But the thing about goaltending tandems is that only one player can patrol the crease at once. Hence, there’s a fascinating balance between teamwork and competition.                                  

During a break between practices at the Calgary Flames prospect development camp at the Saddledome this week, Matt Keetley was quizzed about how that competitive dynamic plays out between himself and Leland Irving.                               

And from the sound of things, the dynamic is less Bert and Ernie, and more Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan.                        

“If I could, I’d break his legs,” Keetley deadpanned, before breaking into a grin.                                  

“It’s competitive, but it’s good competitive,” he clarified. “We’re playing for the same team, and we both want the same goals – we want to win the Calder Cup, and we want to make it to the NHL. We push each other every day in practice. If he makes a good save, I’m going to be yelling and cheering for him.”                                   

When Keetley’s bone-busting musings were relayed to Irving, the younger goalie simply chuckled.                                  

“That’s Keets,” he said with a grin. “He’s a good guy to be around, keeps things light.                                   

“It’s natural for there to be competition in this sport, but we’re going to be supportive of each other.”                                   

Keetley and Irving handled the goaltending duties for the Flames’ American Hockey League affiliate in Quad Cities, Illinois last season, and they figure to reprise their roles when the Abbotsford Heat hit the ice this fall.                                  

Irving, 21, is coming off a stellar AHL rookie year. The former first-round pick (26th overall in 2006) got off to a slow start in his first pro season, but heated up as the season wore on. He finished with a 2.23 goals against average – fourth-best in the AHL – to go with a 24-18-0-2 record and one shutout.                                

Irving said that he found the jump from junior hockey to the pro ranks to be a steep one.                                   

“The skill of the men in the AHL is quite a bit above that of the boys at the WHL level,” said Irving, who racked up 121 victories with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips during his junior days.                                   

“I had a few rough games at the start of last season, but I was able to bounce back. The coaches kept throwing me in there, and that let me get my feet under me.”                                   

Keetley, 23, is also a WHL product – he backstopped the Medicine Hat Tigers to a WHL championship and a runner-up finish at the Memorial Cup in 2006-07. He’s got two pro seasons under his belt already, spent primarily in the AHL.                       

Keetley does boast a smidgen of NHL experience – nine minutes’ worth, to be exact. In November of 2007, the Flames sent backup goalie Curtis McElhinney down to the minors to get some game action, and recalled Keetley to serve as Miikka Kiprusoff’s caddy. In the late stages of a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, Kiprusoff was summoned to the bench, and Keetley stopped both shots he faced in nine minutes of mop-up duty.                                  

“It was pretty special,” Keetley acknowledged. “But you want to be there (in the NHL) nine years, not nine minutes. It was definitely a step in my life that I was excited about, but I want to make it for a lot longer than that.”                                    

Abbotsford Heat head coach Jim Playfair subscribes to the philosophy that hockey teams should be built from the net out, and as such, he’s excited at the prospect of working with Irving and Keetley this fall.                                   

“The next thing for them is, which one is prepared to compete at a high level on the most consistent basis?” Playfair said. “They have to earn the right to take the net, and I think that creates internal competition. It’s not necessarily if you win, you play, but it’s about whether you’re giving your team a chance to win.”