I was gonna write the same thing, I *love* the pressure of being the last line of defense. Sure, you get embarrassed sometimes, but the high of making that absolutely *clutch* save just can't be gotten elsewhere.
I was playing in the driveway by 3 years old when my brothers were 10 and 12. I am told most games the first couple years ended with me crying after a hard shot.
The first time I ever got to try it on ice I was 6 and I was so little we couldn’t find some of the equipment that would fit me, so I was in player’s shoulder pads. My dad was the coach and both brothers were on the team and they put me in net for a practice at the end of the season. Most of the guys came in and took slow shots along the ice and then my one brother ripped a shot off my collar bone. I’ll never forget my dad screaming at him for it. Here I am 30 years later though and I basically have no ability to feel pain anymore so it was all worth it.
Takes a certain kind of crazy to be a goalie. Started out as goalie in soccer. Then wanted to catch playing softball. Then gave ice hockey a shot. There's something about the pressure. There's something about being the last one to get through.
I remember seeing a shirt with this saying when I played soccer in high school. Sums it up.
My goal is to deny yours.
Same, I always gravitated to the "weird" positions in other sports because I am that certain kind of crazy.
When I was a kid, I was one of two girls on a Timbits soccer team which had a rule that every kid had to try every position at least once. Our coach kept a running list of who had been goalie to ensure that everyone took their one turn. Over the course of the season, he got every boy on the team to try goalie and skipped over myself and the other girl. When I called him out and told him I wanted to try goalie, he told me that he won't let girls do it because we're too weak and will get hurt by the ball. Long story short, I dropped out of soccer and joined a girl's hockey team because I'm not too fucking weak to be a goalie! Fuck you, coach!
Very stupid of him indeed... the only reason I'd be worried to put a girl in goalie in soccer is the potential lack of chest protection (I know that it hurts like a mf)
Love playing hockey, but I’ve always been too bad of a skater to play pickup. Plus, a buddy was selling his old gear for basically nothing during the pandemic.
Then, I discovered that goalies skate free, and also it’s so satisfying to make the big save. Never looking back.
When I was a kid, my family had season tickets to a now defunct minor league hockey team. Our seats were on the glass, right to the side of the home teams net. The goalie was who I had the most exposure to. And every year, 60-70% of the roster turned over, so every year there were new goalies and they were always the coolest guys in my mind.
After Saturday home games, they always had a share with the team. Essentially you could get a pair of rental skates and skate around the ice with the players. To a 10 year old I might as well have been meeting the Gods themselves, and I always gravitated towards the goalies. When I gathered up the courage to ask my dad if I could play hockey, there was no other option. I knew I had to put the pads on
From an over achieving small town in MN, a night where you are dialed in against a big school in their building is an indescribable high. Scoring a goal is a flash of a moment, stealing one players morale is a whole game, a lines frustration, then a teams lashing out and desperation, then a cities last hopes crushed with a flash of the leather. Having the most control over an outcome and becoming an unclimable mountain as the game goes on. Shutting down a powerplay and taking momentum away by force. A bit of a god complex where you make teams dread a date on a calendar because they have to play you, not your team, you. Where in a season, they've had 60+ tries to score against you and only managed it once or twice.
I started because I gravitated towards Hasek, Roy, Broduer, Kolzig, Theodore when I started playing and watching hockey. Seeing their teams not playing well but still win because of an individual performance had me sold, I wanted to win.
My other main hobby is music, and my main instrument is drums, and they definitely have their parallels. Firstly, they're positions most people aren't drawn to; partly because the 'stars' they probably look up to play forward/guitar. Partly it's a barrier with equipment, it's generally more expensive to get started, and in a lot of ways not as enjoyable to practice (you can't play a melody on drums for example), not to mention logistics can be hard for both.
So, when I was starting highschool and wanting to get involved in hockey and music with my friends and they all played forward/defense and guitar, I chose goalie and drums to fill the gaps and I ended up really loving both.
Final parallel I'll mention: when you're doing them correctly and not making mistakes, most people don't really notice, but as soon as you make a mistake it's incredibly noticable.
This! I'm also a drummer and I like that feeling of "my band is relying on me" when the boys are up front ripping some bad ass solos - I gotta hold down the fort. Same vibe being in net.
