A Little Further East Again

If you're goaltender Talor Joseph, you might adopt Johnny Cash's I've Been Everywhere as your theme song. Josepg was a former Trinity Western Spartan goaltender in Langley, BC, but his travels in honing his craft as a netminder have seen him grow up in Sherwood Park, stop pucks in Fort Saskatchewan, tend nets in Lloydminster, protect the crease in Olds, make kick-saves in Fort Frances, blocker away shots in Portage la Prairie, stand between the pipes for Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, hold the fort for Nipissing University in North Bay, put up a wall for Trinity Western University in Langley, shut the door in Abbotsford, and pick up his first pro win in Toronto. And now he can add another city to the list as Talor Joseph is heading east once more!

The ECHL's Adirondack Thunder announced yesterday that they had signed Talor Joseph to a contract as the ECHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils looks to shore up its goaltending after starter Isaac Poulter was recalled to the AHL's Utica Devils on Monday.

Joseph will be one of three goalies on the roster for Adirondack at this point. The other netminders include Jake Theut who is 1-1-0 with a 3.38 GAA and a .904 save percentage, and Mareks Mitens who is 0-1-0 with a 5.03 GAA and an .807 save percentage. While Joseph hasn't played a game at the ECHL level, he is 1-0-0 at the AHL level with the Toronto Marlies where he posted a 3.75 GAA and an .894 save percentage. While none of the statistics for these three netminders will blow anyone away, the key is that Joseph has a good shot at pushing one of Theut or Mitens into playing better in trying to earn the starter's position with Poulter in Utica. Or, in a perfect world, Joseph earns that shot himself.

Adirondack is currently sixth-place out of seven teams in the ECHL's North Division at 1-4-1, and they've fallen far behind both Worcester and Newfoundland at the top of the division. They need some solid netminding if they want to try to make up some points to catch either team, and that raised standard of goaltending will need to last for weeks. There's no guarantee that Joseph will spark the change in Adirondack, but he's certainly capable based on what we saw during his time with Trinity Western.

For those asking, the Adirondack Thunder play in Glens Falls, New York which is directly east of the Golden Horseshoe in southern Ontario, directly south of Montreal, and slightly north of Albany, New York. In terms of being near the east coast, Joseph will be 3.5 hours from Boston, so that Johnny Cash tune is certainly applicable as he's gone from the west coast to nearly the east coast to cities and towns everywhere between!

As mentioned above, the Thunder have some work to do, but they can start chipping away at that deficit in the North Division this Friday and Saturday when they welcome division-leading and undefeated Worcester to Glens Falls. Obviously, it's a little early for the Thunder to be naming their starting netminder for either game at this point, but there's hope that a former Spartans netminder will get to don the Viking logo of the Thunder in at least one of the two games against Worcester.

It's always good to see former Canada West players doing well at the professional level, and Talor Joseph has a chance to write another chapter into his story as a professional hockey player. Just as he's had to his entire career, he'll need to battle against one of the top teams in the ECHL if he's between the pipes, but we already know that Talor Joseph will give the Thunder everything he has.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!