Kings goalie is first native Japanese player in the NHL

Sometimes you never know.

When Los Angeles Kings coach Marc Crawford put goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji in to start the third period of a game at St. Louis Jan. 13, he wasn’t trying to make history by playing the first native Japanese player into a NHL game. He was just trying to win a game.

"We had a power play to start the third period and I wanted to try to change things up, give the team a lift," he said of replacing Barry Brust to start the third period, trailing the Blues, 5-4. "He made a great save on Eric Brewer on what looked like a sure goal (5:18 into the third period), I thought, ‘This could be the lift we need to win the game.’ "

In the end, Fukufuji stopped four of five shots in the third period of a 6-5 loss to the Blues.

But ...

"You know, I’ve seen a lot of players who suddenly got a chance turn into pretty good NHL players," Crawford said. "Sometimes you never know."

"I was really nervous," Fukufuji said. "But when the coach came to me during the second intermission, he said, ‘Have fun. Don’t be nervous.’ That helped."

Playing in an NHL game and stopping four of five shots doesn’t an NHL player make, but it’s nice to dream that some day a Tokyo-born player might become a hockey star, don’t you think?
Especially on a team like the Kings who continue to get a great all-round effort, but are let down by one or two soft goals winding up in the back of their net -- whether its veterans Daniel Cloutier or Mathieu Garon or Brust in the goal crease.

And wouldn’t this make for a great story?

Fukufuji was an eighth-round pick, 238th overall, in the 2004 Entry Draft. That was just seven picks from the end of the draft that year ... and here he is in the NHL.
Hockey in Japan? I remember way back, when Edmonton Oilers’ defenseman Randy Gregg played over there. Ditto for Darryl Sutter. That was in the 1980s.

"I grew up in a town named Kushiro in Kokkaido," the 6-foot-1, 180-pound goalie said. "It’s not much different from most small Canadian towns. Cold and lots of snow and ice to skate on.
"I started playing when I was about 9, because a lot of my friends played hockey. I’m not sure why I was the goalie, probably because no one else wanted to."

He laughed a little at the thought.

The next question seemed obvious: What did you know about the NHL?
"Not much," he said. "I didn’t see my first game until I was 15. I remember seeing Martin Brodeur in the Stanley Cup Final."

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, eh? If he saw Brodeur in the finals, it was probably 1995. That would have made Yutaka nearly 13. But there’s no harm, no foul.
Fukufuji never really thought about playing in the NHL, until the Kings picked him in the draft.
"I remember I was playing for Japan in the national championships in the Czech Republic when the Kings called to tell me they had drafted me," he said. "I really didn’t know what to think. It’s not like I had anyone in my family, in my town, in my country who could know what I was feeling ... the pride I had at that moment."

Crawford said he didn’t want to play down the importance of his team having the first native Japanese player to play in the NHL.

"We’ve seen so much global growth in hockey and in some countries you might not normally associate with hockey," Crawford said. "Look at Anze Kopitar. He’s the first NHL player from Slovenia -- and some might say he’s the best rookie in the NHL this season. It’s amazing to think how the sport has grown throughout the world over the last decade or two. Maybe there will be other Japanese players now, because of what Yutaka has done."

Sometimes you never know.

"He gave us a chance to win with a couple of saves he made in the third period," said Kings defenseman Rob Blake.

Yutaka Fukufuji had a 27-9-5 record with a 2.48 goals-against average for Bakersfield of the ECHL 2004-05. The next season, he started in Reading (ECHL) with a 15-9-4 record and 2.91 GAA and finished the season in the American Hockey League with Manchester, where he was 1-1. Before Cloutier and Garon was injured earlier this past week, Fukufuji had a 3-3 record at Reading and was 2-0 with a 1.30 GAA and a .954 save percentage at Manchester.

Not too shabby.

"It’s no secret we’ve struggled with our goaltending this season and we’ve gone through some adversity of late. Yutaka might get another chance to show us what he can do ... and who knows?" Crawford added. "Every team he’s played for has raved about what a great kid he is and how well he has played for them."

Yutaka Fukufuji has already made history once. Why not again? --