Aike van Giersbergen Scouting Report

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Aike van Giersbergen - Goaltender

Aike van Giersbergen's career prior to moving to America was kind of uneventful. Still, the Philadelphia Reapers gave the young dutch goaltender a chance to prove himself in the VHLM and offered him a contract to finish the season with them.

 

The Reapers had given up a lot to win a championship so their team wasn't... as loaded as one would like. Aike was their starter as soon as he set foot in Philly and put up fairly decent numbers for someone who had literally just joined the team. He'd have a 0.889 saving percentage and a goal against average below 3 in 11 regular season matches with the Reapers.

The highlight of his first time in the playoffs was not getting swept but he did pretty horribly in general, with a goal against average of 5.58.

 

Once that was over, the Tytsjerksteradiel native was eligible for the VHLM draft. He had some good discussions with a few teams, notably the Miami Marlins, but ended up being picked way earlier than everybody thought by the Houston Bulls. The Bulls were in need of a starter and Aike was the best option in a draft year lacking talent between the pipes. They weren't willing to risk letting him fall.

 

 

van Giersbergen did decently in his first season with the Bulls. It was evident from the get-go that he was a well-rounded goalie, excelling at controlling his rebounds and making spectacular saves with his glove. What impressed VHL scouts the most was how clean his technique was while in the blue paint. Unfortunately, as soon as he left it, he made some pretty costly mistakes and had a hard time recovering from them mentally. He often tried playing the puck in his rookie season and that cost the Bulls a few games before he stopped leaving his goal altogether. This was definitely better for Houston but having a goalie who can't manipulate the puck well made it difficult to get out of their zone easily.

Aike is also a terrible skater, which made his adventures outside of his goal even more stressful for his teammates and the Bulls fans watching at home or in person. It would also cost the Bulls a couple precious seconds where they could have an extra skater if need be.

 

The Vancouver Wolves were not bothered by the puck handling skills of this prospect and selected him 6th overall in the S78 draft. They knew that under the tutelage of Markus Emerson Jr, he could develop in their goalie of the future.

 

van Giersbergen took Emerson's advices to heart to have another good season in the VHLM and win more playoff games than he ever did before.

 

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I know this is not the graphics section, but those goalie helmet designs are absolutely unreal.