Al Montoya is ready for whatever the success-starved New York Rangers throw at him.
“I’m going to go out and give it all I have,” Montoya said.
Montoya, 20, is a native of Glenwood. He played for Loyola Gold as a freshman before hitting the road with the U.S. national team at 15. He wound up at Michigan before the Rangers made him their first-round draft choice in 2004.
He would become the first Cuban-American to play in the NHL if he makes the Rangers. He decided last July to return to Michigan for another season because of the possibility of a lengthy lockout.
There was, indeed, a lengthy lockout, and it forced the NHL to cancel the 2004-05 season. Back at Michigan, Montoya went 30-7-3 with a 2.52 goals-against average.
Montoya had been working out with the Rangers this summer, and when NHL owners and players completed a new collective bargaining agreement earlier this month, Montoya was ready to turn pro.
Montoya did not want to predict whether he would start the 2005-6 season with the Rangers or with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the team’s American Hockey League affiliate.
