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Edit: Drafted 59th overall by the Winnipeg Jets.
The son of “The Brick” founder Bill Comrie, and the half-brother of former NHLer Mike Comrie (aka Mr. Hillary Duff), Eric Comrie looks to keep the famous Canadian last name in the news. After seeing Comrie play 31 games last season Tri-City traded incumbent starter Ty Rimmer handing the number 1 job to Comrie this season.
He took the bull by the horns, and had a 20-14-3 record with 2 shutouts, a .915 save percentage, and a 2.62 goals against average this season. Unfortunately Comrie’s season was cut short as a hip injury suffered in January required surgery and took him out for the remainder of the year.
Comrie has some international experience as well. He was born in Newport Beach, California, but has dual citizenship and has chosen to play for Team Canada internationally. He played for Team Alberta at the 2012 Under 17 Hockey Challenge. He was also part of Team Canada’s Gold Medal winning squad at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Tournament splitting time with Zach Fucale in the net.
Goalie
Born Jul 6 1995 — Newport Beach, CA
Height 6.00 — Weight 175 — Shoots Left — Catches Left
Comrie has decent size and good technique as a hybrid goalie. He has very good lateral movement and gets side to side quickly and efficiently. He reads the play well and shows excellent puck tracking as he is rarely caught out of position. His quick legs do a great job of taking away the bottom of the net. He also has a very quick glove hand which helps him to take away the top portions.
Comrie plays a very aggressive style and comes out far to cut down angles and take away net from shooters. He has excellent backwards skating which allows him to do this and recover if a forward tries to deke him to the net. Like many young goalies, he does need work on his rebound control and this is the biggest issue in his game today. He does show the ability to recover quickly and square up to rebounds which does help him recover quickly, however the rebound control must also still improve.
Comrie has real high end potential. He could become a starting goalie in the NHL if he reaches his ceiling. He will need time at the minor league level though and is a good pick for a team looking to build organizational depth amongst their goalies. His style is similar to Semyon Varlamov, but this is just a stylistic comparison and not one based on potential.
Don’t forget to check back tomorrow where we will have our next prospect.
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Photo Credit: Whl.ca
