Mackenzie Skapski’s early success in relief of the injured Henrik Lundqvist is all the more amazing given the obstacles he’s overcome along the way

Mackenzie Skapski was standing outside the visitor’s locker room at Buffalo’s First Niagara Center getting ready for a post-game interview with MSG, the New York Rangers’ regional cable network.

He had just blanked the Buffalo Sabres in a 2-0 victory, and at 20 years old become one of the youngest goaltenders in team history to record a shutout. Interviewer John Giannone didn’t get halfway through his first question before Rangers forward Chris Kreider snuck up behind Skapski and shoved a towel full of shaving cream in his face.

“It was another exciting milestone,” Skapski told the Guardian on Sunday. “I’m surprised I did it so quickly.”

The highlight of Skapski’s brief NHL career was made possible when Henrik Lundqvist went down with a vascular injury in late January. In that span, the rookie has been handed the reins twice, both times against last-place Sabres. The result: two wins, a .978 save percentage and more than a few highlight-reel saves.

But five years ago, Skapski was simply struggling to get back on the ice following his own freak accident that could have derailed his promising career.

On 11 December 2009, Skapski and his teammates at Fraser Valley Bruins, a midget-level hockey team from his hometown of Abbotsford, British Columbia, were driving to a tournament in Williams Lake. Thomas Spencer, who was the assistant coach at the time, described the conditions as a “typical winter day” on the West coast of Canada. It was cloudy with some light snowfall. The driver was going very fast, Spencer recalled, and eventually lost control when the bus hit some black ice.

“I remember everything,” Skapski said. “We went off the road and I couldn’t really feel my face when I got up.”

Except for a few separated shoulders and bruises, the 20 or so other people in the bus were in okay shape.



Skapski was a different story.

“I broke the left side of my face, broke my nose. I had head surgery. I had a blood clot in the back of my head,” he said. “I missed a year of hockey. It was a crazy, crazy time and then I guess there were a lot of question marks whether I would return or play again.”

Pat Ansell was the head coach of the Bruins at the time. He said the bus had completely turned over on its side so he and Skapski had to walk through the windshield to get out. Skapski was sent to a nearby hospital to get checked out and a closer look showed he needed to be airlifted to Vancouver for emergency surgery.

Doctors told Ansell that if Skapski’s surgery had been delayed by just a few hours he could have been paralyzed.

“Some of the stuff they said was incredible,” Ansell said. “Within hours it could have cost him mobility, speech impediment, motor ability. We were so lucky that nothing else did occur.”

At the hospital, Skapski was reunited with his parents. Denis Skapski had been able to call Ansell, who told him the extent of the accident.

“When you think back about it we get pretty chocked up because he had so many reasons not to continue with hockey,” Denis Skapski said.

Mackenzie wouldn’t play another game for the rest of the season, but in February he was able to skate again – although he couldn’t yet practice with the team.

Because of the damage to his face, Skapski had trouble tracking the puck, one of the key elements of being a goaltender. Ansell said that in the beginning of Skapski’s recovery he would lob pucks at the young goaltender from five feet away. Eventually that became 10 feet and later full practice.

“He was pretty much at ground zero,” Ansell said. “He came a long way. We were literally standing in front of him.”

Skapski said he never thought about quitting, and he found the support he needed in his family.

“My family just believed in me and believed in what I could do and I’m a pretty strong-willed person myself,” Skapski said.

Denis played college hockey for the University of Alabama-Huntsville, where another Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot also played. An injury eventually put an end to Denis’ career. But he didn’t raise his sons to become professionals.

“We never put our kids in hockey to become NHL players,” he said. “It’s secondary to why we put them in the sport in the first place. It’s to learn life skills.”

Denis was initially a bit reluctant about letting Mackenzie play goaltender. He changed his mind once he gave his then 10-year-old son some shooting practice.

“I wasn’t taking it easy on him. He never flinched,” Denis Skapski said. “I realized, you know, maybe he’s going to be a goalie.”

And Mackenzie eventually developed into a good prospect. By the time he reached the Fraser Valley Bruins, Ansell and Spencer said that Skapski’s maturity and refusal to tolerate anything less than his best performance set him apart from his peers.

Ansell recalls one particular time before the accident when Skapski was pulled after a bad game.

“He was pissed,” Ansell said. “You could tell he was pissed. You can’t teach that stuff.”

After his stint with the Fraser Valley Bruins, Skapski moved on to the junior level to play for Kootenay Ice in the Western Hockey League. His long road to recovery paid off in 2013 when the Rangers drafted him in the sixth round of the NHL draft.

“That was a lot of hard work and obviously very rewarding for me and my family,” Skapski said.

Now five years removed from the accident, he’s left with no noticeable long-term effects.

“My smile was a little bit off for the first two years, but everything seems to have come back to place,” he said.

After gaining a permanent stay with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack earlier this season, Skapski got an unexpected call-up to the NHL due to the aforementioned Lundqvist injury.

Skapski’s parents immediately got on a plane to New York to be with their son.

“We didn’t know how long he was going to be there so we dropped everything,” Denis Skapski said. “We didn’t know if it was going to be a night, a weekend. We didn’t know.”

On 20 February – Denis Skapski’s 49th birthday – Mackenzie started his first NHL game. It couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. 14 seconds in, the puck was already in the back of the Rangers net. An ugly turnover by the defense left Skapski with little chance of saving Matt Moulson’s shot.

Skapski’s family was watching the game in New York. They didn’t want to be a distraction to their son. When the Sabres scored, everyone was quiet. Denis Skapski eventually broke the silence.

“I said ‘listen there’s one thing I know about Mack. He has a history of when he lets in an early goal, he goes into lockdown mode.’ He competes right back and he did,” Denis said.

Mackenzie didn’t let in any more goals for the rest of that game and the Rangers offense eventually turned it into a 3-1 win. In his next start, it was Skapski’s turn to bail out his forwards. He kept the game tied even as the Rangers struggled to put it past Anders Lindback in the Buffalo net. Rangers defenseman Keith Yandle broke the tie in the third period and Martin St Louis added an empty-net goal.

“He played tremendous in that last game,” Rangers teammate Matt Hunwick said. “Obviously it was his second start in Buffalo so he might have felt a little bit more comfortable than that first game.”

In terms of experience, Skapski is a big drop-off from Lundqvist, a Vezina Trophy winner, and Talbot, who plays like he has one. But Hunwick, who plays in front of Skapski as a defenseman, said the team’s defensive approach hasn’t changed.

“Not really,” he said. “I mean, you try to communicate as best you can when he’s out of the net playing the puck but other than that I think, our defensive structure, we know what we want to do no matter who’s behind us.”

Lundqvist is set to return this week, which is when Skapski figures to be sent back down to Hartford. He doesn’t need to look far for a reminder. Skapski still stuffs his gear in a big bag with Hartford’s gray wolf printed on the side rather than the Rangers’ blue, red and white crest. The Rangers haven’t offered him one of those yet.

“And I’m not going to ask for one either,” Skapski said.

It’s quite possible that Skapski has played his last NHL game of the season. Last week, Lundqvist told reporters he’s been given the green light by his doctors. Head coach Alain Vigneault said Skapski will remain the back-up until Lundqvist gets a few practice sessions with the team. That should give Skapski about a week left in the big leagues. Either way, he says he’s not changing his routine.

“I’ll just do what I’ve been doing in the past month or so,” Skapski said. “And when I’m called upon I guess I’ll be ready.