Toronto Marlies goaltender Ben Scrivens talked to InGoal Magazine about his unusual stance and glove position in this week's Ask a Pro. (InGoal file photo)

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be out of the playoffs again, but top goaltending prospect Ben Scrivens is still playing hockey through mid-May with the AHL affiliate Marlies, leading the crosstown farm club through two rounds and to the Calder Cup Semi Finals.

Scrivens leads the AHL with a 1.61 goals-against average and .944 save percentage after eliminating the Abbotsford Heat in five games Wednesday night, and continues to build on a an up-and-down season that saw him struggle with his focus at times in the AHL, but also play his first games at the NHL level, compiling a 4-5-2 record and .903 save percentage with the Maple Leafs.

The thoughtful Alberta native and Cornell University Grad, has been a part of InGoal’s Ask a Pro program before, joining James Reimer and fellow puck-stopping prospect Jussi Rynnas in a two-part session that included thoughts on Toronto’s goaltending development, and how he got started with Leafs’ goaltending guru Francois Allaire in Switzerland. Scrivens took some time out from his playoff run this week to talk to InGoal about everything from his unusual stance and glove positioning, to mental tips, and his season so far, including the important role of his ongoing playoff experiences in the American League:

“I feel more confident right now at this exact moment, Scrivens said. “We’ve got a really good team so that helps any goaltender out, but in terms of my development this is huge. You always want to play meaningful games late in the season and into the summer. Toronto has been pretty adamant about getting their guys playing if they are not in the playoffs. Guys are always in the World Championships if they are not here playing meaningful hockey, and as a goalie it’s no different. You want to test your mettle in pressure situations, and that’s what the playoffs are.”

~ InGoal reader John Milhouse asks: Do you continue to work on technique in the playoffs, or is it more mental at this point?

Scrivens: “No, it’s mental, it’s consistency, it’s a whole bunch of different stuff, but at this point part of Frankie’s system is you put in the work during the year. We work hard in practices, we do 45-minute goalie session and then we stay on the ice for an hour-and-a-half practice, so it’s a long day some days. But the benefit of going through all that pain during the season is now you get into playoffs and you are not trying to re-invent everything, you aren’t trying to solve issues that have just come up. By this point in the season you should be confident with your game and if there’s a tweak here or there, fine, but it’s not re-inventing anything.

Scrivens has a fairly low, wide base, but still generates a lot of power and speed in his lateral pushes. (InGoal file photo)

“Frankie is with us on the ice in Toronto and [Jean-Ian Filiatrault], our other goalie coach travels with us. He works with the guys in Reading, the fifth guy, and also Garret Sparks in Guelph, so like last year when I as up and Reims was up, Jean-Ian was with us because there was no one in the coast. So right now Jean-Ian comes on the road with us and Frankie is in Toronto with us, so we always have a goaltending coach with us. The amount of input they both have is still huge.

“We talk every single day, we go over every game, goals – this is good, this is bad, keep doing this or that – the only things that changes is we’re not doing long goalie sessions where we work on this play or that play. We’ve done all that work already, so now it’s more about maintaining that and your energy levels and confidence, and just making sure you are ready. Because you never know, in the regular season we can spend 45 minutes on a goalie session and then an hour and a half on the ice. You can spend two and a half hours in your gear and you know the most you are going to play the next day is 65 minutes, right? Even if it goes into a shootout it’s not going any longer. I know now how much I can push myself and when I’m like ‘okay I need to take a few less reps here to make sure I have the energy to get through tonight.’ Because you can end up playing 120 minutes in the playoffs, you never know how long you are going to go. You can’t overexert yourself in practice because you don’t know how long the game might go.”

~ InGoal Facebook fan Edward Sinclair asks: How does he stay mentally focused?

Scrivens: “I had a hiccup this year in late January and February where I was just making mental mistakes and it wasn’t any one thing, it was a culmination of errors, where there is no ‘oh, I did this wrong and I’ll just change that.’ It was finding out all I have to do in order to stay sharp for a full 60 minutes and going through that definitely helped me out at this point now because I am able to gauge myself. I have kind of a checklist now, where instead of what am I doing wrong, it’s just make sure I am doing this now or that now, and they are all connected to each other and when one slips they all slip. So I have to make sure they are all at a high level.”

