david ayres goalie

Toronto zamboni driver David Ayres was on Colbert last night

The Whitby-born zamboni driver who made his NHL debut in Toronto this past weekend and helped win the game for the Carolina Hurricanes is now a bona fide celebrity. He even made an appearance during Stephen Colbert's opening monologue on the Late Show last night. 

Colbert finished off his nightly monologue with the story of David Ayres, explaining that both of the Hurricanes' goalies were injured during Saturday's game, forcing them to call on the zamboni driver to be the emergency goalie. 

"He won with his signature move, parking the zamboni in front of the goal," Colbert quipped. 

He then showed a video of the players giving the newbie a champagne shower in the locker room after the game before reminding everyone that Ayres also works as an arena maintenance worker and probably had to clean up the mess. 

Colbert proceeded to wrap up the story and introduce the rest of the show, but he then suddenly claimed to have pulled his hamstring and said he simply couldn't finish the monologue. 

And once again, it was David Ayres to the rescue!

The decorated Canadian promptly ran on stage wearing his Hurricanes jersey, saying "Don't worry Stephen, I got you!"

The audience immediately erupted into applause, and Ayres then finished Colbert's monologue as promised. 

Later in the show, Colbert showed a clip of Ayres playing piano during the rehearsal for the show, making it clear that he should probably stick to hockey-related activities.

But regardless of his lack of talent in the musical department, Ayres has managed to become a global hockey sensation since he became the third emergency goalie to ever actually play in an NHL game.

He's already made appearances on The Today Show, Good Morning America and more — though his 15 minutes of fame probably won't last forever, considering he told told TMZ that he isn't interested in being an NHL player.

Still, Ayres' overnight fame has proven that anything really is possible in the wonderful world of hockey. 

Lead photo by

The Late Show


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