from Shanda Deziel of Maclean's,

Jordan Sigalet played a total of 43 seconds in the NHL, and he has vivid memories of it.

On Jan. 7, 2006, the Boston Bruins were hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning and had called Sigalet up from the farm team to back up their main goalie, Andrew Raycroft. As had happened a few times before in Boston, Sigalet spent the night freezing cold, sitting on the bench. Yet, in the final minute, with the Bruins up 6-3, Raycroft sprained his ankle and couldn’t finish the game. Sigalet was given the nod. “I played 43 seconds and I didn’t even see a shot, but what an awesome experience,” says the New Westminster, B.C., native. “You can’t believe you’re hopping over the boards in front of 18,000 people in the Boston Gardens—a dream come true, especially after being told you might never play again.”

Three years earlier, when Sigalet was a junior at Bowling Green State University in Ohio (and had already been drafted by Boston), he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system. The promising goalie was told by doctors he likely wouldn’t be able to play hockey—after all, heat and stress are known to trigger MS episodes, and the disease’s symptoms of numbness and blurred vision were not exactly conducive to goaltending. “When I look back,” says Sigalet, “hearing those words lit a fire under me. I wanted to prove to myself that I could play. And for anyone who didn’t believe I could, I wanted to prove them wrong.”

Sigalet defied the odds, playing three years in the American Hockey League, those 43 seconds in the NHL and one year in Europe. At 36 years old, he is entering his fourth season as head goalie coach for the Calgary Flames. In recent years, when Minnesota Wild goalie Josh Harding and Carolina Hurricanes forward Bryan Bickell announced they had been diagnosed with MS, Sigalet immediately reached out, letting them know the disease is by no means a life sentence.

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