Chris Levesque

Chris Levesque (born August 6, 1980) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender for the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds from 2001 to 2005. On December 9, 2003, under bizarre circumstances, he was called up to serve for one game as a backup goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He came very close to playing when starting goaltender Johan Hedberg collided with a player from the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, Hedberg recovered, and Levesque ultimately did not play in the game. Levesque has since worked as a chef in Vancouver.

Chris Levesque
Born (1980-08-06) August 6, 1980
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb)
Position Goaltender
Played for Vancouver Canucks
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career Dec 9–2003

Call-up to Vancouver

On December 9, 2003, the Canucks were hosts to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That morning, their starting goalie Dan Cloutier injured his groin. The Canucks planned to start Johan Hedberg in Cloutier's place, but they still needed a backup. Under normal circumstances, they would have recalled Alex Auld from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Manitoba Moose.[1][2] However, the Moose were on the East Coast, several time zones away, and Auld could not arrive in Vancouver on time.[1] Under NHL rules, the Canucks needed to find an undrafted player who had never played in the NHL.

Milan Dragicevic, the coach of the UBC Thunderbirds, happened to be at the practice when Cloutier was injured, and he suggested the Canucks use Levesque, UBC's second backup.[3] Because of amateur call-up rules, the Canucks could not recruit the T-Birds' top two goaltenders, Kevin Swanson and Robert Filc.[2] At the time, Levesque was in one of the many UBC libraries studying for a geography exam he had the next morning. His friends and teammates scoured the campus, and when they found him, he assumed he was the victim of a prank.[1] He was not convinced otherwise until he received a phone call from Jon Wall, Manager of Scouting and Player Information for the Canucks.[2] Once he realized the situation was real, he quickly received a one-time exemption from Canadian Interuniversity Sport rules to play in the NHL, and drove to General Motors Place to take a spot on the bench.

When Cloutier failed to take the warm-up skate, Levesque officially took the position of backup goaltender for the game. There was an extremely low chance that Levesque would have to play. However, a late first-period collision between Hedberg and Konstantin Koltsov nearly forced Levesque to play.[1] Hedberg revealed later that he had broken his wrist in the collision, but decided to stay in the game.[4] Levesque finished the game as a backup; the closest he came to any game action was taking warm-up shots before the game.[1] The Canucks won 4–3 in overtime, and Levesque was not paid for his performance,[3] although he kept his #40 jersey.[1] He did not expect to return to play for the Canucks, but described his experience as "surreal" and "a great time," particularly highlighting being scored on by Todd Bertuzzi during practice.[5]

Life after the game

The thing I held on to for a while was, What if I did go in and finish the game? Or made a couple of big saves and people saw me? I just had to let it go, have fun with the story, focus on where I am now. Otherwise it would have been too frustrating, always coming back to 'what if?'

—Levesque, interviewed by The Province[6]

In May 2007, The Province interviewed Levesque to reflect on his life since his experience with the Canucks. For a few days after the game, he enjoyed brief celebrity. He said that he treasured the experience, and refuses to watch the only video tape he owns of the game, for fear of his VCR destroying it. Levesque later tried out for the ECHL's Augusta Lynx, but ended his career after suffering two major concussions.[6]

Levesque currently resides in Alberta, where he is the owner/director of Levesque Goaltending Instruction. Chris spends his days coaching, teaching, and inspiring goalies of all ages.[7] He is also married to Registered Clinical Counsellor Jillian Levesque (Schmidt), and father to a new daughter.

Career statistics

All statistics are from the regular season.

Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SA SO GAA SV%
2001–02[8] University of British Columbia CIS 12 1 5 2 571 36 359 1 3.78 0.900
2002–03[9] University of British Columbia CIS 13 3 6 0 547 45 319 0 4.94 0.859
2003–04[10] University of British Columbia CIS 14 1 7 1 599 43 358 0 4.31 0.880
2004–05[11] University of British Columbia CIS 8 0 6 2 351 30 190 0 5.13 0.842
CIS Totals 47 5 24 5 2068 154 1226 1 4.47 0.874

References
  1. Kuzma, Ben (2003-12-10). "Backup back to books; Stand-in goalie tracked down in UBC library". The Province. Archived from the original on January 30, 2004. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
  2. "How Chris Levesque became a Canuck". The Province. 2008-05-15. Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  3. "Levesque's studies can wait for one game". ESPN. 2003-12-10. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
  4. "In Praise of the Emergency Backup Goaltender | the Loser Point". Archived from the original on 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
  5. "Canucks dress UBC goalie as backup". Canadian Press. 2003-12-10. Archived from the original on 2008-05-27. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
  6. Weber, Marc (2008-05-15). "What if Hedberg hadn't stood up?". The Province. Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  7. Jens 95 (2017-08-12), NHL Emergency Goalies, archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2017-08-14
  8. "hockeydb.com". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
  9. "CanadaWest Stats 2002-03" (PDF). canadawest.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-12. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
  10. "CanadaWest Stats 2003-04" (PDF). canadawest.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-12. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
  11. "CanadaWest Stats 2004-05" (PDF). canadawest.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-12. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
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