

It’s been a season to remember for Halifax Mooseheads goaltender Zach Fucale. He finished with a 45-5-2-1 record, becoming only the 12th QMJHL netminder to reach 40 wins in a season, and the most since Jacques Cloutier in 1978/79.

Earlier this season, he became the fastest 17-year-old goaltender to reach 50 career wins in the QMJHL and recently, he passed Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s franchise record for wins.

“It has a lot to do with my teammates,” said Fucale in an interview with HockeyProspect.com. “Without them, I never would have been able to accomplish a feat like that. I’m grateful to have such a good team with me and we were able to accomplish that together.”

Fucale went 13-1 in the last two months of the season and improved his goals against average for this season to 2.35, second-best in the league. His .909 save percentage ranked 3rd in the QMJHL.

“The thing I notice when I watch Fucale is how much of a cool customer he seems to be, especially watching him last year playing all those games,” said Mark Edwards, Director of Scouting for HockeyProspect.com “If you talk to goalie coaches they always talk about the mental side of the game. I think Zach has sent a good message to scouts that he is strong in this area.”

“I pride myself on always progressing day in and day out,” said Fucale. It’s a day-by-day thing. The more the season goes on, the harder we work and it can only get better as the season goes on.”

“He’s strong at reading the play and reacts well,” added Edwards. “He makes some difficult saves look pretty easy through good preparation and his strong technical ability. In my opinion, he has few weaknesses and big upside.”

As for this year’s NHL Draft, Fucale says he is not thinking about it. “There will be plenty of time to think about that when it gets closer. Right now, I’m just thinking about trying to contribute to my team’s success.”

With Mackinnon & Drouin expected to go early in the 2013 draft, Halifax could have three 1st-round NHL picks for the first time in franchise history.