Color of Hockey: Gundarah aiming to be 'best goalie in the country'

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Sacred Heart University goalie Ajeet Gundarah, who was among the best men’s NCAA Division I netminders last season.

Sacred Heart University goalie Ajeet Gundarah constantly gets chirped by teammates and friends for wearing a plain white mask.

“We’ve got, like, 17 new guys this year, and like I think every single one of them has said, ‘What's wrong with you with the mask, what's going on?” Gundarah said. “When I was younger, I never had a painted one. When I got to school, I was, like, ‘It’s time to design one.’ And then I was, like, ‘You, know what? I’ve never had one and it’s worked for me thus far.’”

The 23-year-old junior from Richmond, British Columbia, is counting on it working for him again this season after he was among the best goalies statistically in NCAA Division I men’s hockey in 2025-26.

“I have expectation to be the best goalie in the country,” Gundarah said. “That’s something I really believe I can do.”

Gundarah went 13-7-1 in 22 games for Sacred Heart last season with a 2.09 goals-against average, .928 save percentage and two shutouts, despite missing time due to two separate high ankle sprains.

He ranked seventh in save percentage and was tied for ninth in goals-against average (minimum 15 games played) nationally and led the nine-team Atlantic Hockey America men’s conference in each category.

He was 7-2-0 in his last nine regular-season appearances with a 1.67 goals-against average, .943 save percentage and one shutout and allowed two goals or fewer in the wins during that stretch. 

Gundarah’s performance at Sacred Heart placed him on the “watch list” for the Mike Richter Award, presented annually since 2014 to the top goalie in NCAA Division I men’s hockey -- both last season and in 2024-25.

“He certainly gives our team a chance to win every single night,” Sacred Heart coach C.J. Marottolo said. “Going in, we feel great with Ajeet in net.”

Gundarah’s goaltending helped guide Sacred Heart to a 23-14-3 overall record (15-8-3 in the AHA) and the AHA championship game, where they lost 3-2 to Bentley on March 21.

“He’s still very upset with that result,” Marottolo said. “He’s carrying that with him into this year. That has kind of been his fuel.”

A fuel Gundarah hopes ignites a fire that produces an AHA title for Sacred Heart this season and prompts NHL teams to consider him when it’s time to sign collegiate free agents.

Sacred Heart was named the favorite in an AHA preseason coaches’ poll in September, and Gundarah was voted the conference’s preseason player of the year.

“This year I want to continue to get better,” he said. “I never feel satisfied with individual statistics. Winning here will further help me go where I want to go, and I have every expectation to sign a contract after this year wherever it may be.”

Sacred Heart opened the 2026-27 season with a 3-2 loss to Bowling Green on Friday and a 6-3 win against 17th-ranked Penn State on Saturday; Gundarah was in net for each, with a .889 goals-against average.

Gundarah’s journey to elite college goalie started the same way as many other youth hockey players who found themselves strapping on the pads.

“We had a rotation and it was my turn,” he said. “I just ended up loving it, being on the ice the whole time. I wasn’t the greatest skater when I played out. I thought, in net, you can make some big saves, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.”

Growing up in the Vancouver area, he idolized Roberto Luongo, the Hockey Hall of Fame goalie who played with the Vancouver Canucks from 2008-14.

But as his career progressed, Gundarah (6-foot, 185 pounds) found role models in Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros (5-11, 180) and Calgary Flames netminder Dustin Wolf (6-0, 166), who are considered undersized like he is.

“I don’t know what it’s like to be bigger but, of course, there are strengths that come with that,” Gundarah said. “I think my biggest strength is my ability to read plays, and I take a lot of pride in kind of being a step ahead in that sense.”

Gundarah played with the Langley of the British Columbia Hockey League from 2021-23 before he was traded to Surrey on June 12, 2023.

He led Surrey to the 2024 BCHL Fred Page Cup and went 10-5-1 in the playoffs with a 1.97 GAA, .939 save percentage and two shutouts.

That capped a regular season for which he won the Michael Garteig Award as the BCHL’s top goalie after he went 25-6-1 with a 2.14 GAA, .931 save percentage and two shutouts in 33 games.

Marotollo said he first learned about Gundarah from two of his assistant coaches who were scouting the BCHL and were intrigued by the young goalie.

“You look at him and he's probably not easy on the eye: He's not the 6-foot-4, moves great kind of goalie, where he just gets it done type of goalie,’” Marottolo said. “This is what they told me when they got back from a recruiting trip: ‘Ajeet reminds us of Timmy Thomas.’”

That’s high praise considering Thomas (5-11, 201 pounds) played 426 games (408 starts) with the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars from 2002-14; won the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy, voted as playoff MVP with Boston in 2011; and won the Vezina Trophy, voted as the NHL’s top goalie twice (2009, 2011).

He also won a silver medal with the U.S. men’s hockey team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.

“Now that I’ve had Ajeet for two years, I see it,” Marottolo said. “Timmy Thomas would compete in that crease. He didn't want to get beat. He was very dialed in. Ajeet competes on every puck and there’s never a play that he thinks he’s out of, and that fight trickles into our team.”

Still, NHL teams passed on Gundarah during his draft-eligible teen years, which he says doesn’t bother him.

It fuels him.

“I think that when things are difficult or don't go your way, it either hurts you or you grow from it,” he said. “I definitely see it as another thing to try to prove people wrong.”