Wednesday, December 13, 2006

CANES LOOKING TO GLASS

Carolina

After his outstanding relief of current starting goaltender Jonathan Boutin, Jeff Glass will make his first start of the season.

Glass, 19, has played admirably in practice as of late and has stepped up his training in the past two weeks.

"He has shown that he is committed to play himself into the starting role," said head coach Craig Hartsburg. "I want to see a guy work for what he wants and not simply expect that I will give him the role. He has a lot of credentials, but he does not sit on them like a lot of other kids do. This is his first shot to take back the job."

Glass, who allowed a single goal in his 37 minutes of relief duty, has been working well in drills and has stepped up his game recently in practice.

"He is not a good goalie to have in practice for us," said Corey Perry. "He kind of shatters our confidence a bit but for him it is great."

Glass was the former backstopper for the 2004 gold medal winning team Canada squad in North Dakota. The Canes acquired Glass from the Montreal Canadians in a deal that sent Konstantin Barulin to the Canadiens. Since then, Glass has done everything in his power to try and take the number one spot. The thought was that with the departure of veteran netminder Rob Zepp to the pro squad, Glass would fill in, but it has not been the case. Jonathan Boutin simply outplayed the younger Glass and has not given the club a reason to pull him as of yet.

"We all need to find our own role," said Glass. "I want to prove I deserve the spot here. I look at it this way. This is my team and I want to win as the guy in net, not the guy watching. I know I can be better than I have been so I guess it is up to me and that is fine."

The Canes look to use Glass tonight against the Washington Capitals. The game is in Raleigh.

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