After Curtis Darling won his sixth straight game Sunday, Reign head coach Karl Taylor said that the goaltender is “in the zone.” Now he has the accolades to prove it.
On Tuesday, Darling was named ECHL Goaltender of the Week for the week ending Sunday, after he was the runner-up in voting for the previous week’s award. Darling went 3-0-0 with 76 saves, a goals-against average of 1.33 and a save percentage of .950. He allowed only four goals to Utah in back-to-back wins on Feb. 26 and 27 before stopping all 20 shots he faced to earn his third shutout of the season in a 2-0 win against Bakersfield on Feb. 28.
By winning six straight, Darling has improved to .500 (20-20-6) this season with three shutouts, a 2.76 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in 47 games this season with Ontario. Darling leads the ECHL with 2,779 minutes played and 1,331 saves. His 20 wins ties him for second in the ECHL and his .912 save percentage ranks third.