I've always hated the way Lindy Ruff handles the shootout which I believe I've mentioned a time or two. He insists on putting the guys who you'd think should be good at the shootout in and doesn't go to any atypical choices until he has to even though it's often those guys who look the best. So I was really happy to see Jochen Hecht included in the first three shooters last night. It makes zero sense for him to be good at shootouts. He has hands of stone at times and rarely seems to pull off a breakaway in a game. But coming into tonight's game he'd scored in two straight shootouts. I was glad to see Lindy not overthink things and reward the guy who's been successful in that specific situation in the past rather than rewarding a guy for a good game which, while a nice thought, doesn't seem to work that often.
And I have to admit, I'm pretty tickled that our best guy in the shootout is Jochen Hecht. JOCHEN HECHT, people. That is adorably inexplicable. I love it. I mean, honestly... How do you not look at this picture without cracking up? How may times would you bank on Jochen meeting up with Marty Brodeur with Broduer coming away looking silly? Sometimes hockey is funny.
Hee. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images)
3 comments:
Reminds me of Hank making Brodeur look silly in 2008. It always seems to be Brodeur doesn't it?
Best part of Jochen's shootout goal was how quickly he skated back to the bench with a look on his face that seemed to express, "If I don't get off the ice, they may take the goal away from me"
amsterdam and I share the exact same thoughts, I was just going to write that as my comment! Haha.
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