Isaiah Saville

After enduring COVID for the second time, goaltender Isaiah Saville of Anchorage finally made his first appearance of the hockey season last weekend, and he didn’t look like he needed a rust-buster.

Saville shined from the outset for the ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates in Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in the Battle of Teams With Awesome Nicknames. Saville didn’t surrender a goal until less than three minutes remained in the first pro hockey game in Savannah history, which drew a crowd of 6,876 to Enmarket Arena.

Saville, 22, stopped 32 shots in his season debut of his first full pro campaign.

Saville (West High) turned pro last March after his junior season at NCAA Division I Omaha, signing with the Vegas Golden Knights, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2019. He lit up the American Hockey League, which is one step above the ECHL and one step below the NHL. Saville last spring for the Henderson Silver Knights won his last six starts in going 6-1-0 with a 2.05 goals-against average and .929 save percentage.

“I felt really comfortable there in Henderson, and in that league,” Saville said. “It was a good challenge, but I didn’t feel out of place there.”

Saville is one of seven masked men under contract to Vegas, though Robin Lehner (31), the No. 1 goalie in the system, will miss the entire season after undergoing hip surgery. Saville is also the youngest goalie, and the least experienced professionally, in Vegas’ system. Former Alaska Aces goaltender Laurent Brossoit (29), a proven NHL back-up, is just back from hip surgery – he played a game for Henderson over the weekend. And the Vegas duo of Logan Thompson (26) and Adin Hill (25) have been stout in the early season. Also under contract to Vegas is journeyman Michael Hutchinson (32) and Jiri Patera (23), who are both in Henderson.

Saville, a 6-foot-1, 196-pounder, said he intends to remain positive and continue working hard in Savannah to move his way up the ladder.

“I know it’s a good developmental path, and as much as I want to be in Henderson, this is also a great place to be. There are a lot of goalies in the NHL who have played in the ECHL.”

Indeed, 31 of the 70 goalies (44.3 percent) who have played in the NHL this season have ECHL experience on their rink resumes. And three of those guys – Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick, St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington and Washington’s Darcy Kuemper – have backstopped teams to the Stanley Cup. (Kuemper won his Cup with Colorado last season).

Saville’s latest bout of COVID caused him to miss about a week and a half of games, practices and training. He said he and the Vegas/Savannah organization made sure he was back to full strength before making his season debut.

“I felt pretty crappy for a couple of days and then it was all right,” he said.

Saville said his mom, Kjersti, is visiting him in Savannah, and they plan to hit some tourist spots this week in that coastal Georgia city that borders South Carolina.

Also in the ECHL over the weekend, Wheeling Nailers alternate captain Cam Hausinger racked his first goal of the season in a 4-2 loss to Reading. Hausinger, who last season as a rookie racked 21-22—43 totals in 64 games to earn spots in training camps this fall with the NHL’s Nashville Predators and AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, owns 1-4—5 totals in six games.

Meanwhile, Cam’s older brother, Kenny, came off the injured list with the Norfolk Admirals to open his season with two games over the weekend, and he pocketed an assist. Kenny Hausinger as a rookie last season with the Reading Royals earned 12-28—40 totals in 57 games.

Elsewhere in the lower minor leagues, a couple of forwards from Anchorage, Drake Glover and Cayden Cahill, are playing in the Southern Professional Hockey League.

Glover, the former UAA skater, enjoyed a productive weekend for the Fayettville (N.C.) Marksmen. He had a goal and an assist in Friday’s 4-2 road win over the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs and a shootout goal in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout win over visiting Roanoke. Glover owns 2-1—3 totals in six games. He has scored 24 goals in 59 career games for the Marksmen. (Two of Glover’s teammates are his former UAA teammates, defensemen Andrew Lane and Drayson Pears. Well, scratch Pears – the Marksmen traded him to Knoxville on Sunday.)

And Cahill owns 1-3—4 totals in six games this season this season with the Peoria Rivermen. He hooked up with Peoria last season after closing his college career at Division III Wisconsin-River Falls.

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