Rookie netminder Mavric Parks has made himself right at home with the UPEI Panthers this season, quickly earning the job as starting goalie with the hockey team.
The 21-year-old goaltender and Arts student has quickly become a star addition for the Panthers in this 2011-2012 AUS season, playing more than 800 minutes while boasting a .911 save percentage.
The team will be looking to Parks during games against the St. Mary's Huskies this Friday in Halifax and the St. FX X-Men Saturday in Antigonish.
While Parks, who was born in Eganville, ON, spent his entire junior career in the Ontario Hockey League, it was an Island connection that brought him to UPEI.
His goalie coach Kory Cooper, originally from Winsloe, had brought Parks' name to the attention of the coaching staff at UPEI when Mark Guggenberger decided not to return for his second year.
Cooper also suggested UPEI to Parks, who was attending the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes training camp last fall. Cooper suggested that P.E.I. would be a good place for Parks to take his talent if he didn't sign with Carolina.
When Parks didn't sign with the Hurricanes, he took Cooper's advice and has since found a new home at UPEI.
"His (Cooper's) opinion means a lot to me. He recommended here and I came here," said Parks. "It's a great city, it's not overly big, but I'm from a smaller town just outside of Ottawa. It almost feels like home a little bit here, so it's pretty nice."
Not that the six-foot, 184-pound Parks is the only goaltending talent on UPEI's roster.
Fourth-year goalie Jhase Sniderman has put in some big wins for the Panthers, and boasts a .901 save percentage this year.
With Sniderman being a constant on UPEI's roster, having been partnered with Wayne Savage, Guggenburger, and now Parks, head coach Forbes MacPherson said minding the net has never been an issue with the team.
In fact, the pair of Parks and Sniderman has kept UPEI's goaltending as skilled as previous years, he said.
"We have confidence in both goalies, there's no hesitation to go with either one," said MacPherson. "There was a point in this year, including exhibition, where they were splitting every game. Parksy got hot there at the tail end of the first half and he's started to do the bulk of the work."
Parks was handling a heavy workload when he helped lead the Panthers to critical home wins over Saint Mary's and St. FX last weekend, stopping 35 of the Huskies' 38 shots and 27 of the X-Men's 28.
While Parks managed to keep out Saint Mary's players for much of the game, he also got the Huskies coaching staff hot and bothered.
The Huskies questioned his goalie mask, which is the cat eye style, causing the game to be delayed while officials looked up the rules on masks.
The mask has two large openings by the eyes, which would still stop a puck but could allow a player's stick to come through.
While Parks has used the mask since attending the Carolina camp, it may soon be confined to practices.
"It just makes it easier to see that's all," said Parks. "At the beginning of the year, we talked to a head official. I don't know his name but he said if it was a legal cat eye it should be good."
"But some teams are starting to complain so I'm just going back to a regular cage this weekend."
Panthers fans shouldn't worry about the mask change having much of an effect on Parks.
The netminder has kept a save percentage above .900 since his 2009-2010 split season with the Kitchener Rangers and Barrie Colts, reaching up to .935 during his 19 games that season with Kitchener.
His season last year with the Saginaw Spirit was also successful. A video showing Parks tripping during a penalty shot and still making the save has more than 7,000 views on Youtube and is a testament to some of the goalie's acrobatic saves.
While his game hasn't changed much from last year, Parks said he's been spending time at UPEI proving his technique.
"I relied on my athleticism a lot last year. It was good to make a couple of saves but as you go along and want to become a pro goalie, you have to stay positional and make the easy saves in position."
"Then when you get caught out of a position from a bad save or unlucky bounce, you have to use your athleticism then."
Whatever the future holds in store, pro hockey or continuing his time at UPEI, Parks is a firm believer in playing the game one shot at a time and says he's has no regrets about making the move to UPEI.
"It's a great spot. Forbes and everyone have been great to me," he said. "The school is awesome too, so it's been a really good transition for me."
