Rob Grover asked: >People always seem to talk about goalies. I have a question though- what >makes a goalie a good goalie? .... >Some goalies challenge the shooter while others sit back and wait for a puck. >Is there an advantage to either? Does a particular style make one a bad/good >goalie? In SI a few years ago(last year?), there was an article about goalies >who use the butterfly technique. One of the great things about hockey is that there is no one way to stop the puck -- every goalie brings something new to the table (on and off the ice, in most cases). The bottom line is whether the goalie can stop the puck. Consider some of the contrasts you see around the ECAC. Tripp Tracy (Harvard) is a very aggressive goalie who comes way out to challenge shooters, prefers to take the initiative in handling the puck, pokechecks more than most when a shooter is in close, mixes his choice of style a fair amount (he'll show butterfly, two-pad slide, stacked pads whatever it takes to get to the puck). He shared the nets for two years with Aaron Israel, a totally different player. Israel remained on his feet whenever possible, played his angles extremely well and let his defensemen do the puckhandling work. At the time, I think Israel was more effective -- Tracy didn't have the experience yet to properly read the shooter all the time and was burned on occasion because of it. Israel's patience paid off. But, as Tracy has gained experience, he makes better decisions and I think has put together a great season so far. How about James Konte and Erasmo Saltarelli at Princeton? Konte is a big, butterfly-style keeper (similar to Greg Taylor, for you Hockey East folks). He's over 6 feet tall, so when he goes down in the buttefly he's still able to cover the top half of the net with his glove and blocker. Konte doesn't handle the puck particularly well, but he's very aggressive in protecting his crease so that he can buy some space and time on rebounds. Saltarelli, on the other hand, is incredibly aggressive in the manner of a young Tracy -- he'll fly out at shooters and let his defense worry about the trailer or any rebounds. No two saves look alike with Saltarelli. Different style goalies compliment different types of teams. Generally, I find that aggressive goalies seem to do better when they face a lot of shots. Patient teams, more selective with their shots, seem to have better luck against guys like Tracy or Neil Little when he was at RPI. A goalie who makes the first save but gives up big rebounds will look great in front of a strong, solid defense that keeps the crease clear. Size can also be a factor -- generally, stand-up goalies are bigger guys (like Israel) who don't have to come out as far to cut down the angle. Smaller guys, like Tracy or Colgate's Dan Brenzavich, will come out a bit more. Goaltending is a lot like batting in baseball - whatever stance or style works for you. Some people are more comfortable one way, some another. You have to learn from mistakes and adjust to the shooters because, sooner or later, they'll find your weak spots. In college, that is less of a problem because you only see a goalie a few times in your career. The ECAC has been blessed with a bunch of great goalies in my time around the league, all of whom were very different -- John Fletcher at Clarskon, Mike O'Neill at Yale, Little at RPI, Dave Gagnon at Colgate, Allain Roy at Harvard (a contrast in styles with his teammate, Chuckie Hughes), Parris Duffus at Cornell, Christian Soucy and Tim Thomas at Vermont, Paul Cohen at SLU, etc. They only had one thing in common -- they could all stop the puck. Hey, isn't this my second goaltending post in two days? I confess, I love watching goalies. I've always thought that quality goaltending is the key to a great game -- when you get two goalies standing on their heads and keeping everything out, there is nothing better (see last year's NCAA semifinal between Maine and Michigan for evidence). Geoff Howell Drop the Puck Magazine HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.