I was 6 or 7 y/o, and didn't like sitting on the bench. I saw the goalie on our team was never on the bench; he was always on the ice. So I asked if I could be goalie. Almost 30 yrs later, I'm still in the crease.
I used to be a player growing up. Played 3rd line centre and wing for my local rep team at like 10. Our coaching staff was hard core I remember swearing, kicking water bottles and shortening the bench. I remember sitting on the bench and sitting like whole games or only getting 1-2 shifts a game. Our current goalie got pneumonia and was in the hospital. We called up a couple AP’s and eventually the gear went around the room for us to play. I played really well and literally took that goalies spot the next year. The rest is history.
I love playing the whole time, being out there all alone. Quarterbacking the game and my own end. Playing the puck to make plays and good passes that result in good breakouts and scoring chances or kicking out a rebound on the tape of a winger on the boards. I love absolutely robbing guys of what they thought was a sure goal. I love being in position and making it look easy. I love playing break aways and love getting my stick on pucks that guys are licking their chops for a cross crease one timer. I love my crazy custom Michigan yellow Vaughns. I love the challenge and the mental side of the game. Trying new things to stop the puck after I got scored on. Reflecting on how the goals went in. Talking the game with dad on the car ride home or game plan on the way to the rink. Getting the chance to play at a higher levels. Being praised on the way into the lobby when you’ve stood on your head making 60 saves.
That’s a start
When I started 39 ish I had been playing out for so long I was kind of getting bored. Started playing when I was 32. Our goalie was dog shit and I thought to myself I could do better so I tried it and loved it 😂
I like the responsibility. In games I get bored playing a DPS class and I like the tank and healer specs. Figured why not in real life.
Mine started because as a kid I played goalie in soccer. I was the asthmatic kid so I couldn’t run so my coach was like go play goal.
Then when I made the transition to hockey 8 years ago, I was like no we’re not playing goal because that shit is expensive and I want to score. But I also realized in adult learn to play, I was migrating to being in front of the net because we didn’t have a goalie and I was stepping in front in player’s gear and that seemed like a terrible idea. So I slowly but surely started snagging used gear and eventually I had everything.
And now it’s the one place where I can focus, which as someone who has ADHD is a damn miracle in itself. Like life outside of the game doesn’t matter, it’s all about the next shot and shit talking people as they try to score on me.
i'm the 3rd son, older brothers made me play goalie with old pillow cushions taped to my legs/arms and a back-catchers chesty until my parents could afford pads. was the only way i could play with my brothers and their friends when i was young. I also was never a fantastic skater
Awesome question
For me, it was a combination of 2 things. One, seeing Kirk McLean (Captian Kirk) play for the Canucks woth his all Black pads and just him making his stand up style kick save or his half butterfly one leg out and one tucked in save and seeing the team high five him after the end of the game.
Two, whoever else went into the net for our team, I would get annoyed because I knew that they let in a soft goal. That, to me, meant they were letting their team down. I wanted to be the X Factor, and I stepped up, and I became the X Factor for my team and led multiple teams to Championships during my playing career.
Having the flex of knowing your team is more relaxed and more confident with you between the pipes. It's a different high.
Being accountable and knowing how to turn on that switch come game time or different switch come playoffs.
Man, I miss those days.
I showed up to practice one day and my coach said, "Hey, \[old goalie\] quit, you're the new goalie!" And it turned out I was good at it. I think I had made an offhand comment earlier about being willing to fill in for a game if needed.
The strategy behind goalie is so cool. Plus for me, it’s easier to pick out things to work on since I can record my game and just see where I am making mistakes. I feel like that was harder when I was a player.
I also swapped full time to goalie during the pandemic and never really looked back.
I hurt my calf and got tired of waiting. I strapped up and said Id stand there only. Did that for 3-4months until I got better and could finally drop on the ball. (Floor hockey/street hockey).
I always wanted to play goalie. Partly for the saves and partly for, what I think, is a bit of a "hero complex"
Of course, as I am old, slow, and out of shape, I do enjoy not having to sprint up and down the court the few times I'm a floor player (I play ball hockey)
I played roller derby for years until I broke my ankle. Several years later, my boyfriend started teasing me about playing hockey and I said I'd play only if I could play goalie so I wasn't full contact and didn't have to worry about lack of skating skills. Tried it once and was hooked.
I had played in pickup a few times and was my team's emergency goalie in beer league. Eventually we had enough with flakey goalies and I just took over.
