They had to be courageous. Good thing I'm playing now. I wouldn't be a goalie then. They didn't have the high shots but they're still shooting at them. No wonder they didn't want to go down.
Modern goalies like to spread their pads to the side and get down as low as possible.
Dominik Hasek is famous for sprawling on the ice like a fish out of water. Such tactics could be suicide in the old days. Bower recounted stories of putting leeches on the facial bruises and getting broken fingers from slap shots. There are no complaints. In fact, he admires today's goalies.