FineMark National Bank & Trust in Arizona was kind enough to give Nate Schoenfeld the afternoon off Tuesday for an emergency situation.
Well, an emergency of sorts anyway: to attend practice with the NHL's Arizona Coyotes as the team's emergency backup goaltender -- a role he was originally thrust into Monday night.
Schoenfeld, a 31-year-old Arizona State graduate, last played competitive hockey 10 years ago as a member of the Sun Devils' club team. He was bathing his twin infant sons with his wife Monday afternoon when the Arizona Coyotes gave him a call and told him his presence was required.
"I told my wife, 'I need to go right now.' She said, 'You're leaving me with the twins?'" Schoenfeld said after Monday's game, a 6-2 Coyotes victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
"I said, 'I'll call your mom. She'll come over and help out.' I got (to Gila River Arena) about a half hour before the game -- just enough time to get dressed and sit on the bench, hang out and enjoy the win."
The call-up was a result of a last-minute injury to backup goalie Anders Lindback -- an injury coach Dave Tippett described as fairly serious. Since NHL teams typically have just two goalies on their roster at any given time, they scrambled to find an emergency backup for starter Louis Domingue.
Fortunately, Schoenfeld wasn't working late Monday, since Presidents' Day is a banking holiday.
And in Schoenfeld's case, it certainly pays to be well-connected. His father, Jim Schoenfeld, is a former Coyotes head coach and current assistant GM with the New York Rangers. And Schoenfeld's father-in-law, Coyotes equipment manager Stan Wilson, is the man who made the call Monday.
Schoenfeld said it's about a 30-minute drive to the arena from his home north of Desert Ridge.
"There was a little bit of zig-zagging," he said. "Traffic was pretty good. Luckily I didn't have to break any laws to get here in time."
During the drive, Schoenfeld talked to his dad and asked him if the Rangers had any scouts at Gila River Arena for Monday's game.
"I said, 'Well, if you do, let them know to check out the backup goaltender tonight,'" he said.
