From his seat in the Bell Centre eight years ago, Samuel Meloche began studying the craft of goaltending and developing a special appreciation for Carey Price’s talent. Watching the Montreal Canadiens star move around the crease fascinated the youngster.
Price, who won the Hart and Vezina trophies in 2014-15, possessed athleticism and a special calmness in his game. Meloche wanted to be like him.
“I just fell in love with his game,” the Buffalo Sabres prospect told the Times Herald. “I wanted to just become a goalie.”
Meloche, having won 38 total games for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies as a 17-year-old rookie last season, has morphed into one of junior hockey’s top netminders.
The composure he displays reminds Huskies goalie coach Dany Sabourin, who played parts of five seasons in the NHL, of Meloche’s idol.
“If I would say one goalie that I can compare, that would be Carey Price, how calm he is,” Sabourin said.
As chaos erupts around him, Meloche, a fourth-round pick on June 28, becomes the eye of the storm, deftly turning away pucks.
Sabourin said 6-foot-2, 190-pound Meloche is “a very calm person.”
“So he’s the same way in the net, very calm,” he said.
But other aspects of Meloche’s game resemble Price’s.
“He’s a very athletic goalie, can go outside of his technical systems when he has to,” Sabourin said. “But he’s a very calm goalie where he makes saves look very easy sometimes because he’s very smooth.”
Seamus Kotyk, Buffalo’s goalie development coach, said Meloche’s mobility, size and the heavy workload he handled impressed the Sabres, who drafted him 116th overall.
Meloche wasn’t expected to play much last season as the Huskies’ backup. Then Kyle Hagen, their 19-year-old goalie, was injured in training camp, thrusting Meloche into action for the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League club.
He seized his opportunity, starting the first nine games.
“It allowed me to adjust my game to the speed of the Q, and then after that, I felt more and more comfortable of the speed, and then I just built my confidence out beside that,” Meloche said of his early string of games.
When Hagen returned, Meloche kept the starting job. Despite his limited experience, the Huskies kept utilizing him as he adapted to the rigors of the long and often grueling season.
“We decided to keep Sam as the No. 1 because he deserved it with the way he was acting on and off the ice, and just being very mature, because it’s not easy at that age to deal with all those kind of situations,” Sabourin said. “Going on the road, playing two games in two nights, travel again, playing on Sunday.
“But he was able to deal with that and all kind of different situations.”
Meloche handled those situations so well he registered a 30-14-6 record with a 2.90 goals-against average, a .900 save percentage and five shutouts in 51 regular-season games.
“He grew all year,” Sabourin said. “He’s got that growth mindset where he’s able to learn and he learns different ways. He’s a very good student of the game.”
Meloche dazzled in the playoffs, backstopping the Huskies to two series victories while compiling a 2.06 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
Playing 13 high-stakes games helped buoy his development.
“He was very good for us in the playoffs,” Sabourin said. “I’m so glad that he had to go through all of this (at) 17 years old, because that’s how you grow.”
Meloche, who turned 18 on July 22, is one of five goalie prospects in the Sabres’ pipeline. They also drafted Evgeny Prokhorov in the seventh round this year, 199th overall.
The Russian will play the upcoming season with Dinamo Minsk in the Kontinental Hockey League, according to EliteProspects.com.
Topias Leinonen and Scott Ratzlaff are expected to compete for playing time with the Rochester Americans. Meanwhile, Ryerson Leenders, a seventh-round selection in 2024, will play for the Ontario Hockey League’s Brantford Bulldogs.
Meloche simply wants to worry about himself.
“There’s a couple good goalies over there,” he said. “But for me, (it’s) just focusing on my development and not comparing too much to others, because if I continue to play, progress as I was last year, there’s a chance that I can play in the AHL and even in the NHL.”