Breakdance Goaltending

I watched much of tonight's Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Ironically, a night after I noted in a sports discussion with family members that hockey is normally a higher-scoring sport than soccer, Game 1 ends up going to Vancouver by the score o f 1-0, and they got that goal with just 18 seconds left in regulation.

Ah, but an anomaly does not negate a tendancy!

I posted on Facebook how both goalies stood on their heads. It's an old hockey expression, supposedly stemming from the idea that a hot goalie stopping everything is likely to be flopping all over, all night, when stopping so many shots. The more spectacular the saves, the more impressive, and I guess the epitome of a spectacular save is doing so while inverted.

Goaltending has always been, but never moreso than today, about positioning and controlling rebounds/puck flow. With the sofa cushions that pass for goalie pads, gloves that look larger than the "#1" foam hands the fans wear, and chest protectors that look to be modeled after the Michelin Man, most of the saves made today are simply a matter of the goalie staying put.

It's not as bad as (Indoor) Professional Lacrosse, however. Its goalies pretty much grab a twin bed mattress and hide behind it in front of the net.