BECOMING HARD TO SWALLOW

Many Saint John Sea Dogs fans will remember Troy Passingham as the guy who always walked around Harbour Station in a suit. That would be correct for the most part with the exception of only two games.

In those two games he was anything but fabulous especially when considering the opponents in both games were the last place Moncton Wildcats. He allowed six goals and had a record of 1-1. His only action came when Robert Mayer was playing for Switzerland at the world juniors.

After leaving the team at the beginning of the 2008-09 season, he joined the Vaughan Vipers of the Ontario Junior A League. This season, he has been put into a much bigger spotlight.

After a terrific training camp with the Windsor Spitfires as a free agent invite, Passingham was given an opportunity with Windsor's number one goal Josh Unice side lined with a knee injury.

"It would have been scary," Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner told the Windsor Star about the idea of not having Passingham or Unice in the line-up.

Two weeks ago, Passingham was named OHL goalie of the week as he boasted the league's top goals-against average at 1.91, shared the league lead with three wins and was fifth in save percentage at .932.

"If it wasn't for Pass, we'd be in a lot of trouble," Boughner said.

"That was a great signing by (Spits general manager) Warren (Rychel)."

As fate would have it, the Ontario native earned his first career shutout over the London Knights. The Knights assistant coach is none other than former Sea Dogs coach and general manager Jacques Beaulieu.

For all the great moves by the former general manager, this one is hard to swallow for Sea Dogs fans after watching ten games of "average" goaltending. Passingham has a record of 5-1-1 with a GAA of 2.09 and a save percentage of 0.928.

In comparison, Sea Dogs goalie Marc-Antoine Gelinas has a record of 3-2, a 3.57 GAA, and a save percentage of 0.891. Karel St. Laurent has a record of 3-1-1 with a 3.80 GAA and a 0.884 save percentage.

How far will Passingham take the Spitfires? Who knows. But it appears it will be farther than Saint John.

HERE is story in the Windsor Star about Passingham.

HERE is the Canadian Press story about his first shutout.