Shutting the Door
Every hockey fan knows that without solid goaltending your team has a much tougher time being really successful. This is true no matter what level of hockey we are talking about. Now there are exceptions to the rule but not many.
Powell River continues to lead the Mainland Division and with the acquisition of Carson Chubak, the Kings might have added a huge piece to their puzzle. We know the Kings can score with the best of them at 4.50 goals a game, but are giving up 3.50 a game. That is not terrible for the BCHL but the other top teams in the league are surrendering far less.
The Langley Chiefs always seem to find good goaltenders and this season they have again. Andrew Walsh has given the Chiefs good goaltending to start the season but has given up a few more goals in his last 5 starts. Walsh’s numbers have him ranked 19 among active goalies in the League. The Chiefs are giving up an average of 3.40 goals a game, which is best in the Division.
The third ranked Burnaby Express had a tough start to the season, then went on a tear and now are back to struggling. Not that it has to do with goaltending for the Train Men. Richie Virtanen and Michael Chan have been splitting the goaltending duties a little more as of late. Chan was the go-to guy for a while as he was on fire stopping the puck. The Express just busted out of a six game losing skid.
The Surrey Eagles have had trouble winning hockey games this season and part of it has been giving up an average of 4.30 goals against. It has been better of late but it is very hard to win at any level giving up that many a night. Tommy Tartaglione and Vinny Lessard have been in the bottom of goaltender stats for most of the season. The Eagles finally had a game in which they only gave up one goal on 35 shots. This will help the goaltender stats for sure.
As the season moves on, keep a closer eye on which `tendy continues to help his team stay in hockey games.
