The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

[NMH]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

MSU graduates a large senior class, including Butters. They have some nice recruits, but this figures to be a rebuilding year.

Right, I meant that as a greater comment on their program as a whole rather than to the specific upcoming season.
Obviously the WCHA is a steep hill, but I think they could be fighting to be the 3/4 team in the next few years. Whereas UMD seems to have stagnated or even regressed, Mankato is pulling talent and seems on the brink of breaking through that bottom-half label.

 

[northhockey]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

IMO, Butters was the best goalie in the WCHA this year, ahead of Rigsby. 20 conference games against 5 teams that finished above 13th in Pairwise. Wisconsin's question was its offense, not defense. So with no Eastern knowledge of goaltending...

Butters
Rigsby
Leville

 

[northhockey]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

Right, I meant that as a greater comment on their program as a whole rather than to the specific upcoming season.
Obviously the WCHA is a steep hill, but I think they could be fighting to be the 3/4 team in the next few years. Whereas UMD seems to have stagnated or even regressed, Mankato is pulling talent and seems on the brink of breaking through that bottom-half label.

I agree with this statement. There seems to be another consolidation of the top 3 teams in the conference, this time UND instead of UMD. But then again, it was an olympic year...

 

[Blackbeard]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

I agree with this statement. There seems to be another consolidation of the top 3 teams in the conference, this time UND instead of UMD. But then again, it was an olympic year...

I would think that Miller's no longer unfettered access to an exclusive talent pool has had its part to play in this. Others went to school on her, regardless of the naysayers of that approach, and it has caught up to her.

 

[clarksoncluck]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

IMO, Butters was the best goalie in the WCHA this year, ahead of Rigsby. 20 conference games against 5 teams that finished above 13th in Pairwise. Wisconsin's question was its offense, not defense. So with no Eastern knowledge of goaltending...

Butters
Rigsby
Leville

northcountry, everyone is allowed an opinion. I checked it out and Butters has a 2.94 GAA. IMO it won't cut it with HC though. Desbien, Leveille and Black are all ahead of her in the WCHA for prospects in the HC stream. She also had 4 - 5 goal against games, 2 - 6 goal against games and 1 - 7 goal against game. Can't see it, don't see it. And her save % is 5th in the league.

She has had some very good games, no doubt, but I'm not sold.

HC would definitely follow up with the Desbien, Black and Leveille way ahead. They all are sophomores and will for sure have a better shot.

I'm just looking at results, stats and birth years.

 

[northhockey]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

northcountry, everyone is allowed an opinion. I checked it out and Butters has a 2.94 GAA. IMO it won't cut it with HC though. Desbien, Leveille and Black are all ahead of her in the WCHA for prospects in the HC stream. She also had 4 - 5 goal against games, 2 - 6 goal against games and 1 - 7 goal against game. Can't see it, don't see it. And her save % is 5th in the league.

She has had some very good games, no doubt, but I'm not sold.

HC would definitely follow up with the Desbien, Black and Leveille way ahead. They all are sophomores and will for sure have a better shot.

I'm just looking at results, stats and birth years.

Im looking at it as goalie most valuable to team. UW and UM have strong defenses to begin with..

 

[ARM]

northcountry, everyone is allowed an opinion. I checked it out and Butters has a 2.94 GAA. IMO it won't cut it with HC though. Desbien, Leveille and Black are all ahead of her in the WCHA for prospects in the HC stream. She also had 4 - 5 goal against games, 2 - 6 goal against games and 1 - 7 goal against game. Can't see it, don't see it. And her save % is 5th in the league.

She has had some very good games, no doubt, but I'm not sold.

Fans in the WCHA who are saluting Butters aren't necessarily looking at numbers. For example, she kept her team in games versus Minnesota several times until very late in the second period, only allowing one goal. After awhile, there were just too many high-quality looks, and the roof would fall in a bit. But until then, she had done better against the Gophers than ECAC goalies like Howe, Leonoff, and Newell. That's what makes it so hard to compare goalies; they are all dealt different hands. Butters did have a great year though, for those who actually had the opportunity to watch her.

 

[clarksoncluck]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

Fans in the WCHA who are saluting Butters aren't necessarily looking at numbers. For example, she kept her team in games versus Minnesota several times until very late in the second period, only allowing one goal. After awhile, there were just too many high-quality looks, and the roof would fall in a bit. But until then, she had done better against the Gophers than ECAC goalies like Howe, Leonoff, and Newell. That's what makes it so hard to compare goalies; they are all dealt different hands. Butters did have a great year though, for those who actually had the opportunity to watch her.

ARM, I think your right in comparing her to Leonoff and Newell. Leonoff had a .924 S%, 2.69 GAA, Newell had a .906 S%, 2.74 GAA. Should not compare to Howe since her body of work over 4 years has been very consistently good with a S% of .932 and a GAA of 1,57 over her 4 years, which would include very middle of the road teams early in her NCAA career. Howe has never had a GAA average over 2 GAA's in an NCAA season. Stats don't lie over a long period of time (4 years). Butter's had a 4 year average of .909 S% with a GAA of 3.27. Butter's does face a ton of shots - 37/game average this year, but then again so do the likes of Maschmyer 29/game this year.

I believe that she is a good goalie but to say she is the top in the country (I know your not saying it) over the likes of Rigsby, Maschmeyer, Howe, I just don't see it.

 

[ARM]

ARM, I think your right in comparing her to Leonoff and Newell. Leonoff had a .924 S%, 2.69 GAA, Newell had a .906 S%, 2.74 GAA. Should not compare to Howe since her body of work over 4 years has been very consistently good with a S% of .932 and a GAA of 1,57 over her 4 years, which would include very middle of the road teams early in her NCAA career. Howe has never had a GAA average over 2 GAA's in an NCAA season. Stats don't lie over a long period of time (4 years). Butter's had a 4 year average of .909 S% with a GAA of 3.27. Butter's does face a ton of shots - 37/game average this year, but then again so do the likes of Maschmyer 29/game this year.

I believe that she is a good goalie but to say she is the top in the country (I know your not saying it) over the likes of Rigsby, Maschmeyer, Howe, I just don't see it.

I'm saying that it is apples and oranges. Butters isn't playing behind Clarkson's defense. But at the game's halfway point, she would consistently have allowed just one goal to Minnesota. That is better than Leonoff, Newell or Howe did in any of their five combined games versus the Gophers. Butters likely realized that if she gave up three goals to Minnesota, the game was going to be over, because her team didn't score much against them -- one goal in 240 minutes. So I'm just saying that she performed as well against that offense as any goaltender could, and gave her team a chance for as long as possible. Eventually, there would be just too many scoring chances, and once the game got out of hand, there might be a bit of a letdown. I'm not talking about career numbers or season numbers, just games that I observed against a common opponent this season.

 

[NMH]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

I would think that Miller's no longer unfettered access to an exclusive talent pool has had its part to play in this. Others went to school on her, regardless of the naysayers of that approach, and it has caught up to her.

Agreed - and she has (seemingly stubbornly) not made any adjustments to deal with that. It's somewhat inexplicable. What she did is no longer effective - time for a new plan, one would think.

 

[mnpokecheck]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

Agreed - and she has (seemingly stubbornly) not made any adjustments to deal with that. It's somewhat inexplicable. What she did is no longer effective - time for a new plan, one would think.

Shannon is way ahead of the curve, she is already working on converting Korean speed skaters to hockey. Several problems - they won't skate down the middle of the ice, can only cross-over to the left, and when 3 or more get close together they crash into the boards. But she already has the Kim Jong Un's haircut, so she has that going for her.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

Shannon is way ahead of the curve, ...

I've heard she is working with NASA, if there are hockey players on Mars, you better believe Miller will be trying to lure them to Duluth


I am not joining the throw Leveille under the bus crowd, Raty's first experience with the NCAA tournament did not turn out well either, she did not look confident, and to a goalie, confidence is everything.

2nd, this thread started out with an eastern point of view, that's fine, I don't know what's going on out east, but there wasn't a bad, ... no change that to there wasn't a team that didn't have a very good goalie in the WCHA. To give you an idea, 2 senior goalies lost their stating jobs this year, and Shelby Amsley-Benzie who came within one goal of getting her team an NCAA championship last year had to share starting duities this year. Good grief, look at the stats of last place SCSU goalie, Julie Friend, 92.6% save percentage, 2.75 GAA !!!

if you are the 70th best forward in the WCHA, you will get to skate a regular shift, but if you are a goalie, if you aren't one of the 12 best, you will sit all year and rarely, if ever, get a chance to play

 

[KTDC]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

I am not joining the throw Leveille under the bus crowd

!!

Raty's first experience with the NCAA tournament did not turn out well either,

And she was a sophomore, also.

Best wishes, Amanda!

 

[SCSU2039]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

Good grief, look at the stats of last place SCSU goalie, Julie Friend, 92.6% save percentage, 2.75 GAA !!!

Friend is a very solid goaltender. Sadly, she plays for a team that has no offense at all. I watched a lot of her games. She deserves better than the team in front of her. I can't claim she is the one of the top goalies in the game, but considering the team she is on she should at least get an honorable mention in the top goalies of D1 women. Its not like she has much of a team in front of her. And that's going from a fan of her team.

 

[YabaDabaDoo]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

northcountry, everyone is allowed an opinion. I checked it out and Butters has a 2.94 GAA. IMO it won't cut it with HC though. Desbien, Leveille and Black are all ahead of her in the WCHA for prospects in the HC stream. She also had 4 - 5 goal against games, 2 - 6 goal against games and 1 - 7 goal against game. Can't see it, don't see it. And her save % is 5th in the league.

