While the Checkers are likely to have Drew MacIntyre manning their net more often than not again this season, he might be a little harder to recognize at first.
In addition to the shiny new pads he sported for the start of training camp, he’ll also have a new number, 22, on his jersey. It’s nothing against his old 35, which, despite a tough season for the team, saw him put together the kind of personal campaign that’s allowed him to become one of the most successful goaltenders in AHL history. Rather, it’s a chance to add a touch of personal significance.
As much as any non-pro athlete can ever be identified with a certain number, 22 belonged to MacIntyre’s uncle, Wayne McLennan.
“It was an obvious thing – it was his thing,” said MacIntyre. “Whenever you thought of that number, you thought of him.
“I’ve always been close to his family, and he and my mom were kind of inseparable growing up. He was really into my hockey – every time he’d come over we’d go into the basement and I’d show him all my equipment and he’d want to know what equipment I got. He was a really special guy.”
When MacIntyre was in his early teens back home on Prince Edward Island, McLennan died suddenly of a previously undiagnosed heart condition. In remembrance of his uncle, MacIntyre quickly began wearing 22 while playing baseball, a gesture that moved his mother to tears.
Since then, 22 has had a way of following the family in too many ways for MacIntyre to even list, though one stands out. He has an arrangement in which his aunt, McLennan’s widow, lives in and takes care of their home while the MacIntyres are away during hockey season. The number of that house is, of course, 22.
“When she saw it, she freaked out,” said MacIntyre of his aunt. “It’s not just that it’s our house, but she lives in it probably more than we live in it. It feels like whenever we see it that he’s watching over us.”
Prior to this season, the only time MacIntyre’s been able to wear 22 over his 13-season, 13-team career was at last winter’s brief appearance for Team Canada at the annual Spengler Cup tournament in Switzerland. A few factors have always prevented him from being able to make it his own for longer than that.
First, there’s the fact that he rarely gets to choose his own number. It’s a privilege usually reserved for returning players, something he has not been able to call himself with any kind of regularity over the years. Now back with Charlotte thanks to a new contract signed over the summer, he was able to pull a few strings.
There’s also the fact that it’s not a number usually associated with goalies, who most often wear No. 1 or something in the early-to-mid 30s.
“I know it’s not a typical goalie number, but you kind of get sick of typical goalie numbers,” he said.
Finally, the number has to be available. Jared Staal’s apparent departure created an opening – at least until Jared Staal signed a tryout agreement to return to Charlotte on the eve of training camp. MacIntyre said he felt bad about that but also received assurances from Staal that the latter had no attachment whatsoever to a number that he received on a more or less random basis back in 2010.
It’s been a long wait for the opportunity, but the payoff is something that he and his family appreciate. This time, it was his aunt who began to cry when he told her about the change earlier this summer.
“I try not to be superstitious and I usually don’t put a lot into numbers, but we feel like this means something to us,” he said.
