Unjust Hate

            Well with the computer finally fired up again (I know you guys missed me) and with the Bruins/Penguins Game 2 last night, I thought it finally time to get back on the writing train and bring up the topic of unjust goaltender hatred. Yes, goalie hate, who would do such a thing? Those lovable, quirky tendies couldn’t possibly do anything wrong…until they do and the media eats them alive. And why am I bringing this up you may ask? Because when a goalie actually does something wrong, it’s usually minimal compared to every single save they make while carrying their struggling, screw-up of a team on those hugely padded shoulders of theirs. And yet, while a goalie’s mistakes may be minor, and they’re the last line of defense, they’re the first to be fired upon (heh, pun) by the media and ignorant fans. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a recap of earlier this season, even a season before, and what’s occurring now to prove my point on the unjust hatred.

            Let’s take a look at now, with the shitstorm that was the Bruins/Penguins game last night – and pardon my French, but Fleury was back in net. Now we all know the Fleury-Vokoun-Fleury again issue that is the 2013 playoffs, but just how much of that is real fault of the goaltender and how much is the team? The media has a great way of blowing things out of proportion and screwing with our views of the team, with the great example being how Vokoun was the savior of the top team in the East while Fleury would have been better being reincarnated as a cat to swat away the puck better than he had the first few games. And while everyone was ragging on Fleury, because come on it’s Fleury, the media’s lack of faith in Vokoun didn’t make much sense either – hell, at that rate, let’s just put Cooke in net since, well, no one likes him anyways. Yet, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Bruins, both goaltenders let in three pucks, and after the fiasco similar to the Luongo-Schneider issue, the truth came to light that, while neither goalie was perfect, maybe it’s not entirely their fault…after all, their team only managed one goal, their only so far this series. With the top team in the East only managing one goal in two games, maybe it’s the team and not the goalie/goalies, but did anyone think of that? Well they finally realized that last night…somewhere around the 4^th and 5^th Bruins goal when that kid behind the bench fell asleep. With the team playing at a lackluster effort all night, it’s no doubt the score was 6-1, with nearly every goal laid at the team’s feet for turning over pucks, being undisciplined, and just overall bad…but hey, let’s blame the goalie for not having a quick enough glove hand or a five-hole the size of the Grand Canyon…

            And Vokoun-Fleury aren’t the only examples. I mentioned their similarity to Luongo-Schneider, another set of goalies that the media and fans have held unjust hatred towards. Being in net for a team that was swept and knocked out early in the first round of the playoffs for the second year in a row is like having a target painted on that mask of yours. “It’s a goaltending issue. It’s a goaltending issue.” Sure it is buddy. How many goals did you manage to get again? A whopping what, 15 or so in your last two series combined? Hell, that’s just two Eastern Conference games…or one Pens/Flyers game. If you’re not scoring, you’re not winning. And put all the blame you want on the goalies “fighting for that number one spot” and “not focusing on the game,” you all know that maybe your team has had a lackluster effort and maybe you should start scoring before you start chirping the goaltender that carried you to the Stanley Cup Finals just two years ago. I mean hell, Luongo is only second in shutouts compared to the legendary Martin Brodeur, so how bad can he really be? Again, the media is just being a playground bully.

            And there’s another example! Media bullying! Anyone remember Ilya Bryzgalov being the poor foreign kid being picked on for being an unprofessional and totally suckish goaltender? Yeah…that’s Philly Media for you. Ilya Bryzgalov, again another prime example of the undeserved hatred that falls on goaltenders when the team in front of them falls apart. Though the hatred that fell on Bryz was on a completely different level than Vokoun-Fleury/Luongo-Schneider, as it was basically direct bullying from the media themselves, and while fans eventually backed up their goalie like all real fans should, it was a bit too late and the damage had been done. It’s similar to Rick DiPietro playing for a team and city that practically hated him thanks to media pressure and downright bullying.

            Vokoun-Fleury, Luongo-Schneider, and Bryzgalov are just some of the worst, most-noted cases of undeserved goaltender hate. Other unfortunate goalies to fall under this slander would be Rick DiPietro, Ryan Miller, James Reimer and Tuuka Rask at certain points (but let’s admit, the banana peel was pretty hilarious), Niklas Backstrom, and even rookie goaltenders such as Matt Hackett, Jacob Markstrom (though not as much, the Panthers sucked in general and nobody denied that), and the list goes on. Does anyone remember why we hate them? “Well they let in a few goals.” Yeah, and when you’re the last line of defense, that’s going to happen from time to time. As odd as they may be, goaltenders are still human, and they screw up. If the 20-30+ guys in front of them can’t hold their weight and do what they get paid millions of dollars to do, there are going to be blowouts, and you can’t solely lay the blame at the guy in pillows. A team, fans included, is supposed to stand behind their goaltender no matter what; yes, they might have blowout nights, and yes, they might hit ruts, but if they’re still in that net then they’re pouring their heart out to try to stop 100+ mph pucks to keep their team going. If a goalie really sucked and really didn’t care, then they wouldn’t be there in the first place. So can we all just stop attacking goalies for letting a puck in and maybe, for once, for just a minute, say “Oh that was so-and-so’s fault, not the goalie”? Let’s stop the media hate and stop the fan hate with it, and hell, let’s make National Hug A Goalie Day because we owe them so much for all the slack they’ve had to deal with…and well, who doesn’t want to hug a goalie?