Hockey goalies might be the craziest athletes in all of sports. At the professional level, a goalie in any sport is a special breed, as they are tasked with blocking shots at high speeds, and require intricate hand-eye coordination. The game of hockey is played on ice skates, which is already a hard enough task. Goalies have to be expert skaters in order to succeed at their position. The lateral movements and maneuvers that goalies execute seem near impossible. Not only do they have to be able to manage themselves on skates, but they have to stop a puck: a six ounce, three inch thick disk of vulcanized rubber.
The average shot speed in the NHL ranges from 85-95 mph; the hardest shot in the NHL registers at approximately 108.8 mph, a record set by Montreal Canadian defensemen, Shea Weber. His famous shot has torn through Germany’s net and broken bones of nineteen different people. Shea Weber is among many other players in the NHL that injure others with their cadaverous shots. In a league with so many hard shooters, it makes you wonder why someone would ever want to get in the way of such monstrosities, regardless of howmuch padding.
When you factor in the weight and size of the puck, and the speed at which it leaves players’ sticks, it allows you to appreciate the difficulty level of the position. A goalie is given large pads on each leg, a glove on one hand, and another pad, called a blocker, and goalie stick on the other hand. Combining all of these pieces of equipment with the remaining padding, protection, and ice skates make it extremely difficult to play the position. A goalie’s natural tendency when making a save is to drop into the butterfly position, which is basically a squating position with the leg pads facing outward, giving off the “butterfly” look. When a puck is elevated, depending the side, the goalie will use his blocker to deflect the puck or his glove to catch it. The high speeds at which the puck travels makes it hard to react in time to make the save: they have to decide which hand to use and whether or not to drop into the butterfly position. These are no easy amount of tasks, especially for the faint of heart.
There’s one more factor that contributes to the difficulty of goaltenders: screens and deflections. A screen is the instance in which players accumulate in front of the net, obstructing the goalies vision. The opposing team tries to block the goalies vision so that pucks can slip past him easily. NHL players are also masters at the deflection, which changes the puck’s direction to fool the goalie.
I believe that the hockey goalie is one of the most difficult positions in all of sports. The collection of tasks and difficulties that goalies are entrusted make them some of the world’s most gifted athletes. There is no doubt that goalie’s have an insurmountable of courage.