Here in Canada there has been as much talk about who didn’t get picked for the Olympic Team as who did. The one position where there wasn’t much debate though was in goal. Brodeur, Luongo and Fleury were the top three for virtually every pundit.

So it might be tough to pen an article on who didn’t get picked for Canada, but if you look down the Olympic rosters it does get more interesting. Here’s our rundown of the Olympic Goalies for each of the countries competing in the men’s tournament. We’ve highlighted a few of the goalies who might have deserved a look.

What do you think of the choices? Should anyone have been picked that wasn’t?

USA

Ryan Miller: The USA will be relying on the hottest goalie from the first half of the NHL season to bring them a medal

Ryan Miller has led the league in GAA and Save % for most of the year and Thomas is the reigning Vezina Trophy holder so the top spots were an easy decision for Brian Burke.

Jonathan Quick has established himself at a bona fide starter and the Kings have spent some of the year at the top of the conference even. He was the only other goalie invited to the summer evaluation camp along with Miller and Thomas so it’s no great surprise to see him chosen. Age may have also been a factor – Quick is the up and coming youngster.

Colorado goalie Craig Anderson led the surprising Avs to the hottest start in the league, but has cooled off a bit of late. He’ll be disappointed for certain, but being significantly older than Quick the USA Hockey brain trust may have felt the third spot should go to someone who could benefit from the experience -Quick will  likely have a role to play in future Olympics.

But what about Jimmy Howard of the Red Wings? He started slowly but now looks like a real #1. He’s ahead of Thomas, Quick and Anderson in terms of GAA and Save %. Ty Conklin leads them all in Save % as well – maybe he’d get the job if the final was going to be played outdoors! If the selection were made in June when Howard would have the better part of a full season as a starter and he might have earned a trip to Vancouver.

Canada

Martin Brodeur now holds al the records and would like to add another Olympic Gold to his resume

There isn’t a lot of debate here, but had he not been injured for a long stretch Cam Ward would have likely been in the mix. Right now the former Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner’s numbers are average at best. The Islanders’ number one goalie Dwayne Roloson is having a strong season and together with six others (Turco, Chris Mason, Danis, LaBarbera, Lalime, Price) lead Fleury in Save %.  Only two non-selected Canadians lead Fleury in GAA (LaBarbera, Raycroft).

There’s far more to goaltending than stats, and clearly Steve Yzerman puts the most stock in Fleury getting wins – and a Stanley Cup.

Finland

No goalie in the NHL has better numbers than Boston's Tuukka Rask - but he'll be watching the Olympics from home

Finalnd is the world’s goalie factory with more NHL goaltenders per capita than anyone else. Three solid choices have been made but clearly the Finns put more emphasis on past performance – Nitty in the last Olympics and Backstrom in the NHL, especially last season when he was nominated for the Vezina.

How else can you explain leaving Bruins’ rookie goalie Tuukka Rask off this squad?– with no less than the top GAA and Save % in the league.

Pekka Rinne had a great shot going into the season but played himself off the team while Nittymaki was playing himself on.

Sweden

King Henrik is Sweden's undisputed leader heading to Vancouver

Lundqvist has been everyone’s first choice all along, and the Monster probably made it based on his work at last year’s World Championships. But you have to wonder what the discussion was like in leaving The Moose–Johan Hedberg–off the team.

You can explain Lundqvist’s fairly pedestrian numbers this year – he’s one of the few bright spots for the Rangers. But Hedberg is tending goal in Atlanta who are tied in the standings with New York.  Hedberg has the best GAA and save % of all Swedish NHL goalies, including Lundqvist. He has fewer wins (9 vs. 16) but they came in only 20 starts (vs. 35 for Lundqvist) so they are winning at the same rate.

If any readers can explain Liv getting the call, I’d love to know why. You can assume they see Lundqvist as the clear #1 and the Monster is in for experience as the Sweedish goalie of the future. But if King Hendrik goes down with an injury would you take Liv or Gustavsson over Hedberg as your next guy?

Russia

Evgeni Nabokov will be looking to backstop a powerful Russian team to Gold in Vancouver

No discussion here. Only Khabibulin is a big time goalie not on this team – but he’s been injured with what looks like a significant back injury for a long time now.

You’d normally assume the number one spot is Nabby’s to lose but Bryzgalov has led the very surprising Coyote’s to a great start and his numbers are better than every NHL goalie except Rask, and perhaps Miller. So look for both men to get some time and then the Russian’s should play the hot hand in later games.

