
By Budd Bailey
If you are a goalie and only play in one NHL game, you might as well make it memorable. Adam Wilcox had the unusual combination of not giving up a goal in 39 minutes of play, yet he still took the loss. We’ll get to the explanation.
Wilcos was a Minnesota native who played junior hockey in the United States Hockey League in 2010 through 2012, suiting up for the Green Bay Gamblers and the Tri-City Storm. In the middle of that time, he was drafted in the sixth round (No. 178) by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“For me I didn’t know if I was going to get drafted or not; I split, played a little less than half of my games my first year at Junior (Green Bay/USHL),” Wilcox told The Hockey Writers website. “I think for me going into it I probably wouldn’t have went to it if it wasn’t in my hometown. So I went to it and Tampa picked me in my hometown — the Xcel Energy Center is five minutes from where I live – it was unbelievable. My parents were there. My best buddy was there, who’s on the Carolina Hurricanes now. It was a really cool experience.”
In 2012, it was time for Adam to move up to the University of Minnesota. It’s fair to say he was an immediate hit. Wilcox had a sparkling 25-8-5 record for the Golden Gophers, with a save percentage of .921. A season later, he was even better at 26-6-6 with a .932 save percentage. Adam was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and the goalie on the all-conference team. Wilcox was merely very good in his third and last season with Minnesota (22-12-3, .912). The Gophers played in the NCAA tournament in all three seasons.
“The three years I was there – I wouldn’t take any of it back,” Wilcox said to The Hockey Writers. “We made it to the Frozen Four, went to the championship game and fell short on that, but three years playing there, (and) being home…being able to bring all of my laundry home every weekend so my mom could do it (laughs) was pretty special. I got to see my family (a lot) which I think helped for when I had to turn pro and be away from them for most of the year. Overall it was an unbelievable experience.”
Wilcox left school early that spring and signed a contract with Tampa Bay, and he received a quick two-game look with Tampa’s affiliate in Syracuse. He stayed there for the next season as the Crunch’s second goalie, and followed a similar path in 2016-17. Then he moved on to finish the season with Springfield after Tampa Bay traded him to Florida for Mike McKenna. Wilcox had been called up by both the Lightning and Panthers during that season when those teams were short-handed at goal, but he never got on the ice.
Wilcox joined the Sabres’ organization in 2017 by playing for Rochester. He was a No. 2 netminder to Linus Ullmark for most of that season. But at the end of the season, it was Adam who received the call to head to the majors. Robin Lehner and Ullmark were both hurt at that point. Wilcox sat on the bench for about a week, and it looked like he’d stay there for the season’s final game. He was the backup for Chad Johnson for a game in Florida against the Panthers on April 7, 2018. But, a young man can dream.
"This was my favorite team growing up," Wilcox told The Buffalo News. "Minnesota didn't have a team, so I always rooted for (Dominik) Hasek and the Sabres. It was pretty cool to sign with the team that I always dreamed of playing on. I thought it would be a good fit for me, and I'm really glad I signed here."
Johnson had his problems in the first period, giving up three goals to the Panthers to put the Sabres in a 3-0 hole after 20 minutes. That prompted coach Phil Housley to turn to Wilcox, who became the 50th goalie to play for the Sabres. Buffalo and Florida played a scoreless second period, but Jason Pominville and Sam Reinhart scored 21 seconds apart to pull the Sabres within a goal with 4:09. A couple of minutes later, Wilcox was pulled in favor of an extra attacker … only to see Vincent Trocheck apparently wrap up the Florida win with an empty-netter with 1:23 left.
Wilcox returned to the net, only to have Ryan O’Reilly score for the Sabres with 17 seconds left. Adam left the game, but Buffalo couldn’t score the equalizer. In a 4-3 game, the goalie who is in the game for the fourth goal takes the loss – because someone has to get it. In this case, it was Wilcox.
In the following season, Wilcox spent the entire season in Rochester again as the backup to Scott Wedgewood. Buffalo let him go at that point, but he was picked up to play goal for the San Antonio Rampage in 2019-20. He was 8-8-4 with a 3.14 GAA in 22 games there. That was his last season in professional hockey.
Wilcox returned to Minnesota, and works for an industrial machinery manufacturing company there.
(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)
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