Shutouts becoming Tri-City Americans goalie Evan Sarthou’s claim to fame

Tri-City Americans goalie Evan Sarthou has defied the odds as a sophomore this season. He not only recorded four shutouts in five games, accumulating 108 saves, in between Jan. 16-24, but he has also tied Swift Current goalie Landon Bow for the WHL lead in shutouts (six) despite having played 21 fewer games.

Sarthou’s showing would be impressive on any netminder’s resume, but even more so on his own since he’s Tri-City’s backup behind Winnipeg Jets pick Eric Comrie, who is currently out with an injury.

“I didn’t want to see Eric get hurt, but the opportunity was good for me and I’ve been trying to learn from it and do my part behind my team,” said Sarthou, who isn’t draft eligible until 2016 because he turned 17 on Sept. 24. “I had playing time when Eric was at the world juniors, so I have been trying to build off that and continue to improve.”

How six of Sarthou’s 10 wins on the year are shutouts make his string of perfect efforts even more noteworthy. In addition, he said this is all new to him as he doesn't have a history of hot streaks.

“I’ve never had this many shutouts in a row before,” said the 6-foot-1, 170-pound netminder, whose 10-13-0-2 record, 3.11 average and .901 save percentage show he's had his ups and down this season. “I don’t think I’ve even had back-to-back shutouts before.”

Modest and humble, the Black Diamond, WA., native credits his teammates for his success while pointing out that his confidence has steadily improved throughout the year.

“The team has played outstanding in front of me and they deserve a lot of credit for it (the shutouts),” he said “They haven’t let too many shots get at me because the defencemen are blocking shots and the forwards are getting back to stop chances. I’ve also been getting more comfortable in net this year. I’ve been getting more confident as I play more and stop more shots in a game.”

It would make sense that the Americans play a more tightly defended game while their backup is in net to help him out, but head coach Mike Williamson doesn’t see it that way. He does feel, however, that Sarthou has benefited from having some of his teammates step up in a time where the club has had some veteran players out of the lineup.

“I think the team plays the same game in front of both goalies, but over this last stretch I think some players have stepped up and the whole team has played well in front of him,” said Williamson. “We’ve had some players out of the lineup with injuries and the world juniors and guys have taken advantage of the opportunities given. We’ve been playing a simple and effect game that has helped him out.”

Throughout all of the ups and downs in his second season in Tri-City, Sarthou has leaned on his close relationship with Comrie for mental support. The two goalies have helped each other out through their close bond.

“We’re good friends and help each other out a lot,” said Sarthou. “We back each other and cheer for each other. We still talk and stay in touch even when he’s injured now. I’ve been able to learn a lot from him and am happy I get to play on the same team as him.”

Even though Sarthou has some bragging rights on Comrie right now as he has five more shutouts in just one more game played, he has decided to take the high road by not saying too much about his impressive showings. It is probably the safe route since his teammate could counter with a gold medal joke.

“We don’t talk about stuff like that (shutout streaks),” he said. “We support each other and don’t really talk about individual stuff.”

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen