Canucks and Beyond

The Equipment Debate

12/20/2007 at 7:43pm EST

Is the Goalie of the Year a cheater or an innovator? Grant Kerr at the Globe & Mail:

The Dallas stars are in a flap over a small portion of the goaltending equipment used by Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks.

At issue are two small flaps that extend from the leg pads used by the 6-foot-3 Luongo. The flaps extend outside the allowable 11-inch width of each leg pad near the knee.

Dallas netminders Marty Turco and Mike Smith brought the issue into focus Thursday when they wore exaggerated cardboard flaps on their pads during the morning skate before the evening NHL game, with #1 written on each flap.

Luongo wears jersey No. 1 for the Canucks and has five shutouts this season, along with a goals against average of 2.04 and save percentage of .928.

He was on the ice briefly in the morning to take a few shots and was observed by the Dallas netminders. The Canucks did not have a formal pre-game skate, with only a handful of players taking advantage of the extra ice time.

“We were just conducting an experiment,” Turco said about the makeshift flaps on the Dallas goalies. “You’re always looking to get better.

“I was really serious because I don’t like the (suggested) idea of larger nets. We’re looking at a few ways so we don’t have to have larger nets.”

Oh, I see. So they’re looking at Luongo’s equipment to ensure the nets don’t get larger… Right.

But at least there’s some comic relief:

“We need (goalie) pads that are realistic and what’s safe for the game,” Turco said. “The (cardboard flaps) were part comical, part serious.

“We all have (flaps). We all need (knee) protection. (Luongo’s) knees are just a little bigger than others.”

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