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- From: mattb@ctron.com (Matthew E. Brown)
- Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey
- Subject: Re: Myllsy (was Re: Sharks lose to Kings 11-4
- Message-ID: <5933@balrog.ctron.com>
- Date: 16 Nov 92 14:27:31 GMT
- References: <1992Nov9.075124.5431@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> <5899@balrog.ctron.com> <74301@apple.apple.COM>
- Sender: usenet@balrog.ctron.com
- Reply-To: mattb@olympus.ctron.com (Matthew E. Brown)
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- In article <74301@apple.apple.COM> chuq@Apple.COM (Eeyore's Evil Twin) writes:
- (after Matt raved the following):
- >>And what the hell is going through Kingston's mind? Is this guy trying to ruin
- >>Irbe the way he ruined Myllys?Any coach not on life support will pull a rookie
- >>goalie after 6 or 8 just to shame the donkeys playing in front of him, take a
- >>break, and try to change the momentum. I remember he left Jarmo in for a
- >>couple of shellackings last year. What's his excuse?
-
- >I can't let this one go through unchallenged. First, by the time you make
- >the NHL level, if you can't handle a bad game, you're not going to last
- >anyway.
-
- >But more importantly, what's this stuff about Kingston ruining Myllys? I
- >hate to bring facts into an argument, but Myllys's career at San Jose was 27
- >games, 115 goals (5.02 GAA). Pretty terrible. However, BEFORE he came to San
- >San Jose, he played three partial season with Minnesota (6, 4, 2 games, GAA
- >of 5.55, 6.15, and 6.14 respectively). So Myllys played BETTER under
- >Kingston than he did before he got to san Jose. Most players would kill for
- >that kind of being ruined.
-
- I'm not going to argue with the stats, except to say that 12 games over 3
- years isn't much to go on. The Stars weren't a top defensive team during
- that time, and it isn't clear from the stats quoted whether these were full
- games, bad first periods, or bad replacement times. But you are right; it
- still isn't top-flight goaltending. In SJ, with a first year team, 5+ a game
- still isn't too wonderful. I was never trying to argue (here or in a
- previous thread) that Myllys was or would be a Vezina contender.
-
- >Not only that, until he came to San Jose, he was never under 3.5 GAA. At
- >Kansas City in the Sharks organization, he was 2.93.
-
- Those are passable, but not great, numbers.
-
- >Ruined Myllys? Myllys was a marginal goaltender who could hold his own in
- >the IHL but couldn't stick in the NHL. I liked Jarmo when he was here, but
- >in the games I saw him in, he was clearly outclassed, and your assertion
- >that he was somehow ruined has no basis in fact.
-
- My statement was a deliberate exaggeration. I was angry that Kingston would
- leave Irbe in for 11 goals in his first start after being brought up. He
- started Irbe against a high-scoring team, and gave him no relief, even when
- it was clear that he was getting zero help from his defense. I don't think
- this is constructive coaching. It is not normal practice to do this. Yet
- Kingston has done this before (not just with Myllys). I will grant you
- that I am going from memory here, as I don't have the game-by-game box
- scores for SJ 91-92. But I seem to remember a couple of high scoring games
- from last year where a goalie ate 9,10, or 11 goals withouth relief. Now
- maybe Kingston thinks that leaving the goalie in is a vote of confidence
- that it's not him, but the other guys who are screwing up. But pychologically,
- it doesn't work that way, in my experience, and I've played the position.
-
- I remember playing on a fledging prep school club team against the top u16
- travel team from my home town. These were kids who also played JV for the
- state champion HS in Connecticut that year. I had defensemmen who couldn't
- skate backwards, and some forwards who got high before the game. It was
- brutal. I played 1.5 periods, let in 8 goals (numerous 2-0 breaks), and
- was relieved as hell when I was pulled. Some of the guys on the other team
- were friends and were razzing the hell out of me when they scored (they
- apologized and comiserated after the game). The only thing that made me
- feel like less of a chump and loser was that they got 9 on the other guy.
-
- So anyway, that's part of why I don't like the way Kingston (alledgedly)
- handles his goalkeepers. My wording was too strong if taken literally,
- which a reader has every right to do. But nobody has answered my real
- question: Why does he do it? Other coaches are pulling a goalie after 4
- then sometimes re-inserting him if the team wakes up, to let him know
- it was a team thing, not him. A real pro should understand the situation,
- granted, but it still has an effect, and goaltending as a position has
- a higher pychological factor than most others, in my non-fact-based opinion.
-
- >You know, if you're going to make wild assertions, try to have a few facts
- >to go with them.
-
- That takes all the fun out of it. But you are right; facts can even make
- a wild assertion seem credible.
-
- Matt
-