The Washington Capitals have loaned Zach Fucale to South Carolina.
The Washington Capitals loaned prospect goaltender Zach Fucale to the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL, the team announced yesterday. The 25 year old had a record of 10-8-4 with a 2.36 goals against average and a .928 save percentage in 24 games with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL in 2019-20.
Fucale is listed at six foot two and 187 pounds. He also appeared in one game with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL where he stopped 12 of the 15 shots that he faced. The Laval, Quebec native won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2019 Spengler Cup. He went 3-0 with a 0.33 goals against average and a .986 save percentage.
Fucale was a brick wall and had two straight shutouts including in the gold medal game and was named to the tournament’s all star goaltender.
In 2018-19 he played with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves going 1-3-0 with a 2.51 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. He has played in a nice 69 games in the AHL between the St. John’s Icecaps, the Laval Rocket, Chicago, and Syracuse. His record is 28-32-6 with two shutouts, a 3.99 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.
Fucale also played in 111 career games in the ECHL with the Brampton Beat, the Fort Wayne Komets and Orlando. His record is 57-32-11 with eight shutouts, a 2.97 goals against average and a .904 save percentage. He was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round at 36th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft.
The Caps had signed him back in the summer in August from EHC Muchen. He’s another great goaltender in the Caps prospect system. The Caps have loaned several prospects overseas already so they can get some playing time in the middle of the novel coronavirus pandemic. This is their first prospect loan to take place within North America.
The Stingrays defeated the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in an exhibition game before the season with a final score of 6-3. They will open the season tonight at home against that same Swamp Rabbits team. It is unknown whether or not Fucale will get the start in goal.
Puck drop for their game is at 7:05 p.m. The NHL and AHL hope to get their seasons underway soon. The NHL is looking at a Jan. 13th start date while the AHL is looking at February. Training camp should begin on January 3rd for the Caps while non playoff teams will get started a little earlier.