David Ayres will never forget it. The Toronto Maple Leafs will never escape it.

It a year ago today that the Carolina Hurricanes overwhelmed the Leafs by a score of 6-3 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena with Ayres, a 42-year-old emergency goaltender (and sometime Zamboni-driver), stepping in to make eight saves and earn the win and secure the win after the Hurricanes lost regular netminders James Reimer and Petr Mrazek to injury.

Born in Whitby, Ontario, Ayres, who underwent a kidney transplant in 2004, was a great story at the time, and still is: Luke Fox has a worthwhile catch-up q-and-a with him here at Sportsnet.

Last year, in the heady days following his one-and-only NHL win (to date), Ayres took a well-deserved victory lap, back when those were still possible, stopping in to visit Stephen Colbert’s Late Show in New York before continuing on to Raleigh, where he was fêted on David Ayres Day and declared an honorary North Carolinian by Governor Roy Cooper.