It took almost 10 weeks and generated hundreds of thousands of page views to go along with thousands of Instagram votes and even more social-media engagements. Many young hockey players got extra exposure and recognition as 32 goalies faced off to see who which one of them made the stop that would ultimately be deemed the MYHockey Rankings Save of the Year. 

And after all that, we have our winner.

Congratulations to Ty Imbeau, whose desperation, flailing glove save was voted as the Save of the Year for the 2022-23 season by MHR’s social media community last week.

On the winning save, Imbeau initially stops a bad-angle shot but the puck rebounds across to the opposite side of the slot, creating a seemingly wide-open scoring opportunity for the opposing team. Imbeau doesn’t quit on the play, however, scrambling across and diving to protect the cage while snagging the shot in his catching love. The play-by-play announcer said that Imbeau looked “like a cat” as he quickly dove across the crease to shut down the scoring opportunity.

Imbeau played for Nickel City Sons U13 team in Ontario last season. He defeated a buzzer-beating glove save by Gray Carter of Arizona-based Jr. Coyotes 8U in the finals.

On his save, Carter is left on-one-one against an opposing player as the clock ticks down toward zero. You can hear a concerned voice on the video as the shot appears to be ticketed for the net low on Carter’s glove side, but he reaches back and snags the biscuit as the buzzer sounds on the video clip. 

More than 900 votes were recorded for the finals, with the outcome being decided by just 30 votes, 485-455. That was the most votes entered for any of the contest’s 31 matchups.

Imbeau’s acrobatic glove save can be viewed by clicking here. Both finalist’s saves can be seen by clicking here.

Imbeau advanced to the championship by defeating Cy McCrink of the Richmond Generals USPHL Elite junior team in the semifinals, capturing 58 percent of the votes to win by a 283-241 margin. McCrink got to the semis thanks to a save in which he slides across the crease to stop a two-on-zero break, thwarting the one-timer with the butt end of his stick as the force of the shot knocks the stick from his hands and sends it flying behind the net.

Imbeau upset one of the top seeds, Cecilia Wielenberg of Team Illinois 14U, 53 percent to 47 percent in the second round, and went on to beat Arizona Bobcat 10U Brayden Barnes, 64-36, in the quarters. He defeated Ryan Calabrese of Pens Elite, 55-45, in Round 1.

The youngest player in the field, Carter defeated Andrew Barron of the Woodbridge Wolfpack, 56-44, in the first round; Marco Nagy of Little Flyers 15U, 52-48, in Round 2; and Teagan Brown of Belle Tire 19U, 57-53, in the quarterfinals.

The inaugural MHR Save of the Year Contest featured saves that either earned MHR Play of the Week recognition or were Play of the Week finalists or semifinalists during 2022-23 hockey season. A handful of “wildcard” entries submitted after the season were added to round out the field of 32 before the contest began in early June.

MHR’s 2023-24 season officially begins Aug. 15. The first set of rankings will be posted no earlier than Sept. 20. Any sanctioned games played after Aug. 15 can be submitted to MHR’s system to count toward a team’s ’23-24 ranking.