Scriven comes out of his crease, stands alone atop the hash marks, and puts his head down to concentrate during long breaks in action. (InGoal File Photo)

~ InGoal follow up: Is that what you’re doing during breaks in the game when you come out to the top of hash marks facing the opposing net, and put your head down? It looks like you might be talking to yourself there.

Scrivens: “Yeah, just kind of talking to myself and going through that mental checklist, but it’s a lot of killing time too. One of the things I found this year was when your mind starts to wander, and that talk within your head is kind of getting to ‘oh, what did I have for dinner or I wonder what so and so … ’ humans are notoriously terrible multitaskers so if you try to think about this and do that, everything goes downhill. So one of the things [Marlies head coach] Dallas [Eakins] suggested to me was talking to myself. You can’t think about anything else when you are talking to yourself because you can only really do one thing at once. So just by reciting different stuff, like the checklist out loud, it keeps you focused.”

~ What kinds of things are on your checklist
“Things like ‘top of the crease,’ or ‘watch the puck,’ just simple things, nothing earth shattering. It just keeps you focused with positive reinforcement, and again there is a parallel to golf: Before you line up to take your shot, it’s ‘keep your head down, back straight, follow through with your elbow.’ It’s nothing that I’m sure hundreds of goalies don’t do anyway.”

~ InGoal Facebook Fan Steve Pace asks” You have a very unusual glove positioning; how did that develop and why? And Marvin Pinero has a similar question: Why is your catcher so high up? What benefits do you get from it than having a normal stance?

Scrivens likes to hold his glove so it is more perpendicular to the path of a puck coming up off the ice, effectively maximizing the surface area that is square to the puck. (InGoal File Photo)

Scrivens: “My thinking behind it – and I am huge into logic and reason in terms of how I do things – so if you have your glove sideways [with the thumb pointed straight up or even more open] where does the puck come from? The puck comes up from the ice, so the angle it comes at is up so I want to face as much of the glove as possible perpendicular to that path. And then the other thing I was going with, is what’s harder to do – because mostly every goalie is dropping while they are making saves – so what’s harder to do, lift a limb back up against the momentum of your body, or start with the arm up top and keep it there? So you have gravity and momentum working with you more. Again so much of it is trial and error, and everybody has their own way of doing things. But I found that works for me. I like to stay up top because that’s where guys shoot the most if they’ve got time and space. They are looking upstairs, so try and take that away visually and then if they shoot it up there you are not moving anything, it’s not as much of a reaction save to try and windmill it every time. And then anything down I am already going down, and I’ve got gravity and momentum going down and that helps me get it down and close everything up fast still.”

Toronto Marlies goaltender Ben Scrivens talked to InGoal Magazine about his unusual stance and glove position in this week's Ask a Pro. (InGoal file photo)

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The last time InGoal caught up with highly touted Los Angeles backup Jonathan Bernier, he was coming off an up and down rookie season with the Kings, one that improved decidedly after adjusting some practice expectations, and coming a little further out of his crease midway through.

Bernier’s second season was a struggle as well, but only to find playing time behind Vezina Trophy finalist Jonathan Quick.

Just because he only played 16 games – a career low at any level – doesn’t mean the 23-year-old wasn’t still looking to improve. In addition to how he dealt with all the down time, Bernier’s evolution included a slightly altered glove position, which was the first question InGoal posed to him after practice during the first round of the playoffs for this Ask A Pro segment:

The question came from InGoal Facebook Fan Cody Osborne: Your glove position is unique to most NHL goalies in that it is kept high, but not palm down. What drills do you focus on to keep it high when making crease movements and butterfly slides?

Bernier worked hard, with some help form his goaltending coaches, to keep the glove up even when he was down. (Ken Denardo photo)

Bernier: “When I was younger I kept it really low, so I’m just trying to get a better presentation with my glove, so it looks bigger and that space doesn’t look too big up there. Having a goalie coach around definitely helps you with that. It’s not so much specific drills as it is maintaining it in all drills, and it’s more when you are getting tired that you start forgetting and old habits start to come back. And that’s when [Kings goaltending coach Bill Ranford] would remind me to keep it up. Once you get used to it, you don’t really think about it any more. But if it’s down, he can tell you right away.”

