NOVEMBER 2001 TOP TEN

1.  Neil Robinson           77
2.  Steve May               70
3.  Bryan McCready          60
4.  Jason Kurylo            58
    Tom Mascioli            58
6.  Gary Balentine          51
7.  Jerry Kotzman           36
8.  Mike Taylor             30
9.  Donny Daubanton         26
10. Josh Atkins             19

TWO-POINT QUESTION: Long-time Flyers' goaltender Ron Hextall is far and away the all-time NHL leader in regular season penalty minutes by a goaltender (with 584). With just over half that many, who is the active leader in this category?
CORRECT ANSWER: Well, I thought it was Ed Belfour, and I did give half credit for those who answered with Eddie because I probably led you astray. However, Carolina's Tom Barrasso, who was retired at the time my list was last edited, is the active leader with 433 minutes of penalty. Tom's very consistent; he never puts up the mind-blowing numbers that Hextall did, but he's always in the 30-50 range (when he plays a full season).

THREE-POINT QUESTION: Name the National Hockey League goaltender who, last season, was named one of the official three stars of the game more times than any other.
CORRECT ANSWER: With eight firsts, eleven seconds, and eight thirds, Buffalo's Dominik Hasek was named a star of the game 27 times last season. Olie Kolzig was second with 26.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: Specifically, what caused backup goaltender Wayne Stephenson to start (and win) the first two games of the Philadelphia Flyers 1975 Campbell Conference Finals series against the Islanders?
CORRECT ANSWER: Philadelphia star Bernie Parent, doubtful due to a pinched nerve in his back, decided to give it a go before Game One, only to be hit on the knee by a puck in the warmup immediately preceding the game. Phil Michaels credits Gary Dornhoefer as being the shooter, and I have no real reason to doubt that. Anyhow, Stephenson had to quickly get into a goaltending frame of mind, and he performed well in the shutout win. Stephenson then won the next game for good measure.

BONUS QUESTION: Name the National Hockey League trainer who appeared as an injury substitute for three separate teams over the course of five seasons.
CORRECT ANSWER: Ross "Lefty" Wilson, the Red Wings' assistant trainer and practice goaltender, played a total of 81 minutes for Detroit, Toronto and Boston. His only decision was in a 2-2 tie for Boston (vs. Detroit), where he replaced injured Don Simmons just eight minutes into the game.

PICTORAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in this picture:

CORRECT ANSWER: After setting the world on fire as a rookie with the 1986-87 Winnipeg Jets, Eldon "Pokey" Reddick struggled to maintain a hold on a National Hockey League job (not surprising, considering that he was generously listed at 5'8"). When the starting goaltender of the inaugural-edition Florida Panthers, John Vanbiesbrouck, went down with a lacerated hand, the club recalled Reddick from the International League's Cincinnati Cyclones. This picture, from his only start with the team, was taken February 16, 1994 against Detroit. Facing 34 shots, Reddick allowed seven goals in a 7-3 defeat. He is currently playing in Germany.

TWO-POINT QUESTION: Since the statistic started being officially kept by the National Hockey League in 1982-83, this goaltender holds the record for career save percentage by a country mile. No other netminder is even close. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: At the start of the season, Dominik Hasek had compiled a 92.5% save percentage over eleven season with Chicago and Buffalo. A few answered with one of the "one-game backups" who didn't allow a goal - I gave them credit, but if one of them were the "correct" answer, then I wouldn't have said "no other netminder is even close", right?

THREE-POINT QUESTION: Name the National Hockey League team that, over the past five seasons (from 1997-98 through Sunday 11/11/01), has used the greatest number of goaltenders in game action. Also, name the team who has used the fewest.
CORRECT ANSWER: Alphabetically, the Tampa Bay Lightning have used Zac Bierk, Dan Cloutier, Mark Fitzpatrick, Wade Flaherty, Kevin Hodson, Nikolai Khabibulin, Dieter Kochan, Evgeny Konstantinov, Rich Parent, Daren Puppa, Bill Ranford, Corey Schwab, Kevin Weekes and Derek Wilkinson, for a total of fourteen. On the other hand, over that same period of time, the Dallas Stars have used only four: Ed Belfour, Manny Fernandez, Marty Turco and Roman Turek. Considering teams that weren't in existence in 1997-98, the Columbus Blue Jackets have used just Ron Tugnutt and Marc Denis.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: On November 8, Minnesota's Dwayne Roloson stopped 53 shots to earn a 5-3 victory over the Boston Bruins at the Fleet Center. Name the most recent netminder to record more than 53 saves in a regular season National Hockey League victory.
CORRECT ANSWER: On April 12, 1999, the New York Islanders' Felix Potvin made 55 saves in a 4-2 victory over Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils. Despite being outshot by 34, the Isles earned the win thanks to Potvin.

