DECEMBER/JANUARY 2000/01 TOP TEN

1.  Lou Ford                91
2.  Tom Mascioli            84
3.  Bryan McCready          78
4.  Chris Polehoykie        56
5.  Colin Buehler-Buchan    44
6.  Jason Kurylo            33
7.  Gary Balentine          27
8.  Mike Taylor             26
9.  Eric Hansen             25
10. Brett Wilmotte          21
GOALTENDER TRIVIA YEAR SEVEN WEEK TEN (Answers due 10pm MST 12/08/00):

TWO-POINT QUESTION: In 1945, the Montreal Canadiens placed an unprecedented five players on the National Hockey League's All-Star First Team. Name the goaltender amongst the five.
CORRECT ANSWER: Bill Durnan, whose selection was the second of four consecutive first-team choices for the future Hall-of-Famer.

THREE-POINT QUESTION: Amongst goaltenders selected prior to Patrick Roy in the 1984 N.H.L. Entry Draft, name the one who has recorded the fewest career National Hockey League wins to date.
CORRECT ANSWER: Daryl Reaugh, selected 42nd overall by the Edmonton Oilers, won a total of eight games between Edmonton and Hartford. The only other goaltender selected before Roy in 1984 was future Roy teammate Craig Billington, taken 42nd overall by New Jersey.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: This National Hockey League goaltender's policy was to never shake hands after losing a postseason series, saying "I've never congratulated a guy for beating me. They put lumps on me and took my money. Why should I applaud them?" Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Gerry Cheevers, shortly after his Bruins lost to Ken Dryden and the Montreal Canadiens in the 1971 Stanley Cup playoffs.

BONUS QUESTION: In 1938, Frank Brimsek shattered Tiny Thompson's modern National Hockey League record for consecutive minutes of scoreless goaltending. Name the opposing player who eventually broke the streak.
CORRECT ANSWER: Montreal's Herb Cain scored just before the end of the second period, although his Canadiens did fall to Brimsek's Bruins, 3-2.

GOALTENDER TRIVIA YEAR SEVEN WEEK ELEVEN (Answers due 10pm MST 12/15/00):
TWO-POINT QUESTION: When this goaltender's mask was designed, the design was intended to be of a hawk. However, thanks to his coach-given moniker, it became an eagle, and has followed this goaltender to the present day. Name the goalie.
CORRECT ANSWER: Current Star goaltender "Eddie the Eagle" Belfour, who was given his nickname - presumably after the British skijumper - by then-Blackhawks coach Mike Keenan.

THREE-POINT QUESTION: In October of 1978, the Canadian Standards Association declared what style of goaltender mask unsafe?
CORRECT ANSWER: The molded fiberglass mask that was popular in the 1970s, prominently worn by Ken Dryden, Bernie Parent and Mike Liut, among others. Parent, incidentally, suffered a freakish eye injury just one year after CSA declaration, ending his stellar - but all-too-short - career.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: What three-word phrase is inscribed on the inside of Patrick Roy's legpads?
CORRECT ANSWER: "Be A Warrior"; the phrase is designed to focus Roy's mind on the task at hand. Rejected answers, which are certainly possible although unverified, are "Made in Canada" and "I School Fritz" (inside joke, folks).

BONUS QUESTION: While with the Vancouver Canucks, goaltender Kirk McLean was deemed too "normal" by the team trainers, and they wrote a word on the bottom of his skate. This tradition continues to this day for McLean, now with the New York Rangers. What is the word?
CORRECT ANSWER: "Weird". Anyone who has met McLean would probably agree that, especially for a goaltender, he is anything but "weird".

GOALTENDER TRIVIA YEAR SEVEN WEEK TWELVE (Answers due 10pm MST 01/05/01):

TWO-POINT QUESTION: Manny Fernandez currently leads the Minnesota Wild with two shutouts on the young season. Who holds the record for the greatest number of single-season shutouts with an NHL expansion team?
CORRECT ANSWER: In the "modern era", this mark is shared by the 1967-68 Minnesota North Stars' Cesare Maniago and the 1967-68 Pittsburgh Penguins' Les Binkley, who each had six blankings. All-time, however, the 1926-27 New York Rangers' Lorne Chabot had an even ten shutouts (in 36 games).

