Web Hosting
Web Promotion
Web Dev
What’s a Flyers Season Without a Goalie Controversy
The correct answer is…There is none. The Flyers have struggled to go through an entire season with a steady Number 1 goaltender ever since the days of Ron Hextall. Since good ole. Number 27, the Flyers have gone through plenty of goaltenders including John Vanbiesbrouck, Brian Boucher, Sean Burke (in his 11th go-around with the Flyboys), and the playoff troubled Roman Cechmanek. The Flyers current goaltending controversy surrounds Goaltender 1A Robert Esche and Goaltender 1B Antero Niittymaki.
Both goaltenders competed for their respective countries in the Olympics over in Torino. Esche was Team USA’s 3rd goaltender and competed only in a 5-4 loss to the Russians. Meanwhile, Niittymaki finished the Olympic tournament with a 5-1-0 record and was a major factor in Team Finland winning a silver medal. Niittymaki recorded 3 shutouts and posted a 1.84 GAA for the tournament, and was able to grab the MVP for the tournament. To see how Coach Hitchcock and Esche responded to the excellent play of Niittymaki during the playoffs, check out this article at the Philadelphia Flyers official website.
The performance of Niittymaki during the Olympics puts Coach Hitchcock in a tough spot as to who he should put in goal heading down the home stretch of the season and into the playoffs. Can he place the team in the hands of a rookie goaltender for the playoffs? Niittymaki played for the Flyers AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms, during the NHL Lockout and was able to lead them to a Calder Cup Trophy. So, Niittymaki has proved he can handle the pressure at the AHL level but not yet at the NHL level.
On the other hand, it can be argued that Esche hasn’t played bad enough to lose his number 1 spot. Esche was hampered by a groin injury before the Olympic break that kept him out of over 10 games. Over the course of the season, Esche has 15 wins and only 6 losses, while Niittymaki has 18 wins and 10 loses. As for the difference in GAA’s, Antero has the lead with 2.95 and Esche is at 3.15 and their save percentages are almost identical. To say that Niitty has far outplayed Esche thus far this season would be unfair to Esche due to his injury problems. We are only month and a half away from the start of the playoffs and hopefully Coach Hitchcock will be able to find the correct solution to this goalie controversy by that time.
About this Post
Posted on February 27, 2006 by Kyle Garis | Filed Under Flyers, Philadelphia
|
Print This Article | 8 Comments
Comments
8 Responses to “What’s a Flyers Season Without a Goalie Controversy”
-
Ryan McKenzie on
February 27th, 2006 6:44 pm
Great debut article, Garis. I thoroughly enjoyed it and agree with all that you have to say. As far as opinions go, who would you rather see take the load the rest of the way? Or would you rather it be split equally, including the playoffs (assuming we make it–which hopefully will be a no-brainer)?
-
Micah on
February 27th, 2006 6:52 pm
Personally, I’d stick with Esche. There is no replacement for experience.
I think the problem with the Flyers is getting team chemistry. They bring in all these stars, but the team never consistently gets to that dominant level that we see from the best teams. A lof of this has to do with Clark’s emphasis on older veterans: they tend to get injured more easily, breaking up line consistency.
-
kgaris42 on
February 27th, 2006 6:56 pm
It really is a tough choice that I am glad I don’t have to make and I’m glad it’s in Hitch’s hands. It’s too easy to just say go with Niittymaki simply because of the way he played in the Olympics. I want to see what Esche has in him before we hand the reigns over to Niitty. But if Esche doesnt play up to par then I think we should give Niittymaki the chance to take this team to a new level. After all, Antero looks like the goalie of our future and he is gonna need some playoff experience sooner or later.
-
Brian Atkiss on
February 27th, 2006 9:24 pm
My thoughts are this team throughout the past ten years or so has always had a so called goalie controversy. It also seems the team has gone with the wrong goalie in the pressure situations. Each goalie we handed the reigns too was supposed to be our future only to see him gone from the team the next year. I think the problem is we never show confidence in one goalie. How can you expect a goalie to play with confidence if he is always looking over his shoulder to see if he still has the starting job? I don’t think we can go wrong picking either goalie, but we can go wrong if we wait too long to pick one. We need a goalie going into the playoffs with confidence, and nothing will give either Esche or Nittymaki more confidence than knowing the job is his and he just has to focus on getting it done.
-
Magic Tickle Michael Ice on
February 28th, 2006 12:12 am
All of the writings regarding this topic are correct. Garth Snow is nasty, and Bode Miller blew up. Hedrick and Davis need to grow up too, man. Anyone, chugging back a protein shake makes all the magical rumblings go a-boo-boo in the jungle.
-
Lexdawg69er on
February 28th, 2006 12:28 am
I think that your analysis of this team’s goalie predicament is spot on. I also would not be eager to be in the position of deciding who will start at goalie. It really is not an issue of one goalie having proved himself more over another, so that is why I think it will be such a difficult choice. We will just have to wait and see what happens. Peace garis
-
LessRidiculous85 on
February 28th, 2006 2:31 am
Antero has easily proved his worth. He took Team Finland to the gold medal game in addition to the Calder Cup run. I would take Antero because Esche is going to be rusty coming off of injury. Platoon them until the playoffs start and then start Niittymaki once the playoffs start. I have faith in Hitch. Can we get some kind of Will Smith analogy how Hitch is the playoff doctor (instead of the date doctor)? Thanks.
-
potato head on
February 28th, 2006 8:53 am
Let’s get back a healthy Forsberg, Gagne, Desjardins, Kapanen, Johnsson & Pitkanen and either one of them will do a great job! Good article, your Dad must be smart.
Leave a Reply