Chris18 wrote:
First things first- your coach said you weren't goalie material after one practice at age 6??? Nothing like patience!
Well, admittedly at the time I was a royal pain in the ass at 6 (I never, ever shut up and bugged the hell outta him, not that I meant to) he was a pretty gruff guy who kinda put me in my place. The year before that I literally had NO idea what I was doing on the ice. I didn't even know what off-sides was. I just thought the refs blew the whistle because we needed a break.
But yeah, it was a complete joke, me in the pads. I skated out there and right away the weight of them hit me...I could barely move. The stick was so heavy I had to kick it to move it. And I've always, always had trouble throwing and catching stuff (I got into hockey so I didn't HAVE to deal with that stuff, y'know) and so using the blocker or mitt was just not gonna happen. And remember, I couldn't move the stick with one hand, it was like a solid piece of oak. Pucks just whizzed past me up high, down low...yeah, even the nicest coach would have told me to never again don those pads. And he wasn't the nicest guy.
That coach and I actually reunited and sat down for a beer with my dad at my youth league's alumni game a few years back at the Pepsi Center. He's still the same and we had a good laugh about my stint under his tutelage (FYI, Patty and Chuck, our team was known as the Sweet-Tooth Sabres because either a candy store or dental group sponsored us, can't remember). Good times.
Oh, and Craig, I believe that was Nikolaj Ehlers who set up Laine's slapshot. That could be a pretty potent scoring line (plus whoever the center happens to be) for the Jets for a long time to come.
This is good stuff, thanks guys. If I do the research I may expand on it, maybe make a blog entry. But if I do so I will cite my sources!
I'll have to see how Hitch has his goalies play. I got the impression they stay back and the team clears rebounds in the slot.
I'm trying to think of the more unconventional goalies, like Hasek and Tim Thomas. I thought the Dominator played fairly close so his "snow angel" routine covered as much crease as possible. No idea on Timmy.
Jeff, whenever you'd like please give me a breakdown of Roman Cechmanek's style. No rush.
Okay, last entry in a really long post I promise...if Felix Potvin was the king of close-in goalies (seriously did he even venture outside the goal line?) I wonder who the most aggressive was (and please, no Wandering Roy jokes)?