Czech Republic

Czech Goalie Ondrej Pavelec probably won't see much time behind Tomas Vokun but he'll be ready is called upon to make the acrobatic saves Atlanta fans have come to expect

Well it would have been fun to see Hasek make it, but it wasn’t to be. Vokoun is clearly the number one for the Czechs and he has the ability to keep them in the mix.

Slovakia

Jaroslav Halak is ready to be a number one in the NHL and he'll get the chance to show it for Slovakia

With Craig Anderson getting the bulk of the load in Colorado and Halak challenging Carey Price for the number one spot in Montreal, look for Halak to lead the Slovaks in Vancouver. This is another opportunity to show Bob Gainey – or other NHL GM’s looking for help in goal – that he can carry a team on his back.

Germany

Thomas Greiss is the only NHL Goalie on the German Squad now that Olaf Kolzig has retired

Goaltending was always a German strength, thanks to Olaf Kolzig. Now that he has retired Look for Germany to ride the San Jose backup Thomas Greiss in Vancouver. Stuck behind Nabby in the NHL, this should be a great chance for Greiss to show what he can do on the international stage.

Switzerland

The Ducks' Jonas Hiller will be looking to lead another Swiss upset at the Olympics

Jonas Hiller hasn’t exactly maintained the great form he had in last year’s NHL playoffs but he has the ability to steal a game when he’s on. Gerber stunned the Canadians – and the World – in Torino, and Hiller will try to do the same in Vancouver.

Latvia

Norway

Belarus

All images are copyright, all rights reserved, by their respective photogrpahers

• Ryan Miller – Mike Lynaugh
• Martin Brodeur – C.P. Storm
• Tuukka Rask – Scott Slingsby
• Henrik Lundqvist – Wendy Bullard
• Evgeni Nabokov – Tom Eppenberger
• Ondrej Pavelec - Kaatiya
• Jaroslav Halak - Kaatiya
• Thomas Griess – Dinur
• Jonas Hiller – Burns!

inGoal Magazine friend Justin Goldman who runs the Goalie Guild website has been running a mask design contest for some time now – but entries close on Dec 31st at midnight. If you are artistic, this is your chance to win a free mask and paint job! The winner will be announced during the Winter Classic game on Saturday Friday.

Check out the Medieval Mask Design Contest

Lowell Devils Goalie Mike McKenna’s Mask

Tonight’s mask is that of Lowell Devils goalie Mike McKenna.  McKenna signed with the Devils after playing for the Norfolk Admirals and Tampa Bay Lightning  last season. He became the first Lightning goalie to record a shutout in just his 2nd NHL start vs the Islanders. In 15 games with the Lightning he posted a 4-8-1 record and a GAA of 3.54.

 McKenna is 11-8-0  with 2 shutouts and a GAA of 0.925 in 19 games with the Devils this season. Both of his shutouts came in October vs Portland and Bridgeport.

(Click on Mike McKenna to see other views of his mask.)

With all of the teams I normally shoot on a holiday break for the week, I thought it was time to dig into my archives and show some goalie masks. Also, for the shutterbugs amongst us, look for a photo tip on shooting through the glass at the end of my post.

Nathan Lawson, in his second season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, has posted a 6-7-1 record with a 2.34 GAA and a SV% of 0.927 so far this season. Nathan’s mask is a tribute to Johnny Cash on one side, and the Sound Tigers on the other.

(Click on Nathan Lawson for some different views of his mask.)

Photo Tip: Shooting Through the Glass

I like to arrive at the rink a little early to check out the glass and find the cleanest areas to shoot from. I carry some extra lens wipes in my pocket so I can clean my side of the glass.  Also, try to shoot 90 degrees to the glass, otherwise the glass can defract the light and cause your autofocus to not work properly. I also recommend shooting with the lens hood on, and as close as possible to the glass to cut down on the reflection of objects behind you.

These are some of the techniques I use, If any of our readers have any other ideas, please feel free to write in. I’m always up for new ways to improve my images.

I watched number 10 and 9 and thought – if these are at the bottom of the list, what is coming? I was not disappointed. This just might be the best top 10 we’ve seen all season.

Which one was your favourite?

While you are at it, head over to NHL.com and vote for the goalie of the decade. They include photos and stats.

Matthew Hutchison, age 3, rockin dad's mask as worn for the last game before Christmas.

With Christmas upon us and 2009 winding down, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the great readers of inGoal Magazine. It has been a fantastic first year for us and we look forward to the new adventures that 2010 will be bringing us. Thanks to the efforts of all our contributors, and many generous people in the goalie community, we have been able to grow from a few loyal supporters to one of the most visited goalie sites on the web each and every day.

