Emergency goalie David Ayres fills in on Colbert as brush with fame continues

What a whirlwind week for now-household name emergency backup goalie David Ayres.

Since stepping into the crease to secure an NHL win on Saturday night for the Carolina Hurricanes, the 42-year-old last resort goaltender has become an overnight phenomenon. Ayres made all the usual stops in hockey media radio and television shows first, the made his American late night television debut on Monday.

Ayres was on hand for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert Monday night, and ended up filling in for the host after Colbert went down with a hamstring injury in the closing moments of his monologue.

“Don’t worry, Stephen. I got you!” said Ayres as he ran into position to take over on camera. He managed to introduce the next segment and throw to commercial successfully, then reappeared later on in the episode as the emergency backup band member, goalie equipment and all.

The media tour is not over yet for the emergency netminder, who had nearly 20 different appearances scheduled during the 48 hours after his historic NHL debut. Ayres will be in Raleigh on Tuesday night at the Carolina Hurricanes game, where he will be honoured by the team in front of his newly adopted hometown fans.

Even though he was born and raised in Canada, Ayres can officially claim North Carolina as his home state: Governor Roy Cooper made it as such by officially declaring Ayres an honourary North Carolinian.

All in all, a pretty productive week for a guy that hadn’t played above Junior B hockey as of Saturday afternoon.

The Hurricanes host the Dallas Stars at 7 p.m. Tuesday. While there has been no official word on the matter, we’re guessing Ayres will be too busy to serve as the emergency goalie once more should the unthinkable happen and two more goalies get injured.

Who knows, though. Crazier things have happened.

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