Saves of the Week 11.24

Last week’s best.

Rocky Mountain Elite Goaltending 2009 Christmas Mini-Camp

When Your Team Has a Big Game, Are You in the Net or Watching From the Bench?

When Your Team Needs a Big Save, Do You Make It?

Come join Elite Goaltending this Christmas Break to work on your game so you are in those big games making the saves your team needs for success

Two Groups

Birth Years ‘02, ‘01, ‘00, ‘99 – December 21st (3.40 – 5.10), December 22nd (4.00-5.15), and December 23rd (4.00 – 5.30)

Birth Years ‘98, ‘97, ‘96, ‘95 – December 21st (5.20 – 6.50), December 22nd (5.25 - 6.40) and December 23rd (5.40 – 7.10)

Where: The Ice Ranch

Cost: $200

Slots are very limited so don’t wait. Email elitegoaltending@yahoo.com for more information and application today.

Saves of the Week – 11/10

Saves of the Week – 11/03

Weekly goalie highlight reel

Nov. 1, 1959: The Date the Game Changed Forever

Today is the 50th anniversary of Jacques Plante being hit in the face during a game against the Rangers and returning to the ice with a mask forever changing the game of hockey.

From the great NHL writer Stan Fischler, on Plante and his greastest contribution of the game.

NEWSFLASH – Nov. 1, 1959
NEW YORK – History was made at Madison Square Garden tonight during an intensely fought game between the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers. Rangers right winger Andy Bathgate threw a hard backhand shot on goal striking Montreal goalie Jaqcues Plante in the face. The Habs netminder fell to the ice in a pool of blood. After being stitched up, Plante would not return to the ice without wearing facial protection, thus marking the first time in NHL history a goaltender donned a facemask in the same game he was injured.

It was a cool November night almost 50 years ago today that Jacques Plante stunned the hockey world by putting on the facemask.

Such a protective device had been used before, but only as a temporary move to cover a head injury.

Clint Benedict was one NHL goaltender who used it briefly and Dennis Mooney, a goalie for the Atlantic City Sea Gulls, tried a sheer, curved plastic covering that proved unsuitable because it both fogged up and cracked under severe impact.

What remained to be seen after Plante wore the mask in that revolutionary contest was whether he would be permitted to continue doing so.

Vehemently opposed to the device, coach Toe Blake battled his goalie on the issue until a compromise was struck:  If Plante lost games while wearing the mask, the experiment would be aborted and Plante would return to the standard mode of playing minus mask.

However, Blake would tolerate the invention as long as Plante triumphed.  

As it happened, Plante ran off a substantial winning streak.

In his first 11 games with the mask, Plante allowed just 13 goals.

Still, Blake remained skeptical, insisting that Plante try one game without the mask. The goalie did and it proved disastrous. The Habs lost and that was the last time Plante ever played a game without the mask. He was 30 at the time and one-third of the way through a Hall of Fame career.

The next major question was directed at the other five regular major league goalies: would they follow suit and ape the Montrealer?  

The macho philosophy of NHL netminders at the time opposed the mask. Future Hall-of-Famers such as Glenn Hall of the Chicago Blackhawks and Lorne ‘Gump’ Worsley of the Rangers adamantly refused to follow Plante’s lead, but, in time, other goalies relented.

One by one, puckstoppers followed suit until Worsley was the last remaining mask-less goalie.

“My face is my mask,” was the Gump’s explanation.

Gump finally relented with his final NHL team, the Minnesota North Stars.

Receiving pressure from both Cesare Maniago and his wife, Gump ordered a mask prior to the 1973-74 season.

Worsley first wore the mask in an NHL game on Oct. 13, 1973. He allowed two goals in the third period and Minnessota was defeated by the Buffalo Sabers 4-3. Afterwards Gump complained he couldn’t see the puck at his feet and that the mask was still too hot and made it hard to breathe.  

Gump didn’t wear the mask for some time after that, but he did make some alterations to it by drilling extra holes for air and widening the eye slits.  

Later in the season when he was called on to play in eight out of 10 games, Worsley returned to using the mask. He then retired after the season.  

Complaints about the mask from the likes of Gump and others actually had a positive effect in that designers diligently worked to improve them. And once Hall, Worsley and Terry Sawchuk caved on the issue there was no going back; the mask was in the game to stay.

To wit:

GOALIE STYLE: As the masks improved and became impregnable, goalies lost their puck-fear and thereby changed their styles. “Without a mask, the predominant reflex we had was fear and we positioned ourselves accordingly so as not to get hurt,” said Islanders Stanley Cup-winner Glenn ‘Chico’ Resch. That all changed when the masks became so strong that goalies actually were able to make saves by blocking the puck with their masks. This, in turn, enabled the flourishing of the butterfly style now generally in use (see game-changing moment No. 29.)

SHOOTING STYLE: Where once forwards could intimidate goaltenders with “headhunting” shots, this weapon was negated by the mask, which led to a decrease in scoring. It also inspired shooters to find new techniques and high-tech sticks. In addition, widespread crowding of the goal crease and screening became standard operating procedure.