~ InGoal reader Jack Hardwick asks: Why are your toe ties so different; why did you modify them?

Bernier: “My toe tie is anchored on the far inside edge of the toe bridge, it’s fixed, and I tie four knots in the lace between the pad and where it ties to the skate. In my Memorial Cup year I had a high ankle sprain, so I had to modify it, and this way my skate doesn’t go up as high [towards the middle of the pad] because it’s anchored on the inside, closer to the ice. There’s not many goalies that wear it like that, but usually if it’s in the middle of the pad your ankle kind of goes higher. And for me, my ankle never really recovered as good as I wanted to so I had to make that adjustment on my pad.”

~ Mark Ferrante asks through the InGoal Facebook page: How do you decide on which pads to use? And how long does it take to break them in?

Bernier: “I live 15 minutes from where [former Koho and current Reebok equipment guru Michel] Lefevre makes the pads, so I kind of help him out on stuff I like and change a little things. I’ve been going there since I was in Pee Wee. I was in Koho before and just stuck with Lefevre. … And it usually takes me about a week to break my pads in.”

~ InGoal reader Richie Jiaravanon asks: What mods do you have in your equipment and why?

Bernier has a long-standing relationship with Reebok gear guru Michel Lefevre. (Ken Denardo photo)

Bernier: “I’ve always had just one strap, not two, going through knee stacks and it is attached on the outside of the pad below the knee rather than wrapping around it, and I’ve always had one less strap on the lower leg [both of which are now standard features on the new Reebok P4]. I have a single break on the outer roll, and a second upper break on the face of the pad, but not a second break on the outer roll. So I still have a little bit of flex, but not as much. I attach the inner Velcro strap around my knee instead of down to the outside of the calf [like Carey Price does]. I also felt like the inner layer of the knee [where it lands] comes up a little, so I put Velcro right to the edge of the stack to hold it down so the end piece wouldn’t pull up. This way it feels a little more solid.

“As for the blocker, it’s standard, and the gloves are actually the 590 break with a one-piece cuff. And yes, I have a practice glove. Drew [Doughty] likes the glove side and he can shoot it (laughs) so I think it helps, especially when you start and your hands are cold and you don’t want to get injurted in practice. Usually you have two gloves anyway, so you just beef one up so it doesn’t hurt. It’s pretty hard to close – I don’t even think I can really close it – but it’s just for practice.”

Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Bernier (Ken Denardo photo)

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Martin Brodeur continues to set records in his 40s.

Brodeur celebrated that milestone by making 20 saves in a 4-2 win over the Flyers on Sunday to give the Devils a 3-1 series lead. In doing so he became the first NHL goaltender to appear in a playoff game in both his teens – his first postseason game came in relief of Chris Terreri, now his goaltending coach, as a 19-year-old straight out of junior was back in 1992 – and his 40s.

The win was Brodeur’s 106th in the playoffs – he posted his milestone 100th in the first round – trailing only Patrick Roy’s 151, and more importantly moved him within one victory of making the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2003, when he won the last of his three Stanley Cups. Brodeur also posted his 24th career playoff shutout in the first round, passing Roy for top spot in that category, and with three assists already, including one on his birthday Sunday, could soon hold that record too.

Brodeur assisted on an empty-net goal by Dainius Zubrus with 44.4 seconds left to play, becoming the oldest player (not just goalies) in NHL history to record a playoff assist on his birthday. With one goal and 11 assists in the playoffs, he moved ahead of Roy into second place all-time with 12 points, behind only Grant Fuhr, who had 14 career playoff assists.

It’s an impressive list for a future first-ballot Hall of Fame goaltender known for maintaining his stand-up style in the era of butterfly stoppers. But it wasn’t always that way for Brodeur. With his recent milestone in mind, it’s a good time to take a look back at an old Ask A Pro the Devils living legend did with InGoal, one in which he revealed he too used to play the butterfly.

That’s right, Brodeur said his “whole thing was the butterfly” in junior. Click here to read the entire Ask A Pro with Brodeur, including how Ron Hextall inspired him to become such a great puck handler.

