Goalie Appreciation Piece

I'm pretty certain fans of the Winnipeg Jets know all about appreciating their goaltender after Connor Hellebuyck won some more hardware this past season. There are goalies who routinely excel at their position that ultimately land in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but there are many more who make it to the NHL, stop some pucks, and find themselves moving every few years as one of 64 coveted positions in the game are occupied by the best puck-stoppers found by general managers, coaches, and scouts. In saying that, it's always crazy when I hear a fan blurt out "I could have stopped that shot" following a goal scored on what looks like a relatively easy shot to save. But is it easy?

I'm here to tell you that it's not, and the proof comes from Hockey Alley's YouTube page. In the video below, you'll get a bird's eye view of what it looks like when a puck is coming towards you with no one standing between you and the shooter. Remember that most goalies have pads and skates on, so stopping these shots might look easy until you're wearing the same gear they do. And the key in this video? The shots get faster as the video gets longer. Have a watch below.
There's absolutely no way I'm making a save on any of those shots above 80mph, and I suspect that a lot of armchair goaltenders may have a new-found appreciation for why it looks like some goalies are guessing on where shots are going given the reaction time needed to stop some of the pucks. It seems pretty evident that the guys paid to stop pucks in the NHL are the best at what they do.

I may have led you to believe this is a goalie appreciation piece, and I still want to honour the armoured men stopping pucks because it's clear that they're incredible athletes. But it also may be a defensive player appreciation post because we often see skaters jumping in front of pucks or lying down in front of shots to help the goalies, and they often wear far less protective equipment than the guys and gals between the pipes. Often, we see players hobble back to the bench after a shot goes off a skate, and they're back out there a minute or two later. For as quick as the goalies have to be with their limbs and body stopping shots, the toughness shown by players to stand in the way of those shots is off the charts by my standards.

However, this piece is about what the goalies see, and imagine being able to have the reaction time to peek around two, three, sometimes four players in front of you, see the shot just as it's being released, and still making the save in the nanoseconds one would have to throw his or her body in the way. In saying that, what the best goalies do in the NHL on a nightly basis might just be magic. When you consider that Hellebuyck, Swayman, Bobrovksy, and Shesterkin are some of the best of the very best puck-stoppers the planet has to offer, seeing this video makes me appreciate just how difficult their jobs are.

Oh, and just for fun, let's roll one-timers into this too.
For anyone thinking, "I can do that", you're welcome to don the gear and show us how. Best of luck to you on that effort.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!