Jaxson Dikur may not have come out with a win at his first start in net with the Seattle Thunderbirds Sept. 27 , but the rookie still managed to make the "save of the game."
Dikur stopped 28 of 32 shots by the Kamloops Blazers on the Thunderbird net in the Sept. 27 game in Kamloops.
“I thought he did a good job,” said Thunderbird's head coach Matt O’Dette of his 16-year-old rookie netminder in a game recap on chl.ca. “Our team got off on the wrong foot, but he held the fort down and made several big saves to keep us in the game.”
Dikur is only 16 years old, but the six-foot-five goaltender was given the save of the game designation for a glove save in the second period which had his entire frame stretched out to snag the puck mid-air.
His hard work helped keep the game exciting until the end, as the Thunderbirds came within a goal of tying it up.
Blazers still won the game 5-3, sealing their win in the final moments of the third period with an empty-net goal.
Dikur's parents were there in the stands to cheer him on.
"We are so extremely proud of him and the work he's put in to get to this point," said his dad, Brock Dikur, before the game. "I think we will likely be more nervous than he will be, but I think it’s more excitement than nervousness."
Jaxson Dikur got to make his "rookie lap" before the game, stepping out onto the ice before the rest of the team and doing a couple laps in honour of his first career game with the WHL.
