Yann Danis: Why goalies are crazy, case #19,735
by Dominik on Sep 26, 2009 8:15 AM EDT
in This, That & What-Not
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PrintGoalies are crazy, superstitious and particular. We know this. Their teammates know it. Their parents know it. Goalies themselves even know it and often wear it as a badge of pride -- kind of like the crazy Irish guy in Braveheart. (Side query: Whatever happened to Irish goalies? Are there any left? Discuss.)
In pick-up rec hockey, I've occasionally donned the pads to get some insight into what a goalie sees from shooters and why he is insane. My best guess on the latter question is it's a lot of time spent alone, by yourself, which leads to paranoia and lengthy philosophical discussions with your posts.
Anyway, last year as an Islander Yann Danis didn't strike me as particularly crazy relative to the entire asylum of goalies. But he's still a goalie. So his obsession with his mask particulars, as relayed by Devils beat man Tom Gulitti, made me chuckle:
The new mask was lost briefly last week in transit from the artist in Quebec. Danis had been wearing his old Islanders' mask -- with tape over the Islanders' logo -- throughout camp. He still had to wear that mask during the morning skate today.
"It came here today with a black cage," he said. "I've never worn a black cage in my life. I don't know why they sent it with a black cage. We had to swtich it to crome tonight before the game."
Granted, at elite levels no doubt the smallest change -- "Why does everything look black tonight?" -- can mess you up, I'm sure. Whether real or perceived, you don't want an issue like that when your job as Martin Brodeur's seat warmer is on the line. But I still like the thought of equipment managers scrambling on the night of a preseason game:
"We gotta get a chrome cage for Yann."
>>"The hell?"
"Yann never wears black."
>>"Oh. ... *sigh* ... Gonna be a long year."
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I used to play goalie for a good 5-6 years, pickup games in the local park. I was never that particular about my helmet. Which looking back was probably a bad thing. But getting the right weight for a goalie stick was always tough, and then since I was playing on asphalt the stick blade would evantully wither down to nothing and I’d need a new one. My first and favorite was supposedly based on Tommy Soderstroms stick. My second was based on Fichaud’s stick and was way too light, I’d lose it on stick pokes. Then one day some jerkoff was pissed because I wanted a day off and they tossed my stick into the sewer. I think my final goalie stick was a Salo, but I think it could have also been based off of Luongo’s or a stock stick. It ended up being just the right weight and perfect.
Also in the crazy factor, I used to keep my goalie sticks right next to my desk and bed so sometimes I would be watching the TV and playing with the goalie stick to get the perfect feel for it.
The black can can be distracting while tracking a black puck on white ice. It is not like he is jumping over lines , talking to goalposts, demanding some special food item, sharpening the bottom of his stick blade, or harassing ice girls.
I can understand his beef there but on the whole I deffinitely agree with you.
by metalcoconut on Sep 26, 2009 5:36 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
So your contention is that the chicken came first?
First they become a goalie, then they go nuts…
I’ve always thought that it was the egg first.
That they are nuts, and then they go goalie…
SHOOOOOOOT IT!!!! Anon
by burpchelischili on Sep 26, 2009 5:41 PM EDT reply actions
Actually, I agree with him. As a forward and as a goalie, I always used a white cage – I hated black cages. It is a very different experience playing with a different style of cage.
Heh, yeah it’s all tongue-in-cheek anyway — there are far stranger peculiarities.
But I must say, I’ve played with black and white cages (though only black in goal) and, beyond a momentary adjustment period, never noticed a difference. That extremely near-field vision recedes into the unconscious for me…
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