Jason LaBarberaStanding at a formidable 6’3 and weighing in at 224 pounds, Jason LaBarbera has an easy time filling his net while on guard for the Los Angeles Kings. Born in Prince George, B.C on January 18, 1980, LaBarbera played his junior career with the Portland Winterhawks and the Spokane Chiefs. Drafted by the LA Kings in the third round of the 1998 NHL draft LaBarbera was the 66th pick overall. A Metallica fan, LaBarbera has all four band members painted on his mask, perhaps for inspiration. An all around athlete, Jason enjoys lacrosse and baseball and has been seen kicking a soccer ball around to warm up before games. His hockey idols are Wayne Gretsky and Kirk Muller. Jason was named to the Western Hockey League’s All-Star Team for the 1999-2000 season, but unfortunately was replaced due to an injury. In 2000, Rick Carpiniello of The Hockey News Future watch said that LaBarbera is "A talented well-built stopper who needs to be pushed to get his work level up." This comment rang true when in 2001 LaBarbera’s bad luck continued. On April 6, while playing for the Charlotte Checkers, a pulled LaBarbera threw his stick down the tunnel leading to his club’s dressing room, where it bounced and hit a fan. This display of temper earned LaBarbera an eighteen game suspension by the East Coast Hockey League. His first NHL action was for the New York Rangers in the 2000-2001 season when he was put in the game in relief of Kirk McLean. LaBarbera walked away with two saves in ten minutes of play in a 8-6 loss to Pittsburgh Penguins. In the 2003-2004 season, LaBarbera played for the American Hockey League All-Star team. This season continued to be an important one for Jason’s career as he went on to win the Baz Bastien Award for the AHL top goaltender and the Les Cunningham Award for the AHL MVP. LaBarbera also went on to set the AHL record for the most shutouts in a regular season, beating the previous record of nine by one. Jason experienced more NHL play when after having an impressive season with the Hartford Wolf Pack (the Rangers AHL affiliate), he was called up to play four games for the Rangers. LaBarbera went 1-2-0 with a 4.85 GAA and a .824 save percentage. His lone win for the NHL was a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on March 5, 2004. In September of 2004, he was re-signed by the Rangers and one year later, he was signed again with the Hartford Wolf Pack with whom he played for two years. In the 2004-2005 season, Jason shared the AHL Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Trophy award (fewest goals against) with Stephen Valiquette. Jason was finally signed a two-year contract as an unrestricted free agent for the Los Angeles Kings on August 2, 2006. He left the team in November for undisclosed family reasons but returned to spend his first full season backing up the Kings starting goalie Mathieu Garon. The Sports Forecaster printed an article about LaBarbera noting that, "LaBarbera has been the best goaltender in the AHL since 2003-04, but the Rangers’ depth in young netminders led to a move to Los Angeles. LaBarbera could battle Mathieu Garon for the No. 1 job in 2005-06, but LaBarbera’s lack of NHL experience could hurt his chances of winning the job." Despite this forecast, LaBarbera was a star for the Kings, going undefeated in seven of his eight starts and earning his first NHL shutout on April 17, 2006, blanking the San Jose Sharks in a 4-0 victory. If LaBarbera can silence his critics and maintain this level of play, The Los Angeles Kings could be in for an exciting season.
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