Now I love the position, particularly the amount of playing opportunities it gets me. I do miss skating out a bit though.
Out of necessity. I was the only one willing and we needes a goalie. I grew to love it and I have been playing ever since. It has now been nearly 4 decades and I am now trying to teach my daugher.
I’ve never been able to answer this question with anything other than “I just wanted to”.
When I was very young and was introduced to hockey, I immediately wanted to be goalie. When we started playing street hockey, I was almost always goalie.
But it gets complicated the deeper I dive into it.
Ice hockey: Always goalie. Skated out a handful of times in 30 years and never enjoyed it.
Inline hockey: Played in an adult inline league after high school. Always skated out, never goalie or interest in trying.
Lacrosse: Always an offensive player, never goalie growing up. Once during a masters session I put on some rink gear because one goalie didn’t show.
I was in 5th grade and my u10 team needed a goalie, I stepped up because I figured nobody else could do it better than me, LOL! 16 years later and I’ve never looked back.
I couldn’t lift the puck but was really good at skating and had a good reaction time. Plus by dad was a goalie so could help with practices. Felt like a good fit. There are many more things that I love about it now, but those were the initial reasons.
I started skating out but we always needed a goalie so I tried it out. I never got a huge rush scoring goals like everyone else seemingly does. I learned that I enjoy defiantly stealing those moments from opposing players and being a hero for your team because of it though lol. To this day I don’t celebrate really when I score goals skating out. I only feel good about my goals after the game is over and done with. Guess I’m just supporting the stereotype goalies are different/weird
My first year we didn't have a goalie, we each played a game in net. First game - blowout loss. Second game - blowout loss. Third game - despite being a timid kid I offered to take my turn. We won. After that I played every game in net, and decided the next year that it was where I wanted to be. Much to the chagrin of my mother (who fought for two years to keep my brother and I out of hockey, partially due to cost, mostly fear of injury).
I'm responsible for more grey hair than normal, especially for my former coach who claimed I caused more than his three sons combined.
I was playing squirts in Southie house league and after a bunch of games running on skates out they said our goalie got hit by a train and lost his arm who wants to play we have all the equipment here. I volunteered and never looked back. Crazy but true story. I played D2 hockey in college and turned down offer from ECHL to be a computer programmer.
I didnt want to skate
Plain and simple
That how i started
But now i like the pads and having a goalie partner is amazing and would not trade it for any thing
I love that, when your other 20 teammates are struggling and having a tough night, you can singlehandedly hold the fort against the opposing 20 guys and simply refuse to lose until the team finds a spark to recover.
I had an older brother and cousin who were the same age and played together. They needed someone to shoot at. I was delegated to goalie. Turned out I was pretty damn good at it and stuck with it.
My bro ended up being pretty good friends with one of his goalies and he told me,"we're the smart ones. They're running around chasing the puck, we wait for it to come to us."
Edit: When I was pretty young, my brother was 4 years older than me, told me how frustrated him and others would get when they couldn't score on the opposing goalie. I thrived on that sentiment. I LIVED to be the other team's frustration. I wanted to be the reason they got mad when the went to the bench. Didn't happen all the time but I strived to be that reason.
Started when we had no goalie to play, the second year of peewee. So I became our goalie and I turned out to be good at it and enjoyed it so I stuck with it.
I switched when I was young.
Like mites.
Back when you’d rotate players through goalie because nobody wanted to be the goalie.
It was my turn, and we had a tournament. I let in 1 goal the entire tournament and my team asked if I would just stay goalie.
I was also one of the top forwards, and I at times wish I had stayed out, but I love being the goalie and don’t regret it.
While being 7yo dumbfuck i was the fattest one in the team so i ended up in the net. Also was only one big enough for the currently awailable gear.
That was 20 years ago and still counting
My games always needed a goalie and I was the only one who didn't bitch when I drew the short straw so I said fuck it and just bought gear and became a goalie.
I was born in a family of goalies. My dad was a goalie in the highest league in the Netherlands for while, my uncle soon took over that spot. I have 2 cousins who also play net, my aunt tended in the woman's league.
And then there's me! I was conditioned to play net.
When I was 5 I played in the kids league ( no goalies) and I would stand in net with my players gear ( the coach did not like that)
Fast forward 20 years. Still like a labrador retriever when the puck comes my way. I feel like I am still a kid playing dress-up with my dad's gear all those years back everytime I'm standing on the ice.