She has had some very good games, no doubt, but I'm not sold.

HC would definitely follow up with the Desbien, Black and Leveille way ahead. They all are sophomores and will for sure have a better shot.

I'm just looking at results, stats and birth years.

The whole GAA is really meaningless! To many variables! Moore had a great year all things considered but Lundberg has ALWAYS "Last three years" given her team a chance. When I look at who each of these goaltenders has in front of them, none of them has less to work with? and having watched a lot of hockey I have never seen anyone faster than her either!

 

[pokechecker]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

IMO, the difference between the very best goaltenders and very good ones is consistency. But when a goalie plays for a team that gives up a lot of shots and makes a lot of mistakes, they are going to give up a lot of goals some times. I am only familar with the WCHA goalies, it is very hard to say which ones are the best other than Rigsby.

Both Black & Butters are impressive at times, at others they seem to give up a bunch of goals, a bad game or period?? the barage finally gets to them and they finally cave?? Too many mistakes in front of them to cover everything?? I don't know, probably a little of all of that.

UND's Amsley-Benzie & OSU's Steffes I thought were as good, but more consistent. Bemidji's Mowat played well for a freshman but also seemed inconsistent, but then so was her team. SCSU's Friend is the best goalie playing for the worst team. Lot's of talented young goalies in the WCHA, it will be interesting to see how they progress.

 

[YabaDabaDoo]

IMO, the difference between the very best goaltenders and very good ones is consistency. But when a goalie plays for a team that gives up a lot of shots and makes a lot of mistakes, they are going to give up a lot of goals some times. I am only familar with the WCHA goalies, it is very hard to say which ones are the best other than Rigsby.

Both Black & Butters are impressive at times, at others they seem to give up a bunch of goals, a bad game or period?? the barage finally gets to them and they finally cave?? Too many mistakes in front of them to cover everything?? I don't know, probably a little of all of that.

UND's Amsley-Benzie & OSU's Steffes I thought were as good, but more consistent. Bemidji's Mowat played well for a freshman but also seemed inconsistent, but then so was her team. SCSU's Friend is the best goalie playing for the worst team. Lot's of talented young goalies in the WCHA, it will be interesting to see how they progress.

I would have to agree, Lundberg & Moore are the best on struggling teams! The mind set for them is un-fathomable!! Must be nice to be on a team that if you make a mistake, not to worry, will get it back forwards!!!! But these girls don't have that luxury!! Again the best game I every watched from a goalie was the bottom vs the top Clarkson vs Union regular season championship game when they forgot to tell that Union goalie she was supposed to lose!!!! The announcer stated that the the trophy was in the. House and that kid have hem hell, take in them into OT!!!!

 

[LtPowers]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

USCHO says the top three are Rigsby, Howe, and Binnington.


Powers &8^]

 

[Timothy A]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

At this level, goaltending is all about the play in front of you. The Mankatos of the world simply make more mistakes in front of the goalie and in transition and have less ability to score and keep the puck in the other end of the rink. I saw every UW home game less 1 this year and I don't recall seeing any goalie who actually allowed bad goals. All these goalies have gone to largely the same camps growing up and use the same techiniques. The robotic goaltending techniques used today have made the position more about solid techique and less about pure ability. I saw Butters play in 5 games this year, and I think if you switched Rigsby to Kato and Butters to UW, UW is still in the final 4, Butters is a Patty Kaz finalist, and Kato still finishes 7th. Team sports in general is more about the whole machine and not just 1 player.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

At this level, goaltending is all about the play in front of you. The Mankatos of the world simply make more mistakes in front of the goalie and in transition and have less ability to score and keep the puck in the other end of the rink. I saw every UW home game less 1 this year and I don't recall seeing any goalie who actually allowed bad goals. All these goalies have gone to largely the same camps growing up and use the same techiniques. The robotic goaltending techniques used today have made the position more about solid techique and less about pure ability. I saw Butters play in 5 games this year, and I think if you switched Rigsby to Kato and Butters to UW, UW is still in the final 4, Butters is a Patty Kaz finalist, and Kato still finishes 7th. Team sports in general is more about the whole machine and not just 1 player.

I don't disagree except with that I believe MSU's real problem was offense, not defense. Although As the year went on, their offense got better, it is not only tough for a goalie to turn back 40-50 shots, it is tough on the defense too. Their PP was downright anemic at first, teams like UMD, themselves with lots of problems had their way with them because they knew they couldn't score on the PP. It is tough to keep the puck out of your net when it is always in your end of the rink. I think it was both UND & UMD that MSU lost 2-1 where it was the offense which was the problem, ... and the fact that officials made/missed questionable calls late in the game that affected the outcome.