Mucha ado about something

By MARK HUNTER
Kamloops Daily News
Kurtis Mucha has been in the WHL for so long, his first start ended in a tie.
Does anyone remember ties?
Mucha, the Kamloops Blazers’ 20-year-old goaltender, will be honoured before tonight’s game against the Chilliwack Bruins (7 o’clock, Interior Savings Centre) after breaking the WHL career record for minutes played during Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the host Portland Winterhawks.
The Sherwood Park, Alta., native has played 12,775 minutes in the WHL, more than any other player. All but 811 of those minutes came in a Winterhawks uniform, before Portland traded him to Kamloops on Nov. 22 for a fourth-round 2010 bantam draft pick.
That is a lot of minutes — to put it in perspective, it amounts to 212 hours, or nearly nine whole days.
“I haven’t had the most successful career, in terms of wins and losses,” said Mucha, who is likely to get the start tonight. “But, at the end of my career, I can look back and say that I played in the league for five years and that’s something I can be proud of.”
Mucha made his first start, as a 15-year-old call-up, on Jan. 14, 2005. His 33 saves helped preserve Portland’s 4-4 tie with the host Moose Jaw Warriors.
It is the lone draw on his record — he is 69-127-5-9, plus the tie, with nine shutouts.
After the game in Moose Jaw, he had to get on the bus and make a 10-hour journey to Cranbrook, where he started against the Kootenay Ice the next night.
“I remember, I slept in my suit — I didn’t pack a track suit or anything,” he said. “I didn’t really know what to do . . . I didn’t have a pillow. It sucked.”
He again stopped 33 of 37 shots in a 5-2 loss in Cranbrook — Kootenay’s Dale Mahovsky scored into an empty net — and was sent home shortly after.
Mucha even stoned Kootenay sniper Nigel Dawes, who was in the middle of a 50-goal campaign.
“I remember making a breakaway save on Nigel Dawes, a glove save,” Mucha said. “That was pretty cool.”
Now into his fifth season, Mucha is closing in on two more WHL records. The first is games played — he’s at 228, five back of Kyle Moir, who played for the Swift Current Broncos from 2002-07. Moir also held the minutes-played record, before Mucha broke it.
Mucha also is second in career saves, but it will be a tall task to break former Seattle Thunderbirds goaltender Danny Lorenz’s record of 6,958. Mucha currently is 510 behind Lorenz, at 6,448, with 23 games remaining in the regular season.
“I don’t want to (break that record),” said Mucha, with a laugh. “I don’t want that many shots.”
And facing lots of shots is something Mucha knows quite well, after playing four seasons for low-end Portland teams. He has taken part in 10 — count ’em, 10 — 50-plus shot games in his career, including two 60-shot games.
The most he’s faced in one game was 68, against the visiting Bruins on Nov. 24, 2007.
Mucha remembers it well.
“We won 4-3 and I made 65 saves,” he said. “(The Bruins) had 32 shots in the third period, and our team had 30 all game. It was a crazy game.”
Despite five years in the WHL, it isn’t hard for Mucha to find a favourite memory. It’s his lone playoff appearance, in 2006, when Mucha, as a 16-year-old, backstopped Portland into the second round, where it lost to the Vancouver Giants in five games.
Portland beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-3 in overtime of Game 7 of Round 1, before Mucha made 41 saves in a 1-0 victory over the Giants in Game 1 of the second round. Vancouver, which went on to win the WHL championship, outshot Portland 41-13 in the game.
Mucha also had a 46-save effort in Game 5, which Vancouver won, 2-0. He faced 198 shots over the five games.
“The playoffs were so fun, and I really miss the playoff hockey and the atmosphere,” he said. “It looks like we should be able to get back there this year, and hopefully we’ll get a few wins.”

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca