Goalie Breakdown

[InGodWeTrust]

I want a goalie breakdown on these top teams. I want to know who they are and what makes them good.

1. Hill-Murray
2. Duluth East
3. Edina
4. Centennial
5. Bloomington Jefferson
6. Holy Angels
7. Blaine
8. Eden Prairie
9. Moorhead
10. Minnetonka

[quickgym guy]

I want a goalie breakdown on these top teams. I want to know who they are and what makes them good.

1. Hill-Murray
2. Duluth East
3. Edina
4. Centennial
5. Bloomington Jefferson
6. Holy Angels
7. Blaine
8. Eden Prairie
9. Moorhead
10. Minnetonka

Matt Cooper for DE has 5 shutouts and only let in 3 goals in 7 games... I'd say he tops the list.

[HShockeywatcher]

Kurt Altrichter from St Thomas is a Junior. He doesn't have the same stats as Cooper, nor does he have the same defense in front of him. He has a 1.64 GAA, a record of 5-1 and in the Cretin game he had some really nice saves.

Expect him to play a huge role in the future success of this team.

[scoreboard33]

Johnny Ankeny is Edina's starter and has been playing really well. He has one loss to Hill and has given up more than 2 goals only once. He is 6-1 with a .907 save percentage, however Edina jacks up shot totals for both teams, and a 1.57 GAA.

[theoneandonly1]

Casey O'Connor from Jefferson is a good goalie with good size. The most goals he has let up in a game is 2. He has 3 shutouts, .942 save percentage, and a 1.02 GAA.

[InGodWeTrust]

But I want to know what you see in all these goalie's from a technique aspect. What do they do well, what they need to work on, and if you think they will advance in their hockey career.

[RBKRules]

InGodWeTrust,

If you want goalies that will move to next level you can't look at the goalies from the top teams because they do not face enough shots or enough quality shots for them to be noticed. Look at last year's top ten teams and tell me one goalie playing at a high level. Phillippi had the best tournament every from a goalie perspective and he is riding the pin in the NAHL. Look for the next Kangas from a second level team seeing 30-45 shots per game.

[Moose Jaw, SK]

InGodWeTrust,

If you want goalies that will move to next level you can't look at the goalies from the top teams because they do not face enough shots or enough quality shots for them to be noticed. Look at last year's top ten teams and tell me one goalie playing at a high level. Phillippi had the best tournament every from a goalie perspective and he is riding the pin in the NAHL. Look for the next Kangas from a second level team seeing 30-45 shots per game.

Yay! Someone that understands something about goaltending!

[RBKRules]

I need to amend my last statement because of Mike Lee of Roseau. He was able to get noticed in a big way stopping 8-15 shots a game of which 1 or 2 were quality. I was wrong so go ahead and rate the goalies above.

[HShockeywatcher]

RBKRules,

I have posed this question multiple times before with no answer so maybe you can offer some help. Last year in the pre-season there was talk about Duluth Central's goalie being one of the best in the state, from people associated with the team and from others around the area. He also plays on a terrible team and has terrible stats. It is entirely possible for a great player (especially a goalie) to not have good stats and still be good because of the team he plays on. How do guys like this goalie get noticed?

[Sykes]

Assessing Goalies is probably one of the most difficult tasks in evaluating hockey players. Many coaches place a lot of emphasis on size which in my opinion is a mistake because it is only a small part of the game. Statistics such as GAA and Save percentage is another part of the game but as RBKrules stated many of the goalies on top teams only face a few shots. This can help or be a hindrance in the fact that some goalies need many shots to do well some do not. Taking a few shots sometimes is harder than facing many from a mental standpoint. Another telling point about a goalie is how they react after they have been scored upon. Many of today's scouts and coaches try to assess a goalie by watching one or two games. In order to do a good job, you need to looks at stats, see enough games to see low and high shot totals, see power plays, and talk to the goalie. Some say 70 to 90% of a goalie is the mental aspect. The last but perhaps most important is work ethic. Do they rely on their talent or do they work to improve? Do they know their weaknesses and try to improve upon them? The last thing is, does the goalie instill confidence in his team mates.? Do they feel the he/she have their back so they can play more freely or make a mistake. While this may not help you with some short helpful hints, assessing goalies during a game shows you completely different side of hockey as there is whole other game within the game. Once you start watching these young men and women, you realize how much of the game and how much pressure is put on one individual as in no other sport. It just brings out what a great sport hockey is.

