Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: goaltending
Goaltending is the Great Equalizer
by Alanah McGinley on 11/14/08 at 06:32 PM ET
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From Gare Joyce at Sportsnet:
Junior is like any other level of hockey. Good goaltending gives a decent club a chance to beat anybody. Something less can undo a powerhouse.
I’m dating myself here but I recall a Toronto Marlies team in 1972 that was as good or better than the franchise’s other powerhouses of that era, including a couple that won Memorial Cups. The ‘72 Marlies were loaded with first-rounders and ran away with the regular-season championship. A mere infant, my world came undone when the Peterborough Petes knocked them off in the playoffs and I put it down to the cruelty of the fates. Years later I had a chance to ask a member of that team, Bob Gainey (this was Bob Gainey before he became that Bob Gainey), exactly how they pulled it off. “Goaltending,” he said expansively.
read on for more junior hockey talk
Filed in: Non-NHL Hockey, Minor League, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: goaltending
Goalies Running on Empty
by Alanah McGinley on 05/02/08 at 03:53 PM ET
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From Eric Duhatschek at the Globe & Mail,
How much of a factor was fatigue in the slight, but discernible decline, in the overall performance of some of the NHL’s leading goaltending lights?
Or to put it another way, do NHL teams play their starting goaltenders too much in the regular season, only to discover there isn’t enough left in the tank to get them through four grueling playoff rounds?
more… *an in-depth look at goalie performance in the playoffs
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Playoff Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: goalies,
goaltending,
statistics
Habs Need Huet
by Alanah McGinley on 02/19/08 at 08:16 PM ET
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From Pat Hickey at The Gazette,
The question now is whether to keep Huet or put him on the block. He’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and the Canadiens run the risk of losing him without compensation.
That’s a risk they should take. While Price has demonstrated why he’s the Canadiens’ hope for a bright future and Jaroslav Halak is playing well in Hamilton, the Habs need all their resources if they hope to make a run in the playoffs. It’s a bigger risk if they go into the post-season with a pair of goaltenders with no NHL playoff experience.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Montreal Canadiens, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: cristobal+huet,
goaltending,
trade+deadline
Fine Line Winning
by Paul on 11/25/07 at 11:43 AM ET
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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,
But the X factor here, frankly, is that the Bruins are winning, and they are doing so with a very slim margin. For the most part, that margin is: 1. goaltending and 2. Claude Julien’s coaching.
For the few goals the team scored in the first quarter (51 in 20 games), it didn’t have much business owning an 11-7-2 record. Even average netminding by Thomas would have had the Bruins in a struggle to be 9-9-2 (right where they were through 20 games last season). Less-than-average netminding by Thomas, and they’re somewhere around 6-12-2, keeping company with the Capitals at the bottom of the barrel.
more Bruins and NHL talk…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Boston Bruins, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: boston+bruins,
claude+julien,
goaltending
Can We Give The “Bigger Nets” Debate A Rest?
by George Malik on 11/20/07 at 08:07 PM ET
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Jason Kay of The Hockey News is banging the drum of what seems to be hockey journalists’ favourite pet project—proving that the hockey media “knows what the fans want” by convincing the NHL, through the sheer will of proffering a stance, and bolstering it through endless iterations of the same damn column, to make bigger nets a reality, given the collective theory that more goals = a more entertaining product.
Filed in: NHL Talk, Hockey Equipment, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: darcy+regier,
goaltending,
hockey+nets,
media
One Vote For Bigger Nets
by Paul on 11/18/07 at 11:59 AM ET
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from Jason Kay of the Hockey News,
We’ve heard the all the arguments – the record book would be rendered moot; that it would be too drastic a change. We don’t buy it. The record book has been impacted by a plethora of amendments over the years, both organic and legislated, and increasing the size of the net would be no different.
As for it being too drastic, we aren’t talking soccer-sized goals, just a few inches wider or taller, or both. Will coaches try to become even more defense-oriented to protect a larger cage? Perhaps, but we’re surmising that goals would beget goals. Fall behind 2-0 early on shots that maybe wouldn’t have gone in on a smaller net and, as a coach, you’re forced to alter your strategy and take more risks.
Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: goaltending,
hockey+nets