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A20 SPORTS
Thursday 16 February 2017
Oh no! Short-side goals rise as shooters adjust to goalies

STEPHEN WHYNO tired goalie turned analyst, after Quick won the Cup in
AP Hockey Writer said you can’t go two or 2012 and now it’s a go-to
It’s the kind of goal that three nights without see- for most goalies.
makes fans groan be- ing a short-side goal some- Goaltending analyst Justin
cause the goalie probably where around the league . Goldman points out that
should’ve stopped it. As recently as Thursday when a skater is coming
A shooter skating down the night, Colorado Avalanche down the ice, there’s actu-
wing or even behind the captain Gabriel Lan- ally more room for the puck
net fires the puck between deskog went short side on on the short side than the
a goaltender and the near Stanley Cup-winning Pitts- far side because there’s
post for a short-side goal. It burgh Penguins goaltender less distance for it to travel.
looks like it shouldn’t go in, Matt Murray on a textbook More short-side goals isn’t
but it has been happen- sharp-angle shot that looks a result of the Reverse VH
ing a lot more this season like a bad goal but is more being a bad stance, but in-
as players figure out what the product of shooters un- stead he believes it’s goal-
goalies are doing ... or at derstanding techniques. ies overusing it and losing
least trying to do. “Guys are realizing that the cat-and-mouse game
“Those goals, they don’t the sharp-angle shots are between them and shoot-
look good, but I think if extremely difficult to stop,” ers.
people knew how hard it Vezina Trophy-winning Too often goalies drop to
was to do that maneuver, goalie Braden Holtby of the their knees into the Reverse
they might be a little less Washington Capitals said. VH and become sitting
quick to jump to judgment “You do see more and ducks for Alex Ovechkin,
on the goalies,” Chicago more guys trying it because Sidney Crosby, Joe Pavelski
Blackhawks goalie Scott it’s a high-quality scoring and some of the best snip-
Darling said. chance. Guys figure out ers around.
That maneuver is called the trends now. They kind of fig- “The shooter knows the
“Reverse VH” and it’s the ure them out a little quicker goalie’s going to drop into
most widespread way for than they used to, which this stance, which means
goalies to cover the post Anaheim Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm (47), of Swe- isn’t great for us.” he can release a puck a
and not allow soft goals to den, scores a goal against Washington Capitals goalie Braden Jonathan Quick led the Los half a second or a half a
be scored. An opposite of Holtby, bottom, during the second period of an NHL hockey Angeles Kings to two Cups step sooner than usual and
the previously-used “VH” game, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, in Washington. by using the Reverse VH he knows what his target
stance, it means a goalie’s Associated Press and taking advantage of is before he even looks up
pad against the post is hori- fective than its predeces- Short side has become the his Gumby-like athleticism. and sees where the goalie
zontal along the ice while sor, but as NHL Network an- new five hole. And every- The stance, which originat- is,” Goldman said. “They’re
the back leg is vertical. alyst and former goalten- one in hockey knows it. ed in Sweden a few years almost over-anticipating
The Reverse VH is more ef- der Kevin Weekes has said : Brian Boucher, another re- before, took off in the NHL what a shooter is going to
do before he actually does
it and the shooter has the
capacity now, he has the
wherewithal and he has
the accuracy to pick that
spot.”
Darling thinks some goal-
ies are still mastering the
relatively new Reverse VH,
and 2006 Cup-winner Cam
Ward of the Carolina Hur-
ricanes acknowledged he
still uses the old VH style
because he’s more com-
fortable in it. Ward looks
at Tuukka Rask of the Bos-
ton Bruins as someone who
can push side-to-side with
power out of the Reverse
VH, and Goldman called
2013 Vezina winner Sergei
Bobrovsky of the Columbus
Blue Jackets the “poster-
child” for doing it right.
“It’s a tough position to get
fully square, but when the
puck’s behind the net it
gives you good coverage
for pass outs and things like
that,” Philadelphia goal-
tender Steve Mason said.
“It’s complicated, but I
think sometimes it can be
overused.”q