Career is Lagace's biggest save
Goaltender has made most of unexpected opportunity with Stars.
CEDAR PARK — If you flip through the Texas Stars’ team program for the 2015-16 season, you’ll notice that Maxime Lagace is missing.
Every other player on the current roster pops up with a bio and a head shot. But Lagace and his instantly recognizable long hair — his “flow,” he calls it — are absent.
That’s how far off the radar Lagace was at the time the Stars communication staff finalized the team program in late September. To be fair, almost everyone had written off the 22-year-old goaltender.
Before the season started, Jack Campbell and John Muse were expected to carry the load in net for Texas while Lagace was expected to be a backup with the Idaho Steelheads of
the ECHL.
An injury to Campbell during training camp, though, opened a spot on the Stars’ roster. Lagace grabbed it, and now he’s started seven games for Texas and posted a 2.60 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. He leads all AHL rookie goalies in wins (four) and games played while ranking fifth in save percentage.
“He has an ‘it’ factor about him,” Mike Valley, the Dallas Stars’ director of goalie development, said.
Lagace’s play has created a “good problem” for Texas Stars coach Derek Laxdal. With Campbell expected to be cleared to play Wednesday against San Antonio after recovering from an upper body injury, Texas will have three more than capable goalies when only one can play. Laxdal said Tuesday that Campbell is the No. 1 option while Lagace and Muse will battle for the second spot.
“It doesn’t change anything for me,” Lagace said. “We’re all focused on our game. It’s the only thing I have control of. All I want to show is I can still get better.”
Dealing with adversity has become the norm for Lagace over the past two seasons. In his final season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, he played for three teams. Twice he was traded, and he appeared in only 24 games, winning just six.
His first year of pro hockey didn’t go much better. He was supposed to start the year with Idaho but was designated as the third-string goalie behind Olivier Roy and Henri Kiviaho.
Lagace was then sent to the Missouri Mavericks of the ECHL and struggled, prompting Missouri to find another goalie. Lagace was recalled by Texas, where was a practice goalie for a month. The Stars finally found him a home with the Bakersfield Condors in the ECHL, where he played in 13 games and started to find his groove.
The 2014-15 season could have been the death of Lagace’s career since he was an undrafted, underperforming goalie, but he still had another year on his entry-level contract with Dallas, and this summer, he was determined to revive his career while working with his goalie coach, Olivier Michaud, in Quebec.
“Attitude is probably 100 percent the thing you have to be focusing on,” Lagace said. “When things are going bad, you can’t get down. And when things are going great, you can’t get too high.”
The 22-year-old is in his own world during a game. He focuses on the next shot, and he uses breathing techniques to sharpen his mind. Before stepping onto the ice and during stoppages in play, he takes three deep breaths.
“Let the stress go out,” Lagace said. “Then after, to catch the energy back, take a slow, deep breath.”
Lagace’s family has been reveling in his success. His father, Gill, is a former goalie who talks shop with his son regularly. His grandparents, whose names are written on his mask, watch every game from their home in Quebec.
“It’s awesome,” Lagace said. “I get texts from them after every game. That support really means a lot to me.”