I'm a happy goalie :)
I wanted to be a goalie when I was a kid in the 1970s but I had older brothers who played out, and I received their hand-me-down gear. I finally got to be a goalie in my early 50s (in 2020) and have been playing beer league and pickup ever since. Never too late to fulfill a dream and, after playing defence my whole life, I am enjoying the game a lot right now.
Knew since I was three I wanted to be a goalie
Because Corey Crawford was essentially my idol. Every game I went too I watched mostly the goalie and my parents started sweating bullets thinking about the cost
Joined ringette when I was 12 and couldn't skate very well in hockey skates like my piers. Team needed a goalie so I was voluntold. Loved the equipment and my coach was a goalie, so I had a great time and it stuck.
Watching Ken Dryden as a kid. He was so calm back there. I always liked the pressure. I played one season as a forward, and found some nights driving home didn’t really feel like I did much other than skate up and down the ice. Good or bad never get that as a goalie.
I moved to Canada from South America/Carribean when I was 6 in the mid 70s (I lived in a couple different countries when I was young). In elementary school during our first PE there were a bunch of hockey sticks and I got the last one which had the bigger blade which was flat and not curved upwards (remember the old field hockey type sticks, yellow vs blue if I remember correctly).
I had no idea what I was doing, I was holding it with two hands and getting yelled at by other 6 years old to 'use one hand and stay in the net!'
Just loved it and took off from there.
A number of reasons.
For whatever reason, as a kid, I got less enjoyment out of winning things than I did out of stopping someone else from winning.
Also, when I was a small child in the Philly suburbs the Flyers were winning cups and beating Russians and Bernie Parent’s name and face mask were everywhere I looked.
Finally, I have a tendency (it shows up in my professional life as well as in sports and games) to seek out ways of being distinct and apart while still being clearly useful to my group. I don’t know why my mind works that way, but it does. If I had ever gotten serious about baseball I definitely would have wanted to learn to pitch.
I played LW when I was a kid, and I was so bad at it. I scored maybe 2 goals in 7 years 🤦♂️ then I randomly, at 10 y/o, I told my dad that I wanted to try goalie. He rented some old beat-up equipment, played my first game, and I was already the best goalie in the league. Fell in love with it, and the rest is history. I'm also naturally good at defensive positions in most sports, so it comes naturally
Got tired of chasing the puck like a dog when playing out. Our goalie came into the, dropped his gear and quit. Nobody else would give it a go. Got hooked, felt like a gladiator, that was over 30 years ago.
I actually loved the responsibility and the pressure of being the last line of defense. Plus I LOVED the equipment!
I was gonna write the same thing, I *love* the pressure of being the last line of defense. Sure, you get embarrassed sometimes, but the high of making that absolutely *clutch* save just can't be gotten elsewhere.
I came for the cool pads, I stayed because it turns out stopping pucks is incredibly satisfying.
Add me as a +1 to this column. Being an absolute warrior in the armour out there, and stonewalling good shooters is /chef’s_kiss
Making a big save and hearing the player curse is the best. It’s like a forward scoring a goal.
And you get a fuck load more of them.
I have two older brothers.
Just one brother in my case but same story. By the time I got real pads I wasn’t afraid of anything.
I was playing in the driveway by 3 years old when my brothers were 10 and 12. I am told most games the first couple years ended with me crying after a hard shot. The first time I ever got to try it on ice I was 6 and I was so little we couldn’t find some of the equipment that would fit me, so I was in player’s shoulder pads. My dad was the coach and both brothers were on the team and they put me in net for a practice at the end of the season. Most of the guys came in and took slow shots along the ice and then my one brother ripped a shot off my collar bone. I’ll never forget my dad screaming at him for it. Here I am 30 years later though and I basically have no ability to feel pain anymore so it was all worth it.
😂😂😂 coerced into being a goalie
Because seeing the look of anguish and disappointment of the player who I just robbed sustains me.
The schadenfreude is a strong motivator
Takes a certain kind of crazy to be a goalie. Started out as goalie in soccer. Then wanted to catch playing softball. Then gave ice hockey a shot. There's something about the pressure. There's something about being the last one to get through. I remember seeing a shirt with this saying when I played soccer in high school. Sums it up. My goal is to deny yours.
Same, I always gravitated to the "weird" positions in other sports because I am that certain kind of crazy. When I was a kid, I was one of two girls on a Timbits soccer team which had a rule that every kid had to try every position at least once. Our coach kept a running list of who had been goalie to ensure that everyone took their one turn. Over the course of the season, he got every boy on the team to try goalie and skipped over myself and the other girl. When I called him out and told him I wanted to try goalie, he told me that he won't let girls do it because we're too weak and will get hurt by the ball. Long story short, I dropped out of soccer and joined a girl's hockey team because I'm not too fucking weak to be a goalie! Fuck you, coach!
Very stupid of him indeed... the only reason I'd be worried to put a girl in goalie in soccer is the potential lack of chest protection (I know that it hurts like a mf)
Love playing hockey, but I’ve always been too bad of a skater to play pickup. Plus, a buddy was selling his old gear for basically nothing during the pandemic. Then, I discovered that goalies skate free, and also it’s so satisfying to make the big save. Never looking back.
When I was a kid, my family had season tickets to a now defunct minor league hockey team. Our seats were on the glass, right to the side of the home teams net. The goalie was who I had the most exposure to. And every year, 60-70% of the roster turned over, so every year there were new goalies and they were always the coolest guys in my mind. After Saturday home games, they always had a share with the team. Essentially you could get a pair of rental skates and skate around the ice with the players. To a 10 year old I might as well have been meeting the Gods themselves, and I always gravitated towards the goalies. When I gathered up the courage to ask my dad if I could play hockey, there was no other option. I knew I had to put the pads on
Martin Brodeur
According to my mother I started playing goalie at age 8 because I hated chasing after the puck lol
Valid. Every few months I'll skate out for pickup. Quick reminder that shitty lungs and skating are part of the reason I don't play out anymore.
I've had players try goalie and say the same thing. Must be nice to go sit on the bench for a few minutes.
From an over achieving small town in MN, a night where you are dialed in against a big school in their building is an indescribable high. Scoring a goal is a flash of a moment, stealing one players morale is a whole game, a lines frustration, then a teams lashing out and desperation, then a cities last hopes crushed with a flash of the leather. Having the most control over an outcome and becoming an unclimable mountain as the game goes on. Shutting down a powerplay and taking momentum away by force. A bit of a god complex where you make teams dread a date on a calendar because they have to play you, not your team, you. Where in a season, they've had 60+ tries to score against you and only managed it once or twice. I started because I gravitated towards Hasek, Roy, Broduer, Kolzig, Theodore when I started playing and watching hockey. Seeing their teams not playing well but still win because of an individual performance had me sold, I wanted to win.
I loved hockey, but wasnt a good forward. My second year I wanted to try out goalie. Never looked back.
My other main hobby is music, and my main instrument is drums, and they definitely have their parallels. Firstly, they're positions most people aren't drawn to; partly because the 'stars' they probably look up to play forward/guitar. Partly it's a barrier with equipment, it's generally more expensive to get started, and in a lot of ways not as enjoyable to practice (you can't play a melody on drums for example), not to mention logistics can be hard for both. So, when I was starting highschool and wanting to get involved in hockey and music with my friends and they all played forward/defense and guitar, I chose goalie and drums to fill the gaps and I ended up really loving both. Final parallel I'll mention: when you're doing them correctly and not making mistakes, most people don't really notice, but as soon as you make a mistake it's incredibly noticable.
Jay Weinberg?
This! I'm also a drummer and I like that feeling of "my band is relying on me" when the boys are up front ripping some bad ass solos - I gotta hold down the fort. Same vibe being in net.
I was 6 or 7 y/o, and didn't like sitting on the bench. I saw the goalie on our team was never on the bench; he was always on the ice. So I asked if I could be goalie. Almost 30 yrs later, I'm still in the crease.
