You know, people didn’t this irate when Scott Foster came into the game for the Blackhawks, stopped seven shots thrown at him by the Winnipeg Jets, and was named first star for the Blackhawks that night. I guess it’s because the Maple Leafs couldn’t create offense against their minor-league Zamboni driver that makes the talking heads North of the Border all up in arms.

Thanks to the performance David Ayres had, to which he got the win over the Maple Leafs with eight saves– it seems that it got people in Toronto all butt-hurt and is now apparently going to be a talking point at the next round of GM Meetings next week. I guess, since it happened to the Leafs on National TV; there’s an issue with who can become an emergency back-up.

Honestly, though, you have to think there needs to be some kind of parameters to the EBUG situation. To have a 42-year-old slotted as the emergency goalie seems a bit odd. Especially in Toronto when there’s more goalies per capita than any other place in the world (don’t fact check it– I didn’t).

But where do the qualifications come from?? Any goalie who is trying to make it is already out there trying to make it elsewhere and won’t necessarily be available. You almost have to default to former goalies who have hung them up with the exception of beer league and maybe get seen by a coach or someone and gets some practice in with the NHL squad. In the past, some back-ups have come from the Canadian college ranks; but those were when a goalie was injured before the game was even close to starting.

The talent of the EBUG is something that should be hit or miss because you’d never fathom it to happen in a million years. In the past three seasons, we’ve had two come into play and hold their own. And, just like the NHL, there’s a brash overreaction to it despite all the positive press it has given the league since this happened. Not only that, but they’ll ahev to work with the NHLPA to figure out the requirements, to figure out how they can vet these goalies, and what needs to be done so that this doesn’t happen– whether if it’s expanding the roster to three goalies or putting an age limit on it– they’ll make sure that this is the last time we have a fun story of a goalie coming out of the crowd to win the game.