With the Stanley Cup coming down to its final days, the season will soon be over and there won’t be much hockey to talk about for a little while.
So here’s a question for you: who’s the best NHL goalie ever?
In her book Between the Pipes, author Randi Druzin takes a look at some of hockey’s legendary goalies, including Terry Sawchuk — who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers – as well as Gump Worsley, Bernie Parent, Ken Dryden and Martin Brodeur and more.
The arguments will probably go on forever when you ask who’s better – today’s goalies, such as New York Rangers Henrik Lundqvist or goalies of the past, who got on the ice without much equipment, including even a facemask.
“There’s an understanding that goalies today aren’t quite as quirky as goalies of the past,” says Druzin, who is an author and journalist in Toronto, Canada. She has worked at several major media outlets including the National Post and the CBC, and has written for dozens of publications including The New York Times, Time magazine, ESPN The Magazine and The Globe and Mail. She has covered four Olympics and interviewed dozens of world-class athletes, including triathlete Simon Whitfield, kayaker Adam van Koeverden and NHL stars Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews.
“Goalies of the past literally put their life on the line every time they stepped in the net, because they didn’t wear masks at all and they didn’t wear a lot of equipment, so it takes a certain kind of person to put their life on the line willingly, for fun,” she said.
She explains that Johnny Bower was also playing at a time when Bobby Hull was playing and Bobby had the hardest slapshot in history. “So just imagine a rubber disk coming at you like a bullet and then having your face in front of it,” she says. “When I interviewed Johnny Bower, he said that getting hit with Bobby Hull’s shot was like getting seared by a branding iron.”
Here is an excerpt from the book: “Once, when Hull scored on a shot from 60 feet out, Bower was as dumbstruck as the spectators. He described the shot as “a black blur. It was heading right for my right ear,” the goalie said. “I straightened up and tried to take it on my chest but it was too fast and crashed in off my forearm. It felt like I had been seared by a branding iron. It’s a rising shot and heavy as a lead weight. When you catch one, it just about tears your hand loose from the wrist.”
Druzin said that various factors went into considering who to include in the book, including statistics and type of player. Of course, she admits in an interview with Sports Palooza Radio, that everyone is going to have an opinion as to who is the best goalie and who should be in the book.
In her book, Druzin paints vivid portraits of men such as Jacques Plante, who refused to stay at The Royal York Hotel in Toronto, and Dominik Hasek, who earned a university degree and mastered chess before making his NHL debut.
Asked about what current goalie that she thinks would be a great contender for a future edition of the book and she responded, “Certainly no one in Toronto right now,” she laughs. “Right now Lundqvist is phenomenal and he’s an interesting guy. Jonathan Quick is also a great goalie, but if you look at the goalies overall, they aren’t really crazy anymore like they were in the 1950s and 1960s and that could be because they don’t have to play without masks. Today, they seem to be more well-adjusted and more in line with other players on the team, but in terms of accomplishments there’s no doubt in my mind there’s a crop now. And my favorite is Quick. I love watching him play.”
So, who do you think is the best NHL goalie out there and why? Let’s hear it!
For more information on Randi Druzin and her book Between the Pipes, visit her website http://www.betweenthepipesbook.com/. It can also be purchased on Amazon.com.
