Ed Belfour

Edward John Belfour (born April 21, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender.

Belfour was born in Carman, Manitoba and grew up playing hockey.

He played junior hockey for the Winkler Flyers before going to the University of North Dakota where he helped the school win the NCAA championship in the 1986–87 season.

The following year, Belfour signed as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks (after not being picked in the draft) alternating time between them and the Saginaw Hawks of the International Hockey League.

Many regard Belfour as an elite goaltender and one of the best of all-time.

His 484 wins rank fifth all-time among NHL goaltenders.

Belfour played for three seasons in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with the Winkler Flyers, helping the team to a first-place finish in 1986.

As the starting goalie for the top team, Belfour finally received some notoriety and he joined the North Dakota Fighting Sioux for the 1986–87 season.

The 21-year-old Belfour was a freshman, older than many of the upper-classmen on his team.

He won 29 games that year, helping UND set a new NCAA record with 40 wins on the year and win the National Title.

After the season Belfour, as an undrafted player, was able to sign with any team and signed with the Chicago Blackhawks.

For his first professional season, Belfour played for the Saginaw Hawks of the IHL.

He won 32 games for the team and helped them reach the IHL semifinals.

The following season saw Belfour split his time between the IHL and NHL, playing 23 games with the parent club.

He was returned to Saginaw where he helped the team to a 2nd-place finish in the conference but faltered in the postseason and the Hawks were bounced in the first round.

Rather than return to Saginaw, Belfour played the 1989–90 season with the Canadian national men's hockey team.

He was recalled by the Blackhawks for their postseason run and produced a 4–2 record with a 2.49 GAA, far better numbers than the other two Blackhawk netminders.

The next season, 1990–91, Belfour became the starting goalie, and had a strong rookie season.

He notched 43 victories in 74 games (both NHL rookie and Blackhawk team records), finished the season with a 2.47 GAA and 4 shutouts.

He also led the league in Save% (.910).

Belfour helped lead the Blackhawks to the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals in the 1991–92 season, where they met the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

In Game 1, Chicago had a 4-1 lead with 8:24 remaining in the second period.

However, the Penguins would score twice in the span of a minute to narrow it to 4-3 for the final period.

Jaromír Jágr managed to score the tying goal with five minutes remaining, before a late one-man advantage for the Penguins proved key with Mario Lemieux putting a shot rebound past Belfour to give Pittsburgh the go-ahead lead with thirteen seconds left.

In total, Belfour had allowed five goals on 39 shots.

After a 3-1 loss in Game 2, the series moved to Chicago, where one successful shot meant everything.

Kevin Stevens scored with 4:34 left in the first period off Belfour, and Penguins goaltender Tom Barrasso bested Belfour with no goals allowed on 27 shots as Pittsburgh now was one win away from the Cup.

Game 4 was a rollercoaster for all involved, especially Belfour.

Four goals were scored in the first seven minutes of the game, with each team getting two.

After Stevens scored on a wrist shot over Belfour (the second goal on four shots), he was taken out by head coach Mike Keenan for Dominik Hašek.

Hašek went 21-for-25 in saves as Pittsburgh rallied late again to win the game and the Finals.

He would win the Vezina Trophy and Jennings Trophy again in 1993, and the Jennings Trophy once more with Chicago in 1995.

Belfour was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the 2011 class, his first year of eligibility.

In addition Belfour is one of only two players to have won an NCAA championship, an Olympic Gold medal, and a Stanley Cup (the other such player is Neal Broten).

His characteristic face mask earned him the sobriquet "Eddie the Eagle", and some of his quirks and off-ice antics earned him the nickname "Crazy Eddie".

After wearing #30 for his tenure with the Blackhawks, Belfour switched to #20 while a member of the San Jose Sharks as a tribute to Vladislav Tretiak, his goaltending coach and mentor from the Blackhawks.

He would wear this for the rest of his playing career.

It was the last time a goalie led the league in Wins, Save%, and GAA until Carey Price achieved the feat in the 2014–2015 season.

For his success, he received the Calder Memorial Trophy for outstanding play by a rookie, and is the first person to receive the award under the Makarov Rule because he was a year under the new cutoff age of eligibility (26), the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender and the William M. Jennings Trophy for fewest team goals-against.

He was also a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player, the first rookie goaltender to do so.