I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I love watching Hockey but never played the game myself, so I'm not great with terminology/general hockey knowledge. In watching the Jackets/Caps game (and many other games so far this season) it seemed like Mase was giving up some nasty rebounds, but then in his game rundown LTL mentioned that none of the goals could be blamed on the goalie. I figured that meant it was time for me to stop being ignorant and start asking questions!

So my first question is - What constitutes a bad rebound? Does it have to do with the speed of the shot? Distance? Glove/stick side?

Hey dcorson17.

No worries. I'm just one set of eyes and another person could view the game completely differently.

To answer your question though.. at least to me.. a bad rebound can be a lot of things depending on the situation. For the most part though if a goalie has time and sees the shot I expect him to control the rebound. If it's a shot through traffic with screens, passes through the crease or quick one time plays I'm usually content if he just somehow get's a body part or stick on it and keeps the puck out of the net.

Also it's how he controls a rebound. If it's a long shot that he sees and he kicks it straight back into the center of the ice then that is bad rebound. If he directs it to a corner out of the "danger" areas of the ice then that is good.

In the case of Sunday's game I thought Mase did a real good job handling shots through traffic... he did give up a couple of rebounds that we can take a look at.

On goal 2 have gave up a juicy rebound but he also had two caps and one Jacket screening him. In that case I was glad to see him make the initial stop... if you watch closely that puck took a dive as it hit someone right before it got to him. Also if Stralman was in position and hadn't turned over the puck in the corner he would have been there to clear that one out.

I do think he could have done a better job on the 4th goal after lookin at it again. He didn't get any help from his D clearing pucks but he had enough time and saw the shot clear enough where you'd like to see him aborb that shot and kill that play for a faceoff.

Overall though I personally thought he did a much better job this game than he had in previous ones.

Again... just one set of eyes.. and trust me they are wrong as much as they are right!!

Keep the posts comin!!

-LTL

Thanks for clearing that up for me with a quick response! If I can think of anything else I'll be sure to ask.

Basic question #2 comes to me as I watch the Oilers tie it up

Why do teams seemingly allow opponent players to set up shop in front of their goalies? Would laying out a stationary player garner a penalty? Is it dangerous to add another body in front of the goalie to further block his line of sight? Am I simply focusing on power plays when the defending team can't afford to leave the perimeter?

Thanks again!

dcorson17 wrote:
Basic question #2 comes to me as I watch the Oilers tie it up

Why do teams seemingly allow opponent players to set up shop in front of their goalies? Would laying out a stationary player garner a penalty? Is it dangerous to add another body in front of the goalie to further block his line of sight? Am I simply focusing on power plays when the defending team can't afford to leave the perimeter?

Thanks again!
Teams try not to allow an opponent play to set up shop in front of the net but on penalty kills the team is afraid to add another player in front of the net to cause a bigger screen that the goalie cant see through. Teams like Detroit have mastered this art very well with Holmstrom almost always causing Goaltender interference(though not always called) on every goal he is on the ice for. Also there is sometimes a call when someone checks the guy in front of the net the Ref's usually is looking for a cross check in front of the net from the penalty killing team.

I've heard a few times lately that the home team has the advantage of "last change". The name itself lends some insight as to what the advantage is; clearly it's a reference to line changes, of which I'm assuming the home team gets the final one, but I'm wondering what, specifically, is the advantage to changing lines last?

I may try to take this one... LTL, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm a rookie fan as well...

An advantage to changing your line last can be great. Say that I'm the coach of the home team, and LTL is the coach of the away team.

LTL throws three very powerful shooters who are slower skaters, an offensive defensemen, who tends to jump up on the play more often than not, and a defensemen who is a hard hitter.

Seeing this, as the home team, I can throw over one of two lines.

Choice A) Three really fast forwards who have good skating/handling, to try to score the game winning goal, with two defensemen. Once the forwards clear past LTL's forwards, it's almost home free, with a 3 on 2 rush.

Choice Throw out my checking line, and let them bash the other team to hell.

Basically, it means that I can throw out any counter I have to your previous move, because I have the last move.

Hope I helped, and that it's correct!

I can't confirm your correctness, but it certainly makes sense. Thanks!