At 9:52 PM -0500 3/9/97, Howard Stein wrote:
> Regarding John's comments about saves:
>
> Rule 6-15d states in part that "For statistical purposes in the records, a
> save for a goalkeeper shall be credited only when the goalkeeper has
> prevented the puck from entering the net."
>
> Strictly speaking, this only prevents a goalie from receiving a save when
> the puck would not have entered the net, even with the goalie's actions.
> It would make logical sense to me to read this as crediting a save for any
> situation where the goalie takes an action which prevents the puck from
> entering the net, but I'm not sure that the goalie should be credited with
> a save for stopping a clearing pass when everyone else is down at the other
> end of the ice (i.e. no offensive player also trying to get at the puck).
 
I've always advocated following the rule as written.  Some folks would like
to discount saves when the puck is cleared down the ice, but every so often
one of these goes in.  When that happens, you have to count it as a shot.
Why not count it all the time?
 
Goalies have easy saves to make and tough saves to make.  I don't think we
should get into the business of arbitrarily deciding which ones are too
easy to count.
 
As it is, the shot/save totals don't always tell the story.  A goalie can
record a lot of saves in a game but have a relatively easy night if his
defense prevents him from having to see many high quality shots.
 
> I strongly disagree with taking away the save when a goal is scored on the
> rebound, because this penalizes the goalie twice on the play (the GAA is
> affected by the goal scored and the save percentage by having two shots
> added without a save).
 
I'm not sure exactly what John meant, but I read it to mean that the
initial shot was not even counted as a shot.  Maybe I read it wrong.
Either way, yes, the goalie should be credited with one save on two shots.
I'm a little surprised to hear that some people may not be doing it this
way.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
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