Goaltending - The Last Line of Defense

Reasonably intelligent person, willing to wear

approximately 50 pounds of equipment on a daily

basis and still be able to move quickly. Must

also be able to stand up to hard rubber projectiles

at speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour.

Does this sound like a job for a sane person? Would you do this? Probably not, but every day hundreds of men, women and children "strap on the pads". Without these courageous lunatics, there would be no hockey. Yet, there are those who claim that a goaltender is just another person on a team, no more and no less.

Oddly enough, one who supports this idea is John-Paul Michaelis, age 15, who has been a goaltender since the age of 7! "It's the whole team playing together." His team mates, however, are quick to point out that their winning season was due primarily to his abilities in the net, which was reflected by the fact that he had nine shutouts last season and a Goals Against Average of 0.95.

Can a strong, offensive team win if they have a mediocre goalie? Can a lesser team w

The Detroit Redwings, a formidable opponent in recent years and winner of two consecutive Stanley Cups, traded their goalie Mike Vernon and replaced him with Chris Osgood. The Redwings remained a strong team but they didn't make it to the finals last year. The only real change was their goaltender.

In the NHL there are specific awards for goaltenders, such as the Vezenia Trophy, which is for the league's top goaltender and the Jennings Trophy which is for allowing the fewest goals. However, the Hart Trophy, the award for the league's most valuable player has been given to only two goalies, Jacques Plante and Dominik Hasek. This perhaps is another sign that the position of goaltender is not held in as high esteem as it should be. In addition to that, in amateur leagues, it is very rare for a goalie to receive Most Valuable Player; he will usually be awarded Most Valuable Goalie with the MVP going to the highest scorer on the team.

A goalie does nothing else that anyone else on the team does and vice versa. The closest to this any other sport has is the catcher in baseball, but even he goes after fly balls and bats in the lineup. However, like the pitcher in baseball, it is said that wins and losses are determined solely by the skills of a team's goaltender. " ... it only takes one save to win," states Michaelis. One save can turn around a game. The same can be said if the goaltender lets in a "soft goal".

Some topics in this essay:
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