A. Dolezar, SI.com

In his first season as an NHL starting goaltender, David Aebischer has been a Swiss sensation, not the Swiss miss that many were predicting he would be.

David Aebischer had played a total of 69 games in three seasons before taking over the Avs' starting job this season. AP

While many pundits were predicting doom for Colorado in the wake of Patrick Roy's retirement, Avalanche general manager Pierre Lacroix steadfastly dismissed claims that Aebischer wasn't good enough to replace St. Patrick in the crease. Lacroix's track record suggests that few should bet against him, and Aebischer is proving him correct yet again.

Aebischer is 14-4-4 with a 2.08 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage, totals that rank him third in wins, 10th in GAA and eighth in save percentage in this newfound era of goaltending greatness. Since allowing five goals in Colorado's nail-biting 6-5 overtime win against Calgary on Nov. 27, Aebischer has buckled down and allowed just seven goals in the past six games. His save percentage has been a spectacular .963 during that stretch.

The 24-year-old native of Fribourg, Switzerland, spent three years as Roy's apprentice, earning mixed reviews. In his first two seasons, Aebischer went a combined 25-13-3 with a 2.07 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage, but he slumped to 7-12 with a 2.43 GAA and a .916 save percentage. last season, causing doubters to emerge when Roy announced he was hanging up the pads. Many wondered if Colorado might even be better off starting hot prospect Phil Sauve over Aebischer.

Everyone from Martin Biron to Sean Burke to Jean-Sebastien Giguere to Curtis Joseph to Olaf Kolzig was mentioned as a potential upgrade over Aebischer. But with a little more than a third of the 2003-04 season in the books, Abby is outplaying all of those aforementioned goalies. And among those netminders with more than 20 starts, only defending Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur clearly bests Aebischer.

Like his predecessor, Aebischer favors the butterfly technique, and even trained this summer with Francois Allaire in Verbier, Switzerland, and Allaire's European camp. Much as Allaire disciple Jean-Sebastien Giguere did last postseason, Aebischer is excelling due to perfect positioning that rarely catches him off his mark.

Aebischer was exceptional in back-to-back 1-1 ties at Vancouver and Calgary, keeping Colorado in those close games with several excellent saves. Though he got help from the post on a Jarome Iginla one-timer in overtime, Aebischer made an superb stop on Iggy's point-blank attempt to hit the five-hole just moments later, helping preserve the draw for the Avs. On Thursday against the Canucks, Aebischer made 37 saves, 19 of those in the frantic third period, including eight each on Vancouver's terrific tandem of Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund.

One thing that worried Colorado was his tendency to give up goals early and late in periods, but that has waned. An increase in focus has closed one of the few holes in his game, and Aebischer now looks to be among the league's most complete netminders.

The Avs are looking to extend their record run of division titles to 10, and they have kicked it into gear by going 11-2-5-1 since a sluggish 5-5 start. Colorado is unbeaten in eight games (4-0-4-0), impressive considering that Peter Forsberg and Paul Kariya have been out during that stretch, as well as for most of the season. With 38 points, Colorado is second in the Western Conference (two points behind Detroit) and fourth overall in the NHL, behind Eastern Conference teams Philadelphia (43) and Toronto (42).

For a product of a country known for its neutrality, Aebischer is making it perfectly clear that he comes down firmly on the side of winning. And the Avalanche appear to have just as good of a chance at the Stanley Cup with Abby in the net as they did with Roy over the past few seasons.