Zachary Fucale

Zachary Fucale
Born (1995-05-28) May 28, 1995
Laval, Quebec, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 187 lb (85 kg; 13 st 5 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
NHL team Vegas Golden Knights
NHL Draft 36th overall, 2013
Montreal Canadiens
Playing career 2015–present

Zachary "Zach" Fucale (born May 28, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender, currently under contract with the Vegas Golden Knights in the National Hockey League (NHL). Fucale was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2nd round (36th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Junior

Zach Fucale was born in Laval, Quebec, but grew up in Rosemère, Quebec.[1]

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.[2]

In his first season with the Mooseheads, Fucale set a QMJHL record for most wins by a rookie with 32[3] For his performance, he was named to the QMJHL all-rookie team[4] 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.[5] 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-Sébastien Giguère.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9]

Fucale was traded to the Quebec Remparts on December 19, 2014.[10] On his departure from Halifax, he was the club's all-time leader in regular season wins (126), playoff wins (35), and shutouts (15).[11] 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.[12][13]

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.[14] 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.[15]

Professional

During the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Fucale was the top goalie taken, selected 36th overall by the Montreal Canadiens.[16] 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.[17]

On September 26, 2015, the Canadiens announced that Fucale was being reassigned for the 2015–16 season to the St. John's IceCaps of the American Hockey League, where he shared netminder duties with Dustin Tokarski.[18] 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.[19]

During the 2016–17 season, Fucale played for the Brampton Beast (ECHL). Entering the playoffs, he had already established a number of franchise records including games played, wins (25) and goals against average. He also took time out in December to lead Canada to a Spengler Cup Champion as the teams' only ECHL representative and the youngest player on the roster.

On July 1, 2018, after he was not tendered a qualifying offer to remain with the Canadiens, Fucale signed as a free agent to a one-year, two-way deal with the Vegas Golden Knights.[20]

International play

Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament
2012 Piešťany
IIHF World U20 Championship
2015 Canada
Spengler Cup
2016 Davos

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.[21]

Fucale was named to Canada's roster for the 2014 and 2015 World Junior Championship.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24]

Fucale was part of Team Canada at the 2016 Spengler Cup in Davos Switzerland.[25]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2010–11 Saint-Eustache Vikings QMAAA 28——————3.09.901 10—————3.61.901
2011–12 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 5832186324917123.16.892 1710710224902.88.904
2012–13 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 554553316212422.35.909 1716110423532.02.918
2013–14 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 503693291711062.26.907 15947973702.79.882
2014–15 Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 24139214267623.20.890 ————————
2014–15 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 178809335013.22.877 2014611945112.56.913
2015–16 St. John's IceCaps AHL 4216194237612413.13.903 ————————
2016–17 St. John's IceCaps AHL 3120178712.36.919 ————————
2016–17 Brampton Beast ECHL 4625122235913443.17.898 11657042502.13.932
2017–18 Laval Rocket AHL 1810709935403.26.890 ————————
2017–18 Brampton Beast ECHL 115426573102.83.913 ————————
AHL totals 63 27 28 4 3547 185 2 3.13 .900 — — — — — — — —

International

Year Team Event Result GP W L OT MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2012 Canada Quebec U17 6th 5 2 1 0 185 10 0 3.25 .906
2012 Canada IH18 1st, gold medalist(s) 4 4 0 0 — 8 1 2.00 .927
2014 Canada WJC 4th 5 3 2 0 298 12 0 2.42 .902
2015 Canada WJC 1st, gold medalist(s) 5 5 0 0 300 6 2 1.20 .939
Junior totals 19 14 3 0 — 36 3 — .926

[26]

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 [27]
QMJHL President's Cup Championship 2013
Memorial Cup Championship 2013
CHL Memorial Cup All-Star Team 2013 [28]
Paul Dumont Trophy – QMJHL Personality of the Year 2013–14 [29]
Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy – QMJHL Best GAA 2013–14 [30]
IIHF World U20 Championships – Gold Medal 2015

References

  1. ↑ "Fucale, Zachary". nhl.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ "QMJHL". theqmjhl.ca. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  3. ↑ "QMJHL: Mooseheads' iron man Fucale sets record for wins by a rookie goalie". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Mooseheads hardware hopefuls fall short at QMJHL awards". metronews.ca. April 4, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Huberdeau leads QMJHL to win over Russians in Super Series". cbc.ca. November 7, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ "CHL Network". CHL Network. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Halifax Mooseheads win MasterCard Memorial Cup". Canadian Hockey League. 2013-05-04. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
  8. ↑ "Zach Fucale breaks goalie record as Mooseheads top Sea Dogs". CBC News. 2014-01-21. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  9. ↑ "Timo Time: Moose smoke Shawinigan". Halifax Mooseheads. 2014-11-28. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
  10. ↑ 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
  11. ↑ QMJHL. Goalie statistics: http://theqmjhl.ca/stats/show/type/goalies/ls_season/178/ls_team/5
  12. ↑ 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
  13. ↑ Halifax Mooseheads. Zach Fucale tribute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW1XC3EzQOQ
  14. ↑ "So close..." remparts.ca. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Rockets blast into finals with 9–3 win". mastercardmemorialcup.ca. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  16. ↑ "404". TSN. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Toronto Maple Leafs at Montréal Canadiens – 09/22/2015". nhl.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Goalie Fucale among 17 players Canadiens send down to AHL's IceCaps". Hockey Inside/Out. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  19. ↑ MacMillian, Kenny (November 30, 2015). "Zach Fucale Called Up By Montreal Canadiens". A Winning Habit. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Golden Knights' Zach Fucale: Gets deal with Vegas". CBS Sports. 2018-07-01. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  21. ↑ "Canada wins 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial". European Ice Hockey Online. 2012-08-18. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
  22. ↑ "National Junior Team". TSN.ca. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  23. ↑ International Ice Hockey Federation. World Junior Championship: Player statistics by team. Retrieved from: https://reports.iihf.hockey/Hydra/359/IHM359000_83_63_0_CAN.pdf and https://reports.iihf.hockey/Hydra/417/IHM417000_83_65_0_CAN.pdf
  24. ↑ Hockey Canada National Junior Team statistics at: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/Team-Canada/Men/Junior/
  25. ↑ "Fucale joins Canada for Spengler Cup". The Telegram. 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
  26. ↑ "QMJHL Statistics". Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
  27. ↑ "Jonathan Drouin wins big at Quebec Major Junior Hockey League awards". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Memorial Cup". mastercardmemorialcup.ca. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Valdors' Anthony Mantha named QMJHL MVP". Lethbridge Herald. 2014-04-02. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
  30. ↑ "The Golden Puck Awards: an unforgettable evening". oursportscentral.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
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