BINGHAMTON -- Chris Holt certainly knows the numbers, that when everyone is healthy, he's one of three Binghamton Senators goaltenders battling for two roster spots.
He knows the situation, having clawed his way up from the ECHL, to the AHL, to the NHL in each of his first four pro seasons.
He knows that hour-long drive down Route 17 to Elmira. And Saturday, as he prepared to make his B-Sens debut, he was well aware of his margin for error.
"You always have something to prove when you come back," said Holt, who opened his season with the ECHL's Elmira Jackals after being reassigned from Binghamton's training camp. "I mean, any time you get sent away, you're at the bottom of the totem pole, and you've got to grind your way up ... based on performance only.
"When you get here, and there's two goalies that have been here for 15 games, any opportunity I get, I don't have any room for a bad performance. I mean, my opportunities are very numbered. That's the way it's been my whole career, and I've been fortunate enough to always be able to rise to the occasion when a big opportunity is presented to me. And it's nice to be able to keep doing that."
Holt dazzled in his debut Saturday, stopping all 27 shots he faced to help the B-Sens blank the visiting Rochester Americans, who arrived boasting the American Hockey League's best record and its most potent offense.
Binghamton's shorthanded defense rolled out the welcome mat, holding the visiting Amerks to five first-period shots and just 15 through the first 40 minutes. But Holt was strong in his own right too.
"I think he played really well technically," B-Sens coach Don Nachbaur said. "Didn't give up many second chances. The good scoring chances that they had, he made good saves on. And gave us the confidence that we needed to win the hockey game."
The opportunity arose in fluky fashion last week, when Ottawa goaltender Pascal Leclaire suffered a fractured cheekbone after getting hit with a puck as he sat on the team bench. Mike Brodeur was beckoned from Binghamton to fill in for Leclaire, who is expected to be out for at least another three weeks.
And whereas last season, the B-Sens struggled at times after all-star goalie Brian Elliott was recalled to Ottawa, their increased depth is now on display. The team has received shutouts from three different goalies thus far, with two of those -- from Andy Chiodo and Holt -- coming over the past three games.
Moving forward, Nachbaur said playing time will be "up to them," and that it boiled down simply to: "If you play well, you deserve to go back in the net."
Asked then if it was fair to deduce Holt would start Friday night at home against Syracuse, Nachbaur added: "It's too early to say that. He played well on Saturday, but a lot can happen in a week. I mean, if he's on top of his game all week, absolutely he'd go back in the net. But it's all based on how you practice and how you are from day to day.
"That's what I want to see. I want to see consistency, not just in (goaltending), but in every position."
After posting a 1.73 goals-against average in 20 games with the AHL's Peoria Rivermen last season, and after logging a game with the NHL's St. Louis Blues last February, Holt opened this season with Elmira and promptly won his first four starts with the Jackals.
When the team began to struggle a bit last month, one of the things he found was that he was getting a bit too far out of his net.
"I'm not a goalie that is very comfortable being overly aggressive," he said. "So I just tried to focus on staying a little bit deeper, and giving myself short distances to move if there were rebounds or anything like that. And fortunately, there weren't many rebounds (Saturday)."
As he spoke Tuesday morning, Holt stood outside the home dressing room at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. Another practice had ended; another chapter was just getting started.
And for a moment, he reflected back on that drive west to Elmira at the tail end of training camp.
"I was disappointed," he said. "I thought about how I'd performed in training camp here, and I thought about how I'd performed last season. It was very discouraging. I mean, I felt like over the past three years I'd done more than enough to further my career as to where I'd stood with organizations. And I just kind of felt like I wasn't getting anywhere.
"But I didn't quit. I kept a positive attitude, and I worked hard down there, and I played well. And now I'm fortunate enough -- although it's through unfortunate circumstances -- I'm fortunate to get an opportunity here to play now."
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Holt hopes to hold on to Binghamton Senators job | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin
Holt hopes to hold on to Binghamton Senators job
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