For the second straight season, former British Columbia Hockey League goaltender Brian Thiessen has been called up to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
On Thursday, the Prince George Spruce Kings and Merritt Centennials graduate received the nod from Penguins GM Ray Shero and will serve as a third option behind starter Marc-Andre Fleury and backup Brent Johnson as Pittsburgh attempts to defend their Stanley Cup championship.
The Penguins were downed 5-4 by the Ottawa Senators in their Eastern Conference quarter-final opener at the Mellon Arena — during which Fleury allowed a couple suspect goals.
A year ago, with the Penguins battling Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals against Detroit, Thiessen was given the chance to practice with the big club and was present when Pittsburgh hoisted Lord Stanley last June at Joe Louis Arena.
The call-up comes on the heels of being named the Reebok AHL Player of the Week on March 29th following three stellar performances in net for the Penguins’ American Hockey League farm team in Wilkes-Barre.
The Aldergrove, B.C. native backstopped Wilkes-Barre to its eighth straight playoff appearance with an even 14-14-1 record, four shutouts and a 2.45 goals-against average in his first full season in the AHL.
The 24-year-old Thiessen spent three seasons in the BCHL, splitting his final season between Prince George and Merritt in 2005/06 and setting a BCHL single-season record with seven shutouts and a league-record 250:25 shutout streak. He then took his goaltending prowess to Northeastern University and set the university record books on fire during his three seasons (2006-2009) as the Huskies’ career leader in goals-against average (2.40), save percentage (.922) and shutouts (nine).
