IN THE PROS NEWS NOTES NOTEBOOK Special Events MONCTONIAN MAJOR MONCTONIAN MINOR HCARC HOCKEY CALENDAR GATINEAU CHOWDER CUP IN THE PROS HALIFAX SHOWCASE BRANCHES CHALLENGE CUP CANADA GAMES POND HOCKEY HOCKEY SCHOOLS IN THE NCAA TELUS CUP NEW MJAHL DRAFT MISC. QMJHL ENTRY DRAFT ESSO CUP PREP SCHOOLS Contact :News Contact :Results Contact :Comments fax: (506) 386-5879 call: 1-888-917-7070

Back to News LABRADOR'S LACOSTA EARNS FIRST NHL SHUTOUT COLUMBUS, OH, February 10, 2009 -Last week, Labrador City’s Dan LaCosta was toiling in the minors and waiting for a chance. He caught a break and has become a top star in an National Hockey League game twice in four days. LaCosta made 31 saves - including a toe stop on Marek Svatos with seconds remaining - for his first career shutout in his second NHL start as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 Tuesday night. "There was absolutely no way I would have thought I’d even be up here, let alone playing a couple games and doing well," said LaCosta, who won his first start Saturday, a 3-2 overtime decision over Western-Conference leading San Jose. "It’s just a pretty surreal feeling right now." LaCosta got the nod again because rookie Steve Mason was out due to mononucleosis, and regular backup Wade Dubielewicz had the flu. Mason might return Friday against Detroit. Andrew Murray, Jason Williams and Fredrik Modin scored third-period goals and Jan Hejda added two assists for Columbus, which swept the season series (4-0) from the Avalanche for the first time. "Everybody is so excited for him," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said of LaCosta, an emergency recall from the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch on Friday. "He played solid again. He’s a big guy that moves around the net really well. I thought he looked better than he did the last game." "The team did a great job in front of me," LaCosta said. "Most of the stuff was perimeter stuff tonight." Lacosta played one season for Wellington Dukes in the Ontario Provincial Hockey Leage with the Wellington Dukes before playing four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with Owen Sound Attack and Barrie Colts. He then shared two seasons between the Crunch in the AHL and teams in the ECHL. This season the 23 year-old has played 1905 minutes in front of the Crunch cage and has accumulated a 2.58 goals against average and .917 save percentage. With the Blue jackets he has played 156 minutes in three games and has amassed a 1.54 g.a.a. and .950 save percentage. Prior to going off to play junior he played in the Newfoundland & Labrador Midget AAA Hockey League with the Labrador Huskies in 2000-2001 season. He also played for the province in 2002 Canada Winter Games was a member of the NL Under 15 team twice (once as an underager) and the under 16 team. Atlantic Canadian goaltending trainer Peter White of St. John’s coached him at that point. He was drafted in the first round of the 2002 OHL draft for the Owen Sound Attack. He was 6th overall and the first goalie picked. Notes: The Blue Jackets are 12-7-1 in their past 20 games and 12-4 in their last 16 home games. ... It was the first in a stretch of nine of 11 on the road for Colorado. ... Columbus improved to 8-22-2 against the Avalanche. The Blue Jackets have won six of seven.