The Goalie Conundrum

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Feb 222010
 

I supported picking Brodeur as the starting goalie despite enough reasons to justify Luongo being put in net, so at this point I don’t even feel slightly bad about tearing Brodeur a new one. Throw every cliche you can at the game and it’ll in all likelihood make sense. The one I like right now is “You’re only as strong as your weakest link.” Last night Team Canada played a heck of a game. They were for the most part all over the American team, but Brodeur let them down.

I thought Brodeur’s puck handling was going to be to his advantage and yesterday he proved it was to his detriment. Brodeur plays the puck like a defenseman, and when he’s on the Devils his blue line know to go out when he handles the puck, not collapse to the net. One of the key things is that the blue line doesn’t know Marty’s style of play, but that doesn’t excuse the nonsense we saw from him in net last night. I have never seen a goalie go down on so many shots, and flop around like I saw Brodeur last night. Not even Dominik Hasek has had a game where he’s flopped around in net as much as Brodeur did.

Brodeur’s puck handling was ridiculous at best and it all culminated in his baseball bat, derek-jeter-ground-out swing that cost Canada the goal. That robbed us of momentum, that basically sealed the deal. With that in mind though it was clear from the beginning. His poor decision making and puck-handling less than 30 seconds into the game cost us the game’s first goal and from there it went down hill.

With that being said everyone’s calling for Luongo. Brodeur had his chance, and I thought even against the Swiss he had a shaky game at best. I still believe Luongo knows this ice better than anyone, regardless of opponent he posted a shutout against Norway, and he looked solid. My worry is that without the trapezoid he’ll play the puck into even more awkward situations than he already does on the Canucks, but at this point anything is better than Brodeur.

Canada next plays the Germans in qualifiers. So you give Luongo the start and he wins. Guarantee this city is going to be preaching the good word according to Lu. That in itself might be the problem. Lets be honest, a half concussed, one armed Fleury could take down the winless Germans. The test comes in the game after which will be the Russians. Tuesday’s qualifier against the Germans is going to be a good indicator of how Luongo feels getting the start. Brodeur had his chance and the Germany game should be a good way to ease Luongo into this. That being said, come the quarterfinals, if Luongo’s given the start, it’s all on him to save this country’s hopes of a gold medal.

This is Luongo’s chance to prove to everyone, on the biggest stage of them all, that he can be a “big game goalie”. Don’t blow it Lu, no pressure.

Team Canada Goalie Duel

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Dec 012009
 

The Canucks head out on an Eastern road trip and their first stop is going to be in the Devils’ den against Martin Brodeur. A lot of people think, myself included, that that game is going to be a really good indicator of where both goalies are at, and also which is the better goalie. The debate over who is starter is starting to heat up, in part because of the Olympics nearing but also because this game is going to showcase two of the best goaltenders in the league auditioning for the starting role at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

When looking at the two goaltenders it’s hard to say who I would choose. My heart lies with Luongo, but the numbers don’t lie and unfortunately Luongo’s haunted by the fact that he isn’t able to win the big games. Case and point that painful series against Chicago. The fact that Brodeur has broken records that were at one point untouchable speaks volumes about his play. He’s the all time wins leader, he’s about to be the all time career shutout leader, and just the other night he broke the record for most minutes played by a goaltender in his career. He’s one of the most decorated goaltenders of all time accomplishing everything from Stanley Cups to Olympic Gold Medals. He’s been there before and he knows what it takes.

The question of age comes to mind next. While Luongo is 7 years younger than Brodeur, Brodeur has played in 3 Olympic games already and with the pressure on this Canadian National team to win it all, the question then becomes one of whether Luongo can handle the pressure or not. In the few big pressure games Luongo’s faced, he’s come up on the short side and the Olympic games isn’t a time to take a gut check. There’s so much more that factors into this debate, but for now let’s let the goalies do the talking and see what happens come puck drop tomorrow.

The Canucks game against the Devils is going to be an excellent indicator of where both goalies are at. You can be sure that those in charge of picking the Olympic team are going to pay close attention to the game, I for one just hope that the game doesn’t turn out to be a 0-0 affair.