--- kam <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Not that I have not enjoyed the thread concerning
> athletic program
> accounting issues (I work at an accounting firm),
> but I would like to put
> forward a different hockey related
> question/discussion.
>
> After the last game I attended, I started thinking
> about the use of one
> goalie vs. two goalies during the season.  Recently,
> the U of Minnesota has
> only been using Hauser.  He is the senior, and as
> such has the most
> experience.
>
> My problem with this is that sometimes-as I believe
> I have seen with Hauser
> in past years - is that when he knows the burden is
> on him, after a while he
> has cracked under the pressure and not been "all
> there" when in the games.
> Though I should mention I have not seen that yet
> this season.
>
> I personally believe that when you have more than
> one competent goalie, you
> need to take the chance and play them.  A good
> example is when Hauser got
> Mono two years ago.  He really should not have been
> playing, IMHO.  I know
> the doctors said he could, but to me he should not
> have.  But since Hauser
> had spent the whole season in front of the net, I
> suppose Lucia felt he had
> no other choice.
> Don't get me wrong, I like Hauser, I just don't feel
> they should use him all
> the time.
>
> I would like to know other members' thoughts on this
> issue.  Does your team
> use more than one goalie, and if not, what do you
> think of that?
>
> Kathy M.
>
> HOCKEY!!!! -- GO GOPHERS!!!
> kam
> [log in to unmask]

I'd like to respond to Kathy's question.  After living
with two goalies I think that my observation that
"goalies are different" is accurate.  My experience
lies with two competing high school goalies.  Both
were very good.  coming into their junior year the
favorite for the starting position played on a US
Select team with the likes of former UND stars Jason
Blake and Jay Panzer.  The team traveled to Norway and
went something like 8-0 with an average goals against
of 1.  The other goalie was the brother of a former
SCSU Huskies, but he was physically a late bloomer.

Now that you have some background I'll get to my point
(finally).  During their junior season the coach
pitted both against each other in practice every day.
Neither goalie would know who would start until game
day.  By the end of the season their confidence levels
were so low for both goalies that their play had sunk
to an unseen level.

What happened at the end of the year has been my proof
that a team needs to have a clear cut starter who
plays 90% of the games.  The goalie, who played on the
Select team quit.  His confidence was so low he just
decided to hang it up.  The goalie he competed with
last season started every game and went on the become
a 2nd team all-state goalie. And when I talk to both
of them 10 years latter they both agree that one of
them needed to go.

Typically, competition is healthy, but not with
goalies.  They are just different. You still need a
good back up but healthy competition is not healthy
with goalies.  This season I am having a hard time
stomaching Dean Blais's traveling goalie circus.  Find
one and stick with him coach!!

As a side note these two are now great friends and the
goalie who quit is quite possibly the best floor
hockey goalie in UMD intramural history.





=====
Matt Sullivan
Group Insurance Specialist
The Sullivan Agency, LTD.
www.sullivanagency.com

University of Minnesota Duluth, 1998
BU-LL-DO-G-S  GOOOOO Bulldogs!!!!

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