1. Tom Mascioli 50 2. Bryan McCready 45 3. Brett Wilmotte 36 4. Scott Bennett 35 Gary Balentine 35 6. Neil Robinson 30 7. Donny Daubanton 27 Mike Taylor 27 9. Derrick F. 20 Roger Maynard 20
TWO-POINT QUESTION: Over the weekend, San Jose's
Evgeni Nabokov shut out the visiting
Carolina Hurricanes; in the process, the Kazakh netminder became the all-time
win leader for the Sharks franchise. Prior to Nabokov, who held this mark?
CORRECT ANSWER: Between 1991-92 and 1995-96, Arturs Irbe recorded fifty-seven regular-season
wins for the Tealshirts, including thirty in 1993-94, the year the Sharks made
the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time.
THREE-POINT QUESTION: Hall-of-Famer
Charlie Gardiner set the National Hockey
League on fire for seven seasons prior to his untimely death in 1934. Which
goaltender (also renowned) does Gardiner credit with teaching him how to play
goal in the big leagues?
CORRECT ANSWER: Hugh Lehman, who
starred for two decades in the pre-NHL era before spending his last
season-plus grooming Gardiner with the Black Hawks.
FIVE-POINT QUESTION: In this month's All-Star Game, the World Team's
Nikolai Khabibulin stopped all twenty
shots he faced, earning the 8-5 win. Prior to Khabibulin, who was the last
All-Star Game goaltender to shut out the opposition during his time in the
contest?
CORRECT ANSWER: In the 2000 All-Star Game, World Team goaltender
Olaf Kolzig stopped all eight shots he faced,
as his team defeated the North American team by a 9-4 count.
BONUS QUESTION: Quoth Don Cherry: "In the 30 years I've played and
coached professional hockey, there's never been a player who wanted to win as
bad as [him]...you won't find a better money goalie. And that goes for the
great ones like Terry Sawchuk and
Glenn Hall. If you don't believe it, look at
the record." About which Hall-of-Fame goaltender was Cherry referring to?
CORRECT ANSWER: Surprisingly, this was not
Gerry Cheevers. Cherry was referring to
Billy Smith, best known for backstopping the
New York Islanders to four consecutive Stanley Cups between 1980 and 1983.
PICTORAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in this picture:
CORRECT ANSWER: This is the Olympic season, folks! This would be
post-"Miracle on Ice" netminder Jim Craig.
After taking home the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics, Craig embarked upon a
short National Hockey League career, beginning in Atlanta with the Flames. If
you look carefully, you can see that his mask is the same as the one work in
the Olympics - note the shamrock to the left of his right eyehole.
TWO-POINT QUESTION: Name the only goaltender to compete in the past
three (1994, 1998, 2002) Winter Olympic games.
CORRECT ANSWER: Sweden's Tommy Salo has
appeared in a total of thirteen games for his country in the past three Winter
Olympics. His best moment was on February 27, 1994, when his squad beat
Corey Hirsch and the Canadians to win the gold
medal.
THREE-POINT QUESTION: Alright, standard season-opener question, but
with a twist: Which netminder allowed the first goal in the 2002 Winter
Olympic hockey tournament?
CORRECT ANSWER: In a 1-0 victory (one of the best games of the
tournament that no one saw), Belarus' Oleg Mikulchuk scored the game's lone
goal (on a 5-on-3 power play, no less) on beleagured Ukranian goaltender
Kostyantyn Simchuk. For his part, Simchuk
did stop twenty-nine shots, while Belarus'
Sergei Shabanov earned a seventeen-save
shutout.
FIVE-POINT QUESTION: Until recently, teams have not been willing to risk
high draft choices on goaltenders, believing for the most part that it's
harder to project a goaltender during his draft year. Since the NHL began
its universal Amateur Draft in 1969, what is the lowest overall position where
the first-selected goaltender was taken? (For instance, in 1994, Owen Sound's
Jamie Storr was the top goaltender taken,
seventh overall - note that this is not the correct answer).
CORRECT ANSWER: Yes, the question was oddly-worded. Anyhow, in 1986 the
Washington Capitals selected Sault Ste. Marie's Shawn Simpson with the 60th
draft choice, after fifty-nine straight picks went by without a netminder
shaking hands with anyone at the podium. Simpson never played in the bigs,
and struggled at the American League level for two-plus seasons. Interestingly
enough, the Capitals took another goaltender with the very next pick in the
draft (Jim Hrivnak, 61st overall). Hrivnak
performed decently at the NHL level, especially for a third-round draft choice.
BONUS QUESTION: At the 1994 World Championships, an American goaltender
made 53 saves in a 3-1 victory over Russia. What was notable about this was
that it was the first time the United States had defeated a Soviet/Russian team
since the "Miracle on Ice" game. Who was this American netminder?
CORRECT ANSWER: Guy Hebert, fresh off
his first season with the expansion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. His opponent?
Well, that would be his teammate with the Ducks, Russia's
Mikhail Shtalenkov.
PICTORAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in this picture:
CORRECT ANSWER: The Edmonton Oiler pads are a dead giveaway; it was
Team Sweden's Tommy Salo.
TWO-POINT QUESTION: On the mask worn by Canada's
Martin Brodeur at the recently-concluded
Winter Olympics, the following words are written: "Cortina D'Ampezzo". What is
the significance of this?
CORRECT ANSWER: Cortina D'Ampezzo is the Italian town which hosted the
1956 Winter Olympic ice hockey tournament. Martin's father, Denis, was a
goaltender on the bronze medal-winning Canadian team at this tournament.
THREE-POINT QUESTION: In the inaugural (1976) Canada Cup, the host team
lost only one game en route to the championship. In that game, a relative
unknown goaltender shut out the Canadians, 1-0. Name the goaltender.
CORRECT ANSWER: On September 9, 1976, in Montreal at the Forum, Czech
hockey hero Vladimir Dzurilla stoned the Canadian squad for sixty
minutes.
FIVE-POINT QUESTION: This Soviet netminder, who was replaced by a young
Vladislav Tretiak on his country's national
team, was called by Tretiak the best European goaltender he had ever seen.
He's also credited with aiding Tretiak's development into the backstop of the
Soviet juggernaut in the 1970's. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Russian star Viktor Konovalenko, who won Olympic
gold medals in 1964 and 1968, and a total of eight World Championships, played
sixteen seasons for his hometown club of Torpedo Gorky. Only 5'6",
Konovalenko (who also wore uniform #20, later made famous by Tretiak) would
later coach his club team.
BONUS QUESTION: In 1991, this netminder became the first goaltender in
Czechoslovakian hockey history to score a goal. What's more, the opposing
goaltender was on the ice when the goal was scored. Name the goaltender.
CORRECT ANSWER: While playing with HC Sparta Praha, Czech netminder
Petr Briza scored on the Steauna Bucharest
squad from Romania. I don't know any more details than this, but would
appreciate hearing from anyone who does.
PICTORAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in this picture:
CORRECT ANSWER: On his third Western Hockey League team of the year,
this is the Seattle Thunderbirds' Chris
Osgood. This was the year the T-Birds hosted the 1992 Memorial Cup
and, interestingly enough, two of their goaltenders (Osgood and
Rob Tallas) made it to the National
Hockey League.