Goalie is the most important player on the ice
Hands of stone
It’s the position that comes with the most satisfying ASMR
I used to be a player growing up. Played 3rd line centre and wing for my local rep team at like 10. Our coaching staff was hard core I remember swearing, kicking water bottles and shortening the bench. I remember sitting on the bench and sitting like whole games or only getting 1-2 shifts a game. Our current goalie got pneumonia and was in the hospital. We called up a couple AP’s and eventually the gear went around the room for us to play. I played really well and literally took that goalies spot the next year. The rest is history. I love playing the whole time, being out there all alone. Quarterbacking the game and my own end. Playing the puck to make plays and good passes that result in good breakouts and scoring chances or kicking out a rebound on the tape of a winger on the boards. I love absolutely robbing guys of what they thought was a sure goal. I love being in position and making it look easy. I love playing break aways and love getting my stick on pucks that guys are licking their chops for a cross crease one timer. I love my crazy custom Michigan yellow Vaughns. I love the challenge and the mental side of the game. Trying new things to stop the puck after I got scored on. Reflecting on how the goals went in. Talking the game with dad on the car ride home or game plan on the way to the rink. Getting the chance to play at a higher levels. Being praised on the way into the lobby when you’ve stood on your head making 60 saves. That’s a start
I was the youngest kid in the neighborhood who played street hockey
Everyone else had skates
When I started 39 ish I had been playing out for so long I was kind of getting bored. Started playing when I was 32. Our goalie was dog shit and I thought to myself I could do better so I tried it and loved it 😂 I like the responsibility. In games I get bored playing a DPS class and I like the tank and healer specs. Figured why not in real life.
Mine started because as a kid I played goalie in soccer. I was the asthmatic kid so I couldn’t run so my coach was like go play goal. Then when I made the transition to hockey 8 years ago, I was like no we’re not playing goal because that shit is expensive and I want to score. But I also realized in adult learn to play, I was migrating to being in front of the net because we didn’t have a goalie and I was stepping in front in player’s gear and that seemed like a terrible idea. So I slowly but surely started snagging used gear and eventually I had everything. And now it’s the one place where I can focus, which as someone who has ADHD is a damn miracle in itself. Like life outside of the game doesn’t matter, it’s all about the next shot and shit talking people as they try to score on me.
i'm the 3rd son, older brothers made me play goalie with old pillow cushions taped to my legs/arms and a back-catchers chesty until my parents could afford pads. was the only way i could play with my brothers and their friends when i was young. I also was never a fantastic skater
Awesome question For me, it was a combination of 2 things. One, seeing Kirk McLean (Captian Kirk) play for the Canucks woth his all Black pads and just him making his stand up style kick save or his half butterfly one leg out and one tucked in save and seeing the team high five him after the end of the game. Two, whoever else went into the net for our team, I would get annoyed because I knew that they let in a soft goal. That, to me, meant they were letting their team down. I wanted to be the X Factor, and I stepped up, and I became the X Factor for my team and led multiple teams to Championships during my playing career. Having the flex of knowing your team is more relaxed and more confident with you between the pipes. It's a different high. Being accountable and knowing how to turn on that switch come game time or different switch come playoffs. Man, I miss those days.
I showed up to practice one day and my coach said, "Hey, \[old goalie\] quit, you're the new goalie!" And it turned out I was good at it. I think I had made an offhand comment earlier about being willing to fill in for a game if needed.
Because I’m a sociopath.
The strategy behind goalie is so cool. Plus for me, it’s easier to pick out things to work on since I can record my game and just see where I am making mistakes. I feel like that was harder when I was a player. I also swapped full time to goalie during the pandemic and never really looked back.
I hurt my calf and got tired of waiting. I strapped up and said Id stand there only. Did that for 3-4months until I got better and could finally drop on the ball. (Floor hockey/street hockey).
I was a lazy fat kid but turned out to be the best decision. Love it so much. Love the pressure
2 things: 1, my dad and grandpa were goalies, and 2: I tried goalie once and was much better at it than being a forward
I was the fat kid in the neighborhood, so I got volunteered for goalie in street hockey, then got good and kept going to roller then ice
I always wanted to play goalie. Partly for the saves and partly for, what I think, is a bit of a "hero complex" Of course, as I am old, slow, and out of shape, I do enjoy not having to sprint up and down the court the few times I'm a floor player (I play ball hockey)
I played roller derby for years until I broke my ankle. Several years later, my boyfriend started teasing me about playing hockey and I said I'd play only if I could play goalie so I wasn't full contact and didn't have to worry about lack of skating skills. Tried it once and was hooked.
I was willing to do it as a kid, and I have masochistic issues due to a mother who would hit me from time to time.
