With Roberto Luongo chasing Brian Boucher’s modern-day consecutive-shutout record, you'd assume that this post would focus mostly on the Vancouver Canucks' goalie. Well, the KB spits on your conventional thinking. There’s only one person we’re thinking about today:

Kevin Maas.

Allow us to explain. In 1990, the 25-year-old Maas replaced Yankees' great Don Mattingly and set a record for fewest at bats (72) to hit 10 home runs, a record that still stands. And folks, that’s about all he did. Take the record away and Maas’ lone achievements are his .230 career batting average and a crappy rookie card on which kids blew their allowance. Not that I’m bitter.

Digress.

In 2004, a 24-year-old goalie named Brian Boucher leapt ahead of Sean Burke and the immortal Zac Bierk on the Phoenix depth chart. Boucher then proceeded to put together a streak of his own. He posted 332 minutes of shutout hockey, a gaudy-yet-still-standing statistic that will forever highlight his hockey CV. Take it away, and you’re looking at a guy boasting one more career win than Peter Sidorkiewicz.

Sure, Maas and Boucher are blips on the record-book radar. But those blips are becoming increasingly larger…and difficult to break. In 2007, Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun launched the closest assault (10 HR in 155 AB) on Maas’ record. Last season, Bobby Loo’s shutout streak (210:34) was the closest anybody has gotten to Boucher.

The timing of both records is why they’re so tough to break. Both Maas and Boucher were young and (probably) had no idea what the hell was going on. Ten dingers in 72 at-bats? Five straight shutouts? Hell, professional sports are easy! When you don’t know any better, streaks like these can happen. You feel invincible. But when you’re older and seasoned – like, say, Roberto Luongo – you’re too jaded to be so naïve. Reporters jinx you with every question. You’ve seen enough bad bounces to know you’re due for one. And, of course, you’re not really thinking about the streak at all – just the two points. Right? Right.

This is why Boucher’s streak is safe, at least from Luongo. These records are made for flashes in the pan. The careers of both Maas and Boucher are like the streaks themselves – brief peaks of brilliance emerging from valleys of mediocrity. Luongo, meanwhile - though he might not go on a six-game shutout streak - he definitely won’t be end up a Philadelphia Phantom (which is where Boucher spent the 2007-08 season) or a financial consultant in Castro Valley (which is where Maas is now).

Of course, with that now said, Luongo will probably blank the Avalanche tonight.

Brian Boucher, now remembered as more than a similar namesake to "The Waterboy".
(Now that's what I call high quality H2O Images)