In most sports, goalkeepers are often overlooked. In football they only make headlines when they make a high-profile mistake (step forward Lukas Fabianski) or a vital save (arise Sir Packie Bonner).
Not so in ice hockey, where they are heavily-padded icons. Netminders like Marty Turco in Dallas or Marty Brodeur in New Jersey are the marquee names of their respective clubs and the fate of their teams rests on their reflexes, bravery and Matrix-like ability to pluck a puck out of the air at 100mph.
So, when a team gets to the play-offs, having a goalie in form is the most vital asset a side can have. The phenomenon is known as a “hot goalie†and it can be enough for an unfancied team to go all the way.
In 1986, the legendary Patrick Roy, then a 20-year-old rookie was the Montreal Canadiens’ keeper who managed a .923 save percentage in the play-offs as they surprisingly won the Stanley Cup.
Jean-Sebastien Griguere dragged the lowly Anaheim Ducks to the 2003 Stanley Cup finals with a sensational display in goal, recording a .945 save average only to lose 4-3 to the New Jersey Devils in the final series.
Phenomenon
Now Montreal may have another example of this extraordinary phenomenon.
Montreal made the play-offs by just one point, winning just 39 of their 82 games, limping through as the lowest-ranked team in the Eastern Conference. Their ‘keeper position was shared between Casey Price and Slovak Jaroslav Halak in the regular season, with neither being consistent enough to warrant the starter position.
Halak was given the nod for the first round. Waiting there were the Washington Capitals, the top scorers in the regular season with 313 goals in 82 games, 64 more than their nearest rivals in the east. Led by the outstanding Russian Alexander Ovechkin, the Capitals were expected to sweep aside the lowly Habs.
Mixed fortunes
Instead Halak made 45 saves in the opening game 3-2 victory and the possibility of a shock was on.
The Capitals dominated the next three games and Halak was dropped for Price as the Canadiens lost all three.
As a last throw of the dice, Halak was back between the pipes for game five – and he was hotter than a barbeque on Mercury. Over the next three games, he saved 131 of the 134 shots the Capitals rained down on him, conceding only one goal in each game, allowing Montreal to pull off a sensational 4-3 series win.
Next up was the Pittsburgh Penguins. Led by the golden boy of ice hockey, Sidney Crosby, the reigning Stanley Cup champions were supposed to dispose of Montreal. They too would fail, thanks to the brilliant Slovak.
Penguins put to the sword
He shipped five goals in 18 shots in the first game, but once again recovered his form. Thirty-eight saves from 39 shots won game two, and he saved the last 32 shots in game four to tie the series at 2-2. Thirty-four stops in game six tied them again at 3-3 and in the decider, in Pittsburgh, he made 37 saves, including 18 in the final period, to eliminate the Penguins.
The Canadiens have played well. Their defencemen are blocking lots of shots before they get to Halak and their forwards have been clinical, especially Michael Cammalleri. But Halak is the key.
With a save percentage of 93% in the play-offs, 420 shots saved in just 13 games, Halak is proving to be a classic example of the ‘hot goalie’ phenomenon and could lead his team to a first Stanley Cup since 1993.
During the final period of the final game against Pittsburgh one TV commentator announced, “It’s too early to build a statue of Halak, but they can start ordering the bronze.â€
That is how highly prized ‘hot goalie’ are in hockey. Wonder if Arsene Wenger can get his number?
By Sean Nolan
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