Jack Ivankovic Performing in Relief for Mississauga Steelheads; Earns First Career OHL Playoff Win

The Mississauga Steelheads got their first win of the series against the Sudbury Wolves in game three, as rookie goaltender Jack Ivankovic comes in to relieve the injured Ryerson Leenders.

The Mississauga Steelheads have a great problem to have in the goal crease — they have two quality starting goaltenders.

Ryerson Leenders has had the "starting" job all season, but 2007-born rookie Jack Ivankovic has gotten his share of starts as well. Leenders is considered a top goaltending prospect for this year's NHL Draft, and Ivankovic will be highly touted for next year's draft. 

Leenders was handed the starting job for this year's playoffs and first round against Sudbury, but he has gone down with an injury. Coming in, is rookie netminder Jack Ivankovic.

Ivankovic came in for relief part-way through game two of this series, and he got the start in game three on Monday. He got his first career OHL playoff win — likely the first of many.

The Steelheads escaped with a 4-2 win on the road up north, as Ivankovic made 38 out of 40 stops in the crease.

Mechanically, Ivankovic possesses all of the athletics that any team would want in a goaltender. He has that elite level athleticism that allows him to make game-saving stops on a regular basis. At the same time, he rarely gets out of position and he covers a lot of net.

His numbers as a rookie in the OHL are tremendous. Ivankovic had a .915% save percentage and a 2.72 GAA through 25 games for the Steelheads this season. Those numbers are just going to continue to get better as he matures.

The Steelheads are going to run into a problem next year in the crease, as both Leenders and Ivankovic will be quality starting goaltenders in the OHL. Both will want to start more games, and they will have to split starts between the two — barring a trade or transaction.