Luongo With Serious Injury

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo is out with a fractured rib. When the Canucks were playing the Leafs, Roberto Luongo took a puck in the ribs the wrong way. He ended up finishing the game and recording his first shutout this year with 35 saves. He says "It kind of hurt, but the adrenaline was going so I finished the game."

He played the next game against the Red Wings not knowing his rib was fractured. They were up on them going into the third and then just lost it. The final score was 5-4. It's too bad it had to happen at just the time when he was getting back into his groove. "It's frustrating because I was really starting to feel good about my game and how the team was playing."

Luongo, Starting to Pick Things Up

Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks was headed off to a rough start this season. He was 0-3 with a bad save percentage and a very high goals against average. His very own fans were even booing him after a bad goal or bad play. He has since then began to pick things up a a lot. He is now 6-5 with one shutout. His goals against average is now down to 2.57 and his save percentage is up to 0.905. It's a good thing that he is now starting to play good because he is still trying to make team Canada for this years Olympics. He is up against some very good goalies like Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Martin Brodeur. It looks like he still has a chance to represent Canada.

Craig Anderson's Avalanche Surprise

New this year to the Colorado Avalanche line-up is goaltender Craig Anderson, formerly playing with the Florida Panthers. He may be new, but he is playing like he has been on the Avalanche for years. He has played a solid total of 11 games. He has 8 wins and only 1 loss and 2 overtime losses. He has already beat teams like last years Stanley Cup finalists the Detroit Red Wings twice, and shutout last years Stanley Cup champs the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has a 2.14 goals against average and a 0.936 save percentage. If he keeps this up, he could take them a long way in the playoffs.

The Bulin Wall, Standing Tall

New to the Edmonton Oilers is Nikolai Khabibulin who signed a 4 year $15 million dollar contract on July 1st 2009, replacing Dwayne Roloson. This means he will not retire until he is 40 years old. Khabibulin has made an impressive start to this years season, helping the Oilers to a total of 5 wins and only 2 losses. He has posted a 2.96 goals against average and a 0.907 save percentage. If he can keep this performance up, I think the Oilers would be very pleased with this.

Carey Price's Quick Start Won't Last

Montreal Canadians goaltender Carey Price was off to a great start this season. The only thing is, it didn't last. In His first couple of games he was on top of his game and the club was happy with him. Now he is not even the starting goalie right now. Cristobal Huet took over that position. His save percentage has now dropped down to a not so nice .886 sv% and 3.36 goals against average. Price is known for bouncing back so I believe he will come back to his original good style of play.

Illya Bryzgalov, First Star of the Week

29 year old Illya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes was named the first star of the week in the NHL. The Coyotes were not expected to have a good season but Bryzgalov is proving the exact opposite of what the media was saying. He has posted a 5 win, 1 loss record with an amazing 1.14 goals against average, a .953 save percentage, and 2 shutouts. The Coyotes might end up having a better season than expected thanks to star goalie Illya Bryzgalov.

Brodeur Playing Well After Rocky Start

To start this season off, Martin Brodeur was off to a bad start. He had among the lowest save percentage in the league and not a very good goals against average. After a few bad games he has now regained confidence and has found his groove. He now has a 2.68 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. If he continues to keep up this style of play he is sure to shatter some more records. A part of the reason I believe he had a slow start was because he is now using sher-wood equipment instead of RBK. He probably just needed to get used to the new gear.

Stand-Up vs Butterfly Goalie

A lot of people wonder weather it is better to be a stand up goalie or a butterfly goalie. The answer is butterfly goalie. There are a lot more reasons to be a butterfly goalie than to be a stand up goalie. Most goals that are scored in the NHL are scored down low. If you can eliminate those goals then all you have to worry about is getting beat up high. So that you don't get beat up high make sure that you come out of the net far enough that if the puck goes over your shoulder, it will go over the cross bar too. If you watch some of the top goalies in the NHL, almost all of them go down on almost every shot. If the shot is taken from a long way off and you have time to stand up and move into the puck, then do that but anything in close I would say that your best bet is to go down.