THREE-POINT QUESTION: Among this season's expansion goaltenders, Ron Tugnutt had the most prior experience, with 398 National Hockey League regular-season games played before his Columbus debut, but that is far from a league mark. Amongst goaltenders to play for a NHL expansion team in their first season, who has been the most experienced?
CORRECT ANSWER: At the time of his selection by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1967 expansion draft, future Hall-of-Famer Terry Sawchuk had 914 games of experience with Detroit, Boston, Detroit, and Toronto (over eighteen seasons).

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: During Patrick Roy's chase to 447 NHL wins, a lot of hockey talk has centered on whether or not today's goaltenders get to pad their win totals by playing expansion teams. Which goaltender has (as of today) recorded the greatest number of wins against the four most recent expansion teams (Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, Minnesota)?
CORRECT ANSWER: Detroit Red Wing netminder Chris Osgood holds this mark, with a total of eleven expansion-team victories to his credit. Seven of those have come at the expense of the Nashville Predators (two over Columbus, two over Atlanta).

BONUS QUESTION: Fernandez also leads all of this season's expansion goaltenders in victories, with eight. Who holds the record for the greatest number of single-season victories with an NHL expansion team?
CORRECT ANSWER: Again, this question has two possible answers. In the "modern era", Cesare Maniago and Florida's John Vanbiesbrouck (1993-94) each recorded 21 victories. All-time, however, they were topped by Lorne Chabot once again, who won 22 of his 36 rookie contests.

GOALTENDER TRIVIA YEAR SEVEN WEEK THIRTEEN (Answers due 10pm MST 1/19/01):

TWO-POINT QUESTION: On Friday night, Buffalo's Dominik Hasek became the third active goaltender to reach the 50-shutout plateau over the course of his National Hockey League career. Name the other two.
CORRECT ANSWER: The Dallas Stars' Ed Belfour is the active leader with fifty-six blankings. Second is Colorado's Patrick Roy (51).

THREE-POINT QUESTION: When Montreal's Jose Theodore scored an empty-net goal on January 2 of this season, it was erroneously reported by many sources that he was the first NHL goaltender to record a shutout and score a goal in the same contest. In fact, he is the second - name the first goaltender to accomplish this feat.
CORRECT ANSWER: Exactly two years prior to Theodore's feat, the Ottawa Senators defeated the New Jersey Devils, 6-0. During the game, the Devils scored an "own goal" that was credited to Damian Rhodes. It should be noted that Theodore remains the only netminder to record a shutout and shoot the puck into an opposing net during the same game.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: In 1998-99, this netminder set an American Hockey League record for consecutive wins by a goaltender (19). Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: En route to a staggering 37-9-1 record, Providence Bruin John Grahame found his way to the win column on nineteen consecutive occassions. Later that spring, he would guide his team to the Calder Cup championship.

BONUS QUESTION: This past summer, a stand-up goaltender from Quebec became the first player to be selected by the same team twice in the NHL entry draft. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: With the 15th selection in the 1998 draft, the Ottawa Senators selected Shawinigan Cataract netminder Mathieu Chouinard. The two could not come to terms, so Chouinard re-entered the draft two years later, and the Sens received the 45th selection as compensation. With that selection, Ottawa took the still-unclaimed Chouinard, and agreed on a contract shortly thereafter.

GOALTENDER TRIVIA YEAR SEVEN WEEK FOURTEEN (Answers due 10pm MST 01/26/01):

TWO-POINT QUESTION: Amongst active National Hockey League goaltenders, who has seen the greatest number of regular-season shots on net over the course of his career (through 1/21/01)?
CORRECT ANSWER: With 24,440, Colorado's Patrick Roy takes this mark, thanks to longevity (Pat's also the active games-played leader) and a few high-shot years with les Habitiants. A close second is the Islanders' John Vanbiesbrouck, with 24,247.

THREE-POINT QUESTION: This National Hockey League goaltender was named the #1 star in three consecutive games last season (and five of six), setting the standard for 1999-2000. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Calgary's Fred Brathwaite, between December 10 and December 14, was the #1 star in games against Vancouver (3-2 win), Chicago (2-1 win) and St. Louis (1-1 tie). Between the 2nd and 26th of December, Brathwaite was the #1 star in eight of the Flames' twelve contests.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: In the 1983 Memorial Cup, there was a controversy regarding the Canadian Hockey League's policy allowing participating teams to add the best goaltender from their league to their Cup roster. Name the goaltender involved, and the Cup team for whom he eventually played.
CORRECT ANSWER: Mike Vernon, who played for the Portland Winter Hawks. I'm going to transcribe the following, verbatim, from the Winter Hawks' "Ice Time Magazine" (2000-01 edition, and of course, without permission): 

  "Portland became the first U.S. city to host the Memorial Cup and the Hawks
  became the first U.S. based team to win it on May 14, 1983 in Memorial
  Coliseum.  It was probably the most controversial tournament in history
  as the "host team" format was very-much questioned because Portland did
  not even win the WHL championship.

