An interesting "blooper" in the 3rd period of the Maine
blowout of Brown demonstrated what can happen when the
Goalie is used as a third defenseman on the penalty
killing unit...
 
Garth Snow is such a good stick handler that it has
become common practice for Maine penalty killers to
pass the puck back to Snow, sometimes from as far as 3/4
of the way up ice...they've been doing this for a few years now...
 
Lately they've been using Mike
Dunham this way too, and the other night they tried it
with the freshman Greg Hirsch (in a third period mop
up role)...
 
Martin made a beautiful pass back to Hirsch, but unfortunately
between them was a Brown forward, who carried it
in for a breakaway score.
 
A number of visiting announcers have commented on the danger
of such a play, pointing out the little things that might go
wrong, such as the Martin pass...
 
Has anyone seen any other teams using the goalie this way? Is
this a new wrinkle that Maine has cooked up?  Personally, it
does seem a bit risky, and doesn't seem a good substitute
for good, aggressive, "non-tricky" penalty killing (which,
by the way, Maine has been pretty good at)...
 
Go Blue
Larry Latour
UMaine