A lot has happened from the time chants of “Ed-die! Ed-die! Ed-die!” rained down from the seats at Mile One Centre what seems like a while ago now, when Eddie Pasquale was giving the IceCaps Patrick Roy-like playoff goaltending their first year in St. John’s.

He was arguably the most preferred of the popular IceCaps, until mid-season of the 2013-14 campaign, when the goalie and his agent opted to shut down his year to undergo hip surgery.

Michael Hutchinson, then in the ECHL, was recalled, and the rest in history. Hutchinson played out his mind, and the IceCaps romped all the way to the 2014 Calder Cup final.

Hutchinson won 21 games for the Winnipeg Jets last season, his first in the National Hockey League.

As for Pasquale, well, he hasn’t played a game since skating away with a 4-3 shootout win over the Providence Bruins Feb. 5, 2014 at Mile One.

He hopes to change that this season, with a new organization, in a new jersey but in familiar digs. Friday, the Montreal Canadiens announced they had signed Pasquale, an unrestricted free agent, to a one-year American Hockey League contract.

“Funny how these things work out, huh,”?laughed Pasquale over the cell phone Friday. “I?didn’t figure I?would be back playing in St. John’s.”

Since that game against the P-Bruins, Pasquale has undergone two hip surgeries, and signed a one-year contract with the Washington Capitals, the team to which Winnipeg dealt him just prior to the 2014 draft. But he failed to play even a single minute as Caps’ property.

“I?had the first procedure, but that didn’t go so well. The pins they put in my hip didn’t hold up, so the Washington doctors wanted to go in and clean it up a bit,”?he said. “Basically, I’ve been rehabbing here in Toronto and Washington the past year and a half.

“I?was back in Washington two weeks ago, and they cleared me to play.”

Pasquale, who will be 25 in November, skated a little after his initial surgery, “trying to push through the pain”, and just “on and off”?this past season.

He said there were a few teams interested in his services, but he settled on Montreal given his familiarity with Rick Dudley, the Canadiens’ senior vice-president of hockey operations. It was Dudley who drafted Pasquale when he was working for the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009.

“And the fact I enjoyed my time in St. John’s, that my girlfriend is from St. John’s made it a no-brainer for me,” Pasquale said.

The addition of Pasquale makes for a bit of a logjam in the IceCaps’ crease. The Canadiens/IceCaps already have a returning netminder in Mike Condon and young Zach Fucale under contract. Condon, after going 23-19-6 with a 2.44 GAA and .921 save percentage in Hamilton last season, would be safe in goal, one would think.

And Fucale, a 2015 world junior hero for Canada, is regarded as one of Montreal’s top prospects, so he has to play. So the thinking is Pasquale is destined for Brampton and the ECHL, or Fucale will start his pro career in the ECHL and play a ton.

“The ECHL?is always a possibility, but right now I’m just happy to have a new contract and a chance to get my career back on track,”?Pasquale said. “If I?play the way I’m capable of playing, I?can play in the AHL. If there’s rust buildup, I’ll go wherever they assign me to work it off.”