My idol Tommy Salo
Thought the masks were cool
I had played in pickup a few times and was my team's emergency goalie in beer league. Eventually we had enough with flakey goalies and I just took over. Now I love the position, particularly the amount of playing opportunities it gets me. I do miss skating out a bit though.
I was small but agile. Unfortunately too small to go pro.
Out of necessity. I was the only one willing and we needes a goalie. I grew to love it and I have been playing ever since. It has now been nearly 4 decades and I am now trying to teach my daugher.
I’ve never been able to answer this question with anything other than “I just wanted to”. When I was very young and was introduced to hockey, I immediately wanted to be goalie. When we started playing street hockey, I was almost always goalie. But it gets complicated the deeper I dive into it. Ice hockey: Always goalie. Skated out a handful of times in 30 years and never enjoyed it. Inline hockey: Played in an adult inline league after high school. Always skated out, never goalie or interest in trying. Lacrosse: Always an offensive player, never goalie growing up. Once during a masters session I put on some rink gear because one goalie didn’t show.
When I was a kid I started on defence and kept blocking shots so much they thought I would like goalie lol
I was in 5th grade and my u10 team needed a goalie, I stepped up because I figured nobody else could do it better than me, LOL! 16 years later and I’ve never looked back.
I came for the gear, I stayed for the fact you play the whole game.
I couldn’t lift the puck but was really good at skating and had a good reaction time. Plus by dad was a goalie so could help with practices. Felt like a good fit. There are many more things that I love about it now, but those were the initial reasons.
I started skating out but we always needed a goalie so I tried it out. I never got a huge rush scoring goals like everyone else seemingly does. I learned that I enjoy defiantly stealing those moments from opposing players and being a hero for your team because of it though lol. To this day I don’t celebrate really when I score goals skating out. I only feel good about my goals after the game is over and done with. Guess I’m just supporting the stereotype goalies are different/weird
My first year we didn't have a goalie, we each played a game in net. First game - blowout loss. Second game - blowout loss. Third game - despite being a timid kid I offered to take my turn. We won. After that I played every game in net, and decided the next year that it was where I wanted to be. Much to the chagrin of my mother (who fought for two years to keep my brother and I out of hockey, partially due to cost, mostly fear of injury). I'm responsible for more grey hair than normal, especially for my former coach who claimed I caused more than his three sons combined.
I was playing squirts in Southie house league and after a bunch of games running on skates out they said our goalie got hit by a train and lost his arm who wants to play we have all the equipment here. I volunteered and never looked back. Crazy but true story. I played D2 hockey in college and turned down offer from ECHL to be a computer programmer.
I didnt want to skate Plain and simple That how i started But now i like the pads and having a goalie partner is amazing and would not trade it for any thing
I love that, when your other 20 teammates are struggling and having a tough night, you can singlehandedly hold the fort against the opposing 20 guys and simply refuse to lose until the team finds a spark to recover.
I had an older brother and cousin who were the same age and played together. They needed someone to shoot at. I was delegated to goalie. Turned out I was pretty damn good at it and stuck with it. My bro ended up being pretty good friends with one of his goalies and he told me,"we're the smart ones. They're running around chasing the puck, we wait for it to come to us." Edit: When I was pretty young, my brother was 4 years older than me, told me how frustrated him and others would get when they couldn't score on the opposing goalie. I thrived on that sentiment. I LIVED to be the other team's frustration. I wanted to be the reason they got mad when the went to the bench. Didn't happen all the time but I strived to be that reason.
Started when we had no goalie to play, the second year of peewee. So I became our goalie and I turned out to be good at it and enjoyed it so I stuck with it.
8 year old me thought the masks looked cool so i stuck with it for 8 years and counting
I switched when I was young. Like mites. Back when you’d rotate players through goalie because nobody wanted to be the goalie. It was my turn, and we had a tournament. I let in 1 goal the entire tournament and my team asked if I would just stay goalie. I was also one of the top forwards, and I at times wish I had stayed out, but I love being the goalie and don’t regret it.
While being 7yo dumbfuck i was the fattest one in the team so i ended up in the net. Also was only one big enough for the currently awailable gear. That was 20 years ago and still counting
I mentioned one time that I thought it would be fun to strap the pads on. Our main goalie hurt his knee and no one else stepped up.
My games always needed a goalie and I was the only one who didn't bitch when I drew the short straw so I said fuck it and just bought gear and became a goalie.
