Saturday, October 31, 2015

Ben Scrivens Jersey Card

Halloween: candy, orange, black, masks and disguises. Ben Scrivens, dressed as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, checks off two of these (orange and mask), so what better way to celebrate the last day of October than by featuring this card of his from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Ice set:
It's card #FZF-BS of the Frozen Fabrics sub-set and shows him in the team's retro blue (home) uniform, with his mask a throwback-coloured logo and his equipment matching his jersey and, therefore, beautiful.

I was never entirely sold on Scrivens because he started out with the Toronto Maple Leafs (i.e. never believe the media hype around their players), and then when he played for the Los Angeles Kings, he was pretty much sheltered by that stingy defense.

There's an element of self-confidence that borders on bravado and ego when you're a goalie; it comes with being the last line of defense against all opponents and from even unsuccessful goalies knowing they're doing the right move more than 88% of the time. That kind of explains why this summer, as the Oilers brought Cam Talbot to the fold, Scrivens reached out to and welcomed him... then told the media he was fighting for the #1 job.

By the time training camp was over, Scrivens was sent to the AHL's Bakersfield Condors, where he is currently the backup to Laurent Brossoit, having lost his only game while giving up 5 goals (5.03 average, .848 save percentage) while Brossoit has started 5, has a 2-2-1 record, a 2.96 GAA and a .912 save percentage to go with the 2.00 GAA and .961 save percentage from his lone NHL game with the Oilers last season.

It's got to be hard on a guy, missing the good old days of playing for the Leafs...

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