The Top Five Goalies In Current D1 Women's Hockey

[jb20]

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

I was truly hoping this thread would fade away. It is almost impossible to pick the top 5 goalies in the NCAA unless you have watched every goalie play 3 to 5 games. There are probably at least 5 goalies in the NCAA playing for bottom feeders that would post amazing stats if they played for the top teams. Your top 5 list would look completely different if all was equal.

 

[D2D]

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

There are probably at least 5 goalies in the NCAA playing for bottom feeders....

Have to say that I'm not a big fan of the term "bottom feeders". IMO it's overly demeaning to those programs that have 'struggled' recently, for whatever reason. Otherwise, I get your point, but only to a point!

Here's a totally hypothetical (and maybe pointless) question that I'll just throw out there: let's say - for fun only - that one of the top goalies in the NHL played for a women's D1 team that has "struggled recently". Let's say that goaltender played for a St. Cloud, or a Lindenwood, or a Brown or Union...

Would having one of the very best goalies in the world make that team:
(a) just a little more competitive in their league, like a .500 team, or
(b) one of the favorites to win their league and advance to the NCAA tournament, or
(c) destined for the Frozen Four, with a good chance to win it all, or
(d) the prohibitive favorite to be NCAA champions, for as long as they had the services of one of the top NHL goalies

Just asking, mainly to elicit opinions on how far world-class goaltending would likely carry a "bottom feeder" D1 women's team towards winning a NCAA championship.

 

[vicb]

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

.......
Here's a totally hypothetical (and maybe pointless) question that I'll just throw out there: let's say - for fun only - that one of the top goalies in the NHL played for a women's D1 team that has "struggled recently". Let's say that goaltender played for a St. Cloud, or a Lindenwood, or a Brown or Union...

Would having one of the very best goalies in the world make that team:
(a) just a little more competitive in their league, like a .500 team,
(d) the prohibitive favorite to be NCAA champions, for as long as they had the services of one of the top NHL goalies

I would vote for (a). Now if you put that NHL goalie onto one of the Frozen 4 participating teams I would vote for (d). Goaltending usually wins championships.

 

[ARM]

Here's a totally hypothetical (and maybe pointless) question that I'll just throw out there: let's say - for fun only - that one of the top goalies in the NHL played for a women's D1 team that has "struggled recently". Let's say that goaltender played for a St. Cloud, or a Lindenwood, or a Brown or Union...

Would having one of the very best goalies in the world make that team: ...

I think that the correct answer would depend to a large extent on why the team is currently struggling. If the team has some offense but allows far too many goals to opponents, then an upgrade in goal would have a bigger impact. If the team is one that already is very stingy defensively but is far more famine than feast on the offensive end, then an NHL-caliber goaltender isn't likely to make as large of a difference. Such a team might be tempted to experiment with having its new goaltender skate out.

 

[UCONN FAN]

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

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!

Not seeing it at all! Good goalie...Top 5???????....NO WAY

 

[Skate79]

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

I think that the correct answer would depend to a large extent on why the team is currently struggling. If the team has some offense but allows far too many goals to opponents, then an upgrade in goal would have a bigger impact. If the team is one that already is very stingy defensively but is far more famine than feast on the offensive end, then an NHL-caliber goaltender isn't likely to make as large of a difference. Such a team might be tempted to experiment with having its new goaltender skate out.

I see your point but let's take an actual situation and run the scenario using Rask or Ryan Miller as the goalie. Let's say that either one was the goalie for Yale during the quarterfinal series against Harvard. Does it change the outcome? Leonoff played lights out and still it wasn't enough. But now you are talking about putting one of the best goalies in the world behind a good but not great D and an offense that is challenged to say the least. Who wins? Does it change the outcome of the series? I think the answer is obvious; yes it does. This isn't about putting a high school male in goal on a female field hockey team. This is about putting a goalie who routinely stops the likes of Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos. I don't know about you but I didn't see anyone on the Harvard team that came close to resembling those players. You are talking world class hockey vs D-1 women's college hockey. Please.

 

[ARM]

I see your point but let's take an actual situation and run the scenario using Rask or Ryan Miller as the goalie. Let's say that either one was the goalie for Yale during the quarterfinal series against Harvard. Does it change the outcome? Leonoff played lights out and still it wasn't enough. But now you are talking about putting one of the best goalies in the world behind a good but not great D and an offense that is challenged to say the least. Who wins? Does it change the outcome of the series? I think the answer is obvious; yes it does.

I agree. That was a very, very close series. I think we all agree that it would have an impact. The question was, how big of an impact would it have? Plus, I'm not sure that Yale qualifies, because the original question posed was for a low-ranked team, not one that was close to a middle-of-the-pack squad. Yale had more offensive potential than the teams that come to mind. Anyway, the question remains: how big of an impact could a goalie of that ilk make on a team that is being dominated in other facets? I realize that there is no way to realistically answer the question, because it is a fantasy situation.

 

[Bhikukhu]

I see your point but let's take an actual situation and run the scenario using Rask or Ryan Miller as the goalie. Let's say that either one was the goalie for Yale during the quarterfinal series against Harvard. Does it change the outcome? Leonoff played lights out and still it wasn't enough. But now you are talking about putting one of the best goalies in the world behind a good but not great D and an offense that is challenged to say the least. Who wins? Does it change the outcome of the series? I think the answer is obvious; yes it does. This isn't about putting a high school male in goal on a female field hockey team. This is about putting a goalie who routinely stops the likes of Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos. I don't know about you but I didn't see anyone on the Harvard team that came close to resembling those players. You are talking world class hockey vs D-1 women's college hockey. Please.

I don't know if Ryan Miller would have been able to change the outcome, he hasn't been very good since the Vancouver Olympics (which was really the only time he was ever one of the best in the world)... Rask or Quick on the other hand definitely would have changed the outcome.

 

[OnMAA]

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

I don't know if Ryan Miller would have been able to change the outcome, he hasn't been very good since the Vancouver Olympics (which was really the only time he was ever one of the best in the world)... Rask or Quick on the other hand definitely would have changed the outcome.

Ha Ha.....Put ANY NHL goaler in nets on a D1 team and he will make the difference.

 

[D2D]

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

Ha Ha.....Put ANY NHL goaler in nets on a D1 team and he will make the difference.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "the difference". My original question was would it elevate a "bottom" team all the way to the top of their league, or maybe all the way to the NCAA title?

Here's my take, for what it's worth. I think it's easy to underestimate how good these NHL goaltenders really are. Only a select few D1 college men's goalies ever make it to that level, and few of those end up making a career out of it. Those that are able to eventually become regulars are really, really good at consistently preventing the puck from going into the net. So I think even the most talented snipers in the women's game would have a VERY hard time scoring on them from anything outside of 10 feet as long as the NHL-er had a clear view of the shot.

HOWEVER, even in the women's game, many (most?) goals come from (a) very close in, or (b) screens, or (c) deflections or tip-ins, or (d) scrambles around the net where players get several whack's at it from different angles. So the question becomes how many of these "opportunities" can the stronger team get against the weaker team and in the process get a fortuitous bounce or two that eludes even the most talented goaltender. Shots that go in will be either "real flukes" or ones where "he had no chance whatsoever". The number of these chances the better team can get will be disproportionately more important than their overall number of shots, of which the overwhelming majority will result in "ho-hum" routine stops with no rebound.

So, tough to put any numbers on it, but inserting a great NHL goaltender on a poor D1 women's team would result in a significant number of upsets, IMO. I think you would see a fair number of games that would otherwise be 3-1 or 4-1 or even 5-1 games end up tied 1-1, and for those that go to a shootout (WCHA) the "weaker" team would end up winning the extra point just about every time. But in games where the stronger team completely dominates, with many shots coming from in close in rapid succession from all angles, even the best goalies in the world would be hard pressed to save everything. Even so, the best goalie in the world is not going to help you offensively, so the team being dominated would have to find a way to score a goal or two of their own to come out on top.

Again, all for off-season discussion fun, just to contemplate the extent to which a world-class goaltender would change the fortunes of a struggling D1 women's team.