[hockeyfanatic99]

In this day and age I do not believe that coaches/scouts rely on statistics for assessing the abilities of a goaltender. As noted, this is one of the most difficult positions to assess. Instead, I believe that coaches/scouts ask goalie coaches or former goaltenders that they trust that have seen various tenders play for their input. As stated above, so many factors contribute to assessing the abilities of a goal tender e.g. attitude, position in reference to shots, how they handle rebounds, size, their hockey sense, etc. I don't buy the argument about assessing the ability of a goaltender based on the number of shots they face. I say that because a very good goaltender controls his rebounds and a mediocre one struggles with the same. Where the good goaltender could face 15 shots and make 15 saves. A tender that might struggle with rebounds facing those same 15 shots while not letting a goal score could give up a rebound on every shot and they will have faced 30 shots! So, is the tender that gave up the rebounds and faced the 30 shots better?

[fkahckyprofessor20]

As a goalie myself I think the past two posts above are two of the better descriptions I've seen. There is a lot more to look for in a goaltender than the simple things such as save % and GAA. As a goalie you want to shutout the opposing team everytime you step on the ice, obviously. But, a more reasonable goal is to stop 9 out of every 10 shots faced. In the end it will result in a save % around .900. That is a great save % to have for any high school goaltender, regardless of the team you play for. Along with the stats they post, some of the attributes pointed out in prior posts are great ways to assess a goaltender.

[ImissMYhockey]

Goaltending is the most important position in hockey. Without a good goalie your team will not be able to make it all the way. Look at the past 3 state champion goalies, they all have gone on to play college hockey or juniors and not just because they have a good team infront of them. I think that if you are a varsity goalie in Minnesota you are a great goaltender. It is unfortunate for some kids because they dont get the recognition that other goalies do because of the team they play on. All I will say though is that if you are good enough, they will find you. I think that Cooper is an excellent goalie from east and it showed when they played centennial and tonka. I am also a fan of Paul Moberg out of Forest Lake, plays on an average team but keeps them in games.

[youngblood08]

Add John Gleinser from Hastings to the list of under rated goalies on sub-par teams. Kid faces many shots every game and keeps his team in it.

On the Mike Lee note look at what happened when his team needed him against Hill. He mentally ready for that competition they just went at that game with the same game plan as the rest, which also shows the coach was along for the ride, he had no answers for Hill and made no adjustments.

[Ilovethe212]

I truely believe that matt cooper is the best goalie in the state this year. Good size, plays his angles well and has good reactions. I dont care what anyone says about the team infront of him, there great but cooper is the reason they are winning a lot of these games. His numbers are sick no matter what way you look at them. 133 shots and 130 saves is unreal. Hes also not facing cup cake teams. he just made 37 saves against moorhead for the shutout giving him a .43 gaa and a .977 save% for the year. and has made 20+ saves in 4 of 7 games this year and 3 were for shutouts.

[HShockeyz]

This is silly. Everyone has a different opinion on goalies. They are difficult to figure out. I prefer the kid that can stop the puck!!! They must still work on doing things technically sound, but lets face it, Hasek had not technical ability in games. He stopped the puck. It also took him a long time to get there. Same with Tim THomas, read the article. Every goalie coach wants the perfect goalie and they rarely find one. They like the kid with perfect form, even if that kid never "won" a game. Give me a kid that stops the puck, stops the rebound, and the next one too and that is your top goalie. Unfortunately too many goalies stop the one puck, but have hidden weaknesses that are easy to expose. Lucky for them too many coaches don't look for the weakness.

The better teams typically have the better technical goalie because they don't have opportunities to screw up and expose their weakness, nor do they or their competition have opportunities to make 40 saves and really "win" one for the team. They rarely have the Hasek types because the don't get enough shots to find out who can really stop the puck, or at least they don't until the playoffs and state tourney.

You want the best, don't look at the top teams you will rarely find one there, you will find the kid who's dad spent a fortune at Stauber though.

You want the weakness of a goalie exposed I'll expose it watching him in warm ups and a few good shots. Want the best goalie? your pick will be different from mine most of the time.

[woodley]

IMHO, the best goalies are the ones you seldom notice. They make the saves they are supposed to make, put the rebounds where they are supposed to go (either no rebound or to the corners) and keep decent form while doing it. As you get to higher levels, most goalies without good fundamentals will be exposed. As you read on the boards, you hear about the dramatic saves made by Goalie X. What this usually means is that he was out of position in the first place and had to make a panic move to get back to where he should have been in the first place. Just look for the kid that quietly does his job, and doesn't have to make many second saves. That is the kid who will keep you in every game!

[midwesthockeyscout]

There are many factors involved with scouting netminders. As we are coming of age, the philosophy of many HS coaches is, 'We don't care how you stop the puck. Stop it!" However, in scouting, we look at many factors - not just stopping the puck. The cyclical effect is coming back to the taller goal tenders. 6' + is getting the attention, and the main reason is with so many butterfly goaltending strategies, the taller goalie covers the top portions of the net more effectively.

