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Crazy goalies - how common are they, really?

TickleMeYandle

Not so fast,
Dec 19, 2011
1,297
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I was bored last night and watched Slap Shot 2. Silly, predictable, but not so bad that I mind spending 90 minutes watching it.

The goalie - of course, it's a crazy guy. Just like in almost every other hockey movie I've ever seen. It seems to be the accepted stereotype that if you're a goalie, you're a nutcase who is barely holding it together enough to get through life.

The goalies I've known in real life all seem to be completely normal people. No weird quirks, no drug addictions, no strange pre-game rituals. Just people who happen to play that position on the team. Maybe they do have superstitions or rituals, but nothing that stands out so that everyone would notice it and make fun of it.

While I understand that you have to be wired a little differently to stand there and let people shoot pucks at you, where did the idea that you must be a crazy person come from? Or is that just a funny Hollywood-ism that has been kept up for comedic value, without any actual basis in reality?
 
I think it's a stereotype perpetuated by skaters who can't see themselves every doing it, so they figure goalies must be nuts. :laugh:

Seriously, though, the only difference I've noticed since becoming a goalie is that goalies tend to be more independant sorts. You have to be - you're removed from a lot of the teamwork parts of the game: the chatter on the bench, the goals your team scores (banging your stick from the other end feels a bit lame sometimes ha ha) . They are also more likely to love their gear and the technical part of their game. I've had some hours-long conversations with other goalies about the minutiae of goalie gear and techniques that had my friends walking away shaking their heads.
 
I've seen a few crazy goalies but lately the goalies have been some of the coolest guys on the team, very level headed, very even keel. I think you have to be either super laid back or else crazy to play that position, because there's a lot of stress and pressure.
 
Goalies natural instincts are different from a normal human being's natural instincts.

When we see a 6 ounce rubber bomb flying towards us at 90mph+, we get out of the way. Goalies square up against them. I can't imagine myself being a goalie because I'd just end up playing dodgepuck.
 
I don't think it's that so much as the pressure of being the last line of defense. The position is far more mental than skaters. They've got to be able to shake off bad goals and keep sharp against every shot facing them.
 
goalie29 said:
I think it's a stereotype perpetuated by skaters who can't see themselves every doing it, so they figure goalies must be nuts. :laugh:
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I think you've got something there!

I even saw this in a stupid trashy romance novel - it was about some sports journalist who was assigned to cover a team and ended up falling in love with the goalie. Of course, he had a bunch of quirks and she ended up becoming part of the pre-game ritual, etc.

It's just too predictable. I'd like to see a movie with a crazy center, or a winger who does some weird stuff. It's always the goalie.
 
The idea of goalies having to be crazy comes from the past when their equipment was much less protective than today. Every slapshot stung and you didn't have a mask on - you had to be a little mental to be standing in the crease. Nowadays skaters get their face stitched up a lot more often than goalies do and in general goalies get seriously injured quite rarely. No need to be mental anymore.
 
haha yeah we goalies are pretty picky about our gears... we get to demo them and try them out before purchasing.. kinda like cars
 
Hank4Hart said:
haha yeah we goalies are pretty picky about our gears... we get to demo them and try them out before purchasing.. kinda like cars
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Or women. :naughty:

While it hurts alot less now to have rubber fired at you. It does take a certain mindset to want to be shot at for fun.

But let me tell you, the feeling of being hit and making the save sure beats any feeling of scoring.
 
Taco MacArthur said:
Really?

Get in net for twenty minutes, and then tell me that.

Since we aren't hockey players, it probably wouldn't even cause you to break a sweat.
Click to expand...

Don't get too butthurt about a harmless joke.

It's on the same calibre as: how do you know the stage is level? The drummer is drooling from both sides of his mouth.

*I apologize to any drummers who may take offense at my terrible jokes*
 
My older brother has played goal all his life "hockey and lacrosse" He defiantly has a few loose screws. I have had to bail his mouth out of trouble countless times. When we were teens one of my slapshots broke his helmet and gave him a concussion, he hasn't been the same since. Most goalies I have met are to say the least a bit eccentric.
 
I don't get this whole "You have to be stupid to be stop a 80 mph slapshot" maybe back in the day when equipment wasn't really protective. I play as a forward nowadays, and I still go out there and block shots...I don't know if it's because I'm used to it or what, but it's part of the game.

As a former goalie, I never did anything unusual. I had my "rituals" but they weren't out of the norm. Like some of you have already said, most goaltenders are very specific when it comes to gear. I'm still a gear head when it comes to goalie gear, and I don't even play the position anymore.

To be honest, I found that MOST goalies who do something unusual before a game or whenever are just trying way too hard to be that "nutcase" type of goaltender. I've seen my fair share of try hards, and I just laugh. Some of the stuff I've seen doesn't even make any sense. First year of Bantam AAA, the backup goalie would dress up, put his skate guards on and run a lap outside the arena....WHY???? It doesn't make any sense.
 
I think that goalies (at least speaking for me and the ones whom I've worked with) like the "crazy" mythology because it allows us a bit of leeway. There are certainly differences between mentally preparing for a game as a goaltender and mentally preparing for a game as a skater, and to the extent that we do things differently, it doesn't cause a ruckus as much as if a forward (for instance) did things differently.

It takes a certain mindset, since it's an individualistic position in the context of a team sport.

On the other hand, everyone else spends the entire game chasing the puck around, and we just stay where we are and wait for it to come to us. That doesn't sound crazy. ;)
 
Crazy? maybe my first year of bantam we needed a goalie, I said okay I will do it. the rush of my first penalty shot game winning save I was hooked! ten times the rush of scoring a goal, for me any way. yes you need to bit a bit off kilter to play the position, as if you win good on ya but if you loose it is always our fault! for any one thinking hey they just stand there half the time, I say come on in and try it. the common response is no way man. but I will never skate out again it is just not the same.
 
Always wanted to be a goalie, finally got the chance this year. I was 23 days overage to play bantam as a center, and my midget team couldn't find a coach, so the only way I could play hockey is if I played net for Bantam, first practice I fell in love. I'm pretty crazy, immature type thing, but nothing mental like goalies are portrayed as. Bryzgalov doesn't help out image :P
 
Most of the goalies I know, myself included, are pretty normal.

There is one I know who's a little eccentric, but not quite crazy. You probably know him or have seen him too (and me for that matter), since I think we go to the same place on Tuesday nights, but I'll keep the details of it off a public board.
 
There's only one goalie (or two) per team, so I guess when you have a crazy one it stands out because he/she's right there, all season. A crazy player is just one guy in a room. I had a crazy goalie once and after the season was over, yeah, I thought all goalies were crazy.

Next season, my goalie was a completely normal guy.
 
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