Condon defies odds to emerge as Canadiens starter

BROSSARD, Quebec – Mike Condon is the starting goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens.

By now, that is old news. The lower-body injury expected to keep Carey Price out of action until at least mid-January has thrust Condon into this role, and he has handled it as well as could be expected of an undrafted, 25-year-old NHL rookie.

But Condon's performance is made that much more remarkable when you look at how he has reached this point as the starting goaltender for one of the iconic franchises of the NHL that also happens to be near the top of the League standings this season.

When Condon leads the Canadiens onto the ice for this week's Wednesday Night Rivalry game against the Boston Bruins at Bell Centre (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, RDS) he will be playing his 18th career NHL game.

The odds of him playing even one were practically nonexistent.

"Statistically speaking, I don't even know what the number would be," Condon said. "But it would be astronomically small."

Condon, a native of Holliston, Mass., will in all likelihood be facing the Bruins again on New Year's Day in the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium; a 20-minute drive from his childhood home and a place where he spent many an afternoon cheering his beloved New England Patriots to victories.

It is the marquee event on the NHL's regular-season calendar, and Condon will be front and center leading the Canadiens onto the ice in front of nearly 70,000 people, but it will also be less than three years removed from a time when Condon thought hockey might not work out for him.

Condon was at a crossroads in the spring of 2013, his hockey career teetering on the brink of oblivion just as he was putting the final touches on a Princeton University degree in politics.

He was playing on an amateur tryout for the Ontario Reign, then the ECHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, and the playoffs were coming up. The Kings intended on using Jean-Francois Berube in the postseason, which meant Condon would be relegated to backup duty.

Meanwhile, Condon was completing his thesis on post-Cold War arms transfers on bus rides and in between practices and missing out on a major life moment at Princeton.

It just didn't appear to be worth it.

"I wasn't going to sit on the bench in the Coast while my senior spring [semester] is going on and I needed to get some school work done," Condon said. "I was literally going to phone the coach to tell him I was going back to school and then I got a call from my agent."

His agent called April 6, 2013 to say the Houston Aeros, then the American Hockey League affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, were in need of a goalie because of an injury to Cody Reichard and that if he got down there he would be the backup the following night.

So Condon did it. He flew to Houston from Salt Lake City figuring he would rather be a backup in the AHL than the ECHL. The next day he backed up Jeff Deslauriers, who made 22 saves in a 2-0 shutout of Hamilton, which was the Canadiens' AHL affiliate at the time.

Deslauriers hurt his groin in the Aeros' next game against Oklahoma City and Condon went in midway through the second period, allowing two goals in a 4-1 loss.

That was April 10. The next day Condon made 30 saves in a 4-3 win against San Antonio in his first AHL start.

Condon started two more games down the stretch of that season and won them both, but the Wild decided to send Darcy Kuemper to Houston to start in the Calder Cup playoffs and Condon was again on backup duty.

Kuemper started the first two games of the Aeros' first-round series against Grand Rapids when another opportunity presented itself to Condon.

Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom sustained an injury in warmups of Game 1 of their Western Conference First Round series against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 30, and Kuemper was summoned to back up Josh Harding for Game 2.

"All of a sudden I'm starting in the Calder Cup playoffs," Condon said.

By that point, Condon's play had already caught the eye of Canadiens assistant general manager Rick Dudley, who broached the subject with general manager Marc Bergevin. They decided to send their AHL goaltending coach Vincent Riendeau to Grand Rapids to watch Condon play in Game 4 with the Aeros trailing 3-0 in the series.

Condon's agent told him about the audition and he performed, making 41 saves in a 4-1 win to outshine current Detroit Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek, who allowed three goals on 18 shots.

"I end up having one of the better games of my life, so that kind of helped," Condon said. "Then the next game I wind up giving up seven and ended the Houston Aeros franchise forever."

But it didn't matter, Condon had already made an impression on the Canadiens, who signed him to a contract on May 8, 2013; 32 days after he was strongly considering calling the Ontario Reign to tell them he would be going back to Princeton to complete his degree.

Condon played the 2013-14 season in the ECHL for the Wheeling Nailers, and at the end of the season he was called up to be one of the "Black Aces" during the Canadiens' run to the Eastern Conference Final in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Once there, he saw firsthand what he would need to do to reach the NHL by watching Canadiens backup goalie Peter Budaj.

"Here's a 30-year-old guy putting in more work than me," Condon said. "That was the kind of thing that said to me, 'Do you want this life? You're going to have to work as hard as Peter Budaj to get it.'"

Condon intensified his offseason training in 2014, started for the Hamilton Bulldogs last season and beat out Dustin Tokarski for the backup job in training camp this season. That alone would have been a remarkable achievement, but when Price was lost to injury, Condon suddenly held what some people have called the most pressure-packed position in professional sports -- starting goalie for the Canadiens.

It is hardly a simple transition for an athlete to make, but his teammates have been impressed with how Condon has handled it.

"I think the age thing probably helps him," Canadiens center Lars Eller said. "He's a man, he's not a 20-year-old coming up [as a] first-year pro. He's a smart guy. He knows where to put his focus and how not to get distracted."

And the work ethic Condon learned during that 2014 Canadiens playoff run has not worn off now that he has reached the summit.

"It seems like nothing's changed between him being a 'Black Ace' and being a starter for the Montreal Canadiens," Montreal captain Max Pacioretty said. "What I mean by that is I've really never seen anyone work as hard as him."

If it weren't for a string of injuries to Reichard, Deslauriers and Backstrom within the span of 24 days, none of this might have happened to Condon. He might have gone back to Princeton, finished his degree and led a perfectly happy life away from hockey.

But the door to the NHL opened ever so slightly for Condon just in the nick of time, and he busted that door wide open.

He became the starting goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens.