Where Have You Gone Eddie Giacomin?

I was sitting with a buddy at a local Ottawa establishment watching a Senators game a little while back when I took a peak at the Montreal game which was being shown on a neighboring flat panel. From the distance I sat from the TV I couldn’t make out who was playing goal for Montreal. I couldn’t read the jersey number and though Huet and Price are of significantly different size I couldn’t for the life of me make out who was in goal until they showed a close up during a stoppage. This got me to thinking about how homogeneous the goaltending position has become in hockey. Today’s goalies are all the same; same masks, same pads, same styles. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no question that puck stopping has improved tenfold since my formative hockey years growing up watching and playing goal in the seventies and early eighties. But in some ways the advancements in goaltending, both techniques and equipment, has taken a little bit of the charm away from the position and the game as a whole for that matter. I really miss goaltending, the way it used to be.

I miss the masks. Nothing distinguished a goalie more in the good old days than the customized mask he wore. It was an era of great innovation as the homemade masks of the 60’s began transform into the more conventional styles we see today. Along the way there were some classic lids as goalies experimented with different styles, shapes and eventually customized paint jobs. The great goalies of the era were easily recognizable by their masks: Cheevers, Giacomin, Parent, Esposito, Rogie Vachon and of course my favorite of all: Ken Dryden and his pretzel mask. Although I was only 6 years old I can still vividly recall the instant intrigue I had with number 29 and his strange mask as the rookie backstopped the Canadians to a huge upset of the mighty Bruins and eventually the 1971 Stanley Cup. Even some of the not so great goalies of the era are still memorable for their headgear innovation. Probably most famous was Gilles Gratton, a journeyman goalie whose detailed Lion mask set the direction for the elaborate paint jobs that are commonplace today.

I miss the old equipment. The new masks have definitely standardized the look of the modern goalie but nothing has had a greater impact on the position in the last 25 years than the advancements in leg pads, gloves and upper body gear. Modern equipment has been the great enabler of the butterfly style that is used so successfully by virtually all goalies today. I would love to see how some of the great goalies of today would fare wearing Bernie Parent’s goal pads barely covering the knees, Ken Dryden’s skimpy goal pants, Cesar Maniago’s upper body gear and Tretiak’s GM12 Cooper gloves. Wearing that old gear demands a totally different recipe; two parts puck stopping, one part self preservation. Looking back today it’s hard to imagine that these brave men stood between the pipes with such little protection, but they did. Can you imagine what Terry Sawchuk or one of his contemporaries would think of the twin size Sealy Posturepedic that J.S.Giguere straps around his chest every game. With the one piece stick technology and bigger, stronger players there is certainly an argument to be made for the need of increased protection for the goaltender. But let’s be honest here, a lot of the webbing, cheaters and protruding pieces we see today are there to stop pucks not protect the goalie. I know the NHL has taken steps in regulating the size of the gear but in my opinion there is still some work to be done.

I miss the old styles. Goaltending has been transformed from a raw, natural, instinctive art to an extremely technical and mechanical science. Can you imagine an aspiring goalie showing up at an NHL camp with a stand up, helter skelter, kick save style we witnessed back in the day; he’d be laughed out of training camp. Yet the goalies of yesteryear somehow made it work, and then some. Bernie Parent kick saved his was to two epic Stanley Cup runs in the mid seventies. Anyone who witnessed his display would have to consider this some of the finest goaltending ever seen. Contrast Parent’s style to what we see in today’s goalies. Perhaps I should correct myself here, these guys today aren’t really goalies at all, they’re Cyborgs, programmed to track the puck, remain square and fall to the ice as the shot is taken, daring the shooter to find that sliver of daylight above his oversized shoulder pads. There are still some holdouts that play more by instinct such as Martin Brodeur and Dominic Hasek, but they’re a dying breed. For better or for worse, the mechanical goalie is here to stay.

I miss the characters. For as long as I can remember goalies have had the reputation of being a bit off to put it mildly. The reasoning was that something had to be a bit off for a grown man to stand in front of a cage, with minimal protection as 6 oz pieces of vulcanized rubber are launched at him at upwards of 90mph. That reasoning no longer applies as goaltending has arguably become one of the safest positions in all of sport. As such, it seems that the personalities of today’s goalies have become as generic as their equipment. Ray Emery is perhaps the closest thing we have today to the prototypical flaky goaltender. Hmmm, on second thought maybe it’s better that goalies have now joined the ranks of the normal.

The things I miss most? Off the top of my head: Ken Dryden leaning on his goal stick during stoppages; Bernie Parent kick save (a thing of beauty); Gerry Cheevers stitch mask; Mike Palmateer flopping around in the crease for the Leafs on a Saturday night; a Billy Smith chop to the ankle; Tretiak’s Jofa birdcage (and sheer brilliance in goal)…Dryden’s pretzel mask (I think Dunc Wilson wore one too)…Gump Worsley playing without a mask; the poke check; stacking the pads; a grey haired Eddie Giacomin donning his "tools of ignorance" and facing the world's best shooters armed with nothing but courage and moxie.