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The Montreal Canadiens altered their coaching staff in late February and early March, first gassing coaches Claude Julien and Kirk Muller and then tying the can to goalie coach Stéphane Waite.
Waite, who had been with the Habs since 2013, is a central figure in one of those ” what if ” scenarios as it pertains to the Owen Sound Attack..
In 2016-17 Michael McNiven won 41 games for the Attack and captured both the Ontario Hockey League and Canadian Hockey League Goaltender of the Year Awards.
There was some speculation, make that eager anticipation in local circles, that McNiven would return to Owen Sound for an overage year and backstop essentially the same roster that had been to the OHL Final Four in 2017.
The Canadiens who had signed the undrafted McNiven in 2015 had other ideas and among the reported proponents of having McNiven play pro rather than return to the Attack was Montreal’s goalie coach Stéphane Waite.
In 2017-18, the Attack scrambled and juggled their netminders, eventually going to Game 7 of a second round series with Sault Ste Marie relying on underage Mack Guzda.
That same year, McNiven appeared in 25 games for Laval in the American Hockey League and languished at length playing just 4 games in the ECHL for the Brampton Beast.
With Michael McNiven in goal for the Attack, would Owen Sound have won one more game in the series with the Greyhounds ?
And with McNiven in goal, would Owen Sound also have conquered Kitchener and Hamilton further down the road ?
And is Stephane Waite the central figure in all of this conjecture ?
We’ll never know, which is the frustrating aspect of playing ” What If ? “