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He won’t be the first goaltender to be accused of having eyes in the back of his head, but Detroit Red Wing prospect Petr Mrazek certainly has them there in style with this fantastic backplate, painted for the Czech junior star by Andrew Manning of Air Trix Studios. We loved this shot the first time we saw it and artist Valerie Wutti of blitzenphotography.com was kind enough to share it with InGoal readers today.

Mrazek, who tended goal for the Ottawa 67s this past season was one of the sensations of the 2011 World Junior Championship representing the Czech Republic with fist-pumping enthusiasm that earned him the spectators’, if not this opponents’, cheers on numerous occasions. It turns out as we were putting this together Justin Goldman of the Goalie Guild released a Mrazek report to his subscribers today – you can read the Mrazek report and see him trending upwards in Goldman’s NHL depth chart rankings which were released today.

Petr Mrazek has eyes in the back of his head. Andrew Manning, Air Trix Studios. Photo thanks to Valerie Wutti blitzenphotography.com

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Vezina Nominee Jonathan Quick played 69 games this season, the second highest total to make a Conference Finals. (Ken DeNardo photo)

The Kings’ keeper may also be in the process of bucking a trend in post-season puck stopping at the game’s highest level.

Quick’s whopping 69 games played during the regular season is the second highest total to make it to a Conference Finals in seven seasons since NHL lockout ended, and the way he did it may give him a better chance of doing what the other two busiest goalies to precede him could not, and make it to the Stanley Cup Final. In fact, both Evgeni Nabokov, who played 71 games with the San Jose Sharks in 2010, and Cam Ward, who played 68 for Carolina the year before, were swept in their respective Conference Finals.

That was part of the season many thought the days of the workhorse starter having playoff success were over, especially in the west, where the travel is tougher, and even more so on the Pacific Coast, where the only team to hoist a Stanley Cup – the 2007 Anaheim Ducks – did so with Ilya Bryzgalov winning the first three games before a rested Jean-Sebastien won the next 13. And the average number of regular season starts for goalies that both make the Final and win the Stanley Cup since the lockout is less than 45.

That statistical trend will end in the west this season, with Phoenix No.1 Mike Smith (67 starts) and Nashville workhorse Pekka Rinne (73) still competing for the other berth in the Western Conference Final. The way Quick got there – following up his five-game upset of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Canucks in the first round by sweeping aside No.2-seed St. Louis in the second – should ensure he’s well rested, avoiding the extra travel pitfalls that eventually caught up to the Canucks last summer.

Quick certainly didn’t look tired as the Blues were outshooting the Kings 13-2 in the second period on Sunday, coming up with several tough, timely stops to get the Kings into the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1993.

“He’s the same as [Dominik] Hasek, the same as [Ed] Belfour – never quits on a puck,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He never stops looking for a puck. I think there are a few goalies left playing in the League who are like that right now. The guy in Phoenix is the same, so is the guy in Nashville. It is a very unique skill. It is not common. It is hard to find.”

Quick, who was InGoal’s choice for the Vezina Trophy, has to be a Conn Smythe Trophy frontrunner at the midpoint of the playoffs, with a 7-1 record against the League’s top-two regular season teams while posting a .949 save percentage and 1.55 goals-against average.

Quick’s victory over the Canucks and Blues could also end some of the tandem talk going into the playoffs (guilty as charged), as Vancouver used a job share in both the regular season and playoffs, while St. Louis was unable to continue its regular season back-and-forth because of a lower-body injury that prevented Jaroslav Halak from taking over for Brian Elliott in the playoffs.

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Tim Thomas is one of the game's best skating goalies, but often remains on his knees when the play is behind the net. (Scott Slingsby photo)

Despite that, the Boston Bruins’ No.1 goaltender often stays on his knees when the play moves behind the net, an attack tactic that has increased since the lockout, and one most expect to see more and more of if the shape of the net is changed to create more room back there. Not only does Thomas typically stay down once the puck moves below the goal line, he often gets down as soon as the play moves down there, not waiting until it is brought to the net before he drops to his knees.

Just watch Thomas as this play moves back and forth behind the net against the Capitals in the first round:

Thomas was back on his knees to make this outstanding save later in the series, but this time it was originally in response to a wraparound. He then popped off that blocker side post with his pad to deny the ensuing opportunity in the slot:

Thomas isn’t the only NHL goalie going down early and staying there. Mike Smith uses a similar approach in Phoenix, though the much bigger Smith takes up most of the net from his knees, and pops back up more often if the play moves back across and out.

