On Sunday evening, Brandon Bussi lined up next to his Providence teammate Jack Ahcan and all the other AHL All-Stars, as the players were announced to the fervent crowd in Laval.
It must have been a surreal moment for the rookie netminder and certainly a mile away from his time with Western Michigan.
The former Bronco’s goaltender has enjoyed a whirlwind couple of years.
In his senior season at Western Michigan, Bussi posted a record of 26-12-1 and a .912 save percentage. Twenty-six wins was a record for the program in Western Michigan.
In March 2022, the New York Native put pen to paper on a one-year Entry-Level deal with the Boston Bruins.
No time was wasted as Bussi immediately joined Providence to being his journey in the professional game.
It was a rough start, giving up eleven goals in his first three games and winning just one of those.
However, in his fourth outing, Bussi posted a 26-save shutout against Hershey and followed that up by stopping 28 of 30 to earn a victory against Lehigh.
Despite that initial promise, the goaltending situation in Boston was such that the 24-year-old knew he was going to begin the 2022-23 campaign in the ECHL.
There are certainly worse spots to play than Maine and Bussi wasted little time in making a strong impression with the Mariners. A 3-1-0 record and .922Sv% through his four starts in October.
And then, as can happen in hockey, the cogs shifted a little in his favour to offer him a greater opportunity.
On November 02, the Boston Bruins recalled veteran netminder Keith Kinkaid.
This was in response to Jeremy Swayman exiting Boston’s game in Pittsburgh the previous evening.
Bussi was promptly reassigned to Providence to back up Kyle Keser.
Fast-forward three days and the door creaked open a little wider for Bussi.
In the first period of a game against the Thunderbirds in Springfield, Keyser injured himself while attempting to make a save.
Providence head coach Ryan Mougenel turned to Bussi, a decision which ultimately turned the season for the goaltender and the P-Bruins.
Although the rookie allowed two goals inside a minute, he shut the door the rest of the way to earn a 3-2 victory on his seasonal debut.
The next afternoon, Providence played a matinee game in Bridgeport.
Bussi blanked the Islanders, making 24 saves required for a 1-0 shutout victory.
The ensuing workload was intense but Bussi rose to the challenge.
He faced at least 39 shots in each of his next four starts, gaining back-to-back wins over Charlotte and earning Providence valuable points in extra-time losses to Lehigh Valley and Rochester.
Incredibly, Bussi has suffered just two regulation defeats so far this season.
The first was in relief of Kinkaid after twenty minutes when most of the damage had already been done.
The second was a 1-0 loss to Hershey in which the rookie turned aside 21 of 22 shots.
Bussi is ranked seventh amongst all AHL goaltenders in wins (14) despite playing at least five fewer games than his compatriots.
He leads the league in save percentage (0.934) and is tied for second in goals against average (2.19).
The Sound Beach native has an interesting style, perhaps overly aggressive and enjoys challenging shooters. As many goaltenders are now, he’s a particularly strong skater and fills the net with his 6’5″ frame.
Something he did well during the AHL Skills competition on Sunday.
Regardless of the ongoing goaltending situation in Boston moving forward, the organisation knows they have found another promising prospect that requires seasoning at the AHL level.
I mean, he is an AHL All-Star.
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