I hate skate injuries.  They are such a reminder of how dangerous the game can really be.  Carolina Hurricanes goaltender, Cam Ward, is in the hospital after his leg was cut open by the skate of Rick Nash.  The injury occurred during the first period of their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ward is still in the hospital and didn’t fly home with the team after the 3-2 loss.  “It’s a significant injury and all I mean by that is I don’t have any timeline,” coach Paul Maurice said. “There was a fair amount of blood on the ice. All …read more

NHL fans are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the introduction of goaltender masks.  On November 1, 1959 the New York Rangers were hosting the Montreal Canadiens at the Madison Square Garden.
Rangers forward, Andy Bathgate, was pretty irritable with Habs netminder, Jacques Plante, who, he says, rubbed it in when the Rangers were beaten at home.  He also was a bit upset about an altercation with the goalie that almost left Bathgate in the hospital.

“The puck was dumped in and it wasn’t a hard shot,” Batgate recalled.  “I thought I could beat him to the puck but all this was happening …read more

After multiple reports said that Vancouver Canucks goaltender, Roberto Luongo, would be out of the lineup indefinitely, the team is relieved to learn that he will probably only miss a week due to a hairline fracture in his ribs.

He got hurt during Saturday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.  “It was a bad angle shot from (Leafs’ forward Niklas) Hagman in the corner and I just kind of went one knee down and the puck just hit me in the seam of my chest protector,” Luongo said.  “It kind of hurt, but the adrenaline was going so I finished …read more

Whoa, whoa, whoa… Carey Price has all but relinquished his #1 spot as the Montreal Canadiens goaltender – for now.   At practice yesterday, Price spoke of backup netminder Jaroslav Halak and said:  “Everybody wants to play, but when the team’s doing well you have to think of the team first and that’s what I’m doing right now. He’s on a streak right now. He’s been playing well, so he deserves his playing time.”
What fresh hell is this?  Yes, I realize that Price lost his first four starts and Halak won his first four starts but I didn’t think that Price …read more

I’m pretty bummed about this news but Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender, Jonas Gustavsson, is on the injured reserve list after suffering from a bit of a groin pull.  It doesn’t sound too serious but you never know with these things.
The rookie will probably be on the bench for at least a week.  “I was examined yesterday, and they think I pulled it a little bit,” Gustavsson said.  “So I’ll take it easy for a few days.”
Anyone who was looking forward to seeing Vesa Toskala fight to retain his #1 spot with “The Monster” on his ass is going to have …read more

I hear the curse of long-term contracts knocking on the door of Vancouver Canucks goaltender, Roberto Luongo.  Seriously, friends.  I know it’s so early in the season but this is definitely worth talking about.

The Canucks lost 5-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets last night.  I’ll get to the details on this nightmare but, first, let’s look at their start to this season so far.  They’ve played three games and they’ve lost three games.
I watched their opener since it was against the Calgary Flames and almost instantly I was asking if there was something off about Luongo.  I shrugged it off …read more

It was a big night in my neck of the woods.  Last night was the first Battle of Alberta and was the first home game of the season for the Edmonton Oilers.  I’m not even going to go into how lame I thought their whole pre-game celebration was (I’m sorry but it was really stupid to me) since I was really just interested in their starting lineup.

After the Calgary Flames were stonewalled by goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin in the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning, I’ve always hated playing against him.  I wanted to see how Miikka Kiprusoff would …read more

After last night’s performance, it’s very possible that goaltender Ray Emery is back from whatever hell he’s been living in since his time with the Ottawa Senators.
The netminder, who has been out of the NHL and playing in the Russian league because of his own bad behavior, managed to stop all 28 shots that he faced and helped the Philadelphia Flyers secure a 2-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Emery definitely sent a message in his debut with the Flyers by posting his ninth career shutout.  Looks like history repeated itself since the last three times that Emery has faced the …read more

Goaltender Pascal Leclaire was acquired at the trade deadline last season but, after having ankle surgery, he wasn’t able to play.  He has dressed in this year’s pre-season games and the Ottawa Senators are hoping that this is the answer to their netminder woes.

They had it good with Ray Emery until he went bat-shit crazy.  Of course, Leclaire is taking the high road when it comes to the gossip about his predecessors.  “I wasn’t here and I don’t really care about what happened before,” stated Leclaire.  “They’ve had some real quality goalies here.  Sometimes it’s easy to blame goalie.  You …read more

The Atlanta Thrashers have made the decision to release veteran goaltender, Manny Legace, along with Dan Fritshe.  This comes just days after Legace saved 25 of 27 shots in a pre-season game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Honestly, I hate that Legace hasn’t gotten more respect and I realize that things haven’t been perfect in Atlanta but I have a lot of respect for his ability between the pipes.  He’s played with the Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings and the St. Louis Blues and has dressed for 337 games.
Personally, as I’ve seen on a few message boards, I’d like to see …read more