AS PASI RAITANEN headed into the night, the stand-in stopper quipped: "Put an advert in the Evening News: "Goaltender wants position".
The 37-year-old stopped all but one of 51 shots to earn short-benched Edinburgh Capitals a shock 3-1 Elite League win at much-fancied Sheffield Steelers on Saturday night.
But even the Hull-based stopper – again as a temporary replacement – could
not stop Belfast Giants skating to a 4-1 victory at the Riversdale rink last night in the Challenge Cup, Group A.
Finnish-born Raitanen, who last played for the Murrayfield men several years ago, was called in late on Friday night after French-Canadian hot-stop Michel Robinson failed to get his visa in time.
This was the first time that the sunbed salesman had played a competitive game since January, when he suffered a serious injury to his left knee.
Raitanen has been helping run kids summer coaching clinics with Edinburgh-based Roger Hunt, coach to Dundee Stars, but he didn't expect to be called upon so soon.
He impressed and said: "I was thinking maybe three or four more weeks rest for the knee before a club was looking for a goaltender.
"Everything in my body is now sore after two games, apart from my knee!"
Raitanen added: "I told Capitals not to expect miracles, but I suppose this helps put me in the shop window.
"The guys played well in Sheffield but it took a lot out of them. It was a bit flat against Belfast."
He was spot-on. Capitals' up-tempo start troubled Giants for the first period when they outshot them 21-7.
But the Northern Irish outfit took control as the home side tired, outshooting Edinburgh 16-8 in the second and 11-9 in the final session.
Raitanen's superb display earned Capitals their morale-boosting victory at Sheffield and appreciative Doug Christiansen, Capitals' playcaller, said: "Our new netminder, Michel, has a lot to live up to!"
He admitted: "Pasi won us the game at Sheffield. He played fantastically well. A lot of the shots were, admittedly, from the outside as our defence worked hard but Pasi made some big stops at the right time."
Timing has been on Christiansen's mind all week.
It's a week he described as an "emotional roller-coaster" and the club's director of hockey was drained as he sat in the dressing-room last night. He has been working flat-out trying to get seven North American players to Edinburgh following the collapse of budget airline Zoom.
However, one has to question why Capitals owner Scott Neil left it so late to bring the players to Scotland.
The newcomers deserve the highest praise for their commendable efforts over the 120 minutes of hockey but, having fans driving around the country to collect new recruits – one even picked a player up from Gatwick – is not ideal.
The club's pre-season training plans were wrecked and some new players met their team-mates on the bus to Sheffield, while others shook hands when they arrived at The House of Steel.
Neil is still minus his new netminder and, on the club's website, blamed a major courier company for Robinson's late arrival.
Christiansen admitted: "There were times last week when we were working regular business hours and then to midnight fixing flights to get guys here.
"Then we had the last-minute goalie problem and it's been a long week. We obviously wanted two wins but I'm happy to have won the Elite League game as we're playing to make the championship play-offs in Nottingham.
"The Challenge Cup is another championship but everybody was tired last night after working so hard on Saturday.
"We're also one import short, but we're not going to rush. We want an impact player and we want to bring the right player to the club."
Christiansen's assessment was absolutely correct.
On last night's evidence, Capitals have a hard-working team. The atmosphere in the dressing-room is good.
However, they will struggle to replace the firepower of dynamic former NHL duo Colin Hemingway, who scored 41 goals and set-up another 41 goals, and Mike Stutzel, who netted 20 goals and created 55.
Returning hitman Andrej Rajcak, now 37, netted Capitals consolation goal last night, opening the scoring after ten minutes on the power play. At Sheffield, newcomer Taylor Christie broke the deadlock before Christiansen netted his glory double.
Mark Hurtubise looks a solid player and Martin Cingel works hard with newcomer John Dolan, formerly of Scottish Premier League side Dundee Stars, not looking out of place.
And it was hardly surprising that Capitals set-plays misfired last night given their lack of preparation.
Christiansen has a week to work on sharpness and fitness.
Giants, in contrast, looked well organised and levelled at 1-1 through a short-handed strike from Paul Deniset after 30 minutes and went ahead on a delayed penalty seven minutes later when Bobby Robins netted.
Glasgow-born Colin Shields made it 3-1 with 44 minutes on the clock and Robins scored his second with 59 seconds remaining.
So, work in progress for Capitals, but it was disappointing to see only about 650 fans at Murrayfield last night after Saturday's stunning away win.
The full article contains 892 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
