Carey Price was born August 16, 1987 in Anahim Lake, British Columbia. The first round, fifth overall selection by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Price honed his skills in the Western Hockey League with the Tri-City Americans.
An agile and mild-mannered netminder, Price became a regular in the Tri-City Americans crease during the 2004-05 regular season. He posted a 24-31-8 record that season and quickly became one of the league's top goaltenders. After being drafted by the Canadiens in 2005, Price struggled through his 2005-06 campaign but quickly rebounded in 2006-07. That season, Price registered a 30-13-1 record with Tri-City and was named the CHL's goaltender of the year. Following his club's playoff exit, Price was signed by the Habs and joined the club's AHL affiliate in Hamilton for their playoff run. He played a pair of regular season games with the Hamilton Bulldogs before leading the team all the way to a Calder Cup Championship, posting a 15-6 record with a sparkling 2.06 GAA and a .936 save percentage.
In 2007-08, Price made his NHL debut with the club that had originally drafted him back in 2005. In his rookie year with the club, he led all rookie NHL netminders with 24 wins and was voted onto the NHL All-Rookie Team. Although the Habs were unexpectedly knocked out of the playoffs that season, Price and the club finished on top of the Eastern Conference.
On the international stage, Carey Price backstopped Team Canada to gold during the 2006-07 World Junior Championships.