IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT

As a former goaltender I’ve always been amused by the dichotomist viewpoint of coaches.

When a team is surrendering 15-25 scoring chances a game while at the same scoring four times, and their goalie is allowing 5 or 6 goals a night, the coach can usually be heard saying, “If we could have got one or two more saves…” – subtly heaping responsibility for the losses onto the goalers shoulders.

But when the game is one in which the team grossly out chances the opposition yet loses a low scoring contest because guys who get paid to score, don’t, the coach almost always applauds the effort of his charges and then lauds the performance of the other clubs netminder. “We did a lot of good things…” he’ll say.

Did they?

I guess so, but so did your goalie in that 20 chance game. He stopped 15 grade “A” opportunities. That’s pretty good isn’t it? Trust me he tried to stop them all, just like the snipers tried to score on all of their shots.

So why are the shooters “just abouts” better than the goalies “almosts” in the eyes of the bench boss?

Is it because goalie errors end up on the scoreboard while shooter misfires end up with a little frustration and a slap on the back?

Look, as a service to coaches everywhere, on behalf of all goaltenders I would like to explain that a goalie getting a piece of a shot but having it trickle past him is no different than a top goal scorer hitting a post or a pad - both tried, and both “failed”. One isn’t more detrimental than the other. And if you go 0 for 8 on the powerplay but created lots of chances, that doesn’t automatically gloss over the fact you went 0 for 8. You never hear a coach say, “We just about killed a few of those penalties” after they go 2 for 7 on the PK do you? Instead, you hear mumblings about how the goalie is your best penalty killer and, well…”We didn’t get the saves we needed.”

The Forlorn Former Target Razor-Theory: It’s always easier when there is just one throat to choke.