Hi there, I’ve had many requests about writing an article on goaltending. Things are pretty hectic right now, but I managed to put together a brief analysis and discussion.
So I have done a brief statistical research project for you which I hope will help answer some of your concerns on the topic of goaltending?
In general for Goaltenders, the saying goes that they develop later then the typical skater. Whereas I’m not one to blindly follow stereotypes, it seems from my experience that it is more or less true. Now I will give you some facts to back things up.
I looked at the BCHL & PIJHL (Jr.B) Rosters and Statistics in 2009-10 to see if I could find any interesting patterns for you. I did NOT do an analysis of the WHL, because it is already widely known that if you weren’t a top draft pick, you will NOT being playing in that league in your first year or more of eligibility. The BCHL results were VERY telling.
This graph is the TOP 30 goalies in the BCHL with 1 PIJHL goalie added at the bottom. To be on the list, you had to have played 7 games to be considered, which to me would be the bare minimum games played in order to be considered a regular. I’ll go over the results below.
| GOALIE | TEAM | GP | W | L | T | MP | GAA | SV% | Age | |
| 1 | Blake Voth | Vernon | 24 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 1445 | 1.79 | 0.93 | 1991 |
| 2 | Joel Rumpel | Penticton | 24 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 1308 | 1.97 | 0.92 | 1991 |
| 3 | Graeme Gordon | Vernon | 37 | 30 | 7 | 0 | 2184 | 2.06 | 0.91 | 1989 |
| 4 | Frank Slubowski | Alberni Valley | 44 | 32 | 10 | 1 | 2603 | 2.24 | 0.92 | 1990 |
| 5 | Josh Watson | Powell River | 35 | 21 | 12 | 1 | 2085 | 2.27 | 0.92 | 1990 |
| 6 | Ryan Holfeld | Victoria | 28 | 17 | 10 | 0 | 1669 | 2.55 | 0.92 | 1989 |
| 7 | Scott Lewan | Alberni Valley | 20 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 1054 | 2.62 | 0.9 | 1989 |
| 8 | Sean Bonar | Penticton | 39 | 28 | 9 | 0 | 2252 | 2.64 | 0.91 | 1991 |
| 9 | Kevin Jebson | Westside | 53 | 34 | 17 | 1 | 3139 | 2.73 | 0.92 | 1989 |
| 10 | Vinny Lessard | Surrey | 43 | 21 | 18 | 1 | 2471 | 2.89 | 0.91 | 1990 |
| 11 | Cam Gorchynski | Westside | 11 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 497 | 2.89 | 0.91 | 1992 |
| 12 | Michael Garteig | Powell River | 26 | 15 | 11 | 0 | 1564 | 2.92 | 0.89 | 1991 |
| 13 | Mark Friesen | Langley | 22 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 1275 | 2.96 | 0.91 | 1989 |
| 14 | Colin Fernandes | Victoria | 15 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 755 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 1990 |
| 15 | Loic Boivin | Nanaimo | 43 | 18 | 23 | 1 | 2469 | 3.11 | 0.89 | 1990 |
| 16 | Tony Ierfino | Salmon Arm | 52 | 24 | 24 | 2 | 2998 | 3.5 | 0.9 | 1989 |
| 17 | Laurent Brossoit | Cowichan Valley | 21 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 999 | 3.66 | 0.9 | 1993 |
| 18 | Luke Siemens | Quesnel | 25 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 1202 | 3.69 | 0.89 | 1992 |
| 19 | Harrison May | Burnaby | 33 | 9 | 23 | 0 | 1823 | 3.92 | 0.89 | 1989 |
| 20 | Alexandre Peck | Cowichan Valley | 40 | 13 | 21 | 0 | 2091 | 3.96 | 0.88 | 1990 |
| 21 | Mike Chan | Surrey | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 572 | 3.99 | 0.89 | 1990 |
| 22 | Wyatt Galley | Langley | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 447 | 4.02 | 0.88 | 1991 |
| 23 | Rhys Hadfield | Nanaimo | 13 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 541 | 4.11 | 0.86 | 1991 |
| 24 | Andrew Walsh | Prince George | 39 | 15 | 20 | 0 | 1983 | 4.15 | 0.88 | 1990 |
| 25 | Kiefer Smiley | Trail | 41 | 13 | 23 | 1 | 2268 | 4.15 | 0.88 | 1990 |
| 26 | Kirby Halcrow | Quesnel | 41 | 13 | 25 | 0 | 2258 | 4.22 | 0.88 | 1991 |
| 27 | Nick Enegren | Burnaby | 27 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 1434 | 4.23 | 0.88 | 1992 |
| 28 | Garrett Beckwith | Trail | 30 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 1536 | 4.37 | 0.88 | 1990 |
| 29 | Kyle Nielsen | Prince George | 27 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 1390 | 4.53 | 0.87 | 1990 |
| 30 | Kurt Williams | Salmon Arm | 13 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 645 | 4.65 | 0.87 | 1991 |
| 35 | Cole Holowenko | Merritt | 31 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 1483 | 5.42 | 85.8 | 1993 |
| PIJHL | ||||||||||
| 33 | Eric Williams | Ridge Meadows | 33 | 19 | 13 | 0 | 1806 | 2.66 | 92.2 | 1993 |
You will notice that there is ONLY 1 1993 goalie in the TOP 30 in stats in the BCHL. In fact, there are only 2 goalies in the ENTIRE BCHL who played significant minutes. There is only 1 other goalie listed who played enough minutes to be on the league website at all bringing the grand total to three in the entire BCHL. Now there were probably a bunch of 1993’s who played 1-2 games here or there but those would have been call-ups. The PIJHL had exactly one 1993 listed as a regular in 2009-10 which is why I included him at the bottom of the list.
Even for 1992’s in the BCHL, there were only 3 listed in the top 30. Unfortunately, All three 1992’s; Enegren 27 GP, Siemens 25 GP, Gorchynski 11 GP; were back-ups.
Overall, there were ZERO first string goalies who played 32 games or more as a 1992 or 1993. Digging deeper, there were eight 1991’s on the top 30 list (3 of them played LESS then 14 games). In all, there were only 2 1991’s who played 1st string minutes; Hlakrow (Quesnel) 41 GP & Bonar (Penticton) 39 GP.
So what we see from the statistics is that unless you are truly an ELITE goalie, you will NOT play at the Junior A or Junior B level in your first year of eligability. In your second and even third years of eligibility, the results demonstrate that to get 1st string ice-time you will have to be either an elite goalie and/or in the right place at the right time.
So if you are trying to decide whether it makes sense to play that third year of MML or midget AAA eligibility or try to play junior A or B the results from this mini-analysis seem to suggest that Junior teams tend to play only older goalies significant amounts of ice-time.
Taking things one step further, if you play your three years of midget out and then play the next year at the PIJHL (Jr.B) level, you are still more or less on track to play your final years of Jr.A eligibility out according to the league patterns.
My final thoughts would be that you need to focus on getting as many games played as possible at whatever level you are playing at. Do not be so focussed on moving up as fast as possible, instead plan on playing quality minutes and working on technique and your overall skill set. You will get your chance to shine and earn that scholarship in your last 2 years in the BCHL or WHL.