CHL reportedly considering ban on European goalies in junior leagues

[BOSSMANPC]

Corey Crawford was the only Canadian goalie starting in Round 2 of the playoffs.
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When it comes to European goaltenders, the Canadian Hockey League might lean toward the approach of if you can't beat them, ban them.

You might have noticed a decline in the number of prominent goaltenders from Canada in the NHL. Many of the best in the game seem to either come from the USA (man, that Sochi stable of Jonathan Quick, Jimmy Howard, Ryan Miller, Cory Schneider and Craig Anderson sure looks good) or Europe. To prove that point, consider that all three Vezina Trophy finalists this season are from Europe. (Antti Niemi, Henrik Lundqvist and Sergei Bobrovsky).

Of the eight teams that made it to the conference semifinals that just concluded, only one team has a Canadian as the starting netminder -- Corey Crawford in Chicago.

For the hockey people in Canada, this is a concern. They should be producing elite goaltenders just the same as they are producing elite goal scorers, or so that's the thinking. That starts at the junior level, developing players at the lower levels so they are ready to be NHL players.

So to help achieve this end, there's an idea floating in the CHL to ban all non-North American goaltenders from playing in the CHL. Really. From Damien Cox at the Toronto Star:

More......CHL reportedly considering ban on European goalies in junior leagues - CBSSports.com

 

[BOSSMANPC]

Another quote.... When Canadian Hockey League commissioner David Branch met with Hockey Canada officials this week, one of the topics on the agenda was that the 60 CHL major junior teams will consider banning all European goaltenders in order to give more opportunities to North Americans.

"The CHL has had discussions in a broader sense with Hockey Canada," said Branch. "One of the ideas put forward was eliminating goalies from the annual import draft to allow more focus on North American goalies.

"That is something we're exploring."

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Demon Cox wants more bad canadian goalies in the nhl so the games become high scoring again as opposed to these horrible game 7's we all had to watch these past couple nights ... amiright Demoncox?

 

[dash]

^

Moar goals please!

 

[BOSSMANPC]

I didn't know this....

That seems a bit extreme, doesn't it? CHL teams are already only allowed two "imported" players per roster as it is, now they want to cut their access to the CHL even more. Look, I understand full well that the idea behind the CHL is to develop Canadian talent first and foremost, it is that country's coalition of junior teams (with a few from the US). But you could easily argue that the CHL has become the world's primary talent development program, not just for Canada. It's not the CHL's responsibility, but it has become that and one I'm sure the league does wear with pride.

Fact is, the rest of the world is catching up in hockey talent. This is a good thing, even though it takes down the prestige of Hockey Canada. The Canadians haven't won the World Juniors in four years and didn't even medal at this year's World Championships, signs that they don't rule the sport across the globe anymore. It's not really an indictment on Canada or its players, just a nod to the other countries for catching up. Canada still produces good goalies, it's just that other countries can, too.

 

[higgyfan4]

Don Cherry Approves.

 

[juliansteed]

Goaltending does seem to be Canda's current weakness but I really don't see how this is going to change anything. Teams are only allowed to Euros as it is and most don't use it on a goalie. The ones that do, aren't taking a spot from someone that is likely going to become a superstar in the CHL, let alone eventually the NHL.

 

[The Q stache]

Goaltending does seem to be Canda's current weakness but I really don't see how this is going to change anything. Teams are only allowed to Euros as it is and most don't use it on a goalie. The ones that do, aren't taking a spot from someone that is likely going to become a superstar in the CHL, let alone eventually the NHL.

 

[forty_three]

Goaltending does seem to be Canda's current weakness but I really don't see how this is going to change anything. Teams are only allowed to Euros as it is and most don't use it on a goalie. The ones that do, aren't taking a spot from someone that is likely going to become a superstar in the CHL, let alone eventually the NHL.

Yup.

The Lower leagues in Canada need to really look at why Goaltending talent is not being developed in house. European goalies face better quality shots from more places on the ice their whole lives. That teaches them to be more angle driven and rely less on reflexes from further back.

A goalie who understands angles will top a goalie who has killer reflexes 99 out of 100 times.

The drills from USA Hockey for U12 goalies are a mess. I imagine Canada's are not a lot better. Some are the same drills I was doing 30 years ago. Place pucks in a semicircle and have the forward shoot from left to right with the goalie following. *yawn*

I have my goalies skating russian circles and doing Tretiak leg drills. Stand behind 'em and push them off balance and make them scamble to get set.

 

[IPostedWhat]

 

[BOSSMANPC]

Yup.

The Lower leagues in Canada need to really look at why Goaltending talent is not being developed in house. European goalies face better quality shots from more places on the ice their whole lives. That teaches them to be more angle driven and rely less on reflexes from further back.

A goalie who understands angles will top a goalie who has killer reflexes 99 out of 100 times.

The drills from USA Hockey for U12 goalies are a mess. I imagine Canada's are not a lot better. Some are the same drills I was doing 30 years ago. Place pucks in a semicircle and have the forward shoot from left to right with the goalie following. *yawn*

I have my goalies skating russian circles and doing Tretiak leg drills. Stand behind 'em and push them off balance and make them scamble to get set.

But the US seems to be turning out more quality goaltenders and I would imagine they use similar styles as the Canadians for training. Or is it just that more kids in the US are playing hockey now and it's just a matter of a larger pool of players?

 

[DevilishWon]

Don Cherry Approves.

On point higgy...this has that xenophobic crap thowing monkey ass clow's prints all over it!

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

CHL teams are already only allowed two "imported" players per roster as it is,

So the exchange rate is 26 Canadian Dollars = 2 Euros?

 

[Destroydacre]

I really don't see the point. If a goalie is good enough he's going to make it to the NHL regardless of what league he plays junior in. I don't know about the O or the Q, but there were only 5 European goalies on WHL rosters this year (4 starters) meaning that 18 of the 22 teams had North American starting goalies, most of which were Canadian. This seems like a stupid idea which will accomplish absolutely nothing.

 

[puckhead]

league needs to make up its mind whether it wants to
a) have the best young players in the world, or
b) be a developmental league for Canadian kids.

hopping back and forth over the fence is weak sauce.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

Yup.

The Lower leagues in Canada need to really look at why Goaltending talent is not being developed in house. European goalies face better quality shots from more places on the ice their whole lives. That teaches them to be more angle driven and rely less on reflexes from further back.

A goalie who understands angles will top a goalie who has killer reflexes 99 out of 100 times.

The drills from USA Hockey for U12 goalies are a mess. I imagine Canada's are not a lot better. Some are the same drills I was doing 30 years ago. Place pucks in a semicircle and have the forward shoot from left to right with the goalie following. *yawn*

I have my goalies skating russian circles and doing Tretiak leg drills. Stand behind 'em and push them off balance and make them scamble to get set.

The larger international ice surface almost certainly plays into that too.

When I played goalie as a kid I had a coach that made me do all the skating drills with the skaters and never understood why I couldn't keep up (with all those pads and the heavy flat skates). Seriously. That was how little the guy knew about goalie coaching.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

But the US seems to be turning out more quality goaltenders and I would imagine they use similar styles as the Canadians for training. Or is it just that more kids in the US are playing hockey now and it's just a matter of a larger pool of players?

That's because there are more Americans that are fucked in the head. And we all know that's a requirement to be a goalie.

 

[forty_three]

But the US seems to be turning out more quality goaltenders and I would imagine they use similar styles as the Canadians for training. Or is it just that more kids in the US are playing hockey now and it's just a matter of a larger pool of players?

I think the popularity of baseball in the US has a lot to do with it. I think my son is the only one on his team who doesn't play baseball in addition to hockey and the hand eye coordination baseball cultivates is crucial to hockey. He just never liked baseball, and I'm not going to make him.

And I personally find it hilarious when he plays catch in the neighborhood with his trapper.

The larger international ice surface almost certainly plays into that too.

When I played goalie as a kid I had a coach that made me do all the skating drills with the skaters and never understood why I couldn't keep up (with all those pads and the heavy flat skates). Seriously. That was how little the guy knew about goalie coaching.

My coaching for goalie pretty much consisted of "you - go stand over there". I think coaches nowadays are more in tune with the fact that goalies need different things, but USA hockey has a ways to go in developing drills.

I was the assistant coach on my son's team and we usually had three teams on the ice at the same time for practice. And the warm-up skating drills they did, all the other coaches were like "during warm up, we'll send the goalies with you". I always said no - skate 'em. They need to know how to use their legs too. Yeah, they are going to be slower. But that's no reason to exclude them.

That's because there are more Americans that are fucked in the head. And we all know that's a requirement to be a goalie.

No. America is the home of the brave.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

My coaching for goalie pretty much consisted of "you - go stand over there". I think coaches nowadays are more in tune with the fact that goalies need different things, but USA hockey has a ways to go in developing drills.

I was the assistant coach on my son's team and we usually had three teams on the ice at the same time for practice. And the warm-up skating drills they did, all the other coaches were like "during warm up, we'll send the goalies with you". I always said no - skate 'em. They need to know how to use their legs too. Yeah, they are going to be slower. But that's no reason to exclude them.

I think goalies should be doing certain skating drills, but not others. I think the sprints - both forward and backward - are good, but the coach I referenced above had me doing the crossover drills. In goalie pads. That was the point where I wished that I could have gone off on my own and done crease skating drills. You know, front to back and side-to-side angle skating drills, up and down, on the post off the post, behind the net type stuff.

 

[forty_three]

I think goalies should be doing certain skating drills, but not others. I think the sprints - both forward and backward - are good, but the coach I referenced above had me doing the crossover drills. In goalie pads. That was the point where I wished that I could have gone off on my own and done crease skating drills. You know, front to back and side-to-side angle skating drills, up and down, on the post off the post, behind the net type stuff.

The ones I am talking about are the hard to the blue line;stop drills. Or hard to the blue line and superman drills. Or skating the circles. Crossovers or stops and starts are kinda useless.

I have my own agiity/crossover drill for goalies. Actually it's a big square. Three sticks on the ice, start in stance. Move out, hop stick - get set. Move to the next - hop;set. then the the third. Then move to your left in crossover steps about 20 feet. The rotate 90 and crossovers the opposite way another 20. then you have to drop onto your belly under a stick (across two chair backs) and get back up to set. Then go back to start. While you are waiting to start, the goalie behind you is trying to push you down while you are in stance too.

They all hate that one.