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While Kelly Guard’s name is rarely mentioned with the likes of Marc-Andre Fleury or other top goaltending prospects to have come out of the Canadian Hockey League recently, no goalie can match his statistics from junior hockey. He went into training camp with the Kelowna Rockets in 2002 simply hoping to make some noise. The most he could have expected was to hang on as a backup goaltender.

Guard got off to a strong start, and finished the 2002-03 season as the team’s starting goaltender. The Rockets were no cellar dweller either, and Guard’s numbers prove it. Over the course of the regular season, he put up 39 wins, with only 10 losses along the way. Not only that, but his goals against average of 1.93 set a CHL record. These were amazing numbers coming from anybody, especially a 19-year-old rookie.

Naturally, when a player comes out of the blue and has an amazing and surprising season, the critics will ask for a repeat before being sold on the player. Guard answered those critics in 2003-04, shattering his own goals against average record from the previous year, as he allowed a miniscule 1.56 goals per game. Perhaps more important was that his save percentage rose from .911 to .925, a sign that he could thrive even with a heavier workload and more shots. Guard just missed out on winning not only the WHL Goaltender of the Year Award, but the WHL Player of the Year Award, with Cam Ward taking both honors.

It was the Memorial Cup, though, where he really took center stage. Kelowna lacked scoring, but played exceptionally well as the host team, and of course, had Guard in goal to cover their collective back. The Rockets and their star goalie won the tournament, with Guard capturing Most Valuable Player honors, finally getting a trophy to go along with some spectacular statistics. During the tournament, Guard signed his first professional contract, with the Ottawa Senators as a free agent.

Guard attended Binghamton Senators camp this fall, but lost out to incumbent netminders Ray Emery and Billy Thompson. The Senators found a place for him with new ECHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, located in North Carolina. In Charlotte, he is playing for a former pro goaltender in Derek Wilkinson. The 30-year-old Wilkinson played in the NHL as recently as 1998-99 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and enters his first full season as Checkers Head Coach, after taking over in the middle of last year. He talked to Hockey’s Future about Guard on opening night.

“Kelly has had an unbelievable junior career, incredible numbers,” was the first thing that Wilkinson said about Guard. "He has all the tools, he just needs to begin to learn how to play pro. I think when he does, just that consistency level, he’s going to be a real good one.”

So far veteran Alex Westlund is getting most of the starts, but Guard’s playing time will only increase as the season wears on.

Wilkinson describes Guard as “a real good kid, real poised”, which of course is critical. Guard is a thick goalie who plays a strong technical game, also taking up a large portion of the net. The question about Guard, though, is his athleticism. That is where having Wilkinson as a coach will come in handy. Wilkinson was by no means a big goaltender, being only around 6’0 and a trim 160 lbs. Guard is not only an inch or two taller, but over 40 pounds heavier. The hope is that Wilkinson could help Guard on his quickness and movement.

Not only is his coach high on him, but so is the Ottawa organization. He “has the potential to be an impact goalie in the National Hockey League,” Wilkinson said. “They really have high hopes for him.”

Wilkinson knows exactly how tough it is to make it. He was never able to establish himself as a regular in the NHL, playing five years in the Tampa bay system, but never played more than eight games in the NHL. Wilkinson has hopes that his tutee will rise higher.

“He’s got a lot of work to do, a lot of developing, but from what I’ve seen I think he really can be a kid who is a blue chipper, if you can throw a term on him,” suggested Wilkinson. “He looks like the real deal."

Guard will most likely spend the majority of the season in Charlotte, unless there are significant injuries in Binghamton.

Charlotte’s main affiliation with the New York Rangers, and Wilkinson explains that “the deal with Kelly is that New York didn’t have a goalie to send us this year with Montoya and Lundqvist not here yet. Our primary affiliate is New York and that’s where our concentration lies.”

The Checkers have played five games thus far, and Guard was strong in his only start, an overtime victory in which he stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced.

Holly Gunning contributed to this article. Copyright 2004 Hockey’s Future. Do not duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.