Recruiting

[Drew]

Steve, I am heading to Yale tomorrow to see for myself.  Will let you know my thoughts.

[tretiak]

as someone who played goalie at deerfield (prep school), very few hockey coaches know anything about goaltending and many still maintain the stupid idea that more pucks = better goaltending. i remember mike richter served as a volunteer goalie coach with yale after he retired and still might be there. richter seems more of an exception than the rule though. i'm sure colleges can better attract volunteer goalie coaches, but if one of no one on the staff played goalie then it's up to the goalies to find someone to work with them, either at school or during the offseason.

juniors are similar. roberto luongo came out of the qmjhl (the top goalie league in juniors) as the #4 overall pick because, in his opinion, he faced a lot of shots. he was inconsistent early in his career because he developed bad habits from facing so many shots and the islanders and panthers goalie coaches needed to break his habits. brreaking down and rebuilding goalies happens a lot in the professional ranks, aka maturity. basically, it boils down to the fact that if you have a great goalie coach nearby you're really lucky. if not, it's on the goalies themselves to police themselves.

as for nabokov, if he ever needs any personal help he has the greatest goalie ever to give him advice. ;-)