Dwayne Roloson serves as Ducks’ emergency backup goalie after John Gibson injury

John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks was all ready to make his fifth start of the season Sunday night against the Colorado Avalanche. Then warmups happened.

The 21-year old netminder suffered a pre-game lower-body injury, leaving freshly recalled Jason LaBarbera to take the starting job for the night. The only problem? Frederik Andersen was injured himself, so there was nobody to be the Ducks’ backup. (LaBarbera, by the way, was making his third start in three nights, having played for the AHL's Norfolk Admirals on Friday and Saturday before being summoned by the Ducks to travel to Colorado on Sunday morning. LaBarbera earned the win in all three games. Give that man a nap!)

Enter Ducks’ goaltending consultant Dwayne Roloson, who was with the club on its road trip.

The 45-year old Roloson, who last played on April 7, 2012 while a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, was summoned to don the pads and back up LaBarbera.

This is all kosher under NHL rule 5.3, which states, “In regular League and Playoff games, if both listed goalkeepers are incapacitated, that team shall be entitled to dress and play any available goalkeeper who is eligible.” This is why the likes of Brett Leonhardt, Paul Deutsch, Ryan Vinz and Rob Laurie had their brief moments of fame in the past.

But as soon as Roloson appeared on the Anaheim bench, he disappeared. According to the LA Times’ Helene Elliott, Roloson’s emergency contract hadn’t been cleared by the NHL Central Registry, so he had to leave the bench. He eventually returned, and we were all one LaBarbera injury away from the netminder being the ninth player in NHL history to play a game wearing no. 79.

This makes us wonder: if Semyon Varlamov, or whoever is backing him up on any given night for the Avs, goes down with an injury, would Patrick Roy slip on the old no. 33 jersey once again?

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy