Forenregeln » goaltenders use when it comes to getting out

Vancouver Canucks head coach John Tortorella will learn his fate today after Saturday nights line brawl against the Calgary Flames. Many think theres a good chance hell be fined and possibly suspended for an altercation outside of the Flames locker room, where he tried to confront the team about the line brawl that started the game. The question thats lost in all the controversy is - should anything be done about Calgarys head coach Bob Hartley? Should he receive supplemental discipline as well? Should Hartley receive the same amount of blame as Tortorella? Being the road team, Hartley submitted his starting lineup first which included fourth liners Brian McGrattan, Kevin Westgarth and Blair Jones. If Hartley had started his first or second line, as most coaches do to start games, theres a good chance the incident wouldnt have happened. Hartley said after the game that he had no intentions to start any fighting. "Those guys are playing well for us," he said. "They got a goal last game. Were not scoring many goals. We had zero intentions there. "As far as I know they were the home team. They had the luxury to put whoever they wanted on the ice." Tortorella felt he had no choice but to respond with his fourth line of Tom Sestito, Kellan Lain and Dale Weise. "I know the other guy across the bench," said Tortorella in defending his decision after the game. "Its easy for people to say well put the Sedins out there and its deflated. I cant put our players at risk like that. "With the lineup that he had, Im not going to put those types of players at risk and thats what ensued. Im not proud of it. Ive apologized to every one of the players involved in it. I dont feel great about it at all." Before the game was even five minutes old, 150 minutes of penalty time had been assessed and misconducts were handed out to all ten players involved in the melee, including eight who were thrown out of the game. Did Hartley poke the bear and force Tortorellas hand? And if so, should Hartley be held accountable? As always, its Your! Call. Jordan 4 For Sale Nz .com) - The Buffalo Bills will return to the friendly confines of Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday when they welcome the upstart Cleveland Browns to town. Cheap Air Jordan 4 Nz .Best moustache: How can we not give this to Lanny McDonald? Check out the duster for yourself. http://www.airjordan4nz.com/ .com) - Even on the day his New Hampshire football team became the nations top-ranked team two weeks ago, coach Sean McDonnell conceded something about the team they replaced at No. Air Jordan 4 Nz Sale . The third-ranked Lewis, a three-time winner this year on the LPGA Tour, had a 9-under 135 total at Emirates Golf Course in the Ladies European Tours season-ending tournament. Authentic Jordans Shoes Wholesale . The 20-year-old Inoue landed a series of combinations and the bout was stopped 2 minutes, 54 seconds into the sixth round. Inoue, the first Japanese boxer to claim a world title in just his sixth professional fight, improved to 6-0 with five knockouts.Puckhandling - from a goaltenders standpoint - is an underrated skill that can be more valuable than people realize. When it comes to exiting the zone cleanly, youre always aware of the way a team forechecks against you and the routes your defencemen run when coming back in. This week, Im looking at it from a starters standpoint - its the starter who handles the bulk of the games and the skaters get used to tendencies of the guy whos back there the most. My first ever goaltending partner in the NHL was Ron Hextall. He was - and still is to this day - the greatest puckhandling goalie of all time. Not only did he revolutionize the position, he singlehandedly changed the way goalies play (and are expected to play) when it comes to handling the puck and playing dump-ins. When I played with Ron, we would chart how many touches he had in a period with the puck outside the net. Then we kept track of how many positive and negative plays that were made with the puck. On average, I remembered him handling the puck anywhere from 15 to 20 times per period. And he had about an 80 per cent success rate on his decision-making - pretty impressive for someone who handles the puck that much. Now keep in mind - this is someone who literally had a better slap shot than some of our teammates and re-strung his catchers glove so that he could get a better grip on his stick. And that stick was curved with a blowtorch and shaved along the blade with a file - an unreal process to see in person. Hexys puckhandling was a lot different than your general leave it or play it decisions. He cleared the zone down the ice when we were killing penalties or made a saucer pass to hit someone at centre ice on a transition play to catch the other team on a change. Some high rate goaltenders today are certainly capable of doing it, but Ive never seen it with the consistency that Hextall had. That being said, there are really four generic plays that goaltenders use when it comes to getting out and stopping the puck behind the net or making a play/exchange with your blueliners. LEAVE IT: This is simply stopping the puck it and leaving it for the defenceman to come back and make a play with it. This ensures the puck a) isnt stuck against the boards on the edge and that b) youre leaving it in an area where a defenceman has options to turn up, cut the net for a clear exit or ring it hard around the boards for the winger. Thats usually communicated between the defeneeman in the goalie with the words, leave it. PLAY IT OR RING IT: Its where the goalie just rings it hard around the boards. Ninety-five per cent of it is done on the strong side - meaning a forehand shot thats usually up on the glass. The purpose is to beat the first forechecker, who most likely has pressure on the defence and is trying to cut the boards off. If you ring it hard on the forehand, youll likely get it past this first forechecker and the strong side winger will come back to retrieve it on the half wall. The worst-case scenario is a 50-50 battle with an opposing defenceman whos potentially pinching. This is usually communiicated between defencemen and the goalie with the words, play it or ring it.dddddddddddd REVERSE OR OVER: This is a reverse play where the defenceman will fan off to the other side of the net and the goalie draws a forechecker to him. Then the goaltender makes a snooker play - banking the play off the boards so that a defenceman still receives it where he can make an up-ice play where he doesnt have to dig it off the dasher of the boards. The call on this is usually the words, reverse or over. PASS IT: This is for the advanced goaltenders - a direct pass to a winger or centreman past the first forechecker. This is usually when the first defenceman back has drawn a forechecker very close to him. When that happens, theres a lane to get directly to the boards. This is more high risk and most goalie coaches will frown on that play - unless his starter is capable of making it consistently. There are certainly other set plays from team to team, depending on the starting goaltenders skill. But if the starter of your favourite team is consistent with these calls and strong with his exchanges with his blueliners, then puckhandling can become a very reliable source in exiting the zone cleanly. That said, there are different styles of puckhandlers as well: THE QUARTERBACK: These are guys who really skilled with the puck and are capable of making complex plays and direct passes. They can clear the zone in a penalty killing situation and are generally the best in the business in handling pucks. Were talking about Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Arizonas Mike Smith, Washingtons Braden Holtby, Steve Mason of the Flyers, Pekka Rinne in Nashville and Montreals Carey Price. THE DISHER: These goalies are above-average at handling the puck, but dont play a risky game with it and usually stay within their comfort zone. Thats Kari Lehtonen of the Dallas Stars, Torontos Jonathan Bernier, Ottawas Craig Anderson, Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh, Anaheims Frederik Anderson and Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins. STOP AND LEAVE: Theyre very efficient at making the first three plays listed above. Their focus is to get in and out of the net very quickly, with average skills and puckhandling. This applies to Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, Chicagos Corey Crawford, Semyon Varlamov of Colorado, Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, Carolinas Cam Ward, Brian Elliott in St. Louis, New Jerseys Cory Schneider, Detroits Jimmy Howard, Ryan Miller of the Canucks and Minnesotas Darcy Kuemper. THE MINIMAL TOUCH: These goaltenders have limited puckhandling skills, as their focus is on stopping the puck and not handling it outside the net. Its just not a strength of their game. Starters under this category include Floridas Roberto Luongo, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, Ben Scrivens of the Oilers, Islanders netminder Jaroslav Halak, San Joses Antti Niemi, Ondrej Pavelec of the Winnipeg Jets, Calgarys Jonas Hiller and Buffalos Michael Neuvirth. Once again, this is one of the most important team skills that doesnt get enough attention consistently. ' ' '