Jorge Alves has been around the Carolina Hurricanes in various capacities for thirteen years, but tonight he gets a chance to serve a role that most scratch college club hockey players would give about anything to have: backup NHL goaltender.
The Canes announced this afternoon that Eddie Lack is under the weather, and with the Checkers in Manitoba and the Florida Everblades in Charleston, S.C., tonight, the team went with the path of least resistance: signing Alves to a professional tryout contract and giving him backup duty tonight. Alves has served as a practice goalie over the years, giving Canes goalies days off from time to time, but has never been on the bench in uniform until tonight.