One Timers

One timers come fast so you need to be ready to make a big save. Once the pass has been made you can usually see where the puck is going and if the shooter will one time it. If you see that his stick is up in the air, it probably means he is going to one time it. In this case you want to get on your angle before the shot has been taken. There usually isn't much time to react so you want to come out to the top of your crease or even just a little bit higher. Make sure that your hands are in front of your body and stay compact so that the puck doesn't slip through you.

Athletic Separation

In goaltending the difference between making the next level or not is usually decided by you athleticism. We call this the athletic separation. Goalies that are more fit will usually tend to do better and it is more attractive towards the coach. The more fit you are the better you will perform because you will not run out of energy so fast.

Some ways to stay fit and ready for hockey is to do some sort of cardio approximately 3-6 days a week. You can do things like: running, biking, rollerblading, elliptical etc. Another key factor is to make sure you are eating healthy. Try and cut out the food that are not healthy and substitute it with some fruit or something healthy. Make sure you are drinking lots of water everyday so that you stay hydrated.

The Importance of Keeping your Hands Infront of your Body

Keeping you hands in front of your body is more important than you think. You always want to have your hands in front of your body because it will cut off more of the angle. It will also make things a lot easier for catching and blocking because you can follow the puck into your hands instead of always trying to guess where the puck is going to end up. When the play is in close it is especially important to keep your hands in front because having you hands out just a little bit will cut off a lot more angle than having your hand by your side. Keeping your hands in front will also make your movements more in control. When keeping your hand in front of your body, you don't need them to be way out in front of you but out just enough that you can see the puck into your hands.

Carey Price With a Quck Start to Season

22 year old Carey Price has really started this season off with a bang. He has only played two games this season so far and has two wins under his belt. The first game was against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They won 4-3 with Price turning aside 46 shots. His second game of the season was against the Buffalo Sabres. Price made 35 saves in the 2-1 win. He has now posted a 1.89 GAA and a .951 SV %. If he can keep up what he is doing now, i think the Canadians have a good shot at winning the cup.

Ray Emery With a Quick Start

New goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers, Ray Emery opens the season with a shutout. It was the home opener against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Flyers ended up winning the game 2-0. Emery faced 28 shots. He is off to a quick start so lets hope that his season rolls out nicely. Emery singed a 1 year $1.5 million dollar contract with the Flyers.

Cam Ward for 6 Years and $37.8 Million

25 year old Cam Ward from the Carolina Hurricanes signed a 6 year contract for $37.8 million dollars which was announced by Jim Rutherford.

"It comes at a good time," Rutherford said. "We were hoping we could get Cam a long-term contract that would keep him with the team, and it's great to get it done before the season begins."

Ward was third in the NHL in wins with 39 and tied for sixth in shutouts with 6 last season. He established a new franchise record for goaltender victories in a season (39) and matched the franchise record for shutouts in a season. Ward posted a 2.44 GAA and .916 SV%.

Roberto Luongo's $64 million dollar Contract

On September 2nd 2009, 30 year old Roberto Luongo signed a huge $64 million dollar contract extension for a 12 year term. There was a lot of talk about weather or not Luongo would stay with the team once his contract was up. Just because of his last bad game in the playoffs nobody liked him. Luongo has done way more good than harm to the Canucks and that's why I think it's great for the Canucks to have signed him for that long. I just hope that he can lead his team to the cup sometime soon.

Roberto Luongo, With a Rough Finish and a Tough Start

The last game that Roberto Luongo played in the playoffs was not a pretty one. Vancouver lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 7-5 in game six for the Blackhawks to move a head to the next round. He ended the season poorly. Expecting to start the 2009/10 season strong, it wasn't quite that. In the first period he allowed 3 goals on 7 shots, which wasn't a good start. Vancouver ended up loosing that game to the Calgary Flames 5-3. Near the end of the game Luongo looked like he was finding his groove. Lets just hope he has found it for next game so he can get his team back on track.