PAINTED MASKS AND BIG GAUDY GEAR (An extremely rare non-fiction prose piece from me, not intended to be this long, or to have the amount of time devoted to it that I did...but my Dad was a goalie as well and I guess I had him in mind a bit today) A goaltenders skill set is not endowed with a capacity to humiliate a shooter with a save, in spite of the position in itself being the most tightly-concentrated antithesis of purpose in the framework of the games offensive essence. Saves are made with backs to the puck. With bare hands lacking gloves lost in goal-crease scrums. With perfect splits spanning the entire span of ice from post to post. With hyperextended catching arms that rival (and often eclipse) the athleticism of baseballs most dramatic warning-track catches. They are often the most fervently-praised acts on highlight shows that wrap up the nights sporting action, and aired earlier and more often than the most immaculately-crafted offensive plays of the night. But the most dramatic, emphatic, acrobatic save ever made never humiliated the shooter that was foiled. Conversely, a goaltender can be very easily humiliated. Im speaking primarily in hockey terms, but when it comes to virtually any sport in which a goaltender is involved, a nights work culminating in any more than two or three goals allowed is considered a failure. Four or five goals essentially puts the blame solely on the goalie even if the number of saves bailing out poor defense is substantially higher. Get beat seven times or more and your credibility is openly - and more often than not, sarcastically - questioned in all sports media before the next day has even arrived. Ironically, a shutout, the sweetest icing on the cake of a goalies win, is often the symbol of a collective team effort. Maybe thats where a tiny measure of pride-driven vengeance is derived, but shutouts, even under a teams most stifling defensive system, is an exception and not a rule. And maybe just one of those goals will be worthy of a highlight reel, which finds another highlight reel, and blossoms into a seasons worth of highlight reels and appearances on the coveted Plays Of The Year specials that fill the void left by the lack of live sports over the Christmas holidays. Maybe it will meet up with that one highlight-reel save that everyone - even non-sports fans - saw through the year. And there is one proclamation that will inevitably be made from time to time: (s)he made the goalie look awful on that goal. Im thirty-seven years old, and have played goal in bunches over the past twenty-odd years, and have never heard a single person marvel at how awful the goalie made the shooter look. The closest Ive received to such a marvel is an occasional acknowledgement of having robbed a shooter. Ive heard of shooters flubbing shots and the like, but that was the shooters fault. Im inclined to believe that it boils down to a perception of roles. A goaltenders job is to make saves; to negate the reason the game is played: to score goals. A goal scored is an exhibition of talent, an affirmation of the reason the game is played. They are one in the same when it comes to sports, at least as it pertains to the pros. Every position boasts two types of players: those who devote their lives to practice and training, with the hopes of attaining greatness, and others who are simply born with athletic talent. And yet, when a goalie does a split that would make the most outrageous contortionist jealous, its more often than not credited to training before talent. Ive heard of many shooters who were born to score goals; Im not entirely sure Ive ever heard anyone say that someone was born to play goal. Im sure its been said at some time, somewhere, when I wasnt around, but as my logic begins to enter this territory, Im reminded of T.S Eliot being asked if he believed in writers being born to write. He did muster a pair of names, Shakespeare and Keats, but there have been an awful lot of pretty good writers over the centuries. 11 22 14
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 20:51:47 +0000
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