We love highlight reel goals, but we also love highlight reel saves.
For every goalie that loses their jockstrap in the rafters to sweet hands of a player on the opposing team, there’s a ‘tendy that redeems the position as a whole by making a seemingly impossible stop on what looks to be a surefire goal.
A great example of this happened tonight in the ECHL, when the Maine Mariners’ goalie, Brandon Halverson, got across the crease unbelievably fast to deny the Newfoundland Growlers’ Zach O'Brien of a point-blank goal, and a subsequent rebound.
We’re pretty sure O’Brien will be having nightmares about that one for some time.
This save, that happened late in the final frame of a one-goal game, kept the Mariners within one of the Growlers. While Newfoundland eventually went on to score the empty-netter and capture a victory in the match, this save still served as highlight of the same.
This isn’t the only very impressive save we’ve seen in the ECHL in the past couple of seasons, and goalies in the league have impressed for some time now.
Those are some serious moves.
Goaltending is the toughest position in hockey, both to play and to succeed at on the professional level, and ECHL is coming one of the most common development places for some very notable NHLers. Scott Darling, Garret Sparks, Mike Condon, Mike Smith, and Jonathan Quick are among the talented goaltenders who have spend time with their team’s ECHL affiliate, so don’t be surprised if you see any of these highlight-worthy goalies between the pipes for your favourite NHL team sometime in the near future.
