Dallas Stars goalie Andrew Raycroft has been through enough, don't you think? He has essentially gone from the best up-and-coming goaltender in the league (Calder Memorial Trophy-winner in 2004) to a washed-up has-been that wasn't even able to stay on with the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite tying a team-record 37 wins in 2006-2007. Sure, he sucked in "earning" those wins, but it seems to me that, looking at Toronto's situation right now, the Leafs would gladly trade off some their actually competent goaltending for a few victories every now and then (and they could add in "defenseman" Mike Komisarek as a gesture of goodwill while they're at it). Now he's resorted to becoming the Mike Sillinger of goaltenders, going wherever a back-up is needed and then quickly cutting tail and running out of town out of fear of being discovered for the charlatan he really is. I mean, he does share a nickname with Ray Emery. Riding on his coattails will only get you so far.
In any case, it being near Christmas and all, I can kind of see why the league would want to throw some charity his way. That charity came in the form of a disallowed goal for the Washington Capitals on Thursday night that saw referee Dan O'Rourke waive off what would have been the game-tying 2-2 goal with less than 10 seconds left in the game due to supposed goalie interference on Alexander Ovechkin. In truth, I can kind of see why O'Rourke would make the call he did based on his vantage point, but the truth of the matter is Stars defenseman Karlis Skrastins should really not have been given the benefit of the doubt, because he's just that clumsy of a blue-liner. A career +/- of -40 (should be -41 after last night) will reveal as much. It's a case of O'Rourke needing to know just who he's dealing with, and that includes Raycroft. Wouldn't the real Andrew Raycroft give up that critical goal late in a game? Why yes, he would. And perhaps five more up to that point.
Oh that's ugly. Should have been a goal. Ovie IS out of control there, but his contact does NOT result in a player coming into goaltender. Skrastins just sucks.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the point the Caps play by play man makes about coaches challenges? No, a thousand times no.
Also, NOW I know who Joe Beniniati works for. Caps fans, I am SORRY. Dude is awful and how do you stand that voice? He worked the Hawks-Blues game with EddieO earlier this week and I thought my ears were going to bleed.
Woops, I'll stop hijacking the topic.
lol. agree with your view on the voice. not very pleasant at all. In a lot of ways this is like the anti-Colton Orr goal from two months ago that sparked the debate about challenges. I personally think that the idea has some merits, but this call could arguably have gone either way, so it isn't exactly the one to be using as an ironclad case for them.
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