Late in the first period of tonight’s 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, Colorado Avalanche goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere left with what was later announced to be a groin injury. He did not return to the game, and was replaced by Semyon Varlamov, who played very well in the loss. With this developing situation, the Avalanche now have a decision to make; who backs up Varlamov?

***12:45am MST on Feb. 16: Adrian Dater updates us on Giguere’s status.

What makes this situation so interesting is that both of Lake Erie’s goaltenders, Cedrick Desjardins and Trevor Cann, are injured right now. Desjardins continues to recover from a lower-body injury suffered back in late-December, and if he were healthy, would have already received a phone call from Avalanche General Manager Greg Sherman.

But because they are both out with injuries, the Avs have 6-foot-5, 215-pound Gerald Coleman on loan from the ECHL (he’s an unrestricted free agent) and James Reid on loan to back him up, and he’s ALSO on loan — from the Central Hockey League.

Ironically, neither one of them are officially signed by the Avalanche organization. So now what? Colorado is currently on a three-game Western Canadian road trip, so  they have to do something, and pretty fast, too.

Well, they could call up Calvin Pickard as an emergency option, as he was signed to an entry-level contract back on March 25, 2011 and then assigned to the Seattle Thunderbirds after training camp. Seattle is in close proximity to Edmonton, where Colorado will play on Friday night.

They could also do the same thing with their exciting Finnish prospect Sami Aittokallio, but they would have to sign him to a contract first. Both he and Pickard are slick prospects in the system, but Aittokallio’s rights are only retained until June 1. If they elected to sign him on the fly, which is a good move since he’s such a terrific prospect, they could kill two birds with one stone.

But Coleman has been on a complete tear this month in Lake Erie. He is 5-0-1 with a 2.30 goals-against average and .938 save percentage, stopping 211 of 225 total shots. Overall, he’s 8-2-1 with a 2.59 GAA and .926 SV% in exactly one month of AHL play.

Furthermore, Coleman is quite the interesting story right now, as he is single-handedly salvaging the Monsters’ season. Selected 223rd overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, he has been dished around the ECHL and AHL like candy over the past seven seasons. He made his NHL debut in the 2005-06 season with the Lightning, playing in two games, but only earning 43 minutes and posting a .887 SV%.

From there, he played for the Johnstown Chiefs (ECHL), and then the Norfolk Admirals and Portland Pirates during the 2006-07 season. He then played with Portland and the Augusta Lynx (ECHL) in the 2007-08 season.

He started the 2008-09 season with the Phoenix Roadrunners (ECHL), then was recalled to the Worcester Sharks (AHL), but when he returned, was traded to the Trenton Devils and totally turned their season around. He went 27-8-2 over the course of the season, posting a 2.38 goals-against average and a .915 SV%.

Due to his stellar play, he earned some looks from the Devils when he was invited to their training camp for the 2009-10 season. But he wasn’t signed, so he was re-assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Lowell Devils. He would play just three games with Lowell before he returned to Trenton for the rest of the season.

For the 2010-11 season, Coleman joined the Alaska Aces and made history. In the regular season, he posted a 2.19 GAA and .913 SV% with a 30-15-1-0 record. In the Kelly Cup Playoffs, Coleman set a playoff record with a 12-1 record en route to an ECHL Championship.

In the playoffs, Coleman posted three shutouts (he had four all season long), a .938 SV%, and a 1.73 GAA. For his efforts, he was rewarded with the ECHL Goaltender of the Year Award. To follow up his efforts, he played really well in 23 games for the Aces until he was signed to a pro tryout by Lake Erie.

Another awesome little fact on Coleman — he has the terrific distinction of of being the first graduate of the NHL Diversity Program to be drafted by an NHL team and play in an NHL game. That happened way back on Nov. 11, 2005 in a relief effort for the Lightning.

Because Giguere’s injury only happened a few hours ago, I have no idea what the Avalanche will ultimately decide to do, and that’s mainly because I don’t know the severity or extent of Giguere’s groin injury. If it’s only a day-to-day thing, Coleman or Pickard are more likely to be brought up.

But if it’s a more serious injury, the Avs will need to sign someone to stay with the team. I don’t think that ends up being Coleman, simply because he’s the lifeline of Lake Erie right now, and they’re battling for a playoff spot. Furthermore, very little is known about Desjardins’ actual health status as of the past few days, so it’s unclear if he’s ready enough to at least back up Varlamov on Friday.

If Giguere is out for an extended period of time, expect the Avalanche to sign someone with veteran experience. In that regard, possible goalies could include David Aebischer, Manny Legace, David LeNeveu, Antero Niittymaki, Joey MacDonald, or possibly even Scott Clemmensen, Jason Bacashihua, or Michael Leighton.

Be sure to follow my Twitter feed @TheGoalieGuild for the latest updates, and if something significant happens since we’re only 12 days away from the NHL Trade Deadline, I’ll have it covered right here.