The Keene State College men’s club hockey team utilizes three goaltenders
Zachary Winn
Equinox Staff
As the season nears its close, the boys’ club hockey team is 12-5, but they’ve been winning with an unconventional three goalie approach.
During each practice, Head Coach Bobby Rodrigue watches the three goalies on his roster closely. All season he has juggled sophomore Aaron Testa, freshman Chad Garland, and junior Cameron Gould in net.
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“We try to be fair to the guys and get them in a proportionate amount,” Rodrigue said. He started Gould and Testa eight times this season, while freshman Garland has gotten six starts so far.
The decision is a tough one; amazingly all three goalies have identical 90-percent save percentages this season. Rodrigue considers a range of factors when making his choice.
“We consider how each player has performed in practice and in games, their health, our opponent, and where we play is a factor as well. Different rinks play differently,” Rodrigue said.
All three goalies have different strengths and tendencies that the team uses to their advantage in different situations.
“Some of our goalies are bigger than others; some of them are better puck-handlers. So if we’re playing a team that’s going to dump the puck a lot, we play a goalie who’s a better handler,” Rodrigue explained.
But at times it’s seemed impossible for Rodrigue to make a wrong decision when it comes to the goalie. The team has won eight consecutive games and is now 6-1 at home.
“The team is on an amazing run right now, last weekend we upset two regionally ranked teams who were ranked ahead of us. So we feel like the teams really coming together nicely,” Rodrigue said.
Goalie Aaron Testa attributes the success to his team’s attitude. “Our strongest aspect is our drive and our fight to win all around. I don’t see any weak points on the team, we all participate, and we all put forth our best efforts,” he said.
Testa also thinks the team’s ability to rotate key players gives them an advantage, “We have so much depth we can keep battling teams, keep fighting teams, we’re not afraid to put any line out. We can put anyone out there and no one’s going to be worried, we know we’re going to be successful.”
Coach Rodrigue has been impressed by how the three goalies have handled the rotation. “Our three goalies are amazing. I think truthfully with a 22 game schedule it would be tough to keep even two guys happy, because you know goalies always want to play, but our three goalies are exactly the guys we’re looking for.”
Testa thinks the divided playing time makes the team stronger. “It’s great because it allows us to push each other further in our abilities, you know, we’re all fighting for that one spot. We’re always fighting to get into the next game. It makes practices better because we’re working hard and it makes games better because we’re all ultimately supporting the team no mater what.”
Testa also talked about how the three goalies have bonded this season. “We’re all pretty close friends. We all talk and hang out off the ice. We’re not shy to each other or anything like that. On the ice were always picking each other up and supporting each other during practices. If we see someone down instead of trying to capitalize on it, you know, you go over and pick him up and say you know ‘you’ll get them next time”.
But no one’s pretending dividing playing time has been easy.
“It’s tough as a goalie to rotate because there’s a lot of confidence that comes into your play, and if your playing sporadically it can be challenging to keep that confidence and mentality in your game going,” Testa said.
Whoever is in net, they know they have the support of the whole team, and the way they’ve been playing, there’s no reason for anyone to doubt them. Testa has no problem putting his faith in his teammates and watching from the bench. The supremely confident sophomore explained why the difficult rotation hasn’t derailed the season. “I think that we have the three strongest goalies in the league and as far as any of us playing a game, we can feel confident that were going to be successful. We can roll to that guy or this guy and its not going to make a difference.”
Zachary Winn can be contacted at zwinn@ksc.mailcruiser.com