Wroclaw Times - Goalies need luck [1/2]

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VHL goaltenders always prepare for the unexpected and unpredictable, ready for pucks deflecting off sticks, bodies, feet or even a small divot in the ice that gets the puck past all the gear designed to help defend their net. The freaky, flukey or simply weird goals can be laughed off by goalies who know sometimes the puck just takes a funny bounce.

 

The goals that eat away at a goalie though, are those he believes he could have stopped. That’s why this off-season, as Greg Eagles prepares to take the reigns of the starting role in Vancouver, has been training all summer on reaction time, tracking puck movement and how to counter those funny bounces.

 

“It really sucks any time you give up a goal,” Eagles Said “Those kind of goals that take a weird bounce, there’s nothing really you could do except hope that it hits you and stays out of the net, most of the time it does but sometimes it doesn’t. But yeah, the ones that hurt the most as a goalie, it’s the ones that you feel like you should’ve had it.”

 

Goaltenders have to be ready for the next skill moves trained up by the VHL top stars to put the puck over the line. Every season a few players have new tricks up their sleeves.

 

“Maybe it’s the skill of the players finding that one spot,” Eagles Continued. “Most of the top players in the league are so sneaky in terms of what they want to do and what they don’t want to do. They put the puck in spots that catch you off guard. For example maybe they shoot in order to get a weird bounce, hit a guy’s shin pad or something like that and then it goes in. It has been happening more and more and I need to make sure I am better at stopping those.”

 

Sometimes goalies get lucky, too.

 

Last season during Greg’s final start of the season, he appeared to be losing his balance in the final period when the opposing team was handed a breakaway. Eagles put his glove down at the exact moment the opposing player tried to slip the puck between his legs.

 

“You definitely get some flukey saves where you’re beat and a guy just hits you, I mean I tripped over a divot in the ice and still somehow made the save” Eagles said. “ These kind of things go both ways but it’s always better when luck is on your side”

 

The Wolves goalie also recalls being on his goal line when the puck came up, rolled over the top of the net, hit the back of his mask and went in.

“ At the end of the day it is all luck, we do our best to train for these situations but you just never know, we just have to always be at our best and be aware of where the puck is at all times “ Eagles said as we wrapped up the article.

We now wait to see if Eagle’s off-season training has paid off as he looks forward to his first ever season as a starter in the VHL

[Cxsquared 455]

Review: Really great concept for an article. It's a really good header image but I think a picture or two more could have spruced it up quite a bit. I really like that you included examples of both good and bad luck in-game events. Overall a great read!