Published: October 10, 2008 11:52 pm            

Fights familiar to Chiefs goalie

It might not have been one of his finer moments, but goaltender Ian Keserich landed on multiple Internet “hockey fight card” sites for exchanging blows with another CHL goaltender last season.

Keserich found himself in an even more awkward spot soon after that December exchange.

“I started the year off in Colorado with the Eagles,” said Keserich, who joined the ECHL’s Johnstown Chiefs on Thursday and will start tonight’s exhibition game against visiting Wheeling.

“The last game I played for Colorado I actually fought against the Mississippi RiverKings goalie. I (later) got cut and was picked up by Mississippi. Thankfully, they got rid of the goalie (Adam Hanna) I fought against because that would have been some bad blood between us. It was something exciting, though.”

No such awkward situation awaited Keserich in Johnstown following his arrival from the Lake Erie Monsters’ training camp in Cleveland.

“It was four days of hard work,” Keserich, a native of Parma, Ohio, said of the AHL camp. “It was exciting to be home again. I tried out for them the year before and had a good camp.”

The Colorado Avalanche selected Keserich in the seventh round of the 2004 NHL entry draft.

The 6-foot-2 netminder first attracted attention by going 18-3-3 with the NAHL Cleveland Barons prior to the draft. He also was part of the 2003 under-18 world championship team that won in the Czech Republic. He earned tournament MVP honors.

Two seasons as a back-up at Ohio State followed. Then, Keserich played a year of junior with Tri-City of the USHL, posting a 26-13-5 record.

“I’ve had a long, hard road here so far,” Keserich said. “It’s been a very different road than normal people take. I played at Ohio State for two years, but didn’t play much and decided to leave. I went back and played juniors for a year at a great organization in Tri-City in the USHL.”

He now has an opportunity to compete for a spot in the organization that originally drafted him.

“Keserich had a very good camp this year in Colorado and Lake Erie,” Chiefs coach Ian Herbers said. “He’s a big goalie that has extremely quick feet. He gets side to side in a hurry. He had a good year last year in the CHL. He was originally drafted by Colorado and he’s working his way up the ladder. Right now, he’s the fifth guy on their roster and there is a good chance for him moving up.”

Keserich still vividly recalls the day Colorado drafted him.

“That season, I had a concussion that was misdiagnosed so I didn’t play half the season,” Keserich said. “I definitely didn’t expect to get drafted. When I was drafted, I was actually in the shower. My parents were yelling at me, ‘You got drafted.’ I was dancing in the shower. My favorite goalie growing up was Patrick Roy. To kind of follow in his footsteps was unreal, a dream to me.”

Despite his unorthodox route back to the Avalanche organization, Keserich still holds onto that dream.

“I just want to take it day by day and play hockey the best I can and not worry about moving,” Keserich said. “Every day I’ve got to try my hardest. I’m not worried about the future. It’s a very welcoming situation. Everybody’s been real nice here. I’m going to keep trying my hardest to show coach I can be the No. 1 guy here. I love it in Johnstown.”

        

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