Brandon goalie scores in KIJHL

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This article was published 31/01/2023 (1225 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cody Creasy has spent a lifetime in hockey trying to keep the puck out of the net but all that changed last Friday.

The 19-year-old goaltender from Brandon, who plays in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League for the Kamloops Storm, fired the puck down the ice at an empty net and scored in the dying seconds of a 5-2 victory over the visiting Summerland Steam.

“It was just crazy to think I scored a goal,” Creasy said. “That’s everyone’s dream. That was my dream growing up too. I was always the one who asked my coaches if I could go play out or play player for a game. Playing goalie finally worked out to score a goal.”

While Creasy’s path seems to have worked out in the end, it wasn’t without its fair share of bumps and detours along the way.

Creasy spent his 14- and 15-year-old seasons playing prep hockey for the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox, Sask., returning to Brandon to join the U18 AAA Wheat Kings for the 2019-20 season.

It was a tough year for the team, which after years of success finished 11th with a 12-34-2 record. He posted a 5.27 goals-against average and a .857 save percentage on a defensively challenged squad, but also realized his health wasn’t anywhere close to ideal.

“I knew something was up,” Creasy said. “The whole season I was playing worried and I was in and out of the lineup knowing something could happen.”

He had previously torn the meniscus in his knee — described by the Mayo Clinic as “a C-shaped piece of tough, rubbery cartilage that acts as a shock absorber between the shinbone and the thighbone” — and underwent surgery after the season.

Unfortunately, the surgery didn’t completely fix the problem, and he had a second procedure before camp began for the ill-fated 2020-21 season when the sport was quickly shut down by COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

In a position where facing shots and working on fine details is paramount, Creasy essentially lost a year and a half.

“It was pretty hard,” Creasy said. “I think it was 18 months between games that I actually played. It was a long time. The main thing was getting my legs back under me and physically getting better. When I played my first game, it was more stressful than ever basically.”

When he finally returned to health, he tried out for the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Virden Oil Capitals before the 2021-22 season, and was cut.

Fortunately, Kamloops’ head coach at the time, Geoff Grimwood, reached out looking for a goalie.

“I was hesitant at first but then I found out the league was actually a really good league for development,” Creasy said.

He didn’t know a soul on the team, and when he arrived, discovered he was one of a number of goalies auditioning for a spot.

“I thought it was going to be ‘OK, I’m on the team type of thing but it was more of a tryout,’” Creasy said. “I had to earn respect from the guys. The first couple of weeks were tough, trying to battle in practice and earn respect, but I think I earned it from the guys right from the get-go playing games.

“I got a win in my first game and a shutout in my second game.”

Despite all the time off, Creasy posted career highs across the board, with a .938 save percentage and a 1.45 gaa in his 15 regular season appearances.

Even he’s not sure why things went so well after all the time away from the game, but suspects it was the work he did on his big frame.

“I wonder that myself, honestly,” Creasy said with a chuckle. “I think it was the long period off the ice. I overworked and overstimulated myself off the ice with my training, and I think my rehab was a huge part of getting faster and stronger.

“I’m six-foot-three and I was just your average goalie in net. I think actually turned things around by becoming way quicker and way more flexible.”

In 20 appearances this season, he is 10-6-0-0 with a 2.16 gaa and a .915 save percentage for Kamloops, which is third in the Doug Birks Division with a record of 23-12-0-4. (The KIJHL has 19 teams spread across four divisions.)

“It’s really nice to play a lot of games this year,” Creasy said. “It’s actually giving me a lot of interest from other teams in the ACHA (American Collegiate Hockey Association) for next season. It’s a real confidence booster playing a lot of games, and especially winning a lot as well.”

He’s also earned the trust of head coach Jan Ludvig and his staff, something illustrated by the way Creasy’s goal came together last week.

With time ticking off the clock and a two-goal lead at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre, Storm captain Jameson Rende had the puck on the breakout. He made a pass back to Creasy — “Afterwards he was apologizing because there was a guy on me” — and the goaltender knelt to settle the puck and then quickly stood up and fired it.

“I didn’t even look,” Creasy said. “I knew I had to get it off really quickly. There was no time left on the clock so I shot it down. I didn’t even think it was going in at first so I turned around and was like ‘OK, I missed the net.’ At the last second I turned around and it was right in the goal crease and it was ‘Oh my gosh, did I actually just score?’

“Then all the guys started coming towards me and I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

The puck found its way into the right side of the net with two seconds remaining in the game.

Creasy raised his arms and a raucous 11-second celebration with the five Storm players on the ice ensued in the Kamloops crease before the goalie raced to the bench for a very unusual fly-by.

“The guys were awesome about it,” Creasy said. “My coach said ‘If you get the chance …’ and the guys knew we had a bit of a play going so that’s why Jameson passed the puck to me. It was fantastic how the guys reacted to me. Brody Johnston, one of my defencemen, skated back as hard as he could and jumped into me, and then the fly-by was awesome. The guys were yelling at me and banging their sticks across the boards.

“It was a real awesome moment to go through.”

After the game, his billet family took pictures of him and his teammates drenched him with water in the dressing room. His phone quickly blew up with friends and family, and later, he had a chance to FaceTime his parents Shaun and Gloria.

Happily, he also got to watch a video shot by his girlfriend Haley Roux-Hodgson, who watching the game online in Brandon with Cody’s mom.

“My mom started screaming out loud but it was the funniest thing,” Creasy said. “She jumped up screaming. They were watching the game live and I can just imagine what it was like for them. She was super loud. The neighbours could probably hear her.”

It was a similar reaction for his father, who is working in Saskatchewan and saw the game with a friend who Cody knows really well.

Creasy said it was the first he’d ever tried to fire the puck at an empty net, admitting he’s not the most skilled goaltender at shooting. He wouldn’t hesitate to try it again if he had a similar opportunity, although he added he would hate to miss and ruin his perfect record.

But for now, he’s happy to reflect on the day when everything finally went right.

“Especially with my past and not being able to play a lot, it was such a relief moment,” Creasy said. “I’ve had such a negative career and such a hard pathway through to where I am today, so to see that go in, I was just so relieved to actually feel a bit of positive energy for myself.

“I was just so shocked it went in.”

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