Av’s looking up to Anderson
By Terri Frei, The Denver Post In the driveway in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, young Craig Anderson suffered the fate of so many “little” brothers, before and since. He was the target. Jon Anderson, 5 years older, and Jon’s hockey buddy from next door lined up little Craig in front of the garage door, told him to stand there and fired away at him.
At least they didn’t use pucks.
“I was the smart one,” Craig recalled, dryly. “I took tennis balls off the head.”
Craig’s father, Richard Anderson, remembers spotting the evidence. “I came home and wondered what all the dent marks were in that aluminum garage door,” Richard said.
A goalie was born, so to speak.
Twenty years later, Craig Anderson is one of the NHL’s top stories in the first six weeks of the season, again illustrating that it can take years of paying dues and maturing to become an overnight sensation.
The Avalanche goalie, who signed a two- year, $3.6 million contract with Colorado in July, was the NHL’s “first star” for October. He also has vaulted into contention for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the Winter Games in Vancouver in February.
After years of being behind big-contract goalies Jocelyn Thibault, Nikolai Khabibulin, Eddie Belfour and Tomas Vokoun at Chicago and Florida, Anderson is making the most of his first sustained run as a No. 1.
“There’s a learning curve for any player,” said the 28-year-old. “Some players get it right away. Some players take awhile. It took me to get knocked down a couple of times before I figured it out.”
