Quick Hits: Deep thoughts on Goaltending, Clutterbuck

I found this fascinating blog devoted to Kari Lehtonen. He's a goalie not much on my radar, but hey, you never know when goalie love is going to stick to you like superglue, so I dig it.

Anyway, a post yesterday about the mental process of goaltending kinda stuck out to me as interesting even out of the Lehtonen context:

However if we speak about goalies it’s impossible for them to remove all the negative statements from their mind since their game duty is to generate negative messages for opposing team. Once Kari confessed to the media that he enjoyed making a guest arena silenced with his game (can’t find exact quote). That’s a difficult emotional task – being outward-negative to stay inward-positive . Perhaps, this ambivalence makes goalies more self-centered, more complicated and different from other players, but that is the part of their game.

I think that just blew my mind (not difficult). Fellow goalies, does this ring a bell?

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Puck Daddy has a whole post on this shootout goal by Nazem Kadri. I don't see what the big deal is. The old deke and tuck. Guy's probably been doing that since he was 9. More amazing is that Curry bit on the deke, but hey, you can't win 'em all.



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Bold Prediction: Matt Beaudoin will play some regular season NHL games this year for Dallas.

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Great Clutterbuck article by Russo today. Though have you ever read a bad Clutterbuck article? Kid's a great story and a great quote. He's a beat writer's dream come true, but of course, Russo rocks it extra hard because that's just what he does.

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Aeros, Beaudoin make it official

Congrats to Matt Beaudoin, who kept the pace up throughout his try-out and earned himself, not only a spot on the top line, but also a standard player contract with the Aeros.

Beaudoin, 24 (4/6/84), signed his SPC after posting 12 points (8 goals, 4 assists) in 19 games with the Aeros while playing on a professional tryout contract (PTO). The Rock Forest, PQ, native recorded the Aeros only hat trick of the season on February 14 in Iowa. He skated in 11 AHL games during brief stints with Hershey, Rochester, Iowa, San Antonio and Milwaukee since the 2007-08 season. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound forward also skated in 62 ECHL games during the 2007-08 season split between Las Vegas and Dayton while tallying 38 goals, 31 assists and 44 PIM.

The Aeros have certainly "tried on" plenty of forwards this season. Glad to find one that has stuck and stuck hard. Can't argue with a hat trick, can you? Keep it up, Matt.

The icing on the cake is giving him his own tag here on the blog. I know, I know, it's a lot to take in.

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