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Barry Brust breaks 55-year AHL record for shutout goaltending

Greg Wyshynski

Barry Brust has had his name placed on nearly a dozen of hockey jerseys during his career, spanning from the ECHL to the NHL to Germany.

On Saturday night, the 29-year-old journeyman goalie had his name placed in the history books.

Brust, a goalie for the Abbotsford Heat, broke Hall of Famer Johnny Bower's 55-year American Hockey League record for consecutive minutes played without allowing a goal. Bower's mark was 249 minutes, 51 seconds set in the 1957-58 season with the Cleveland Barons.

Brust now owns the mark after playing the first 18:11 of the Heat's game against the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday without giving up a goal.

He extended his scoreless streak to 268:17 before James Wright of San Antonio scored at 16:36 of the second period, according to NHL.com.

As amazing as his accomplishment is his backstory: He's bounced around for a decade, including stints with the Los Angeles Kings and the Minnesota Wild system. From the Vancouver Sun:

What makes his story unique is that he's not even the No. 1 netminder on the Heat. Brust is part of a three-man rotation with Danny Taylor and Leland Irving. He's had only four starts in 15 games. In those four starts, he's allowed one goal - to Chicago Wolves right winger Zack Kassian at the 8: 19 mark of the first period in his first game. That was on Oct. 20. He then blanked the Toronto Marlies on Nov. 1 before back-to-back bagels over the Lake Erie Monsters Nov. 13-14.

Brust hasn't played since. In fact, he didn't even dress as the backup when the Heat beat the Rochester Americans 3-2 last Friday and then lost 5-0 to the Marlies two days later.

But he got the start against San Antonio, and history was made.

Said Brust earlier this week on the streak: "As far as the streak goes, goals against is a team stat and I feel like it's been a nice little feather in our cap, showing how good we've been defensively as a group so far."

Aw, shucks: Humble guy.