The philosophy is to simplify things when the play moves behind the net, and reduce the possibility of getting caught in the transition from up to down and vice versa. Former Ottawa Senators goalie coach Eli Wilson broke it all down in the April Edition of InGoal Magazine, explaining why his summer students like Thomas and Carey Price are often be seen playing on their knees longer than most other pros. Read the article and learn how to include this tactic in your game today.

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Tim Thomas

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The Washington Capitals move on to the second round with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.

“Age and treachery always wins out over youth and enthusiasm” is an old adage that I’ve heard for many years. Well evidently Braden Holtby hasn’t heard that one because the rookie backstop just dispatched the defending Vezina Trophy winner and Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas, and his Bruins to an early off season.  Holtby becomes  the third rookie Caps goalie, along with Semyon Varlamov (2009) and Michal Neuvirth (2011), in four seasons to lead the team to a Stanley Cup series win.

The B’s have been used to high pressure game 7′s lately as they needed to win three of them last year enroute to the Cup. Thomas also had his game seven shutout streak broken at 139:03 that dated back to the last 7:40 of game 7 with Montreal in the 2011 and ECQ and complete game shutouts vs Tampa Bay in the Conference Finals and vs Vancouver in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.    

The game-winner came at 2:57 of the fourth frame when Mike Knuble and Joel Ward rushed into the offensive zone on a 2 on 1 break and Knuble took a shot on net that Thomas initially stopped. The rebound came right out to Ward who tapped it passed Thomas on the short side for his first goal since Feb 24th.

Matt Hendricks got the Caps on the board at 11:23 of the first period when he deflected a John Carlson shot from the right wing. Tyler Seguin evened the score at one a piece when Johnny Boychuck sent a slapper from inside the right circle that trickled through Holtby’s pads and died inside the crease. Seguin poked it home for the score.

The most touching moment of the night came after the game when Thomas finished up the handshake line and skated over towards his kids, clad in daddy’s jersey and tears rolling down their cheeks, where he put a big smile on his face just to let them know everything was ok.

As the season concludes, the big question will be if Thomas returns for the final year of his contract or not. Only time tell, see ya in October when we’ll start this all over again.

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Pick your favourite, vote, and tell us about it in the commments for a chance to win

(contest now closed – thanks to all who joined in – congratulations to “cjthegoalie” who is our winner.)

Click for larger view.
Photos thanks to Ken DeNardo (Quick) and Scott Slingsby (Lundqvist).

The National Hockey League named three finalists for its Vezina Trophy on Wednesday but the reality is this year’s top goaltender award is a two-horse race.

With all due respect to Nashville’s workhorse Pekka Rinne as a finalist – and to those who argue Phoenix stopper Mike Smith should have been – this is an opposite-coasts battle between New York Rangers’ superstar Henrik Lundqvist and his polar-opposite personality with the Los Angeles Kings, the aptly named Jonathan Quick.

Their statistics, as outlined in the chart above, are nearly identical.

Quick played more, Lundqvist had a slightly better win percentage as a result, and both should also be Hart Trophy candidates given how incredibly valuable they are to their teams (and you could make similar arguments for Rinne and Smith as well).

If there is one number that separates Quick and Lunqvist slightly, it’s goal support.

Let us know in the comments below who you think should win – Quick, Lundqvist, Rinne, or even go off the board and choose someone else (contest now closed – thanks to all who joined in).
One random commentor will be chosen a receive two Sham Sweatbands (reviewed in our most recent Digital Magazine)

Neither goaltender got much of it. The Kings were the second lowest-scoring team to make the playoffs, and one of just two teams in the entire NHL to score fewer than 200 goals this season (194). The Rangers finished 11^th in NHL scoring with 226 goals, but Lundqvist’s backup, veteran Martin Biron, got 56 of those in his 21 appearances. When you factor in the scoring for backups, Lundqvist got 170 goals in 62 games. Quick received 162 goals of support in his 69 games, which is about 0.4 goals a game less than Lundqvist.