BONUS QUESTION: With a run of fourteen games, this goaltender led the National Hockey League with the longest undefeated streak last season. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Between December 20 and January 24 of last season, the Devils' Martin Brodeur recorded ten victories and four ties.

PICTORAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in this picture:

CORRECT ANSWER: This would be the Barons' Gary Edwards, who compiled a 10-28-8 record in seventeen months with the Cleveland franchise.

TWO-POINT QUESTION: Patrick Roy has recorded three consecutive shutouts, with the first two being by a final margin of 1-0. Prior to Roy, name the last National Hockey League goaltender to record back-to-back 1-0 shutouts.
CORRECT ANSWER: Well, it depends on your definitions. If you allow the "consecutive shutouts" to stretch between two seasons, then Roman Turek did it last (on April 7 and October 3), splitting credit between St. Louis and Calgary. If you don't allow that, but you do allow postseason games (which I didn't specifically prohibit), then Los Angeles' Felix Potvin (May 4 and May 6 against Colorado) is your answer. If you're allowing neither of those possibilities, then you have to go all the way back to last fall, when Dallas' Ed Belfour recorded back-to-back 1-0 wins on November 17 and November 22, 2000.

THREE-POINT QUESTION: Name the last National Hockey League goaltender torecord back-to-back 1-0 shutouts in the postseason.
CORRECT ANSWER: As mentioned in the answer to the two-pointer, Los Angeles Kings goaltender Felix Potvin shut out the Colorado Avalanche, 1-0, in back-to-back games. The Kings were down, 3 games to 1, in the series, but Potvin stopped twenty shots in Game Five, and thirty-three shots in Game Six (in double overtime, no less), forcing a Game Seven back in Denver.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: Dating back to last season, who currently holds the longest active undefeated streak in the National Hockey League?
CORRECT ANSWER: This streak impresses the heck out of me, and I'm surprised that more of the mainstream press hasn't picked up on it. Detroit's Manny Legace last lost, to the New Jersey Devils, on January 30. Since then, the pint-sized backup has gone 14-0-2 in sixteen decisions (nineteen appearances) with the Winged Wheel, including a 38-save 1-0 overtime win over Columbus last Wednesday.

BONUS QUESTION: Name the last National Hockey League goaltender to record three consecutive shutouts (of any margin).
CORRECT ANSWER: Again, if you're going to count regular season games split over two campaigns, then Roman Turek is your man. He followed up his back-to-back 1-0 shutouts with a 4-0 blanking of the Blackhawks on October 6 of this season. Otherwise, Ed Belfour performed this feat between November 17-24 of 2000. Interestingly enough, the first two games of each of these streaks were 1-0 victories.

PICTORAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in this picture:

CORRECT ANSWER: This is Hall-of-Famer and 447-game winner Terry Sawchuk, after being picked up by the Leafs in 1964. Note that, since Johnny Bower was wearing #1, Sawchuk has the very-unusual #24 on his back.

TWO-POINT QUESTION: Amongst active National Hockey League netminders, who is receiving the highest 2001-02 salary?
CORRECT ANSWER: Colorado's Patrick Roy, at $8.5 million, comes in just ahead of the Red Wings' Dominik Hasek ($8.0 million), according to The Hockey News.

THREE-POINT QUESTION: Montreal Canadiens prospect Olivier Michaud recently became the youngest goaltender ever to appear in net for les Habitants; however, he was not the youngest ever to play in a National Hockey League game. Who holds this distinction?
CORRECT ANSWER: When he filled in for the wartime Detroit Red Wings, Hall-of-Famer Harry Lumley was just 38 days past his seventeenth birthday. Unless the NHL draft rules change, this record will never be challenged.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: Last week, we discovered that Detroit's Manny Legace holds the longest active undefeated streak. On the other hand, who holds the mark for longest active NHL streak without a victory?
CORRECT ANSWER: Chicago's Steve Passmore has gone twelve decisions, and seventeen appearances, without recording a victory (0-10-2). Passmore's last win came on December 29, 2000, when his Kings defeated Dallas, 4-1.

BONUS QUESTION: On October 18 and 20 of this season (and again on October 24 and 26), Tom Barrasso started consecutive games for the Carolina Hurricanes, making him the first netminder other than Arturs Irbe to start back-to-back contests in a long time. Other than Barrasso and Irbe, name the last Carolina netminder to start consecutive games.
CORRECT ANSWER: On October 30, 2000, Tyler Moss started for the 'Canes against Tampa Bay, taking the 6-5 victory in overtime. Three nights later, Moss started in Denver against the Avalanche, giving up four goals in forty minutes before being pulled in favour of Irbe.

PICTORAL QUESTION: Identify the goaltender in this picture:

CORRECT ANSWER: Warren Skorodenski (note the nameplate threatening to spill over to the front of the sweater), who was primarily a "fill-in" netminder for the Black Hawks in the mid-1980s. Skorodenski is perhaps best known for attacking an AHL referee early in the 1982-83 season.