Neuvirth Injured in Emergency Start

Capitals goalie prospect, Michal Neuvirth started yesterday as a healthy Hershey Bear goalie, and ended it as an injured South Carolina Stingray goalie.

Per Hockey's Future:

On Saturday night against the Gwinnett Gladiators, Michal Neuvirth covered a puck far outside the blue paint, but when told by the referee to move it along, simply stayed still. He received a delay of game penalty, but he had no choice -- he was in too much pain to move.

The 20-year-old had a groin pull -- the first he's ever had, he said after the game.

Neuvirth didn't start this game under normal circumstances. Neuvirth had been with the AHL Hershey Bears, but got sent back down when Stingray Bobby Goepfert suffered a concussion. Neuvirth arrived at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in foggy suburban Atlanta just 10 minutes before warmups began.

Because of his late arrival, Neuvirth wasn't able to get a good stretch, which he thought was a major contributor to the groin pull. The precipitating event was a Gwinnett player running into him while following up a shot at the beginning of the third period.

Neuvirth's exit from the game after 42 minutes meant that emergency backup goaltender John Havrilack had to come in. Havrilack, a men's league fill-in that the Stingrays brought along, saved all 10 shots he faced.

Recently, Neuvirth was named an ECHL All-Star. Michal has a GAA of 1.90 in ECHL action, a .932 save percentage, and two shutouts to boot.