Joey Daccord was three days old when he was first carried into a hockey rink by his dad, a former pro goalie and long-time goalie coach.
Over time, Daccord became part of the arena furniture, except he was constantly on the move.
"He was the rink rat," says his father, Brian Daccord, a Montreal native who spent five seasons in the Swiss League with Ambri-Piotta.
"He would hang out in the locker-room with the different teams I’d coach. He’d be there with his mini stick and tape ball."
When Daccord became a goalie consultant for the Boston Bruins (2000-02), four-year-old Joey was a regular in the NHL dressing room. He was in another one Tuesday, facing questions from media after becoming the newest member of the Ottawa Senators, a highly rated goaltender.
Some of the first NHL shots he faced, from Colin White and Bobby Ryan, flew past Daccord in his first Senators practice.
It wasn’t long, though, before Daccord was making highlight-reel types of saves with quick flicks of his gold-tinged CCM pads, the kind of stops he routinely made with Arizona State University this season.
"He got lit up on his first few shots, but that’s par for the course," said Senators head coach Marc Crawford. "NHL players want to show [a goalie prospect] how far they have to come. He settled in. I really like his presence in the net."
Despite the trying introduction, Daccord seemed to enjoy his first foray into the NHL.
"It was awesome. So much fun. I had a blast, he said."
Daccord, 22, signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Senators on Monday, two days after a historic ASU hockey season ended with a 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac in the NCAA tournament regional semi-final. Senators general manager Pierre Dorion and goalie coach Pierre Groulx were in Allentown, Pa., for that game, determined to sign the goaltender Ottawa drafted 199th overall in 2015.
Had he not signed within 30 days of declaring a decision to turn pro, Daccord could have become an NHL free agent. The Senators were his first choice, he told reporters after Tuesday’s practice.
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"The Senators organization has put a lot of time and effort into me," said Daccord, who is one of five nominees for the Mike Richter Award as top NCAA goalie. "They’ve taken good care of me. I talked to my family — this is the place we wanted to be."
Groulx says that with the Daccord signing, Ottawa’s goaltending depth "has never looked better."
At the NHL level, Craig Anderson has a year remaining on his contract and Anders Nilsson is a pending unrestricted free agent. Mike Condon, who was injured virtually all season, is also under contract. In a strange twist, Condon attends summer goalie school at Brian Daccord’s Stopit Goaltending academy in Woburn, Mass. Daccord also works as a goalie development coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was Condon who gave his pal Joey a tour of the Canadian Tire Centre facilities Monday.
In the minors, Marcus Hogberg and Gustavsson remain strong prospects for Ottawa. The Senators also have Kevin Mandolese, who just completed a first-round playoff series win with Cape Breton of the QMJHL.
Daccord, though, says he is not concerned about a glut of goaltending prospects.
"In the NHL, every team is going to have good goalies in their system," he says. "No matter what, you are going to have to play well if you want to play in the NHL. It’s the same anywhere."
He just became the first ASU player to sign an NHL contract, but then Daccord is used to "firsts," playing for a hockey team based in the desert. “Be the tradition” was the mantra for these hockey pioneers. Reaching the 2019 NCAA tournament as an independent school was another milestone for the Sun Devils.
"When I committed to Arizona State, they had zero games played in Division I hockey," says Daccord. "I put all my trust in coach [Greg] Powers, hoping it would work. I guess it did."
As Daccord recalls, he was driving in a snowstorm in the Northeast when he received his initial recruiting call from Powers in sunny Arizona.
"There was his first selling point," Daccord says, smiling. A second selling point – Daccord would play. Virtually every game.
The six-foot-three, 205-pound Daccord knew he’d see a ton of shots with the upstart program, and helped carry the team especially these past two seasons of his three in Arizona. His record of 21-12-1 in 2018-19 included seven shutouts, a 2.36 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
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In an interview with Sportsnet.ca, Powers said he recognized he had a special goaltender in Daccord.
"We knew he was tremendously talented, his physical attributes have never been in question," Powers says. "With most goalies, it’s catching up mentally, how they approach games, how they bounce back after goals, after losses. Joey is there now."
Groulx says the Senators, like Powers, encouraged leadership from Daccord after he left the NHL development camp this past summer.
"’It’s OK, you’re going to get a lot of shots, but we want to see you win,’" Groulx says the message was for Daccord. "’We want you to lead your team to victory. It’s not always going to be easy, you’re going to get bombarded with shots at times.’ He has really progressed. He has refined his game.
"He’s a bona fide, NHL-upside goaltender."
Everyone who has seen Daccord raves about his puck-handling ability.
Groulx: "he’s basically a third defenceman back there."
Powers: "I know there are some great goalies in the NHL who can play the puck, but I put Joey Daccord with anybody in the world as far as his ability to play the puck."
Daccord says his puck-handling talent came as a by-product of having fun in the sport.
"I skated out and played goalie until high school," says Daccord, captain of his tennis, soccer and hockey teams in high school. "Even when I was playing goalie, I liked playing out. I tried to enjoy all parts of hockey.
I did it for fun. I would shoot pucks in my basement with player gloves and player sticks because it was more fun. You kind of develop the muscles that way and get better at it. It kind of happened by accident."
His father tried to talk Joey out of using a player stick, arguing he ought to practice with a goalie stick.
"I used to get mad at him," says Brian Daccord. "I said if you want to be a goalie, get your blocker and glove on. He fought me on it and fought me on it."
Sometimes teachers learn from their students. Today, Brian Daccord instructs young goalies to develop their puck-handling skills with lighter player sticks first. Then with goalie sticks.
Joey grew up training alongside mentor Cory Schneider, another Brian Daccord disciple. In Schneider’s honour, Daccord wore No. 1 in high school (it was Schneider’s number at Boston College) and then took on No. 35 at ASU when Schneider adopted it in the NHL.
With the Senators, he will wear No. 34. Why 34?
"They just gave me 34," he says, not asking any questions on his first day.
"I would have worn 112," he says. "It doesn’t matter."
Look for him to slide into a No. 35 again at some point.
With only three games remaining in their season, the Senators are hoping to get Daccord into a game, but are still sorting it out. Thursday in Buffalo makes the most sense.
Daccord says he hasn’t been told anything and is happy enough just jumping on his first NHL charter to New York for Wednesday’s game against the Rangers at MSG. His contract will pay him $925,000 at the NHL level and $70,000 in the minors. There is also a $92,500 signing bonus — a sign of his change in status, even if he has to return to Arizona eventually to finish up his classes.
"It means the world," Daccord says of reaching the NHL. "I’ve been working my whole life to get here. It’s crazy, when I see how many people have reached out to me … it makes you realize how many people it takes to have one dream come true.
"Today was a pretty special day for myself and my family."
That includes mom Daniela, brother Alex, a Division II goalie with St Anselm College and a certain goalie dad.
"We’ve always had a real tight relationship," says Brian Daccord.
"Joey loves goaltending. He sleeps and breathes it and we live in the same world, right? So the nicest thing about his path, I’m supposed to be the coach — but I’ve learned so much about the position, and the journey of a goaltender watching him go through everything."
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