Team Canada's goaltender makes a highlight reel save so amazing you'll have to see it to believe it
With the NHL's holiday break currently still on, fans will have to wait another day yet for the return of NHL action, but thankfully, the start of the 2023-24 World Junior Championship tournament is giving fans something to tide them over on Boxing Day.
Slovakia has already downed Czechia by a score of 6-2 in Sweden. Coming up later today, Team USA battles Norway and the host team, Sweden, takes on Latvia. As for Canada, well, we're currently holding a 1-0 lead over Finland after 20 minutes at the time of this writing.
A huge reason why Canada has been able to keep Finland off the board was 19-year-old undrafted goaltender Mathis Rousseau, who posted one of the most dynamic, impressive saves you'll see this season, international or otherwise.
Rousseau is not a large goaltender, standing just 5'11 and weighing in at 172 pounds, per Hockey DB. In 49 games with the Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL) last season, Rousseau posted a 36-7-5 record, with a 2.48 GAA and a .912 SV%.
While these numbers are respectable, they weren't the ones that put him on Canada's radar, however. This season, Rousseau has really broken out, posting a 16-3-2 record to go along with a 2.07 GAA and a .934 SV% across 21 appearances.
The overage goaltender will almost certainly put himself on teams' radars in next summer's draft if he can sustain his strong play throughout the tournament and for the duration of the 2023-24 season once he goes back to Halifax.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 26 | 369 ANSWERS Team Canada's goaltender makes a highlight reel save so amazing you'll have to see it to believe it Will Mathis Rousseau end up being drafted in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft after being passed over in 2023? | ||
| Yes | 218 | 59.1 % |
| No, he's too small | 45 | 12.2 % |
| Someone will sign him as a free agent eventually | 106 | 28.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
