SzabadosForBackup

[Thorin]

Today is the NHL Trade Deadline.  Today is the last day teams can trade players.

Of the seveon trades made so far today, two have included the Oilers:
1. Edmonton Oilers trade goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to Minnesota Wild
2. Edmonton Oilers acquire goalie Viktor Fasth from Anaheim Ducks

Now, Fasth probably can't make it here on time for the game tonight, so the Oilers are looking for an emergency backup goalie.  As soon as this became known, twitter lit up with the hashtag #SzabadosForBackup.  Fans and media people alike really wanted Shannon Szabados, the two-time gold medal winning Olympic women's hockey goalie, to come play a game for the Oilers.  Now most likely she wouldn't be put on the ice, but most fans agreed that this would be a great PR move for the team, a great opportunity for a world-class female player, and a reason to tune into the game tonight (imagine if they actually put her on the ice?  I mean, I really don't care if they win or lose anymore, but at least make it entertaining).

Instead, the Oilers played it safe and went with U of A goalie Kurtis Mucha.  All the best to him, and I'm sure he'll do alright if he actually gets put on the ice, but man, I'd love to see Szabados stonewall some high-quality NHL shooters.  And I think it would've made the players play harder in front of her, too, if the coach was smart enough to spin it into a story about embarrassing the other team into not being able to beat a girl.

There is precedent: Manon Rheaume played in a couple of exhibition games for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992.  Although it was seen as a publicity stunt at the time, she actually did pretty well in net, especially considering she was 5-7 inches shorter than the average NHL goalie at the time.

[Thorin]

Hmm, got one fact wrong - tomorrow is Trade Deadline day.

[Melbosa]

Szabados would have been fantastic to see in the NHL pipes!

I've been speculating this for a couple years now... if your team is in the dumps and you are looking to mix things up, why not bring in the top 5 women from the Canadian team, pay them half what their male counterparts are worth (save on salary cap even if it is unfair in terms of equality - I mean I think they are worth the same amount in salary but as a GM you could get away with it for the first couple of years if it stuck) and put them in key positions on the team.  The 5 best female players have to be worth say the Oilers 5 worst players in the same positions (and probably stack up better overall).  I'd say it would be worth trying.

Only hurdle I can see is the men play a faster game from my viewing standpoint.  The NHL games seem a lot more on the speedy side compared to the Women's Canadian vs USA Olympic game.

But yeah either way it would have been awesome to see Szabados out there tonight.

[Mr. Analog]

Either way they actually won last night (holy doolie)

[Thorin]

I'm not sure I'd want to see top male and female skaters in contact hockey battling it out - the strongest men are stronger than the strongest women due to biology.  They're gonna win the battle for the puck if they're allowed to push and shove and knock down (ie bodycheck).  Goalies are a different scenario because they're not allowed to be pushed and shoved and knocked down.  As soon as you're not talking top skaters or take out the contact, though, it certainly balances out.

NHL teams tend to do a lot more dump & chase, which in turn looks faster because if you don't skate at top speed all the time you can't get the puck back.  The Canadian and US women's teams tended to do a lot of controlled zone entries at the Olympics this year, breaking in then setting up their plays.  This is easier if you're not allowed to just knock over the puck carrier.

And yes, they actually won.  I was not expecting it!  Hemmer's first goal was Classic Hemmer (tm).  Hemmer's second goal was a nice surprise (he shot it! he shot it!).  Eberle's goal looked like a slow-motion broken play that they lucked out on (I don't believe it was planned or that he even knew there was someone behind him.

And I guess she got called in to an Oilers practice today so they can have two goalies on the ice - Fasth hasn't gotten to town fast enough.

[Thorin]

What Shannon Szabados said about practicing with the Oilers: http://oilers.nhl.com/club/blogpost.htm?id=26829

[Melbosa]

That was kewl of them eh? 

While I agree about the biology part in general I would say that some of those women would surprise you against the opposite sex.  Not every player is built like a Pronger or Phanuef.  Sure the game would be different for the women, but I bet some of the best would be up to the challenge.