Adventures of the masked men

It's time to write something about the goalies. The odd stinky guys with big clumsy gear. The ones mumbling behind the mask. The ones that in the past were the last boys picked from the pond game lineup and forced to play goalie. The ones that now are often referred as half of the team or the most important player on ice. Talk about a recipe for mental issues.

Recently there's been a lot of goalie related news in Boston. Tim Thomas surprised everyone by somehow convincing himself that hockey players are supposed to issue political or generally meaningful statements. And the sports media somehow got confused and thought that hockey players' views are a great source for highly speculative journalism. Tim Thomas should have visited the White House just as the other boys. They probably served really good food and Obama shared some autographs for the willing. A perfectly good field trip for the kids of all ages. Making a big fuss about it was just stupid. Now the media seems to have more fuel on the fire and speculate the effect of Thomas' absence to the late underachievements of the Bruins. Not to mention trade rumors.

Apparently the sports reporters in Boston area were so wired to the goalie theme that they managed to find out some Finnish magazine article based on an interview of Tuukka Rask. They ran it through Google Translator or similar and ended up connecting the dots to create another scandal article. Tuukka wants to play, doesn't like sitting on the bench. Must be unhappy, poisons the team, must be traded. And so on. Now Rask has explained his chatter behind the original story and needs to convince everyone - well, the media at least - that he's happy in the team and gives hin 100% every time he is needed. And that the team goes first and it doesn't matter who's between the pipes as long as the team succeeds. And all the rest of the cliches that you need to provide when your attitude is questioned. Hello, Scott Gomez?

Behind the tabloid journalism there's some sports related bright spots amongst the goalmouth heros. NY Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist has finally found his consistent groove and seems like the one to beat in the Vezina race. Martin Brodeur isn't the same superhuman force anymore, but keeps on piling wins in his seemingly unbreakable record. Finnish workhorses Pekka Rinne and Miikka Kiprusoff keep on astonishing with their solid professionalism and St. Louis' dynamic duo of Halak and Elliott seem to fit perfectly in this unbelievably improved Blues' hockey team.

On the sad stories department I need to bring up Philadelphia with their curse that brings down seemingly any goaltender they throw on the ice. Bryzgalov played huge amounts of very solid games in his time in Phoenix, but now struggles big time behind a way better team. Go figure. Honorable mention goes, as always when picking on goalies, to NY Islanders' Rick di Pietro and his monster contract and injury woes. An odd quirk in the statistics in Chicago's Cristobal Huet. He's being paid over five million dollars this year and yet he suites up for a team in Germany. I wonder how the financials have been arranged. In this equation Mr. Huet is the clear winner, losers come in many forms.

As always, it'll be really cool to follow also the keepers along the stretch run to the playoffs. Who has the stamina to pull through the final decisive rounds and continuous mental pressure? Who will need to step down from the number one spot when a younger challenger steps up his game? And ultimately, of course, who will be intimidated or shaken by the media come playoff time? It's time for experience, thick skin and cool nerves. Well suitable for silent maskesd guys from the Nordics.