Ponds and Pucks

I will admit, I have watched absolutely no hockey this weekend.  The closest that I got was playing air hockey with my future niece.  I was, instead, off doing various wedding-related things for my October 21st date with destiny.

I did take a look at the recaps though, and have seen some of the highlights.  I will say this: offense wins games; defense wins championships.  In hockey, that translates to forwards win games but goalies win the Stanley Cup.  Without Dominik Hasek, the Red Wings would be nowhere near as dominant as they are, and they would not have a chance.  This is, of course, an obvious fact, but it lets me lead into the Venezia Trophy finalists whom I have ignored for too long.
The finalists:

• Martin Brodeur (NJD)
• Miika Kiprusoff (Cal)
• Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
• Roberto Luongo (Van)

This is a great group to break down, and there are some top goalies here.  However, I have a quibble with Lundqvist being included.  One thing that I look for in this award is consistently top goalies and in my opinion that was not him.  He had a great end of the season, I won’t deny that, but overall, I don’t think he should be in the running.

Marty Brodeur has been nominated for this award 7 times in a row.  He deserves it too.  While we all call Hasek “the Dominator,” I am not sure that there has been a more dominant goalie than Brodeur in the league ever.  I’ll open it up, if anyone has a nominee.  Roy?  He’s a competitor but I don’t know if he beats Marty.

Luongo has been among the top goalies in the league for the first time ever.  His uneven play has hurt most of the teams he’s been on but this year he was exactly what his team needed.  I don’t know what happened to him to get him on the right path but whatever they were putting in his water worked.

Kiprusoff has been a consistently good goalie for a few years.  He has Stanley Cup experience and he has the ability to perform for his team when they need it.  His team was outclassed this year, but that shouldn’t discount his skill.  But he has no chance.  At the end of the day, it’s between Luongo and Brodeur.

Who should win:  Brodeur.  He is the best goalie in the league.
Who will win:  Lundqvist has some votes because people fell in love with him late.  But it won’t be enough to make a real dent.  Brodeur and Luongo will split the majority and Brodeur will win in the end.

Tonight, I will try to watch a hockey game.

hockey, wedding, Stanley Cup, Red Wings, Trophies, NHL