Hayward always takes the Ducks' side

[www.ocregister.com]

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Hayward, 48, is among a growing number of former NHL goaltenders who have become successful on-air personalities – a development he never anticipated. When a back injury in 1993 forced him to retire after 11 NHL seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota North Stars and San Jose Sharks, Hayward planned to return to school at Cornell in pursuit of an MBA, with an eye toward a career in hockey management.

A former All-America goalie at Cornell, Hayward and his wife, Angela, had rented a home near the Ithaca, N.Y., campus and had Courtney enrolled in day care when he received a telephone call from the Walt Disney Co., which owned the then-Mighty Ducks.

It seemed that someone had come across tapes of two games in which Hayward had served as a fill-in television color analyst during his final two, injury-marred seasons with the Sharks, and liked the way he sounded. When former Ducks general manager Jack Ferreira sweetened the job offer by asking him to also become the club's goalie coach, a position he held for two years, Hayward was sold.

"It was kind of something that I was going to try," he said. "If it didn't work out, two years later, I was going to go back to Cornell. Here I am, 15 years later, in the same job. I never did get my MBA."