I wanted to add my opinion to the goalie question/survey.  I myself am
a goaltender, and I played 3 years, in NCAA Div III, for the highly unsucessful
Lawrence University Vikings.  I have also coached goaltending at the youth
league and high school levels.  I did not see the Merrimack game you have all
been refering to, so my only information about that game is through HCKEY-L
postings.  In general, it is my opinion that there should be no pre-planned
games in which more than one goalie is usedd.  I believe that it is extremely
hard for any goalie to play well coming off the bench.  That does NOT mean
that I haven't seen any exceptions.  I have seen some goalies who play very
well when coming off the bench in the middle of the game, most of those
are not planned, however.  I believe there is a higher risk of injury for
goalies who enter the game in the middle, because even if the team elects to
take its ONE MINUTE timeout, that is not enough time to warm up after sitting
a period or more on a cold bench (even if the goalie stretches out extensively
before he goes on the ice.)
 
	As to the question of how to schedule your goalies  game-by-game, I
think that that depends on the team's situation.  If your team's top 2 (or
3) goalies are fairly evenly skilled, I don't think that you want to play one
goalie too much more than the other(s), so that all of the goalies are kept
up to game speed.  If you have one far superior goaltender, obviously you
want him in the net as much as possible.  I still believe that a good Division
I Hockey team needs 2 goalies.  As for the "HOT goalie" e" method/theory,ve
one question for the advocates of that method/theory:  What happens when one
goalie is hot for about a month or two and then gets cold, are there any
goalies ready to take his place (or does the team have to suffer for a week or
two, and maybe more)???????
 
	Those are my opinions.  I look forward to any others, or any rebuttals.
 
	SIDE NOTE: RPI finally won two games in a weekend series, even though
it took OVERTIME in ALABAMA to do it, GO RED! A tough weekend ahead for the
engineers, St. Lawrence & Clarkson.
 
 
-Ryan Stone
 Lawrence University (Appleton, WI) '93
 Rensselaer '93
 
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RYAN G. STONE                          Hoping for an R.P.I - MAINE
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute       Championship Game, April 4
e-mail: [log in to unmask]                See You in ALBANY!!!!
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