Lot of chatter in the media room on Monday about why the Caps bothered to tell us during Dale Hunter’s 5:20 p.m. pregame interview that they hadn’t yet recalled a goalie from AHL Hershey. The implication was Tomas Vokoun (flu) was at least healthy enough to serve as the backup to Michal Neuvirth for the second game in a row. Not quite how it worked out, of course. While Hunter was saying his goalie was a game-time decision, Holtby was in fact in the dressing room getting ready to play.
Now, I get this matters little to fans. We’re going a little inside baseball here – or inside hockey, I guess. But it is our job to get you as much information as possible. We have to judge when a player, coach or team official is being truthful and when they are providing misleading information, at best, to serve their own interests. In this case we tried to press. “Not yet” was how Hunter phrased it when asked if someone had been recalled. Maybe it’s our fault for not reading between the lines better. Still – the whole exercise strikes me as pointless. With thanks to Associated Press reporter Howard Fendrich, here’s Sharks coach Todd McLellan on when he found out Holtby was starting.
“When he came out for warm-ups and took the shots first,” McLellan said. “We had no idea. We had heard that Neuvirth was likely the starter because Vokoun was sick so, not until we saw [Holtby[.”
Okay. So did the Sharks even really care who was in net for a non-conference game? Would the extra 40 minutes notice have really altered their plans?
“Maybe a little bit more within your own conference or division when you know the tendencies of a goaltender perhaps better than a cross-conference goalie like Braden,” McLellan said.
Interestingly, McLellan played junior hockey with Holtby’s father, Greg, for two years with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL. Greg Holtby was also a goalie and tweeted after the game how much fun it was to see his son go up against “a great coach and better person.” McLellan joked that he couldn’t use the same scouting report on the two goalies because the elder Holtby stood only waist high. Not quite Braden’s 6-2, 205 pounds.
“I don’t think it’s as big a difference as when you’re at home playing maybe against Anaheim or Phoenix or a goalie that you know much better than this one,” McLellan said when asked if he had any advice for his players after they learned who was in goal for Washington. “It was too late. It was after warm-up. We let them just focus on their game.”
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