Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube thought it was an encouraging sign that starting goalie Joseph Woll was frustrated at being pulled.
Berube, along with Leafs fans from coast-to-coast, witnessed on Saturday, November 22nd, in a 5-2 loss at the Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens that Woll is super competitive and never gives up, which are two important ingredients that a number one starting goalie must possess if he is to be successful.
Woll was "pissed off" at Berube
Woll, who took a leave of absence during training camp, played on Saturday, only his fourth game of the season, where, despite having a strong game was pulled in the second period with the Leafs being outshot 16-1 and losing 4-0. This move was made to give the team a wake-up call, which didn't work. In hindsight, if not for Woll's strong play, the score easily could have been 10-0.
"He was pissed off at me for pulling him," Berube said to media a few days after the game. "But I like that. He wanted to be in there and fight, and that's good."
Naturally, Woll was asked about being pulled, and the 27-year-old stated, "I was having fun battling out there, and of course, any time you get out of the net, I'm not very happy. I thought we still had a chance to come back, and I thought we were kind of getting some momentum a bit."
Woll's reaction to getting pulled is an encouraging one for Leafs fans, as it shows he has that burning hunger to win for his team. That he would do whatever it takes to be in there.
Berube has been impressed by his young goaltender's performance since coming back from his conditioning stint in the minors.
"He's been solid and it has been very good for our team, getting him back in," he said.
After four games this year, Woll has a 1-2-1 record with a 3.00 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
Woll will be back in net on Wednesday night at Nationwide Arena against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He will also be highly counted on for a difficult stretch of games, which, after Columbus sees the Leafs play the Washington Capitals (Nov. 28), Pittsburgh Penguins (Nov. 29), Florida Panthers (Dec 2) and the Carolina Hurricanes (December 4).