The crowd at the Bell Centre today will roar for one of its own, the hometown kid who made it big in the NHL and brought the Stanley Cup back to Montreal -- though only for a visit -- in the summer of 2007.
But when the starters are announced for today's All-Star game and Jean-Sebastien Giguere's name is called for the West, the Ducks' goaltender will be looking for someone who is not there, listening for a voice that was silenced too soon.
Giguere's father, Claude, who bought the second-hand gear that launched his youngest son's hockey career, died on Dec. 15 after valiantly fighting cancer that began in his colon and spread throughout his body. Claude rallied after J.S. visited him in late November but the disease won out before he could see his son's All-Star moment.
"But I know he's going to be there, somewhere, watching," Giguere said. "He's no stranger to me being there, too, I think. You've got to believe that he'll be there."
Giguere deserves that much comfort during a season that ranks among his most puzzling and least successful.
He has struggled to make basic saves on shots he once snared quickly and cleanly, goals that can't completely be blamed on the piecemeal defense the Ducks have had to cobble together after they traded Sean O'Donnell to the Kings and lost Francois Beauchemin to a knee injury.
Giguere, 31, has earned only one victory in his last nine appearances and has been yanked twice in that span. His most recent early exit occurred less than 15 minutes into the Ducks' 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders in their final game before the All-Star break, after he gave up two goals on seven shots.
He was angry when he returned to the bench, and rightly so. The loss left the Ducks clinging to eighth place in the West, and though they're not as speedy or solid defensively as they were two seasons ago they should be better than a fringe playoff team.
Giguere, too, should be better than 12-12-4 with a 3.04 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.
"I'm not super satisfied with the way I'm playing. I'm not feeling super confident when I'm out there," he said. "I'm second-guessing myself sometimes, which is not good as an athlete. You don't want to go out there and be thinking and be on your heels. You want to be reacting, square and confident that you'll make that save on anything that's thrown at you.