I know I speak for all the writers, photographers and contributers when I say that we all look forward to 2010.

And if any of you out there have been wondering – “how do I get involved?” then by all means, drop us a line. This isn’t a closed shop – we want to be a growing community of goalies on the web. If you have something to offer we’d love to hear from you.

Best of the season to everyone!

Artist David Arrigo sent along some shots of Antero Niittymaki’s newest mask, which contains many elements from his Flyer’s mask – the bullet holes, and the Al Capone-style gangster. I love that we largely see only a shadow of the gangster – as if his Philly day’s are influencing, but not dominating his play today.

“Nitty” has had a good start to his season, and to date the 6′1″ Finn sports a 7-5-4 record with a 0.919 save percentage and 2.46 GAA.

Enjoy this fantastic work and check out the rest of David’s portfolio at www.darrigoart.com.

Looka like David was inspired by the palatte he had for Brent Johnson’s new pens mask!

The breakaway is one of the most exciting plays in hockey but can be the most stressful on both the player and the goaltender. This lesson is designed to provide a confident strategy to goaltenders and a strong teaching tool for all coaches.
First of all, it is absolutely crucial that in all lessons that I share here that you focus on the “zones” which act as entrance ways or lanes to the net. Each of these lanes leads to an opening in the net called “net-space.” The goal of the player is to increase or create additional net-space by attacking the vertical angle (ice to crossbar) or horizontal angle (post to post).

Stage One

The player has received the puck and has begun an in-line attack in a selected zone. For simplicity, full value and appreciation for the successful breakaway theory we will use Zone 3 as the identified lane.
The player will likely have the puck in front of their body and making their way to the net. In most cases they will save their lateral movement until they have reached the decision point in fear that the opposition players in pursuit will catch up to them (the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line).

The goaltender should attack to Zone 3 positioning and use micro-moves (small lateral shuffles) to ensure that:

• the puck is directly between their skates
• in-line with their head
• between their gloves
• on their navel
• between the knees and
• in-line with their goalie stick

Stage Two

The goaltender should learn to “capture the shooter’s rhythm.” This technique is designed to eliminate the guesswork from the goaltender’s game by literally stick handling with the same rhythm that the player uses on you, only the shooter’s motions are a lot bigger and much more noticeable. While a player stickhandles, the goaltender uses only their blocker-side wrist in small movements (wrist rotation) to open and close their blade ever so slightly. This is completed all the way through to the shot execution.

Stage Three

The goaltender will wait for the player to reach the hash-mark closest to the goaltender and begin backing up at the exact same speed as the player. If the goaltender begins backing up sooner than that the net-space will open up and the player will shoot to the open corners. This is extremely important to remember as the highest scoring area on the ice begins at the hash-marks to three-feet closer to the crease. If the goaltender’s skates are in the blue paint at that stage, he is in trouble.

Stage Four

If you have played this correctly, the player will have made a decision to move to your left or right side. This move alone rapidly reduces the player’s opportunity to score because of the shrinking net-space. When the player makes their move, explode to the side that the player goes to and position yourself in a solid body blocking butterfly. Be sure to use your body to block the puck versus attempting to make a reactionary save.

Stage Five

The Post Save Recovery

After the save is made it is important to either cover the rebound, or recover from the attack back into a position of defending the net. Defending the net in a breakaway situation requires you to focus on the puck, position yourself for success and force the shooter to make decisions that place them in the worst situations to score.

Pasco’s contact information is goaliecoach@gmail.com and www.elitesportsmanagement.ca

The great artwork is courtesy of inGoal Magazine friend Dave Gunnarsson. Check out all of Dave’s great work at DaveArt.com.

Follow him on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook.

(Images copyright and courtesy of Dave Gunarsson, All Rights Reserved)

It’s not often I see an NHL goalie do something that makes me say “hey, I could have done that” but tonight I did a few times. It’s nice to see these guys are human, and you gotta feel for them. Vesa Toskala let in a goal that, while officaly counting as a shot on goal, clearly would not have gone in if he weren’t in the net. Every goalie gets one of these on their resume eventually.

Toronto Goalie Vesa Toskala

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MeZCsIhTWc

Ottawa Goalie Brian Elliott

Ottawa Goalie Brian Elliott didn’t quite control this long shot the way he would have hoped. He turned a fairly harmless shot into a high lob over himself and into the net…

Top Goalie Gaffes

And just so these guys don’t feel too badly, here is TSN’s top 10 goaltending gaffes – wait, Toskala’s in here as well with his famous 197 footer against the Islanders. Oh well, I think I’ve had a version of each on of these at some point.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAlPe5vhCDA