Blog Revamping

Hey readers, I’m Morgan Stoltz and I’m excited to be taking over this blog! Sophia is passing the torch onto me to start writing here on this blog. A little background on me, I’m based in Western Montana and am a passionate fan of all hockey. I’ve been following hockey for about three years and learned a wide variety of things along the way. Because of my love for the game, I’m studying Exercise Science at the University of Montana in the fall. To learn a little bit more about me, I would just like to divulge who my favorite types of players are.

I especially love the guys on the ice who fly under the radar, you don’t see them right away, they’re not gleaming or eye-catching at all. But they work so hard and give 110%. If you watch TJ Oshie, he’s the perfect example of this kind of player. Watching old games, he’s constantly moving, never stationary. Sometimes this gets him an assist, sometimes he’s just a screen in front of the net. He spent an “average of 18:25 on the ice” in 2017-18 (ESPN) and every second he spent was useful. Skaters that explode and make themselves essential for wins are players that get the most respect from me.

I also have mad respect for goaltenders, mainly because their job on the ice is like no other. Goalies that I really enjoy watching are Pekka Rinne and Marc-Andre Fleury. Why? Well, they get after the puck, they aren’t just sitting in the net, and they make numerous saves in a row. When watching goaltenders play, you want them to do more than sit in the net and wait to block a shot. I like to see them using their sticks and pushing the puck around the boards. Puck handling is often not associated with goalies mainly because we don’t see them playing the puck outside of the trapezoid but truthfully this shows a strong confident goaltender. Imagine if the man never left the net, even to stop the puck behind his net? He obviously lacks confidence in his abilities. But if your tender is stopping pucks and branching out to play pucks, he’s obviously confident in his skating and his ability to stop the puck when he gets back to his net. When a goalie makes three saves in a row it is a spectacular sight but it shows much of his technique. This proves to me he doesn’t just go down to block a puck, it shows me that he sits up tall and goes down into a butterfly stretch as the last resort to make that third or fourth effort. This is why I give goaltenders so much credit because their job is a unique one.

Now that you’ve learned a little about me I’m excited to start posting and showing you throughout this next season what players catch my eye. Stay tuned for my next post where I dive into the ideal team built in the late 70’s early 80’s.