Another Record Falls to Thompson

Kirk Thompson was seeing and stopping everything
in his record setting 38th win

First it was the century mark for Kirk Thompson and now he's taken over as the Spruce Kings all-time winningest goaltender. After picking up a pair of wins in back-to-back games prior to the Christmas break, Kirk takes over top spot with 38 career wins wearing the Crown.

The previous title holder was Greg Goodwin who played in three seasons from 2000-2003 posting a combined total of 37 wins in his time with the team. Greg Goodwin was traded to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks early on in his third year with the Spruce Kings and later played CIS hockey at Grant MacEwan College.

Goodwin still has his name all over the Spruce Kings record book and holds the title of most minutes played at 6001 which is now in jeopardy of being topped. Currently Kirk Thompson has played 5557 minutes and is less than eight complete games from taking over that stat with 23 games remaining in the regular season.

Along with seeing improvements in his career numbers, Kirk has his eyes on climbing the ladder for single season stats as well. The single season record holder for wins is Tyler Euverman who had 23 in the 1998-99 season. Kevin Genoe holds the record of 2535 minutes played in a single season which is the equivalent of 42 games.

There are two other goaltenders that Kirk would love to catch and those would be two former Spruce Kings who went on to have their name added to two NHL teams. Brad Thiessen (Pittsburgh Penguins) posted five shutouts in 2005-06 with the Spruce Kings which stands as both the single season and career benchmark. In one season, Michael-Lee Teslak (Philadelphia Flyers) may have set a target that will be close to impossible to reach with his save percentage (93.10) and goals against average (2.47).

One thing is for sure, Kirk Thompson is determined to make a lasting name for himself and is well on his way having already marked his 100th game played and now taking over the lead in franchise wins. This has to make Kirk the most attractive goaltender eligible to secure a NCAA Division I scholarship; which surprisingly, Kirk is still without.