Goaliepost.com has Rask as a probable start this afternoon against the Rangers. I know I'm jumping the gun here, but what the...????? So not fair, hockey gods, so not fair. Yes, yes, I will be rooting for the Rangers, could never betray my boys, but you can bet I'm hoping for a 1-0 outcome. In a shootout.
But I didn't come here just to whine. I've been thinking about something and I want to poll my goalie buds and see if this has happened to anyone else. There have been two times now where I've been watching another goalie, and something very subtle about their game or stance jumps out and practically hits me in the face. The first time was when I was watching a college practice while waiting around the rink for something, and something about the goalie's stance just clicked with me. It was something extremely subtle, just the way he held his torso so straight, and although I already knew that's something you're supposed to do, I guess I needed a visual to remind myself. I call it the Meerkat Effect.
And the second time was watching Rask in pre-game warmups the other night. I feel like a completely lame fangirl because he took shots for all of probably 45 seconds total, and seemed like he was really just mailing it in. So much so that I even thought he might be hurt (and I may have posted a few panicked tweets to that effect...). We were standing up at the section entrance, so we weren't even that close to the ice, and our vantage point was behind the net. But I noticed something about his legs. Like, besides the fact that they are about 8 feet long. I can't even explain it here. Something about his stance and how he moved clicked in my brain, and I kept it in mind in my next game and I wound up doing a damn good job, especially considering I couldn't see much.
So, have any of you had an experience like this? Where you had kind of an "a-ha!" moment while watching another goalie? And I'm not talking about conscious imitation, like "Henrik holds his glove like this, so I will too". Just something that worms its way into the goalie consciousness and nibbles at you. Or, maybe I'm nuts. That is entirely possible and I'm completely willing to accept that fact. I am a goalie after all.
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You're not alone. I too for many years observe pro goalers during warm up's. Nothing wrong about picking up a few pointers here & there. As long as you don't imitate cause every goalie is different. You have your own style. You want to sharpen your technic, that's all.
Like Chris Osgood, I've changed my style to more of a hybrid butterfly. My old style was similar to Mike Richters, sort of a standup. So, I keep watching and learning after all these years(to many) of playing. Rick ( Goaltenderherk )
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