The patience Cory Schneider has shown while waiting for the opportunity to be a No. 1 goalie has been nearly as impressive as his play on the ice.
After being drafted with the No. 26 overall pick in the 2004 draft, he played three more seasons with Boston College. He then put in three seasons of play with the AHL's Manitoba Moose before earning the opportunity to back up Roberto Luongo full time in 2010-11.
He played 25 regular-season games his rookie season., and another 33 games in 2011-12, followed by an impressive showing in the playoffs (.960 save percentage in three games). That postseason performance completed his slow climb to the No. 1 goalie job in Vancouver, a position he was expected to claim when this season began.
If it ever begins.At 26 years old, he has 68 regular-season NHL games on his résumé. By comparison, Marc-Andre Fleury is just one year older and has played in 434 games.
So yeah, Schneider is ready to get going here.
To see how top North American goalies are handling the lockout, plus one vet looking at the end of his career, you must be an ESPN Insider.
- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
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