The Washington Capitals found themselves in a goaltending pickle on Friday night. On the road against the New Yorks Islanders, Charlie Lindgren suffered an upper-body injury on the very first shot he faced. Darcy Kuemper jumped into net in place of Lindgren, but they had no one to back him up.
Enter, Thomas Sullivan.
Who????
Thomas Sullivan, silly. Here I’ll explain.
Sullivan, 25, is a recent graduate from Stony Brook University where he played three seasons for their hockey team at the ACHA Division I level. Sullivan served primarily as the Seawolves’ backup or third goaltender during his time at the school.
In his final campaign with the team, he posted a 1-1 record with a ghastly .832 save percentage and a 6.38 goals-against average. He was much better in the season prior, amassing a 3-1 record with a .947 save percentage and a 1.24 goals-against average.
There are no real video highlights to be found of Sullivan’s college career nor does he have a public Instagram profile so he remains somewhat a man of mystery. What we do know is that Sullivan is the Islanders’ typical emergency backup goaltender but ended up being a Capital on this night, watching the game from the locker room.
The Floral Park, New York native also has a prior connection to the Caps. According to Sullivan’s LinkedIn page, he has been a contracted hockey coach at Mitch Korn’s Specialized Goalie School since July of 2017.
Korn was the Capitals’ goaltending coach and eventual director of goaltending under head coach Barry Trotz for four seasons from 2014-18 before following Trotz to the Islanders. Korn has been running development camps for youth players for over 40 years and he still holds a yearly camp in the DC area.
In the past, the Capitals have implemented assistant coach/video Brett Leonhardt as an emergency backup. The team also had a similar situation on the road back in 2018, when Winnipeg Jets season-ticket holder and former WHL goalie Gavin McHale played second fiddle to Pheonix Copley after Braden Holtby was a late injury scratch.
Headline photo: Arthur Edelmans on Unsplash
