Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.27

www.afootinthecrease.com

Three months ago when Marty Brodeur and Roberto Luongo were out with serious injuries that left the extent of their recovery somewhat unknown and Marty Turco was going through one of the toughest stretches of his career, people were suggesting how lucky Canada was that the Olympics were in February 2010 and not this past February with the top three goaltending candidates out of commission.

Now fast forward three months, Martin Brodeur is once again at the top of the goaltending heap after breaking Patrick Roy’s record for all time wins and seemingly regaining his previous form, Roberto Luongo and his Vancouver Canucks are coming off ten straight home wins, Marty Turco and his Dallas Stars are in the midst of a resurgence that has seen them play themselves back into the playoff picture and all of a sudden rookie goaltender Steve Mason has played himself into the debate with a 29-17-3 record with a 2.25 goals against average, a .918 save percentage and nine shutouts.

Today many of those same people who expressed such relief the Olympics were a year away are now wishing they started tomorrow. If by the end of 2009 the current goaltending situation remains the same, Team Canada Executive Director Steve Yzerman and his staff are going to have a very difficult, albeit pleasant decision on their hands.

Brodeur should be the go to guy over Luongo because of his past Olympic success, his ability to still stop the puck as well as anybody and Luongo’s puck handling which actually may be worse than Curtis Joseph’s. However if Steve Mason shows he is not just a flash in the pan (think Carey Price for the time being, not that he won’t eventually find his form again), he should earn serious consideration for the third spot because he could quite likely be the goaltender to whom the torch is passed when Brodeur and Luongo call it a career. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.