Ice goalie Hauser earns East Division honours

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This article was published 11/04/2023 (1219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Ice netminder Daniel Hauser was named goaltender of the year for the Western Hockey League’s East Division on Tuesday.

Hauser, 19, had a career year in the 2022-23 regular season, setting an Ice franchise record with 37 wins (to just four losses), which also ranked second among all goalies. The Chestermere, Alta., product played a career-high 42 games this year while finishing top-five in save percentage (.917) and goals against average (2.28).

“It’s a pretty cool feeling,” Hauser said. “Awesome to be recognized and I kind of feel like all the hard work and all you put into the season gets recognized.

“I owe a lot to (goalie coach Byron Spriggs), my entire coaching staff and also my teammates for all they’ve done for me over the year, as well.”

Hauser’s performance helped spur the Ice to a franchise-record 57 wins during the regular season, the most by a WHL team over a 68-game schedule. Success has become commonplace for the backstop, who owns a career 78-7-3-0 record, 2.23 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and 10 shutouts over 90 regular season outings.

Hauser has oft been an outlier among his counterparts. Standing just 5-11 and 156 pounds, he is far from the prototypical build for those who mind the crease in today’s game. That’s only pushed Hauser as he’s climbed the ranks, however.

“I’m a bit on the smaller side for today’s goaltender, but I like nothing better than proving people wrong,” he said. “I look to guys like Juuse Saros (5-11) in the NHL, Dustin Wolf (6-0) in the AHL, they’re smaller guys who are making waves at the highest level.

“It’s really cool to look at the guys doing it and I think, for sure, it pushes me.”

Hauser has carried his rock-solid play into the playoffs, which saw the Ice sweep the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-0 in the best-of-seven first-round series. Hauser allowed just nine goals on 111 shots (.925) over four games and has shown no signs of slowing down entering the second round, which begins Friday against the Moose Jaw Warriors at Wayne Fleming Arena (7 p.m.).

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The Winnipeg Ice finally found out their second-round foe, following a winner-take-all Game 7 that saw the Saskatoon Blades prevail over the Regina Pats in a 4-1 decision Monday night.

The result sends the fourth-seeded Moose Jaw Warriors to the Manitoba capital for the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The Ice and Warriors split the season series with three games apiece.

Here are the scheduled game times:

Game 1: Friday, April 14, 7 p.m. CT, Wayne Fleming Arena (Wpg)

Game 2: Saturday, April 15, 6 p.m. CT, Wayne Fleming Arena

Game 3: Tuesday April 18, 8 p.m. CT, Moose Jaw Events Centre

Game 4: Wednesday, April 19, 8 p.m. CT, Moose Jaw Events Centre

Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, April 22, 7:30 p.m. CT, Wayne Fleming Arena

Game 6 (if necessary): Monday, April 24, 8 p.m. CT, Moose Jaw Events Centre

Game 7 (if necessary): Wednesday, April 26, 7 p.m. CT, Wayne Fleming Arena

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam