Without Mike Richter in the pipes for the first time in a long time, Robert Esche took the reigns ... and did not disappoint.

Esche eases USA
goaltending fears
By John McGourty | NHL.com
August 31, 2004

MONTREAL -- Beginning with his appearance in the 1985 World Junior Championship, Mike Richter was a mainstay in goal for Team USA through the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City where he led his country to a silver medal. The winner of the 1994 Stanley Cup for the New York Rangers had one of his finest moments when he refused to be beaten in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, the title the United States is defending over the next two weeks.

But Richter is gone now, the victim of a couple head injuries in his final seasons. Coach Ron Wilson has three fine, young goaltenders in Ty Conklin of the Edmonton Oilers, Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders and Robert Esche of the Philadelphia Flyers, but they are untried at this level of international competition.

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Esche was masterful for the Flyers this past season, leading them to the Atlantic Division title by winning 21 games and posting the fifth-best goals-against average in the NHL. He got the Flyers to the seventh game of the Eastern Conference championship before losing by one goal to the Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. But Esche also battled injuries, suffering a groin strain and some damage to his knee in midseason. He had hip surgery in late May and his availability seemed in doubt earlier this summer.

Well, Esche stood up Tuesday night in Montreal and answered the doubters with a masterful performance in Canada's 2-1 victory over the United States in both teams' first game of the round-robin stage of the World Cup. Esche made 30 saves, many of them spectacular. Most importantly, he gave his team a chance to win despite what many of his teammates said was their worst period in a long time in international play.

Feisty teammate Steve Konowalchuk bristled after the game when asked about the "uncertainty" of the American goaltending in this tournament.

"I don't think there is any uncertainty in this locker room," he said. "He's played great in Philly. He took them to the final four in Philly and he played great. So, we have no uncertainty and he's proven himself even more now. We can win with the goaltending we had tonight if we just start off a little better."

The Canadians couldn't crack Esche at even strength. Martin St. Louis scored a late first-period power-play goal off a give-and-go with Joe Thornton and Joe Sakic scored on the man advantage early in the second period off assists from Wade Redden and St. Louis. Bill Guerin scored at even strength with 10:40 left in the second period. The Americans dominated the last half of the second period and played strongly in the third period but Canada regained its composure in the final frame and held on for the victory.

"They came out hungrier than we did, way more intense," said Team USA coach Ron Wilson. "Fortunately, Robert Esche was on top of things. We needed our goaltender to keep us in there."

"It was about the team. It took us awhile to get going but once we got going, we were dynamite." - Robert Esche

Esche was deemed the United States' most valuable player in the game. None of his teammates would dispute that.

"He was awesome and we have a great deal of confidence in him," said center Doug Weight. "He was the best player on the ice tonight and really kept us in the game and let us come back. That was probably one of the worst (first) periods we could have had to start this tournament and he stood on head and played awesome. We are very comfortable in our goaltending. We have true belief in him in this room and I think we showed our heart in the last two periods.

"It's strange not having Mike Richter here for the first time, but Esche put us at ease with the performance that he's had the last 10 days and here tonight."

Canada had a 19-6 edge in shots on goal in the first period, a blowout at any level of hockey but it wasn't reflected on the scoreboard as Canada took a 1-0 lead into the dressing room at the first intermission. Canada's shots came frequently and strongly, but Esche was up to the task. The native of Utica, N.Y., made an outstanding stop when Robyn Regehr pinched in for a sharp shot on a rebound at 6:38 of the first period. He made an unbelievable, acrobatic stop on a redirect by Dany Heatley with 1:23 left.

But his biggest save was when he robbed Heatley with six minutes gone in the second period and Canada leading 2-0. Heatley came streaking in on the left wing and rifled the shot that Esche swept out of the air with a beautiful glove save. The game would have been out of reach had Heatley scored.

"If it wasn't for Esche we would have been up 3-0," Sakic said.

Esche wasn't having any of it. Besides his excellent goaltending, he's become known for two things, his strong belief in having himself psychologically prepared for challenges and his love of being a part of a team of professional athletes. Over the course of the past season, Esche constantly deflected credit away from himself to his team and Tuesday night was no different.

"It was about the team," he said. "It took us awhile to get going but once we got going, we were dynamite.