On Sat, 23 Mar 1996, Blackthorn Zaban wrote:
 
> Once again the Women's ECAC has shown why they lack the necessary vision to
> lead this sport from the depths of obscurity.  I may be old fashioned but I
> was of the opinion that the rewards should go to those players who exhibit
> the skills and abilities that most benefit their teams and themselves in that
> order.
>
> Although Laurie Belliveau is an excellent goalie who unfortunately is on a
> team that gives her no support, the real goalie who turned their team around
> was Megan Smith.  Providence was merely an also ran until Smith took over in
> the nets.  She lifted her team from mediocrity to the finals.  Being the
> subject of target practice should not be the ultimate criteria.
 
        Sorry, I have to interject here. When selecting the ECAC's Most
VALUABLE goaltender their amount of the team's weight that they haul in
tow IS one of the foremost considerations. BUT, when selecting the
All-ECAC team, you are not looking for the most valuable players, but
simply the BEST players, regardless of their worth to their particular
team, and how that team placed in the standings.
        I've seen Belliveau play and am convinced that she is the best
women's goaltender that I've seen. You have to look beyond the dismal
record and consider what she has in front of her. Yale's defense, and
whole team for that matter, isn't merely porus, they're abismal. Swiss
cheese is too much credit. The Beatles sang about 4,000 holes in
Blackburn-Lancashire, and there's 5,000 holes in the Whale. Belliveau's
prep team at St. Mark's (which featured BC's Erin Magee and Genivieve
Missirlian, and PU's Alexis Scott to name a few) would absolutely
anialate her current Yale team. Her HS GAA was somewhere around 0.70, and
in three years she won 3 ISL titles and only lost something like six
games (most of which came to either Tabor or Lawrence Academy and
Laurie Baker).
        She proved herself at that level and has done likewise at the
college. Yes her team sucks, but being at UMass I see a similar sitaution
every Friday and Saturday night.
        It will never show up in a stat sheet, but I believe that Brian
Regan is the best goaltender in Hockey East. He stops pucks that he has
no business stopping on a nightly basis and is a joy to watch. I'm
convinced that if you put him on any other HE team that his numbers would
be better than that team's incumbant. Jack Parker always turns to numbers
to explain why Tom Noble is the best goalie in HE, but unlike with
forwards, you can't rely on stats to prove a goaltender's worth. Their
numbers, GAA in particular, is more a reflection of overall team D than
theirs on many occasions. The ultimate question is who's better at
stopping pucks, and I think that Regan has more skill at that than Noble
despite the numbers.
        What is true with Regan and Noble is true with Belliveau as well.
Take her out of the net and their 4-0 and 5-1 losses become 15-0
aniliations. While she could turn any pretener into a contender.
Belliveau makes tremendous saved regularly and in huge amounts, while
many of her goals against are the sort of goals that a Patrick Roy
couldn't stop. Goals against Yale are generally the break-aways and
pretty one-timers that are perserved for highlight reels. Because of
Belliveau you have to work for a goal against the league's worst team and
this should be to her credit, just like with Regan, Marty Legault and all
the other tremendous goalies who don't play for top teams.
 
Leigh
[log in to unmask]
Who unfortunatley isn't off to Cincy, there's some other tourney that's
got this school's attention this weekend. But, they'll have to drag me
out of Rafters before I miss the BU-Michigan game Thursday night. Hope
there's no golf!
 
Oh, and a proud St. Mark's ('94, like LB) alum to boot.
 
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