The Kings only got 46 goals in Quick’s 34 losses, including 13 in overtime and shootouts – and seven came in the final two games of the season, somewhat meaningless letdown losses to San Jose after clinching a playoff spot. Lundqvist didn’t fare much better, with just 30 Ranger goals in his 23 losses this season. No wonder Quick pitched an NHL-best 10 shutouts and Lundqvist wasn’t far behind with eight – they often needed to be perfect just to win.

Why is run support important? During Miikka Kiprusoff’s 2006 Vezina-winning season  (ironically, like Quick, behind a Darryl Sutter coached team), InGoal asked goalies all over the NHL whether they’d rather play behind a stingy team – and both these guys benefit from airtight defensive structure in front of them – that can’t score, or one that can put the puck in the net at the other end but gives up lots of chances, every one chose the latter.

Simply put, it’s a lot harder mentally to have no margin for error, to go out there every night knowing that one or two goals may be one or two many to win the game. Lundqvist and Quick both faced that mental hurdle this season, though the latter a little more.

Backup goalies can also be a good measure of value, so it’s worth noting that Quick posted 35 of his team’s 40 wins, while Lundqvist had a career-high 39, but Biron also posted 12.

Add it all up, and InGoal is leaning towards Quick as the (very slightly) more deserving Vezina Trophy winner for 2011-12, though it’s hard to argue with Lundqvist, who will almost certainly win, largely because the NHL General Managers who decide it tend to vote with career history in mind and Lundqvist has been a finalist three times.

Let us know who you think should win this year’s Vezina Trophy

There are two ways we’d like to hear from you about the Vezina Trophy. Please vote in the poll – we’ve added obvious candidate Mike Smith even though he can’t win the actual award – and then let us know what your thoughts are. Just add something in the comments below and we’ll select one random winner on Tuesday May 1 and send them a couple of Sham Sweatbands (reviewed in our most recent Digital Magazine)  - contest now closed – thanks to all who joined in.

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Cory Schneider is ready to take over the No. 1 job from Roberto Luongo, who is ready to leave Vancouver. (David Hutchison photo)

Among the many reasons most observers believe goaltender Cory Schneider is ready to handle being a No.1 goaltender in a market as intense as Vancouver is how he already deals with the spotlight that comes with the job.

Schneider was again at his well-reasoned best as the Canucks cleaned out their lockers this week, saying all the right things while also making it clear he wants to be – and is ready for the chance to become – a starting goaltender.

The comments were strong, almost pointed, but the 26-year-old delivered them in a way that was disarming, again showing a level headedness and media savvy that defies his age and experience. He credited some of that to watching Roberto Luongo, who a few minutes later delivered an equally impressive statement about being willing to waive the no-trade clause on his 12-year, $64-million contract, opening the door for Schneider to take over as the No.1.

That ascension is sure to come with some bumps. Being a workhorse starter means less time to work on your game – and Schneider worked as hard as anyone between starts to stay sharp – and more opportunities for opponents to pick out and exploit tendencies. There will be ups and downs, just as there were with Luongo, but Schneider, whose more neutral style preferences make it harder to break down his game, seems well-equipped to handle them.

InGoal will have more from the Canucks’ next No.1 in the coming weeks, including some drills and advice from him in upcoming issues of the magazine, but for now we’re going to present his season ending media session as this week’s Ask A Pro.

Consider it Exhibit A in how far both have come off the ice as they prepare to go different ways on it. Schneider started by downplaying any certainty he’d be taking over in goal for the Canucks next season – and keep in mind he talked before Loungo and his declaration it might be time to move on – and made a strong case for why he’s ready to do so.

Cory Schneider (David Hutchison photo)

Schneider: “We could end up being back here together and we’re good friends. Yeah I ended up being the starting goalie at the end but I don’t think it was replacing Roberto as the starting goaltender, it was just something to switch up the momentum and then you kind of have to keep going with the guy. We’ve always considered ourselves a 1A, 1B type scenario. Titles don’t mean a whole lot. It’s how you play, the results you put out, and there are worse things than having two starting goaltenders on one team.”

Asked about the statement he made with his play this season, Schneider said: “I still haven’t played a full slate of games yet. I only played 30 games and three playoff games. It was another step in the right direction but I still haven’t taken the step I’m hoping to take.” Schneider also said it was premature to talk contract extension with Luongo still there.

