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"I've never known that to be true. I think it's something that is
either a fallacy or something that was true a long time ago, but cer-
tainly not anymore. I know lots of normal goalies. I know some weird
goalies, just like I know some pretty weird forwards and defensemen."
From the days of Clint Benedict and Jacques Plante first donning
rudimentary forms of facial protection right on through to Andy
Brown, the last NHL goalie to slip on a mask in 1974, and right on
through to today, for whatever reason the stigma continues to stick.
And just like Vanbiesbrouck did throughout his career, most goalies
just go along with the joke.
But Phil Osaer isn't laughing. In his new
role as the manager of goaltending for
the American Development Model,
Osaer sees the stigma as an impediment
to recruiting talented youngsters to
the position. And for someone who has
a goal of having 51 percent of all goal-
tenders in the NHL and NWHL being
Americans, he's ready to fight anything that
stands in the way of that ambition.
"If you're living in the youth hockey world,
goalies are not weird. They just aren't," Osaer
said. "It's not cool or funny to make fun of a kid
because of the position he chose. I don't want
anyone in our sport to ever feel like they 're
on an island."
Sometimes when things
aren't going well it may
feel like a goatender is all
alone on the ice.
B EH I N D T H E M A S K