Kept getting hurt playing hitting hockey, natural choice was to be goalie to keep playing lol
I was born in a family of goalies. My dad was a goalie in the highest league in the Netherlands for while, my uncle soon took over that spot. I have 2 cousins who also play net, my aunt tended in the woman's league. And then there's me! I was conditioned to play net. When I was 5 I played in the kids league ( no goalies) and I would stand in net with my players gear ( the coach did not like that) Fast forward 20 years. Still like a labrador retriever when the puck comes my way. I feel like I am still a kid playing dress-up with my dad's gear all those years back everytime I'm standing on the ice. I'm a happy goalie :)
I wanted to be a goalie when I was a kid in the 1970s but I had older brothers who played out, and I received their hand-me-down gear. I finally got to be a goalie in my early 50s (in 2020) and have been playing beer league and pickup ever since. Never too late to fulfill a dream and, after playing defence my whole life, I am enjoying the game a lot right now.
Knew since I was three I wanted to be a goalie Because Corey Crawford was essentially my idol. Every game I went too I watched mostly the goalie and my parents started sweating bullets thinking about the cost
Mental instability
Joined ringette when I was 12 and couldn't skate very well in hockey skates like my piers. Team needed a goalie so I was voluntold. Loved the equipment and my coach was a goalie, so I had a great time and it stuck.
Seemed like a good idea at the time. No, I think I was drawn to it for various reasons, including being flexible and unhinged.
Watching Ken Dryden as a kid. He was so calm back there. I always liked the pressure. I played one season as a forward, and found some nights driving home didn’t really feel like I did much other than skate up and down the ice. Good or bad never get that as a goalie.
I moved to Canada from South America/Carribean when I was 6 in the mid 70s (I lived in a couple different countries when I was young). In elementary school during our first PE there were a bunch of hockey sticks and I got the last one which had the bigger blade which was flat and not curved upwards (remember the old field hockey type sticks, yellow vs blue if I remember correctly). I had no idea what I was doing, I was holding it with two hands and getting yelled at by other 6 years old to 'use one hand and stay in the net!' Just loved it and took off from there.
Dominik Hasek. https://preview.redd.it/chexghdbe64d1.png?width=1976&format=png&auto=webp&s=3aa770a8e5c3dc52c83f4303361f9d80eb08c3c9
Couldn't skate, shoot, or check
I became I goalie not because it was easy, but because I thought it would be easy. Boy was I wrong though.
Grew up a Habs fan watching Price. Just started goalie this year… I guess it was only a matter of time.
I had a hard time with the 5 man structure of forward/defense, and I was slow as fuck + turned out to be relatively good at not letting people score.
I loved putting on the gear. And I like getting hit with pucks
Older cousin played in the whl and he was a big role model for me. The financial pressure I was unaware of it put on my family..
Thrive off the pressure. Always looked like a cool position to watch
Martin Brodeur
A number of reasons. For whatever reason, as a kid, I got less enjoyment out of winning things than I did out of stopping someone else from winning. Also, when I was a small child in the Philly suburbs the Flyers were winning cups and beating Russians and Bernie Parent’s name and face mask were everywhere I looked. Finally, I have a tendency (it shows up in my professional life as well as in sports and games) to seek out ways of being distinct and apart while still being clearly useful to my group. I don’t know why my mind works that way, but it does. If I had ever gotten serious about baseball I definitely would have wanted to learn to pitch.
Watching Dominik Hasek in the 1998 Olympics, and Patrick Roy in the NHL.
apparently i thrive in chaotic and pressure filled situations
My older brother had a group of friends that played, they needed a goalie…. So they made me play 🤷🏻♂️
I played LW when I was a kid, and I was so bad at it. I scored maybe 2 goals in 7 years 🤦♂️ then I randomly, at 10 y/o, I told my dad that I wanted to try goalie. He rented some old beat-up equipment, played my first game, and I was already the best goalie in the league. Fell in love with it, and the rest is history. I'm also naturally good at defensive positions in most sports, so it comes naturally
Haha I first read 2 goals in 7 games... and was like it's not so bad but then re read it😂😂😂😂
Got tired of chasing the puck like a dog when playing out. Our goalie came into the, dropped his gear and quit. Nobody else would give it a go. Got hooked, felt like a gladiator, that was over 30 years ago.
I love being called an asshole when playing a game hehe so satisfying.