Shallow Frozen Water

solving the Rolston experience

a cool thing to see during a shootout is to watch Brian Rolston take his turn for the Minnesota Wild.  if you’re channel surfing some day and you come upon the Wild in a shootout then stop and watch it, it should be worth your time.  it used to be that i’d love to watch Jussi Jokinen take a shootout skate but i guess i’ve moved on.  Rolston approaches the situation very simply, he doesn’t do his “move” everytime but he’s done it enough times that people know that he’s going to do it.  i also guess that he’s scared the holy crap out of enough goaltenders that they’ve steeled themselves to it when they see him come over the boards after regulation.  Rolston skates into the slot, winds up and takes a slapshot from about 15 feet away.  in a shootout a goalie comes out to meet a shooter and gradually skates backward to cover angle and protect against the deke; goalies know that there’s a good chance they’ll come out of the Rolston experience with a welt, if they’re successful.

last night was a divisional game for the Northwest’s Wild and Flames and both teams are tooth and nail for two of the top 3 slots in the division (the eventual SO win went to the Flames putting them one pt back of the Wild for the division lead).  it’s relatively well known that Rolston does this slapshot thing in the shootout and i would imagine that goaltenders don’t like it.  i think the Flames may’ve tapped the Wild on the shoulder about it though, here’s how it went down.

Kristian Huselius shot first and scored on Niklas Backstrom after changing direction and the angle two times on his stroll in toward the net.  Miikka Kiprusoff stopped Mikko Koivu, a decent shooter himself, without incident.  Rolston was due to shoot next for the Wild but before that could happen Dion Phaneuf had to shoot for the Flames.  PIMy D, as i like to call him, skated in to about 10 feet from the goaltender and wound up for a slapshot that was designed to go right at Nikl-back’s head, it actually hit him in the clavicle but it was close enough to make any goaltender remember street hockey days at -30 with that frozen orange ball (you know what i’m talking about).  any hockey fan remembers what it’s like to get hit where it hurts by that frozen orange ball, now think what it must be like to be hit in the head (or close enough) by a frozen hockey puck, and i don’t care that you’re wearing padding it still leaves a sizeable welt.  PIMy D didn’t try to score, he was sending a message over to Rolston who was next to shoot and everyone watching, everyone in the arena, got the message.  you want to bruise up my goalie?  i’ll put yours in the hospital.  so what did Rolston do about it?  he skated in, 15 ft from the goalie and he took a slapshot of course.  he missed the net.  i think that PIMy D got in his head something fierce.  Iginla went on to win the game on the next shooter but in truth this game was won after PIMy D nearly took Nikl-back’s head off.

yes, it was on purpose and yes it worked.  that’s how you get in someone’s face without having to deal with all the mucous coming off noses that reside in Minneapolis.  who says the Flames can’t afford to resign Phaneuf, they have to.  find the money ’cause there aren’t many in the game that aren’t afraid to get their nose dirty in order to stand for the logo on the front of the jersey.

this in no way is designed to be libel against Brian Rolston who is still a quality forward and a valuable leader for the Wild.  i just wanted to point to an incident that i don’t see many pointing to.  i wonder if Rolston will take many more slapshots like that in the shootout or if perhaps Nikl-back taps him on the shoulder and says “how about i give you a bruise for every bruise you give me?  captain.”