  There was also the little matter concerning goaltender Mike Vernon,
  now with the Florida Panthers and winnter of the Con (sic) Smythe trophy
  in 1997 for the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.  In all previous
  Memorial Cups, teams were allowed to add the best goaltender from another
  team in their league to their roster.  It had never been an issue until
  1983 because there were never two teams from the same league in the
  tournament.  In 1983, both Lethbridge and Portland wanted to add Vernon.
  After a lot of wrangling, Vernon was allowed to make the choice and he
  picked Portland because he felt he would have a better chance to play.
  Highly regarded Ken Wregget, who just completed his 19th NHL season,
  was the number one goalie in Lethbridge and Vernon knew Portland's
  goaltending was in shambles.

  The controvery really hit fever pitch when Wregget couldn't play for the
  Broncos in the Cup due to an ankle injury suffered in the WHL Championship
  series against Portland.  Lethbridge, without Wregget, became the first
  team eliminated from the tournament with Seattle's Dave Ross in nets.
  Meanwhile, Vernon made a big save on Verdun's Pat Lafontaine, who recently
  retired from the NHL after scoring 1,013 career points in 15 years, with
  just 50 seconds left in a 7-6 win in the Hawks' first game of the 
  tournament.

  As you might guess, Lethbridge thought they had been hosed.  "I think it
  is garbage that Mike Vernon is here," fumed Bronco coach John Chapman.
  "When he refused to play for us, he shouldn't have been allowed to play.
  Well, he did more than play.  He was the difference between them (Portland)
  winning and losing against Verdun."
BONUS QUESTION: Assuming that the Philadelphia Flyers make the postseason this spring, it appears likely that it will be their sixth consecutive playoff appearance with a new #1-netminder (defined as most minutes played in the postseason). In order, name the six netminders.
CORRECT ANSWER: Starting in 1996, we have Ron Hextall, Garth Snow (who split time with Hextall in '97, but played the majority of minutes), Sean Burke, John Vanbiesbrouck, and Brian Boucher. The sixth? Czech import Roman Cechmanek (most likely).

GOALTENDER TRIVIA YEAR SEVEN WEEK FIFTEEN (Answers due 10pm MST 02/02/01):

TWO-POINT QUESTION: This year, thanks to the callup of a rookie netminder, there are now two goaltenders in NHL history with the same first/last name. Name these goaltenders.
CORRECT ANSWER: Michel "Bunny" Larocque, probably best known for being the backup to Ken Dryden on those powerful Canadiens teams of the late 1970's, and Michel "No Relation" Larocque, who currently plays for the Chicago Blackhawks.

THREE-POINT QUESTION: San Jose rookie netminder Evgeni Nabokov currently sports a 25-8-5 record, and is challenging for the top single-season winning percentage amongst rookie goaltenders with forty or more games played. Who holds this record?
CORRECT ANSWER: Ambidextrous Hall-of-Famer Bill Durnan racked up an impressive 38-5-7 record in his first year with les Habitants, for an 83.0% winning percentage. Second and third are Boston's Frank Brimsek (33-9-1, 81.4%) and Philadephia's Pete Peeters (29-5-5, 80.8%). For some reason, the mainstream media has been reporting recently that Peeters holds the record.

FIVE-POINT QUESTION: According to the legend, this National Hockey League goaltender became interested in the sport when, as a youth, tennis player Walt Stohlberg picked up a tennis racket and started hitting tennis balls at him. Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Cesare Maniago, who was the Minnesota North Stars' rock in net for nine National Hockey League seasons, although I'll always remember him as a Canuck.

BONUS QUESTION: This goaltender, whose son also played in the National Hockey League, had his NHL career ended after suffering detached retinas in each eye (two years apart). Name him.
CORRECT ANSWER: Dennis Riggin, whose son Pat also played during the 1980's, finally made the Detroit Red Wings in 1959-60, but suffered a detached retina in his left eye. He finally made it back to the Wings, after a long recovery, in 1962-63, but after nine more games suffered the same injury in his right eye. Riggin, remembering what is said about discretion and valour, wisely retired.