NHL Goalie: Damian Rhodes Trivia Quiz

Answer: United States

Damian G. Rhodes was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1969. He played for the Richfield Spartans in his high school days, and then played for Michigan Tech in his college years. He saw his first NHL action in the 1990-91 season.

Answer: Toronto Maple Leafs

After being drafted by the Maple Leafs at 18 years of age, Damian Rhodes was forced to endure three seasons waiting for his big opportunity to play in the NHL. His opportunity arrived on March 22, 1991, when his team won against the Detroit Red Wings 3-1. Rhodes had 25 saves to lead his team to victory in that game. Slowly but surely, he managed to become an important part of his team.

Answer: Martin Straka

The first penalty shot Damian Rhodes faced was on November 20, 1993, against Scott Pearson of the Edmonton Oilers. Rhodes stopped that shot. The second penalty shot was on March 21, 1995, against Geoff Courtnall of the Vancouver Canucks. Like the previous, it was also a stopped shot.

His third penalty shot against occurred on April 3, 1996, the first of two against Martin Straka. The first shot was a save for Damian. The fourth penalty shot came on November 13, 1996, against Todd Marchant of the Edmonton Oilers. Like the others, it was also a save.

The fifth occurred on February 28, 1998, against Pavel Bure of the Vancouver Canucks. Bure was the first to score on Rhodes. The sixth occurred on April 11, 1998, against Dixon Ward of the Buffalo Sabres.

It was also a goal. The seventh shot fell on October 9, 1999, against Miroslav Satan of the Buffalo Sabres. It too was a goal. The eighth shot was on March 10, 2000 against New Jersey's Patrik Elias. He also scored on Damian Rhodes. The ninth penalty shot happened on March 16, 2000, against Brad Isbister of the New York Islanders. Rhodes managed to stop that shot.

The final penalty shot against Damian Rhodes occurred on January 30, 2001, against Martin Straka once again. Unlike the previous time, however, Straka managed to score on Rhodes. In the end, Damian Rhodes had five goals against and five saves on ten penalty shots.

Answer: He was the first to score in a shutout victory

On January 2, 1999, Damian's Ottawa Senators faced the New Jersey Devils. Ottawa was up 1-0 when Damian Rhodes touched the puck. The Devils took the puck from him and ended up scoring on their own empty net. Because Rhodes was the last Senator to touch the puck before the other team scored on themselves, he was credited with the goal.

The game eventually ended in a 6-0 Senators victory, making Damian the first goaltender to score in a shutout victory.

Answer: Yes

Damian Rhodes only had only 12 shutouts in his career, and he still managed to get two consecutive shutouts once. In fact, his first two career shutouts were consecutive to one another. Even though it did take him 70 games to record his first shutout, he recorded two consecutive on March 15 and March 17 of 1996.

The first game was a 2-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, and the second was a 5-0 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Damian Rhodes' reputation obviously wasn't built on his shutout ability.

Answer: None, he never won an NHL trophy in his career

Damian never won a trophy in the 1997-98 season, nor had he ever done it once in his career. His goal tending was competent but never award winning, especially since he played in the same era as Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, and Ed Belfour. Rhodes remained a largely unnoticed talent, eventually slipping away from the hockey picture after a disastrous season in 2001-02.

Answer: Butterfly

The butterfly is essentially a style that takes the goaltender down to the ice and allows them to make more pad and glove saves than with any other style. Rhodes showed that his particular butterfly style was effective until he joined the Atlanta Thrashers expansion team in the 1999-00 season. Nothing seemed to go right for him in that organization.

In 81 games with the organization, he posted a 14-48-11 record with an underwhelming 3.64 goals against average and a mediocre 0.888% save average. Those numbers led to his eventual release from the Thrashers and his eventual retirement in the 2002-03 season.

Answer: Yes

Despite rarely getting a chance to showcase himself in the playoffs, he got his opportunity against the New Jersey Devils in the 1997-98 season. Rhodes and his Ottawa Senators defeated the Devils in six games. Game one was a 2-1 OT victory, game two was a 3-1 defeat, game three was a 2-1 OT victory, game four was a 4-3 victory, game five was a 3-1 defeat, and game six was a series clinching 2-1 victory. Rhodes was given the opportunity to start against the Capitals in the next series, but lost his chance after a 4-2 loss in game one. Ron Tugnutt took over for Rhodes, but he did not fare much better in game two, so the Senators went back to Damian.

His first game back was a 4-3 victory, then followed by a 2-0 defeat, and then a series ending 3-0 defeat to the Capitals.

Answer: Dusty

"Dusty" was the nickname chosen for Damian shortly after he arrived into the NHL. His nickname originated from the fact that he isolated himself from his team, before each game. He was nicknamed "Dusty" because he was inanimate and lacking flamboyance, something that would gather dust. Before each game, he would sit in the back of the team bus and read a book, ignoring his teammates completely.

Answer: He stayed in hotels before home games and he dyed his hair blond before every game

Some of the rituals that goaltenders perform are often odd and confusing. Rhodes had two, one of which was sensible, while the other was odd. He stayed in hotels before home games, so he could get away from the distractions of his house and make it feel like he was going to a high-pressure road game.

The reason why he dyed his hair blonde before every game, was the odd one that he alone knows the reason for doing it.