The Rochester Americans have called up goaltender Miguel Beaudry from the Rapid City Rush of the Central Hockey League. Apparently my April Fools Day post wasn’t that far fetched, except they went with someone other than Chris Beckford-Tseu.  The 26 year old goaltender finished this season in the CHL with a 16-20-6 record with a 3.30 GAA and 0.904 save percentage.  Including the 08/09 season, Beaudry has spent the past seven season in the CHL and five prior to that in the OHL (source).

Tyler Plante is finished for the season.  Mike Brodeur has not skated since Friday but is expected to practice on Thursday.  David Shantz was called up from the Dayton Bombers.  Bob Janosz (goalie coach) has been the 2nd goalie in practice this week.  In case Brodeur can’t play on Friday the Amerks needed someone other than the coach to suit up.

The only real meaning left for the final six games would be to beat the Syracuse Crunch the three times the two teams play and try to hurt their playoff chances.  Otherwise with the goaltender situation it’s a good thing the Amerks aren’t playoff contenders at all.

Here’s a quote taken from the Rapid City Rush web site:

“It’s good, especially since I didn’t finish off the regular season the way I wanted,” said Beaudry.  “It feels good to get called up and I’m going to try my hardest to help the team win as much as I can.  Any time you’re a call-up, you’re not going to start, but my job is to work hard in practice, make the team better, and be ready in case I get that opportunity.  At my age, I want to make the most out of this opportunity since I don’t know if will come around again.”

I’d be making things up if I said I knew anything else about this guy, so here’s the hype/marketing from the press release that the Rapid City Rush released:

Beaudry had a solid stretch through the month of December.  After posting a 4.25 goals against average and a .853 save percentage in the month of November, Beaudry heated up in the final month of the ’08 calendar year.  During his 11 games during the month of December, Beaudry posted a 2.35 goals against average and a .929 save percentage.  This is excluding the November 29th home-opener for Rapid City when Beaudry shutout the Colorado Eagles for the first time in over a year, making 27 saves in the win.

“It’s great for Miguel to get this opportunity and also great for the Rapid City Rush organization,” said coach Rush head coach Joe Ferras. “Miguel was a standout for our club all year and I know Miguel will take full advantage of this opportunity.”

Beaudry picked up his third shutout of the season on for the expansion Rush on Tuesday, March 3rd.  With the 23-save performance, Beaudry tied a career high for shutouts in a season, something that he has done twice before.  Beaudry had 3 shutouts in 2003-04 in his rookie season with the New Mexico Scorpions as well as in 2005-06, his first year with the Austin Ice Bats.  Beaudry also finished the regular season tied for the league lead in shutouts.