The Most Important Position in HockeyNeil Ravin - 1/30/15

In today’s sports world, the four most popular sports are Football, Baseball, Basketball,

and Hockey, and the four most popular leagues are the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL. In each

sport you can circle one position that arguably serves as the most important to the outcome of

the game. In Football, the Quarterback is the main key to a team’s success, in Baseball it’s

tough to win without a good Pitcher on the mound, in Basketball the Point Guard acts as the

floor general in the eyes of many, and in Hockey, the Goalie is bar-none the most important

player on the ice. You can make the case that teams can win with an average Quarterback,

Pitcher, or Point Guard, but when it comes to Hockey, your team is as successful as the person

between the pipes. It goes without saying that when teams are hot, the goalie is playing well,

and when teams are cold, you know exactly where to look to improve first. This has been the

case for the Eastern Hockey League’s Boston Jr. Rangers, who have seen their goalies carry

the load in their 16 wins so far this season.

“Evan, Phillip, and Mike have been tremendous in net for us. They have made the game look easy back there and it shows with the rest of the team,” said Head Coach Mario Martiniello.

Here is a graphic showing just how tremendous the goalies have been this season.A hockey season can be filled with many ups and downs, otherwise known as winning

and losing streaks, and these streaks often occur in correlation with a goalie’s confidence.

When confidence is up the team is often winning, and when confidence is going in the other di-

rection, the team is probably struggling to find the win column.

The model in which hockey teams follow involves rotating between two or three different

goalies throughout the season, and then riding your most confident netminder come playoff

time. The rotation during the regular season could be as simple as your top guy plays two of ev-

ery three games, and your backup goalies fill the rest. Hockey seasons are long and the key,

like in many sports, is to be healthy and hitting your stride come the end of the year. It may take

a whole season for a coach to decide who his top goalie even is. The “starter” may change mul-

tiple times over the course of the season.

Lets explain this better with an example, Jonathan Quick has led the Los Angeles Kings

to the Stanley Cup in two of the last three seasons (2011-2012 and 2013-2014). In the first

championship run Quick posted a 1.95 GAA in 20 playoff games, and this past season he

recorded a 2.07 GAA in 20 postseason games. At the end of each year there was no doubt who

the starter was in LA, but some fans forget that Quick was injured for a period of time during the

2013-2014 season. Enter Martin Jones, and the rookie won his first eight career starts to help

the Kings stay in the playoff picture while Quick was out. Darryl Sutter (Head Coach of the

Kings), would be lying if the thought of Jones being his starter didn’t cross his mind at least once

during the year.

How does this translate over to play in the Eastern Hockey League?

The battle for playing time.

Without a doubt you want to be the guy between the pipes come playoff time, because

it’s ultimately that experience that will help push you as a player to that next level where you

want to be.

“We came out a little slow today and didn’t really get going until the third. Evan was strong for us again! He kept us in the game when we weren’t playing well. The team showed a lot of character to battle back from two goals down to tie it up and grab a point,” said coach Mario Martiniello following a shootout loss ear-lier this season.

The word character stuck out here, because it’s this factor that plays a huge role come

playoff time as well as helping players reach that next level. The Boston Jr. Rangers are cur-

rently in 4th place in the EHL’s Boston Division with six games to go in the season, and Coach

Martiniello knows that it’s now or never for his team to crank it up.

“Walpole has been in first place in our division since the beginning of the season. It was nice to see the boys compete for these points. They really came out with a strong push and Evan played strong in the net when we needed him,” added Coach Mario Martiniello, “We need more wins like this.”

The Boston Jr. Rangers are getting ready during a short break, before they play

three games in five days, February 4th, 6th, and 8th. The Rangers will take on the East

Coast Wizards, Walpole Express, and Northern Cyclones as they look to get back on

track and end their losing streak. Follow all the action at easternhockeyleague.-

pointstreaksites.com.