The Hockey News: Goalies Take Over
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Eishockey-Zeitung schlechthin, haben Hockeyweb Leser die Möglichkeit
die THN-Titelstory nachzulesen oder gleich ein Online-Abbonement zu
erwerben. Die aktuelle Ausgabe beschäftigt sich mit den starken
Leistungen einiger NHL-Keeper während den Playoffs:
Head: Goalies Take Over
By: Mark Brender, THN senior writer
Martin Brodeur, Miikka Kiprusoff, Manny
Legace, Ryan Miller and Marty Turco have one thing in common, and it has nothing
to do with a letter ‘M’ or an upgrade to the Kansas City Royals starting
rotation. Neither are they the new models for a one-size-fits-all hockey
undergarments line, nor the only NHL goalies who haven’t been run this year by
Ville Nieminen. No, these are survivors of a different sort.
Brodeur, Kiprusoff, Legace, Miller and
Turco are the only goalies who entered 2005-06 as their team’s No. 1 goalie and
retained the position through the first round of the playoffs, unquestioned and
uninterrupted.
That’s a mere five netminders out of 30
who managed to stay healthy, stay on the same team and retain the confidence of
their coach long enough to try to complete what they started in October. (Memo
to Roberto Luongo: Nobody really cares if you gave good goal on a non-playoff
team).
And after the opening round, following
lukewarm and/or losing performances by Kiprusoff, Turco and Legace, only Brodeur
and Miller were left standing.
It makes you wonder if the folks in
charge of scouting goalies and stamping the “No. 1” tag on the dressing room
stall actually know what they’re doing. All those pre-season goaltending
forecasts and scouting reports and best-laid plans mean nothing now; where
goaltending is concerned, the incumbent batting average entering Round 2 is a
pitiful .067.
It may not say much for the
predictability of post-season puck-stopping in the new NHL, but it speaks
volumes about the depth and quality of the next generation. Cam Ward, Ilya
Bryzgalov, Ray Emery, Vesa Toskala – who are these guys?
They’re the guys that are going to
decide the Stanley Cup, that’s who they are.
Incredibly, through the first round, six
of the top nine save percentages were posted by goalies who had never played a
single minute of an NHL playoff game prior to this season.
Even a stacked team like the Ottawa
Senators, for whom an inexperienced goalie might be considered the only weak
link – or so said Tampa coach John Tortorella – is prepared to stick with
playoff virgin Emery as long as they can, whether Dominik Hasek is healthy or
not.
According to Sens GM John Muckler, if
and when Hasek is ready, “You play Emery.”
“It’s not my decision, it’s going to be
the coach’s decision, but I imagine the way he’s playing, I don’t see why he
would change,” Muckler said. “That problem is a good problem to have, and you’re
going to deal with it when the time comes, but right now you’d have to say
Emery’s the guy. Why would you take him out?”
Muckler is right, Emery deserves the
chance to keep on rolling. But it doesn’t make the situation any less odd. When
was the last time a 23-year-old rookie with zero playoff experience got the nod
over a six-time Vezina Trophy winner, Stanley Cup champion and future Hall of
Famer?
That’s one of the early trends of the
2006 post-season, as a new generation of goalies elbows out the old guard.
Usually it’s the losing teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues of
the world, that can’t find stability in net. This year even winning teams have
gone through the goaltending carousel.
To read the rest of this story and other great features from the world of
hockey, you can buy this issue LINK