Sure, you have heard of Mike Magee The Forward. or Mike Magee The Midfielder. Or Mike Magee The Once-In-A-Blue-Moon Finisher.

But have you heard of Mike Magee The Goalkeeper?

No? All right, sit back, and let me tell you a little story.

The situation rose when two things happened: Donovan Ricketts injured his forearm on a collision with Khari Stephenson of the San Jose Earthquakes. Then backup goalkeeper Josh Saunders suffers a brain explosion and is sent off for an elbow to the Quakes' Steven Lenhart.

With third-string keeper Brian Perk unavailable, Magee—who is usually doing his work in the midfield or the attacking third for the Los Angeles Galaxy, dons Saunders's shirt and does the work.

The result: both sides settle for a scoreless draw. It wasn't just the goalkeeping, though.

“Our defense has been amazing,” Magee told MLSSoccer.com's Geoff Lepper. “If it wasn’t for our defense, I probably would have let in about six or seven.”

Of course, manager Bruce Arena was very livid at a number of people: referee Juan Guzman (who officiated his very first match in the center circle on Saturday at Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif.) and San Jose manager Frank Yallop.

Oh, that Bruce Arena, always standing up for his men: win, lose, or in this case, draw. The story ends here. Now for a little opinion.

Boy, that was just a scintillating performance on goal for someone whose role is to score on goal.

This brings up an important question coming into the next few matches; that is, the U.S. Open Cup tie with the Los Angeles Blues and the Fourth of July home match with the Seattle Sounders.

Does Arena start Magee on goal, or does he start the relatively untested Perk? That is a question that must be asked in the coming days ahead.

From my perspective, I would start Perk against the Blues and see how he does. Only then can I make a decision as to who to start in goal against Seattle. Ricketts may be out for several weeks due to that elbow, and Saunders is suspended for the match with the Sounders.

But this game was all about Magee. Forget the fact that Juninho, Juan Pablo Angel and Chris Birchall had attempts on goal against the Earthquakes. This was Magee's first-ever start as a goalkeeper, and it's as if he's done this as many times as Saunders or Ricketts.

A solid example: 89th minute. Lenhart had a legit chance from Anthony Ampaipitakwong, but a kick save from Magee was part of a series of stops that preserved the shutout.

Astounding. I've been hearing news on BigSoccer (my forum stomping grounds; you can meet me there, my handle is Hachiko) that Magee's name is trending on the twitter feeds.

I am also checking the search engines for any news trending towards Mike Magee, and lo and behold: they are also trending towards the magic man, albeit not as much.

With that out of the way, the Galaxy will step aside for some U.S. Open Cup action while the goalkeeper question is sorted out.

Kickoff between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Los Angeles Blues in the third round of the 2011 U.S. Open Cup is scheduled for Tuesday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET at Titan Stadium on the campus of California State University, Fullerton. A live blog of the match will be posted on Bleacher Report.

The Galaxy return to league action on July 4 when they host the Sounders. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET and will be televised by ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

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