GENERAL USE: The mask allowed goalies infinitely more freedom to dive into scrambles and perform what was once extremely hazardous positioning.

OTHER EQUIPMENT: The success of the mask multiplied the focus on additional goalie safety. If a netminder could have a face covering, he could also have better protection from his shoulders down to his skates and, eventually, puckstoppers began to look more like the Michelin Man than ever before (see game-changing moment No. 49.)

All of this was rooted in the introduction of the slapshot as a practical weapon by Montreal’s Bernie ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion in the early 1950s.

Had the slapshot been banned, along with the curved stick, Plante and his cohorts in the crease might never have sought facial protection.

After all, organized hockey had been played for more than 60 years without goalies requiring a mask.  

One could quarrel with the end result, but hockey has adapted.

It’s safe to say we’ll never see another goalie do what Glenn Hall did: play 502 consecutive games without a mask.

In fact, we’ll surely never see another professional goalie anywhere play without a mask, even for a second.

________________________________________________________________________

Additionally, TSN’s interview with Andy Bathgate who opened Plante up on the face forcing Plante to put the mask on.

NHL Saves of the Week

Having been buried since season began, the blog is a little behind on posting. Trying to catch-up. Below are saves of the week from the NHL since first week of the season.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Maskless Save by Thrashers’ Pavelec

As Atlanta Thrahser’s Ondrej Pavelec shows, goalies, regardless of the situation, most battle to keep the puck out of the net. Mask or not….

Warrior Entry into Goal Gear

Below is a picture of Roloson wearing the new Warrior goal gear. It has been rumored for a while they were going to enter the market and apparently it is now reality…

Sher Wood?? Seriously Marty???

Picture of Brodeur at Team Canada’s Camp this week. How did this happen??

Insight to Tryouts for Goalies

With many tryouts in the next two weeks, I thought it would help goalies to have an understanding of what coaches are looking for when selecting their tandem. The information I am sharing is based on being part of many selections at all youth levels as well as speaking to many coaches, both head and goalie, in different organizations throughout the years.

Although there is no exact science with goalie selection, the list below should give the goalies insight to how they are selected.

Movement

• Skater – Goalies need to be one of the top skaters on a team. If he is not, it will cost the team.
•  Goalie-Specific Movement within Net – Goalie can’t stop pucks without strong position-specific movement in the crease
• Is the Goalie Quick? – Goalie does not need to be fast, just quick (i.e. does goalie make too many movements in getting from Point A to Point B? Is the goalie able to move into position before the shot is released?)

Positioning

• Angles and Depth – For all shots, is goalie on angle and have correct depth? If skater with puck passes to teammate, does goalie understand the depth/angle relationship to get self in proper position again?
• Body Squareness – Being square for first shot is easy, what about the rebound?

Anticipation

• Read Developing Plays – Is goalie slightly “in-front” of the play or is he having to catch-up? Does goalie seem surprised with different offensive tactics?
• Puck Watching Goalie is not going to have any idea where the rebound is going if not concentrating on the puck.

Saving the Puck

• “Blocking” or “Reactive” Style? – Does goalie simply allow to puck to hit him or does he adjust body to best react to shot. The “blocking style” worked in the 1990’s and early 2000’s – not so much today.
• Unnecessary Shots Against? – Does goalie control rebounds or consistency have to make another save?
• Predictability – Is the goalie consistently making the same save on the same shot every time or is he erratic?

Competitiveness

• Work – Does goalie work to save all pucks or just every few?
• Fighting Spirit -Many goalies today do not have the “fighting spirit”, or heart, to be a successful goalie. They simply don’t control their surroundings. Examples, are rebounds allowed to sit in, or around, crease area? If the goalie can affect the play so a shot is not faced (poke check, eliminating the shooter’s stick, smothering the loose puck) does he? If shooter appears to have goalie beat, does the goalie battle to make the save? It can be argued a goalie’s competitiveness is the most important component he can bring to a team. Technique and tactics can always be taught but the goalie’s fighting spirit is internal and rarely can be developed through coaching. Either the goalie has heart or they don’t and coaches rarely pass on the kid who does. Battle, battle, battle!!!!

Presence in Net

• Comfort – Does goalie seem to be confident, enjoy his job and the opportunity?
• Small or Big? – When last cuts are about to be made, does the goalie elevate his play or tank it?

Emotional and Mental

• Coachability – Does goalie seem to want to learn or does he already know everything? If he acts as if he knows everything he may as well get off the ice as his tryout is essentially over.
• Focus – Does he allow bad goals during scrimmages appearing like he “got caught napping?”
• Enjoyment – Is goalie just going through the motions or is he motivated? If the goalie is going through the motions in tryouts, can you imagine him in January?
• High Maintenance – Is the goalie going to be more work (off-ice) than worth it? Are his parents?

Many coaches say they only want a goalie that “can stop the puck.”  This is a bit misleading if you take it at surface value.  All of the above go into stopping the puck for a coach. As a goalie, if you can commit this list to memory and work hard to improve in all the above categories, your goalie future will be very bright.