Thoughts on the Red Wings and Netminding
I recently posted this little ditty on the Detroityes website in response to the rantings of Detroit fans about Manny Legace. My personal bias is simple: I support goalies. Typically as the anchor of any franchise, they carry an inordinate amount of weight. Problem with this is that when the team that surrounds them fails to score or play defense they are often left to blame for their teams failure. It's a sick mentality that Detroit media and fans have in regards to their netminders. Here is my tyrate about that:
"As a lifelong Red Wing fan I can tell you one basic fact of Wings' fans. No matter how horrid a team plays, no matter how many miscues the rest of the players have IT IS ALWAYS THE GOALTENDER'S FAULT. This is regardless of how well they play. If you're going to blame Legace fine, but how many goals did his offense put in for him? You can't expect to win many games in the current NHL if you score just one or two goals. It's just fundamentally sound hockey. Legace is one guy, and extremely high paid group of guys in front him should have down a heck of lot more. Cujo should be proof positive of the Detroit media and fan's mentality of destroying good goaltenders. If Patrick Roy (Who is arguably the best and most influencial goaltender to play the game) had played in the D, and failed to record a cup every year he was there, he undoubted would have been trumpted out of town. Blame for failure for the past two decades has ridden strongly on the backs of those players the Red Wings choose to put in the pipes. Why not go after Shanny or Lidstrom from not tallying critical goals for the team? The Oilers are in the cup final, and in case you haven't noticed, appear to have regrouped as a team after losing Roloson. Take this a point further, Dwayne Roloson? Not exactly the largest name in goaltenders. Hockey is a team sport. It requires everyone on that team to carry the weight of success upon their own shoulders. Manny Legace, Curtis Joseph, and Tim Cheveldae were not and are not horrid starting goaltenders. They are simply scapegoats for the other 20 or so guys that failed their organization and fans in their quest for the cup. "
posted by Japhy Hunter (aka Daniel) @ 3:38 PM
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