Walleye rookie goalie Angus Redmond shines in debut

Angus Redmond had a strong final season for Michigan Tech, and he made 38 saves Sunday in earning his first win as a Toledo Walleye player.

BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH

Toledo Walleye rookie goaltender Angus Redmond immediately faced a barrage of shots in his debut Sunday afternoon at Brampton, and he stood up well to the test.

Redmond made 38 saves to earn his first victory as a member of the Walleye in a 2-1 shootout win against the Beast.

“I thought he was solid,” Walleye coach Dan Watson said. “He saw a lot of shots, which kept him in the game. Overall, it was a very good performance.”

Redmond, a 22-year-old, faced 15 shots in the first period. He yielded a goal to Jeff King 5 minutes, 43 seconds into the game, but he was perfect after that, facing a total of 39 shots.

Redmond made 14 saves in the second, seven in the third, then three in overtime. The rookie, who is 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, also stopped all three skaters he faced in the shootout.

“He settled in nicely after the first goal against,” Watson said. “His rebound control was very good and he played the puck well.”

Mike Borkowski scored in the first period, then A.J. Jenks tallied the game-winner in the shootout for Toledo (40-14-5), which moved to the top of the ECHL standings with 85 points.

Redmond, who is backing up No. 1 goaltender Pat Nagle, was pressed into the start with the Walleye in the midst of a busy stretch.

Toledo had lost 2-1 to South Carolina in overtime Saturday night, then traveled to Ontario for the 2 p.m. start Sunday.

Toledo's Pat Nagle is second in the ECHL in minutes among goalies. Newcomer Angus Redmond stepped in Sunday and earned the win at Brampton.

Nagle had started in six consecutive games since the promotion of rookie goalie Matej Machovsky to Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League. Nagle (28-4-4) was named the ECHL goaltender of the month for February. He leads the league in wins and ranks seventh in goals-against average (2.27).

With the departure of Machovsky for the rest of the regular season, Watson and the team acquired Redmond from San Diego of the AHL on Feb. 22.

Redmond, a native of Langley, B.C., had a bumpy start to his pro career with the ECHL's Utah Grizzlies. He had played in 18 games for Utah and posted a 2-8-2 record with a 4.07 goals-against average.

But Redmond had excelled in his last year of college at Michigan Tech University in the Western Conference Hockey Association. He went 22-10-5 with a 1.85 GAA and .917 save percentage last season.

Nagle still is expected to get the bulk of the workload during the final 13 games of the regular season, but Watson said he will not hesitate to give Redmond more starts to spell Nagle.

“We don't want to burn him out,” Watson said of Nagle, who has played the second most minutes (2,217) among all ECHL goalies.

Toledo went 3-0-1 last week and became the first team in the league to reach 40 wins. Since the start of the new year, the Walleye have a 20-5-2 record.

Going into Tuesday’s games, Toledo leads the league by one point over Eastern Conference leader Florida, and four points in the Western Conference and Central Division over rival Fort Wayne (39-15-3).

With 13 games left in the regular season, the Walleye have seven remaining at the Huntington Center, including three this weekend. Toledo hosts Quad City at 7:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday before taking on Indy at 5:15  p.m. Sunday.

Contact Mark Monroe at: mmonroe@theblade.com, 419-724-6354, or on Twitter @MonroeBlade.