For
Tim Thomas, the road to the National Hockey League was filled with potholes,
detours and traffic jams. But for 10 years, he continued playing hockey,
honing his goaltending skills and pursuing the dream of one day being
a workhorse goalie in the NHL. After a decade of hard work and persistence,
Tim has finally settled into that role with the Boston Bruins.
After an impressive career at the University of Vermont during which
he was the ECAC Goaltender of the Year once and an All-American twice,
Tim began his journey to the NHL, making stops in the East Coast Hockey
League, Finland, the American Hockey League and the International
Hockey League. Tim enjoyed success at almost every level along the
way, but could never catch his big break. He often found himself on
teams with a surplus of goaltenders under contract, which allowed
him little, if any, time to prove his skills between the pipes.
Finally, after years of traveling and moving his wife and three kids
from state to state and continent to continent, the Bruins signed
him to a contract. Even then, the odds were stacked against him -
Boston had a former Rookie of the Year goalie and another promising
youngster in-line ahead of Thomas.
"I've worked my whole life for one good shot at the NHL,"
Thomas said at the time. "No matter how much you think its dead,
you just keep fighting and now I figure I got one more shot."
