in the fewest games, winning his hundredth game in 145 starts. The record was previously held by Jacques Cloutier of the Trois-Rivières Draveurs who was 19 when he reached 100 wins in 150 games in 1979.[9]

On November 28, 2014, Fucale recorded his 124th regular season win, passing Olivier Roy for second place among QMJHL goaltenders for most career wins and putting him within 18 wins of Cloutier’s all-time record.[10]

Fucale was traded to the Quebec Remparts on December 19, 2014.[11] On his departure from Halifax, he was the club's all-time leader in regular season wins (126), playoff wins (35), and shutouts (15).[12] In an unusual step for an active player, Fucale returned to his former club 22 days after he was traded to be honoured with an emotional eight-minute pre-game tribute.[13] [14]

In May 2015, Fucale led the Quebec Remparts to the President Cup finals after defeating the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Charlottetown Islanders, and Moncton Wildcats. The team lost to the Rimouski Océanic in double overtime of the seventh and final game of the series.[15] Fucale was still able to make a return to the national MasterCard Memorial Cup championship, by virtue of Quebec's status as host; however, the team was eliminated by the Western Hockey League's Kelowna Rockets, 9–3, in the semi-final.[16]

International play

Fucale won gold at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka U18 Memorial Tournament as a member of Team Canada. Fucale played in four of the five tournament games, shutting out Finland 4–0 in the gold medal game.[17]

Fucale was named to Canada's roster for the 2014 and 2015 World Junior Championship.[18] After Canada finished a disappointing fourth at the 2014 event in Sweden, Fucale led Team Canada to a gold medal, their first in five years, at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship. In so doing, Fucale improved his save percentage to .949 over five games in 2015, up from .902 in the previous tournament; his goals-against average improved to 1.20 from 2.42.[19] With eight wins, Fucale ties Stéphane Fiset (1989/1990) and Marc-André Fleury (2003/2004) for most wins by a Canadian goaltender at the IIHF U20 tournament.[20]

Professional career

During the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Fucale was the top goalie taken, selected 36th overall by the Montreal Canadiens.[21] Following training camp in 2014, the Canadiens returned Fucale to the Halifax Mooseheads for his final junior year. In 2015, Fucale played his first pre-season game in a Habs uniform, giving up two goals, including the overtime winner, in a 2–1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 22.[22]

On September 26, 2015, the Canadiens announced that Fucale was being reassigned for the 2015–16 season to the St. John's Ice Caps of the American Hockey League, where he shares netminder duties with Dustin Tokarski.[23] On November 30, the team recalled Fucale from the AHL to become Mike Condon's back-up goalie during Carey Price's recovery from an injury.[24]

Career statistics

Regular season

Season Team League GP Wins Losses OTL SOL SO GAA SV%
2011–12 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 58 32 18 6 4 2 3.16 0.892
2012–13 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 55 45 5 3 1 2 2.35 0.909
2013–14 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 50 36 9 3 3 6 2.26 0.907
2014–15 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 24 13 9 1 1 2 3.20 0.890
2014–15 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 17 8 8 0 0 1 3.21 0.877

[25]

Playoffs

Season Team League GP Wins Losses OTL SOL SO GAA SV%
2011–12 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 17 10 5 2 0 0 2.88 0.904
2012–13 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 17 16 1 0 0 3 2.02 0.918
2013–14 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 15 9 4 0 0 0 2.79 0.882
2014–15 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 20 14 3 3 0 1 2.56 0.913

[26]

National

Year Team Event GP Wins Losses OTL GA SVS SO GAA SV%
2013 Halifax Mooseheads MasterCard Memorial Cup 4 3 1 0 14 129 0 3.52 0.902
2015 Quebec Remparts MasterCard Memorial Cup 5 2 2 1 23 157 0 4.75 0.872

[27]

International

Year Team Event GP Wins Losses GA SVS SO GAA SV%
2012 Canada Ivan Hlinka U18 tournament 4 4 0 8 99 1 2.00 0.927
2014 Canada World U20 Championship 5 3 2 12 110 0 2.42 0.902
2015 Canada World U20 Championship 5 5 0 6 93 2 1.20 0.939