But we look at all facets of the game.. Use of body vs hands... Crispness in movement... recovery, communication.. playing the puck.... plus all the technical aspects.

When we factor in all the elements, we look at a combination of age, size, rawness, experience, movement, concept of goaltending skills, size, quickness, and the bottom line we ask ourselves is that, "How good of a goalie could this player be, if he had better training, more personalized training and all he had to do was focus on hockey?"

[midwesthockeyscout]

I truely believe that matt cooper is the best goalie in the state this year. Good size, plays his angles well and has good reactions. I dont care what anyone says about the team infront of him, there great but cooper is the reason they are winning a lot of these games. His numbers are sick no matter what way you look at them. 133 shots and 130 saves is unreal. Hes also not facing cup cake teams. he just made 37 saves against moorhead for the shutout giving him a .43 gaa and a .977 save% for the year. and has made 20+ saves in 4 of 7 games this year and 3 were for shutouts.

One of the factors we also chart is scoring chances, location of shots. Cooper is a fine netminder in the couple games I have seen, but, the scoring chances are limited, as the defense does a tremendous job at forcing most shots from outside the circle, limiting scoring chances. We expect all goal tenders at this level to stop pucks outside the circles. Cooper doesn't face many high quality shots. Although he has shown he can handle the ones he does face.

Thru the first 6 games he faced 96 shots, giving up 3 goals. He faced 30+ vs Centennial, giving up 2, so, you subtract that game, he faced liked 60 shots in 5 games... An average of 12 per game..... the way East plays in front of him, 12 shots avg, he's facing maybe, 3 scoring chances a game.

I am not discrediting what Cooper had done up to that point, but, we expect a goalie should fare well facing 3 tough shots a game.

[Aaronnessisgod]

Talk about a second level team, ryan oshea from eastview faces 35 shots a game, with 2 shutouts through 7 games and a .95 percent goals against, one of the top goalies in the Lake conference.

[Ilovethe212]

I truely believe that matt cooper is the best goalie in the state this year. Good size, plays his angles well and has good reactions. I dont care what anyone says about the team infront of him, there great but cooper is the reason they are winning a lot of these games. His numbers are sick no matter what way you look at them. 133 shots and 130 saves is unreal. Hes also not facing cup cake teams. he just made 37 saves against moorhead for the shutout giving him a .43 gaa and a .977 save% for the year. and has made 20+ saves in 4 of 7 games this year and 3 were for shutouts.

One of the factors we also chart is scoring chances, location of shots. Cooper is a fine netminder in the couple games I have seen, but, the scoring chances are limited, as the defense does a tremendous job at forcing most shots from outside the circle, limiting scoring chances. We expect all goal tenders at this level to stop pucks outside the circles. Cooper doesn't face many high quality shots. Although he has shown he can handle the ones he does face.

Thru the first 6 games he faced 96 shots, giving up 3 goals. He faced 30+ vs Centennial, giving up 2, so, you subtract that game, he faced liked 60 shots in 5 games... An average of 12 per game..... the way East plays in front of him, 12 shots avg, he's facing maybe, 3 scoring chances a game.

I am not discrediting what Cooper had done up to that point, but, we expect a goalie should fare well facing 3 tough shots a game.

One of those games was against Duluth central so yes i do expect a shutout from him against that team but that brings down his shot total a lot. All I have to say is out off all the unsigned goalies in this state Matt cooper will be the first and maybe only to do so at the end of the year!!

[windtomyback]

Midwest Hockey Scout,

Everything you said makes a lot of sense and seems very thorough. It seems to me however, that once goalies reach varsity level as a senior, most are pretty capable technically, and the thing that distinguishes them most is their mental game (and maybe their size).

What kind of things do you look for when watching a goalies mental game? I'm assuming you do not talk to many of the goalies, but just observe.

[HShockey2180]

midwestscout can tell me if this is accurate or not, but I think they look for a goalie who shows level emotions, whether he made the biggest save of his life or let up the softest goal of his life, it doesn't phase him or his game. Watch Mikka Kirprusoff for example...no matter what just happened, he almost always turns around and grabs a squirt from his water bottle and then gets back to business like nothing happened.

[HShockeywatcher]

Assume Matt Cooper is the best goalie in the state. If he played for a team like Sleepy Eye and they still weren't winning, would he get noticed? My main point is that the best goalie in the world needs defense in front on them, this is true at all levels, so how does a great goalie with no defense in front of him get noticed?