Who Said Anything About Fair?

No one will ever tell you that life is fair. The reality is that it always seems like there's some factor out there that's preventing one from finding success, but that's where you'll be told to persevere and play through the adversity. Whatever the case, I find it hard to comprehend how ECHL teams sign good players only to release them days later like they don't matter. Former Trinity Western netminder Talor Joseph got the news today that his time in Adirondack is over after dressing for, but not playing a single minute in, two ECHL games this weekend. Life is unfair, it seems.

Joseph was the backup netminder on both Friday and Saturday as the Adirondack Thunder hosted the Worcester Railers in their ECHL weekend contests. Friday's game saw Jake Theut play well in stopping 22 shots en route to helping Adirondack defeat the division-leading Railers by a 4-3 score, giving Worcester its first loss of the season. While Joseph didn't get into the game for Adirondack, it's clear this was a pretty big win for the Thunder in their effort to hunt down the ECHL North Division's best teams.

The Saturday game between the Thunder and Railers saw Theut start and play well again, stopping 34 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Railers. One had to expect the previously-undefeated Railers to respond with a much more aggressive game, and that's precisely what happened. Theut, though, was exceptional in holding the Railers at bay before being beaten twice on two shots in the shootout. Nonetheless, Theut backstopped the Thunder to a three-point weekend against the division's best team, so it seemed like things were looking up for the team from Glens Falls, New York.

Joseph, as stated, didn't see a single second of ECHL game play in his weekend of waiting for his name to be called, so it's hard to rationalize why a team would sign a player to a contract, not play him, and then release him without even seeing what he can do. I can understand that Joseph may have been a stop-gap fix when it comes to having two dressed goalies for Adirondack, but we're seeing more and more ECHL teams do this to goaltenders that once marveled us at the Canada West level.

Before you jump all over that last statement, yes, I realize the ECHL and U SPORTS hockey are on totally different levels of competitiveness, skill, talent, and all the other measurable analytics that one wants to use. However, I struggle to understand how goaltenders like Rylan Toth, Talor Joseph, and former Mount Royal Cougar Riley Morris can be acquired, have virtually no chance to prove themselves, and then be tossed away like they should never have been signed.

Morris, it should be noted, was signed by the Kansas City Mavericks on November 2, dressed as the backup goaltender on November 6 and 7, and was called into action on November 7 after Kansas City found itself down 3-1 to Utah at 8:56 of the second period. He'd surrender four goals, three of which came on the power-play, in a 7-3 loss. He made 13 stops on 17 attempts in 31:04 of work, but Kansas City decided that half-hour of stopping pucks was enough of a tryout for them as they released Morris on November 9.

To make matters worse, Morris was 1-0-0 in the ECHL before joining Kansas City after backstopping the South Carolina Stingrays to an 8-1 victory over Norfolk on October 22. Four days later, South Carolina released Morris with Tyler Wall returning to the lineup. Wall has since played three games for the Stingrays, posting a 2-1-0 record with a 4.75 GAA and an .853 save percentage. You're telling me Morris couldn't do better than that?

At what point do ECHL teams give players an honest-to-goodness chance to make their teams? While I realize that there are other factors that warrant signings and releases - player movements to and from the AHL, for example - one would think that having a proven netminder who has had a successful run at the university level would be a player teams may want to hold onto and develop at some point. These guys have shown they can carry teams as starters at the U SPORTS level, so I struggle to understand why ECHL teams are willing to discard them so quickly.

In any case, like Morris and Toth, Talor Joseph is technically a free agent and can be claimed by any other ECHL team thanks to the contract he signed with Adirondack. It seemed like he may have landed in a good spot with the Thunder as they needed some goaltending help based on their early play, but that's apparently not the case as Joseph is free to join another team after a week in Glens Falls.

Life, as is said, isn't fair.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!