Chuck Goody – A Rookie Profile
It has been just a few weeks since Boston born Chuck Goody, decided to make the jump to the Victory Hockey League Minors system. After just a few short hours on waivers, the young defenseman was picked up by GM Kendrick of the Saskatoon Wild. Goody, as stated, hails from the city of Boston in Massachusetts south of the border from Saskatoon. It was quite the trip up north to play puck, but the young brute has taken it in stride.
Goody comes into the league young, but with the body of a matured man. At 6’ 3”, he is slightly oversized. In fact, most defenseman at the VHL level are just around 6 feet tall. Goody has filled out his build a bit early in his career coming in at around 210 pounds, but with strength still low, we can only expect these figures to increase over the next few seasons. He’s a bit wiry at the moment and will need some grooming to really come into his own as a shutdown defenseman.
Goody started playing hockey at a young age like many of those who are now breaking in to the VHL and the VHLM. After a short stint in youth playing forward, Goody shot up markedly quicker than those around him and chose to put his physicality to the test playing on the back end. While not aggressive by nature, Goody did have a bit of snarl to his game at a young age. It wasn’t long however, before the young man started to enjoy the thrill of producing offensively. And in the last few seasons of high school hockey, he developed an incredibly strong knack for putting the puck in the net.
This brings us to the Pros & Cons of Goody’s game today:
PROS
Defense
After jumping to the position fairly early in his hockey career, Goody has become a defense first player. While he does enjoy a bit of the offensive flair, he’s one of the most solid players of his age group in his own end. He’s a safe playing two-way defender and helps goaltending keep pucks out of his own cage. Most of the staff that has groomed him to this point in his career are adamant that he’s as solid as they come on the blue line.
Scoring
While very few defenseman are really known for their scoring touch, Goody has been said to model his game after Boston’s own Torey Krug. With a sharp and poignant clapper from the point, Goody has established himself as a bonafide powerplay machine. As he pinches or slides down from the top of the circle, he tends to find the short side under the bar. As he expands his game, it will be interesting to see his shooting repertoire grow.
Passing
As an asset to any powerplay, Goody has also become a fairly solid puck moving player. He realized that his scoring strength has caused a good number of opponents to shift their focus to his shooting lanes. As an adjustment, he’s worked on his clap pass and the one-time touch pass to help set his teammates up for successful scoring attempts.
CONS
Strength
Goody has a large body, but for a guy of his size he does not push the weights around. While he begins to adjust to the pace and play of the VHL, it will be interesting to see if this part of his game grows or holds him back.
Checking
At this point, Goody’s strength really thwarts any of the checking leverage that he has learned over the last few years. While this part of his game is undoubtedly a work in progress, it is certainly a weakness at this time.
Puck Handling
This is probably the one weakness in Goody’s game that he’s really going to have to work on over the next season or two if he really wants the rest of his offensive game to flourish at the blue line. While he struggles to beat defenders one on one, this is a big part of that two-way offensive style game that Goody wants to play and he’s going to need to focus on getting better with his stick work in the VHLM
Now, with a few games under his belt, it appears that the young Boston defenseman has found a home in Saskatoon. It will be interesting to see how he pans out over the course of the next two seasons. Expect boom or bust potential out of this guy. He’s just ripe with untapped talent, but let’s hope he finds a way to be successful.
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