Goalie Announcements (Oct 3)

Hooray!  It's time to finally drop the puck on the 2019 regular season and we'll do so with four games on the schedule.

Okay, so we don't have the goalie survivor pool going this year, as fun as it was for a mini-game, but I will be chiming in from time to time with some starting goalie information, just to keep the blog churning.  I'm sure there will be some relevance to the standings or some tidbit worth mentioning.  I've pretty well set up every date that an alternate jersey will be going this season, so that's something.

But now that we're all set to zero, we start with a clean slate and we'll try and find some points of interest for these posts otherwise.  Opening night is a good place to start!

Carey Price (Stacey M.) versus Frederik Andersen (Derek B.)
How about we kick off with the most classic of classic rivalries, with the Canadiens traveling to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs.  Stacey M. went with her heart and snapped up Carey Price in the 3rd round of the draft, hoping for good things from her beloved Habs, while Derek used his 1st round pick (4th overall) to bank on the Leafs living up to the hype, taking Frederik Andersen.

If the Canadiens are going to have a hope in hell about doing anything very productive this season, the weight of expectations will be firmly on the shoulders of Price and that is going to be an awfully heavy load.

Tuukka Rask (Jesse) versus Braden Holtby (Stacey C.)
The Washington Capitals are going to raise their championship banner to start the regular season and they'll be doing so with the Boston Bruins occupying the other end of the ice.  It's a top end goalie match-up here, with Tuukka Rask taking on Braden Holtby, and I think this game can go either way.  The Bruins might not be 100%, health-wise, but the Capitals may be coming down from that winner's high.  Of the two early games, this one might be the closest and more entertaining.

Mike Smith (Brian) versus Jacob Markstrom (Chelsea)
Rivalry games a plenty tonight and the first of two late games see the Flames invade Vancouver to take on the Canucks and it's fully expected to be a number one battle for each team's opening game here as well.  Mike Smith should be getting the nod for the Flames, while Jacob Markstrom will be tending the home end of the rink.  The Flames added pieces to their puzzle to try and climb back into the Western Conference playoff race, while the Canucks are going to go gangbusters with their youth and it will be those two mantras colliding to provide an entertaining game.

John Gibson (Kristy & Don) versus Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward)
Finally, it's a California conflict at the Shark Tank in San Jose, when the Anaheim Duck come to town.  The Ducks are the furthest thing from healthy that we've probably seen in years, limping their way into some unfriendly waters, where the Sharks have added one huge piece to make a strong team even stronger.  For the goalies, John Gibson and Martin Jones, they kind of take a back seat to the story lines in front of them, but for us poolies, their 2+ possible points on the night are important to get teams off to a good start.  The pool duos of Kristy & Don and Brenda & Seward will be paying keen attention to this one, I'm sure.