“It’s a great luxury to have two starting goaltenders. It depends on what Roberto wants to do, what the team wants to do and then finally at last what I want to do. Ultimately it comes down to the team. I really don’t have a lot of say as a restricted free agent. I’ll listen to what they have to say and offer and what their plan is, and go from there.”

Schneider cited several areas he hopes to improve this summer, when he returns to his hometown near Boston and plans to work with long-time coach Brian Daccord at Stop It Goaltending, a goalie school company Schneider now owns a piece of. They include puck handling, and “overall conditioning and strength, making sure my body is able to withstand hopefully playing 60 or 70 games.”

Yes, that sounded like a goalie that is preparing to do just that, and Schneider didn’t shy away from that when asked about playing more: “Everyone loves to play. Would I like to get an opportunity to be a starting goaltender? Sure, I think everyone would and I think I’ve at least earned the right to get a chance and to get a look, and wherever that may be I don’t know. If it’s here great.”

Schneider, who has been a great team guy, admitted it might now be time to think about himself. He’s only a year away from unrestricted free agency, though the Canucks will certainly try to lock him up long-term if they part with Luongo.

“I haven’t thought about what’s best for me in a long time. I don’t know if its time to start doing that but I’m not going to change my stance a whole lot. Things have to happen from both sides. It can’t just be me pounding my fist demanding things. It has to be whatever they decided to do and that has to be in accordance with what I feel is good for me as well. At this point I don’t know what’s best for me.”

Schneider said he’s “fortunate to break into the league on team like this,” but made it clear he’s ready for a bigger role, whether in Vancouver or elsewhere.

“I’d love to start somewhere, it would be great to get an opportunity. I feel I deserve a look and opportunity to play more than 30 games but sometimes it does not always work that way. I’ve always just tried to play well and if that forces them to make a tough decision I’d rather do that and play well than not play well and make it an easy decision. You want to play on contending teams and winning teams and this is clearly one of them so it’s definitely an option and probably the top option. But again if they present different options or the scenario changes you have to adjust.”

Asked if he was ready to be a No.1, Schneider said: “I’m not sure what else to do. How many more 30-game seasons can you play and still wonder if you are ready or not? I don’t think anybody should be given a title or starting role, you have to earn it. So I’m not saying someone should hand the reigns over but at least deserve a look, at least get a chance to play some games in a row and take that mantle.”

He talked about how he evolved to that stage this season: “It’s just the mentality. Last year was more just a getting my feet wet year and getting used to the league and this year was more of trying to establish myself and take away any of that nervousness and uncertainty and show that I can do it.”

Cory Schneider will have less time to work on his game as a workhorse No.1 (InGoal file photo)

Schneider also talked about the need to get his chance sooner rather than later: “It’s a little different with goalie, the peak and prime years may be a little bit different that other guys, but I’m not a young prospect anymore, I’m 26 and if I can have a 10-year career from here on out that would be amazing. It’s not as if I have endless amount of years to do something. It’s either got to happen or its not. So hopefully get an opportunity to start next year.”

As for Luongo, Schneider, who also welcomed the scrutiny of playing in a hockey-mad market, made it clear the incumbent has played a big role in his development over the last two seasons, and deserves more respect.

“I’ll take a lot [from Roberto] the professionalism, the respect, how hard he works, the way he is able to handle pressure and criticism and praise and combine it all into just playing hockey and working to be one of the most consistent goalies year in and year out in the League. And that’s something I would strive for and love to attain. If I can accomplish half of what he’s done in his career so far that would be a pretty good career. I learned a lot from him and took a lot away from him.

“Roberto is still a fantastic goalie in this league, I don’t think people give him enough credit. He’s still an elite goalie at this level. It’s not as if he should be cast aside as somebody who can’t get the job done anymore because he’s a great, great goaltender. If we’re both back here we’ll figure it out, we’ll make it work, we’re friends, we’re teammates, we’ve made it work before. If not we’ll move on.

“It would have to some way or another if they decide that’s what’s going to happen, just make it work somehow. I don’t know how they would handle it, but my issue would be to keep my relationship with Roberto up and handle that with him. I respect the heck out of him, I have a lot of respect for him as a friend and teammate and he supports me and always encourages me and helped me get to where I am. The dynamic between us doesn’t change much, we’re both proud guys, we’re both competitors, we both want to play so it’s tough for either one of us to sit out, especially Lou considering he’s been one of the most dominant goalies the past decade in this league and he’s still got plenty of good years left.”

