2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup: Oil Kings’ Derek Laxdal wants Laurent Brossoit to ‘be outstanding’

SHAWINIGAN, Que. — Suffice to say, the Edmonton Oil Kings would not be in this tournament without Laurent Brossoit, the angular goaltender with curly hair and hands the size of the mitt on his catching glove.

The Oil Kings are a very strong hockey team, deep on both forward and defence, but a team doesn't become a sure thing without a solid keeper. Brossoit, known as L.B., was more than solid in the Western Hockey League playoffs. He was named the playoff MVP after posting a .933 save percentage as the team went 16-4, losing a single game prior to the final against Portland.

It's a small sample of games, but Brossoit hasn't matched that level of play in front of the national audience for the MasterCard Memorial Cup. His save percentage has dipped to .892, which hasn't pleased either Brossoit or his coach Derek Laxdal. The Calgary Flames draft pick has allowed a couple of bad goals that he said he'd love to have back.

"Obviously doing what I did in the playoffs and coming in and losing two in a row and letting in three or more per game, I'm obviously not happy," Brossoit said Thursday ahead of the tiebreaker game vs. Shawinigan (7 p.m. ET/5 p.m. MT, BTN livechat).

"You always want to do a little bit more and I'm not here to make a statistical statement. I just want to win.

"It's in the past, our losses. We'll just improve going forward."

A hot goaltender can make all the difference in a small-sample tournament. Last season JP Anderson brought the Mississauga-St. Michael's Majors all the way to the final game, putting up a .939 save percentage in the first four games of the tourney.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't thrive off the pressure game," said Brossoit, who dismissed the idea that the size and scope of the tournament was throwing him off. "Our team is good at bouncing back when our backs are against the wall."

The Oil Kings are facing only their second elimination game. They came through with a very strong performance against Portland in Game 7 of the WHL final. Brossoit allowed only one goal but his team supported him well by limiting the Winterhawks to 20 shots.

"Obviously we've taken a different path from where we want to go," Laxdal said. "We did a video session last night just to see some of the mistakes that we're making and areas that we want to improve."

"We relied on L.B. all season," Laxdal added, pointing to the fact that the success of WHL teams reflects the goaltender's performance. "You look at the stats of the goaltenders. Unless you have a really offensive hockey club and win a lot of games 5-4."

Offence at a premium

Edmonton happened to win only two games 5-4 this season out of the 100 they've played, and scored five or more in a game 35 times. Their offence has slowed in the tournament. They scored seven goals in three round robin games, meaning that Brossoit needs to be outstanding. Laxdal called him on it.

"You don't win a lot of hockey games with save percentages below .900," he said. "If he puts up a .930 or above, we'll win tonight."

"He has to be outstanding tonight."

Goaltenders in this tournament have been a little hit or miss. London advanced to the final despite Michael Houser having the lowest save percentage in this tournament at .885, but generally save percentages have been low and a number of questionable goals have been allowed from odd areas on the ice. No goaltender has taken over a single game and been a clear-cut star. Brossoit was asked to weigh in on whether or not the bad ice was affecting the goaltenders' skating or positioning.

"The ice really affects [skaters] a lot more than it does for me," he said. "For me, it's if the ice doesn't dry quick enough before I get up there and start cutting up the crease. They've done a real good job of making sure that the Zamboni gets out there early and we wait right until the clock hits zero before we head out on the ice."

"For the players there's been a lot of complaints about it with the puck bouncing."

Could the fog that's been visible on the ice toward the end of the game affect his vision?

"That was new. I thought I was just seeing things until it got worse and worse. You don't really see it unless you're looking down ice but once the puck was in our own zone you don't really see it."

So Brossoit isn't going to make too many excuses for himself. He and the rest of the Oil Kings understand what they're up against tonight. They have to beat all three teams in the tournament in four days to leave Shawinigan as champions.