From: chuq@Apple.COM (Eeyore's Evil Twin)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey
Subject: Re: Myllsy (was Re: Sharks lose to Kings 11-4
Date: 16 Nov 92 17:26:04 GMT
Organization: Pooh Corner Country Club -- A Planned Community

mattb@ctron.com (Matthew E. Brown) writes:

>I'm not going to argue with the stats, except to say that 12 games over 3
>years isn't much to go on.

Actually, being able to play only 12 games in three years is in it's own
right proof of his status in the NHL, but I digress.

>In SJ, with a first year team, 5+ a game
>still isn't too wonderful.

In SJ, of the four goalies we used, he was the #3 goalie by a wide margin.
One would think that if he was on a par with the other goalies, his stats
would show it.

>My statement was a deliberate exaggeration.

That's dangerous on usenet. Someone with facts might call you on it.

>I was angry that Kingston would
>leave Irbe in for 11 goals in his first start after being brought up.

Well, Irbe is a big boy. Some days this stuff happens. If you can't handle
it, then it's better for the team to figure it out early, because a goalie
that falls apart under stress on a bad day is not someone you want to base a
franchise around.

>He
>started Irbe against a high-scoring team, and gave him no relief, even when
>it was clear that he was getting zero help from his defense.

Kingston's only alternative was to replace him with Hayward, who'd just come
off two games in the last three days and was showing signs of exhaustion at
the end of the second game, and who they knew was going to play the next
game. So do you pull Irbe to 'protect' him and replace him with a tired
goalie who's cold and set things up so both goalies are tired in two days?

That's an even worse disaster in the making. You can't think just in terms
of one game or one player. The alternative to letting Irbe sit there would
be to stick in Hayward, who you need to be fresh in the next game and who
probably wouldn't have done any better. Pulling Irbe at that point wouldn't
have done him any good, plus it would have screwed up the goalie rotation
and put the Sharks into a bad position in the next game.

>I don't think
>this is constructive coaching. It is not normal practice to do this.

Sometimes you do what's good for the team. That's what Kingston's there for,
after all. Sometimes an individual has to suffer a bit. Builds character,
especially when the pain is self-generated, as it was with Irbe. You can't
screw over the entire team.

>Kingston has done this before (not just with Myllys). I will grant you 
>that I am going from memory here, as I don't have the game-by-game box
>scores for SJ 91-92. But I seem to remember a couple of high scoring games
>from last year where a goalie ate 9,10, or 11 goals withouth relief. Now
>maybe Kingston thinks that leaving the goalie in is a vote of confidence
>that it's not him, but the other guys who are screwing up. But pychologically,
>it doesn't work that way, in my experience, and I've played the position.

And there are also a good number of games when he has pulled goalies, as he
did in the last week with Hayward. He doesn't leave them in all the time. It
depends on the situation. If your second goalie is exhausted or has a
nagging injury, sometimes you don't have much choice, no?

(I haven't played ice hockey goalie -- yet -- but I did play water polo as a
goalie. I sympathize. I also realize that sometimes the team needs outweigh
the individual).

>But nobody has answered my real
>question: Why does he do it?

I think I did here. In this case, I don't think Kingston had a choice. His
other goalie was there for emergency/injury use only, because he'd been used
heavily and was tired.Sometimes that happens.

-- 
            Chuq "IMHO" Von Rospach, ESD Support & Training (DAL/AUX)
                      Member, SFWA =+= Editor, OtherRealms
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    I wanna drive the zamboni! I wanna drive the zamboni, yes I do.