Wedgewood's performance
was one for the ages
BY ED WRIGHT
April 8, 2010, 6:15
p.m.
I have attended thousands of sporting events and watched hundreds of
thousands of athletes compete in my 40-plus years on this planet.
I can count on two hands the number of times I've been totally
blown away by an athlete's opening-whistle-to-closing-buzzer
performance.
The first one came in the mid-70s in Lansing's Dwight Rich
Junior High School gymnasium when I watched a skinny ninth-grader with
a huge afro and even bigger smile
totally
dominate Walter French Junior High School's basketball team with a
series of no-look passes and around-the-back dribble drives.
He wouldn't pick up his unforgettable nickname for a few more
years, but I'll never forget my first encounter with Magic Johnson.
The most-recent "I-can't-believe-what-I'm-watching" performance
unfolded Wednesday night in Compuware Arena when Scott Wedgewood, the
Plymouth Whalers' 17-year-old back-up goalie, treated the crowd of
3,417 to a Ken Dryden-esque effort.
Wednesday night's Ontario Hockey League playoff game wasn't war,
so it's hard to call Wedgewood's 70-save night heroic, but it was
nothing short of awe-inspiring.
The way the Spitfires were rifling shots at Wedgewood reminded
me of the way the bad guys were squeezing off bullets at Bruce Willis
in the original "Diehard" movie.
But instead of spinning out of the way of the whizzing
projectiles like Willis managed to do, Wedgewood performed a series of
acrobatic maneuvers to get in front of the seemingly never-ending
stream of Spitfire shots.
I've never tended a goal, but I can only imagine stopping 70
shots -- many of them rocket-propelled with a screening opponent
screwing with your vision -- takes a toll on your body as well as your
mind.
Wedgewood didn't get a medal for his effort, nor did he get a
trophy.
Heck, he didn't even get a win.
But he gets an eternal spot in mine and 3,417 other blown-away
sports fans' list of unforgettable moments.
Ed Wright
can be reached at (734) 453-1980 or info@plymouthcantonsports.com.
ED WRIGHT COLUMN
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