Top 100 Goalies: No. 94 — Guy Hebert
Small-school export was a surprise success story and the first goalie to protect the Ducks’ pond.
They just don’t make stories like Guy Hebert’s anymore. Hailing from upstate New York and playing his NCAA hockey at out-of-the-spotlight Div. II Hamilton College, Hebert nonetheless found himself drafted by the St. Louis Blues in 1987.
He was a first-team all-American with the Continentals and, a couple years later, he guided the International League’s Peoria Rivermen to a Turner Cup championship. But Hebert’s halcyon days came in Anaheim.
The first pick by the Mighty Ducks in the 1993 NHL expansion draft (which also involved the Florida Panthers), Hebert was a stalwart for the fledgling franchise in its early days. Hebert still ranks second in wins (173) and games (441) by an Anaheim goalie (Jean-Sebastien Giguere is first), and, thanks to his seven-plus seasons on an embryonic team, first in losses (202) and shots against (nearly 13,000).
But that heavy workload did attract league-wide attention, and Hebert finished as high as fourth in Vezina Trophy voting, getting consideration in three different seasons. He was the goalie of record for Anaheim’s first playoff berth and first series victory, which he punctuated with a Game 7 shutout against the Phoenix Coyotes in 1997. The Ducks were then swept in the second round by Detroit, as the Red Wings went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Later, Hebert was put on waivers by the Mighty Ducks, and he finished out his career with the New York Rangers, playing until the end of 2000-01. He’s now back in Anaheim as a TV analyst for the Ducks.
By the way, Hebert’s famously not-French-Canadian name is our fault. His father Paul saw the name ‘Guy’ in an issue of The Hockey News in 1967 and thought it a cool name for his second son. Guy’s mom Carole always pronounced his name the English way, but dad went with ‘Ghee Ay-bear’ and, once the kid grew up, the hockey world sided with Paul.
Born: Jan. 7, 1967, Troy, N.Y.
NHL Career: 1991-2001
Teams: StL, Ana, NYR
Stats: 191-222-56, 2.81 GAA, .909 SP, 28 SO
DID YOU KNOW?
Hebert is easily the most famous hockey player to come out of Hamilton College. The school in Clinton, N.Y., is named after Alexander Hamilton, the famous American history figure now popular due to the Broadway musical.