Awards and honours

Award Year
Raymond Lagacé Trophy – QMJHL Defensive Rookie of the Year 2011–12
2012 Ivan Hlinka U18 Memorial Tournament – Gold Medal 2012
QMJHL First Team All-Star 2012–13 [28]
QMJHL President's Cup Championship 2013
Memorial Cup Championship 2013
CHL Memorial Cup All-Star Team 2013 [29]
Paul Dumont Trophy – QMJHL Personality of the Year 2013–14 [30]
Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy – QMJHL Best GAA 2013–14 [31]
IIHF World U20 Championships – Gold Medal 2015 [32]

References

  1. ↑ Halifax Mooseheads
  2. ↑ "Fucale, Zachary". nhl.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  3. ↑ "QMJHL". theqmjhl.ca. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ "QMJHL: Mooseheads’ iron man Fucale sets record for wins by a rookie goalie". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Mooseheads hardware hopefuls fall short at QMJHL awards". metronews.ca. April 4, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Huberdeau leads QMJHL to win over Russians in Super Series". cbc.ca. November 7, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  7. ↑ "CHL Network". CHL Network. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  8. ↑ Canadian Hockey League. Halifax Mooseheads win MasterCard Memorial Cup: http://www.mastercardmemorialcup.ca/article/halifax-mooseheads-win-mastercard-memorial-cup
  9. ↑ CBC News. Zach Fucale breaks goalie record as Mooseheads top Sea Dogs: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/zach-fucale-breaks-goalie-record-as-mooseheads-top-sea-dogs-1.2506548
  10. ↑ Halifax Mooseheads. Timo Time: Moose smoke Shawinigan. http://www.halifaxmooseheads.ca/article/mooseheads-shoot-their-way-past-shawinigan
  11. ↑ The Canadian Press. December 19, 2014. Rebuilding Halifax Mooseheads trade goalie Zach Fucale to Quebec Remparts. Retrieved from: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=744854
  12. ↑ QMJHL. Goalie statistics: http://theqmjhl.ca/stats/show/type/goalies/ls_season/178/ls_team/5
  13. ↑ The Chronicle Herald. January 10, 2015. Pumped up Mooseheads win on night Fucale honoured. Retrieved from: http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/mooseheads/1262192-pumped-up-mooseheads-win-on-night-fucale-honoured
  14. ↑ Halifax Mooseheads. Zach Fucale tribute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW1XC3EzQOQ
  15. ↑ "So close...". remparts.ca. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Rockets blast into finals with 9–3 win". mastercardmemorialcup.ca. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  17. ↑ Canada wins 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial at: http://www.eurohockey.com/article/1746-canada-wins-2012-ivan-hlinka-memorial.html
  18. ↑ "National Junior Team". TSN.ca. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  19. ↑ International Ice Hockey Federation. World Junior Championship: Player statistics by team. Retrieved from: http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/359/IHM359000_83_63_0_CAN.pdf and http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/417/IHM417000_83_65_0_CAN.pdf
  20. ↑ Hockey Canada National Junior Team statistics at: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/Team-Canada/Men/Junior/
  21. ↑ "404". TSN. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Toronto Maple Leafs at Montréal Canadiens – 09/22/2015". nhl.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Goalie Fucale among 17 players Canadiens send down to AHL’s IceCaps". Hockey Inside/Out. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  24. ↑ MacMillian, Kenny (November 30, 2015). "Zach Fucale Called Up By Montreal Canadiens". A Winning Habit. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  25. ↑ "QMJHL Statistics". Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
  26. ↑ Halifax Mooseheads: http://halifaxmooseheads.ca/roster/bio/196604
  27. ↑ Mastercard Memorial Cup 2013 statistics: http://www.leaguestat.com/chl/memcup/en/stats/statdisplay.php?type=top_goalies&subType=0&season_id=44&league_id=1&division_id=-1&confId=0
  28. ↑ "Jonathan Drouin wins big at Quebec Major Junior Hockey League awards". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Memorial Cup". mastercardmemorialcup.ca. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  30. ↑ http://lethbridgeherald.com/sports/national-sports/2014/04/02/valdors-anthony-mantha-named-qmjhl-mvp-at-golden-puck-awards/
  31. ↑ "The Golden Puck Awards: an unforgettable evening". oursportscentral.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  32. ↑ 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships rosters

External links

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