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Al Montoya
Almontoya
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
Height
Weight
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
195 lb (89 kg)
NHL Team
F. Teams
New York Islanders
Phoenix Coyotes
Born (1985-02-13)February 13, 1985,
Chicago, IL, USA
NHL Draft 6th overall, 2004
New York Rangers
Pro Career 2005 – present

Álvaro "Al" Montoya (born February 13, 1985) is an American professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the New York Rangers in the first round (6th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft after a three-year career with the University of Michigan. Montoya is the first Cuban American to play in the NHL.[1]

Playing career[]

Montoya played youth hockey for the Chicago Young Americans and Loyola Academy and amateur hockey for the Texas Tornado of the North American Hockey League. He spent the 2000-01 season with the U.S. National Team Development Program. Montoya began attending the University of Michigan and playing for the Wolverines in 2002–03. He enjoyed success at Michigan, especially during his final season in 2004–05, where he posted a record of 30-7-3. Montoya twice represented the United States at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, backstopping the team to its first gold medal at the 2004 tournament in Finland; he was named to the tournament All-Star team. The 2005 tournament, hosted by the United States, was a disappointing one for Montoya and Team USA as they failed to medal, losing to the Czech Republic in the bronze medal game.

After being signed by the New York Rangers to a three-year entry-level contract in the summer of 2005, Montoya made his professional debut with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL), the team with which he spent the majority of the next three seasons. Overall, he posted a 66-34-4 record with the Wolf Pack, along with a 5-5 playoff record.

With the emergence of Henrik Lundqvist as an All-Star caliber goaltender, Montoya became expendable to the Rangers. On February 26, 2008, Montoya was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes, along with Marcel Hossa, in exchange for Fredrik Sjöström, David LeNeveu, and Josh Gratton.[2]

After re-signing with the Coyotes on July 2, 2008,[3] Montoya started the 2008–09 season with the San Antonio Rampage, the Coyotes' AHL affiliate. Late that season Montoya made his NHL debut with the Coyotes, recording a shutout in a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on April 1, 2009.[4] He went on to appear in 5 games for the Coyotes in 2008-09, posting a 3-1 record. That spring Montoya was named to the American roster for the 2009 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland; he started one game at the tournament, a 6-2 win over France.

On February 9, 2011, Montoya was traded to the New York Islanders for a sixth round draft pick in 2011.[5] With Islanders' goaltenders Rick DiPietro and Kevin Poulin sidelined with injuries, Montoya was provided with an opportunity to play regularly in the NHL for the first time. He went on to play 21 games for the Islanders, posting a 9-5-5 record with a .921 save percentage and one shutout. On March 29 the Islanders signed Montoya to a one-year contract extension.[6]

Montoya again represented the United States at the 2011 World Championship. He appeared in 4 games and posted a 2-1 record as the Americans finished a disappointing 8th overall.

Awards and achievements[]

  • 2002–03 CCHA All-Rookie Team
  • 2002–03 CCHA All-Tournament Team
  • 2003–04 CCHA Second All-Star Team
  • 2003–04 NCAA West Second All-American Team

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T/OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2000–01 Texas Tornado NAHL 15 10 3 0 780 38 0 2.92 1 1 0 60 2 0 2.00
2001–02 USNTDP NAHL 24 6 11 4 1344 79 0 3.53
2002–03 University of Michigan CCHA 43 30 10 3 2547 99 4 2.33 .911
2003–04 University of Michigan CCHA 40 26 12 2 2340 87 6 2.23 .917
2004–05 University of Michigan CCHA 40 30 7 3 2359 99 3 2.52 .895
2005–06 Charlotte Checkers ECHL 2 1 1 0 123 8 0 3.92 .875
2005–06 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 40 23 9 1 2094 91 2 2.61 .907 5 2 1 257 8 1 1.87 .932
2006–07 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 48 27 17 0 2556 98 6 2.30 .914 7 3 4 391 20 1 3.07 .873
2007–08 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 31 16 8 3 1704 72 0 2.54 .908
2007–08 San Antonio Rampage AHL 14 8 6 0 789 34 1 2.59 .912 1 0 1 59 4 0 4.04 .857
2008–09 San Antonio Rampage AHL 29 7 17 2 1562 84 0 3.23 .885
2008–09 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 5 3 1 0 259 9 1 2.08 .925
2009–10 San Antonio Rampage AHL 14 4 7 1 771 34 0 2.65 .904
2010–11 San Antonio Rampage AHL 21 11 8 0 1130 60 0 3.19 .891
2010–11 New York Islanders NHL 21 9 5 5 1154 46 1 2.39 .921
NHL totals 26 12 6 5 1413 55 2 2.34 .922
AHL totals 197 96 72 7 10606 473 9 2.68 .904 13 5 6 707 32 2 2.72 .894
CCHA totals 123 86 29 6 7246 285 13 2.36 .908

International[]

Year Team Event   GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2004 United States WJC 6 6 0 0 360 8 2 1.33 .944
2005 United States WJC 6 3 3 0 393 22 0 3.36 .904
2009 United States WC 1 1 0 0 60 2 0 2.00 .875
2011 United States WC 4 2 1 0 208 9 0 2.60 .871

References[]

  1. Coyotes' Montoya gets historic 1st start. azcentral.com (2009-03-31). Retrieved on 2009-04-01.
  2. Hossa joins his brother on the move. NHL.com (2008-02-26). Retrieved on 2009-04-01.
  3. Coyotes sign Montoya, Spina plus two AHL players. NHL.com (2008-07-02). Retrieved on 2009-04-01.
  4. Coyotes' Montoya make 23 saves to earn shutout in first game. CBS Sports (2009-04-01). Retrieved on 2009-04-02.
  5. Coyotes acquire a sixth-round pick in 2011 NHL Draft from Islanders for Montoya. Phoenix Coyotes (2011-02-09). Retrieved on 2011-02-09.
  6. Islanders ink Montoya to one-year contract extension. TSN (2011-03-29). Retrieved on 2011-03-29.

External links[]

Preceded by
Hugh Jessiman
New York Rangers first round draft pick
2004
Succeeded by
Lauri Korpikoski
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Al Montoya. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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