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InGoal looks at NHL goaltender height, weight and BMI this season

A few days ago we presented 2011-2012 NHL goalie stats, summarized by country for your interest. We didn’t draw any conclusions and fully acknowledged the difficulty of doing so with small sample sizes in most cases and results skewed by a number of keepers who only had a few appearances this season. Still, it provided food for thought and debate.

Today we are going in a slightly different direction, asking the question: what, and in fact who, is the average NHL goaltender? Yes, this one is fraught with even more difficulty if we are relying on published heights and weights, which are far from reliable, but again let’s not have the scientific method get in the way of a little fun.

Who is tall and who is small?

Is Shawn Hunwick really 5-foot-7 and 166-pounds? I don’t know but we do know for certain that he was the smallest goaltender to make an appearance in the league this season – and what a great story it was even though he was on the ice for about as long as he is tall. If you want to look at guys who made a more significant number of starts, look at Jhonas Enroth of Buffalo at 5-foot-10 and 166-pounds as (ahem) standing up for the little guys in goal.

We also know that Ben Bishop of the Ottawa Senators towers over his peers and 6-foot-7 and a listed 215-pounds as the tallest goalie in the league, while Phoenix goaltender Jason LaBarbera is built more like a power forward at 6-foot 2 and 235-pounds.

But who is average? While it is well known that goalies’ heights have been going up over the past decade, listen in on any broadcast and you’d think your only shot at NHL fame is to be Pekka Rinne-like in size at 6-foot-5, but in fact the average NHL goalie today, whether you look at every guy who stepped on the ice or those who played in 20, 40 or even 60 or more games comes in at shorter than 6-foot-2.  And there are fully 42 goalies shorter than that who made an appearance – nearly half the 89 who played at some point this season in the league.

At 235-pounds Phoenix goaltender Jason LaBarbera is built more like a power forward.

Leaner may not be better

There is also a common perception that leaner is better. Think Tuuka Rask. We calculated each goaltender’s BMI (body mass index) and found to no surprise the extremely lean Rask (6-foot-3 and 169 pounds) has the lowest BMI (albeit a very healthy 21.1) being joined on the top-10 lean list by guys like Ryan Miller, Marc-Andre Fleury and Craig Anderson (with an honourable mention in 14^th place to the aforementioned Enroth – he’s not just short, he’s skinny!) but note that 7 of 10 are not starters.  Go to the other end of the ratio – those that are relatively more heavy than they are tall  (and it’s all relative folks, these guys are all elite athletes) – and we see names like Howard, Brodeur, Quick, Thomas in the top 10 with five of the ten having played more than half their team’s games and one (Neuvirth) very close at 38, so it may be that strength has something to do with success in this game.

There is no evidence here that you want to be skinny for NHL success.  In fact, according to the WHO (World Health Organization) 56 of this year’s NHL goalies are by definition “overweight” with a BMI between 25 and 30– but take that with a large grain of salt folks, because interpretations of measurements like the BMI are based on average people—not elite athletes.

And the winner is….

Click on an image to see Mr. Average Goalie, 6-foot-2 197-pounds playing in Anaheim last season.

Now back to the average…cue the drum roll please. Mr. Average 2011-2012 with a height of 6-foot 2 and a weight of 197-pounds, equal to the NHL average in both height and weight, was…Curtis McElhinney who made two appearances for Phoenix this season.

At only two appearances McElhinney isn’t exactly average so you might want to consider guys who played a bit more. Of the goalies who played in more than 20 games the closest to average size would be Ray Emery (6-foot-2 and 196-pounds). More than 40 games? That would be Corey Crawford (6-foot-2 ad 208-pounds).

As interesting as it is to look at the extremes like Hunwick and Bishop, Rask and LaBarbera, looking at the averages also brings a little insight. Most of these guys are tall, but nothing close to NBA-tall. And they are fit, elite athletes but of very normal weights, not marathon runner lean.

Now cue the comedians – we have scientific proof that the Hawks’ had very average goaltending this season.

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