The Osgood Debate Rages....

Originally posted on Monday June 02, 2008 @ 03:51 PM EDT @ http://fans.nhl.com/members/JuiceinLA/blogs/15958
My darlings- I am writing this because Ozzie so often turns up as a controversial figure in many of your replies to my blogs, and well it appears to me that much like the rest of the hockey world you all are divided on all matters relating to Oz. So here is my case for Chris Osgood.

Statement of Full Disclosure: I am personally biased toward Ozzie, I have not only followed his NHL career from beginning to present, but I strongly feel he is unjustly maligned when he should be revered as a world class NHL Goalie.  I believe he should be a Hall of Famer. Also he is a Class A Human Being. I used to work out at the same gym he worked out at in Northville, Michigan, where I often saw and occasionally spoke to him. In fact, did you know that Ozzie never sold his home in metro Detroit the entire time he was getting tossed around? He is such a great guy- humble, hard working, funny. All around, Ozzie is the sort of athlete and person you hope your kids will grow up to be.

Despite my personal bias, I always make a supreme effort, like Ozzie, to back my shizz up. And if you read this blog and find faults with Ozzie that I have not mentioned, I will be glad to debate them. Bring it, I am sure I have an answer.

People throw a couple or repetitious criticisms at Ozzie.

• Unsupportable Criticism 1: People say Oz faces less pressure in goal because he takes less shots.  I have a (one time juniors) goalie in my family who think this is the most baseless criticism ever and here is why. Its a lot more mentally and physically difficult for a goalie to stay focused in a game and sporadically come up big when needed the way-Ozzie does- than to be constantly peppered with shots and have the play focused at his own end. Less shots means you still must have the reflexes a cat and the timing of a swiss watch, but it also means you also must have the discipline and control of an android. Great stats like Ozzies- on less shots- are an indicator of great talent.

o PLUS- less shots usually translates to better shots, more desperate shots, and often as these playoffs have presented, 6 on 5 or 5 on 3 opportunities. And while we are going down that road…

o You want proof of pressure? Ozzie has- in these 2008 playoffs alone- had to tend goal for more penalty kill minutes than any other goalie…Ozzie has had to defend 88 minutes of penalties, by comparison, Fleury has only had 77 minutes of PK, and Turco (the next highest number) had 76 (Flyers had 55 minutes of PK).

• Unsupportable Criticism 2: Ozzie is only as good as the Wings unstoppable defense. I love this one, because there are a couple of HHOF goalies (and several other not so greats) who didn’t win big under cloak of this very defense.  No disrespect to the Dominator, but he’s the most recent example- and FYI if Hasek were in goal still none of you would be arguing the defense is saving him.   Look. Its fallacy to suggest that a goalie is not an integral part of a team’s defense. Further, everyone knows that the confidence a team has in its goalie affects team  play and confidence level. This Wings team makes it clear, saying it at every opportunity, that they feel extremely confident with Ozzie in goal and that that makes it easier for them to play their game. They also are inordinately quick to point out how talented and amazing they know Oz to be. Think you know better than Nic Lids? think again.

• Unsupportable Criticism 3: The perception that Ozzie isn’t tough. Nothing backs that up. People still make reference to that Sharks loss where a very young man shed tears or that ill conceived column after the 1998 Stanley Cup. My response is two fold: 1. That columnist was dead fricking wrong in 1998, and if I could find the article I’d tear it apart point by point, end of story. 1A. The Sharks loss was ten years ago. If you have to criticize and you can’t be logical or supportable, please be relevant. 2. I’ll take a kid who is so broken over his own performance, who blames himself so fully that he is reduced to tears over the kid who points fingers at everyone else and who whines.

• Unsupportable Criticism 4: Ozzie let some weak, game ending goals in during his career. See No. 3 above, and think about this- the guy has been playing in the league for almost 16 years (since 1992) and all people ever cite are three soft goals in the late 1990’s- again, timely relevance???? That Al McInnis slap shot from center ice – Our Nick Lidstrom did it time and time again in these playoffs and you don’t see anyone calling Fleury the worst goalie to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. And by the way: the resiliency with which Osgood comes back from adversity and such weak goals is flawless. Think of how he handled AFTER the McInnis goal against St. Louis. He stood on his head. He doesn’t crack and become a sieve like Patrick Roy has been known to do.

Here are some thoughts on what makes Ozzie a Great Goaltender:

1. He has the numbers to back his shizz up.

a. Despite not getting the call for game one or two against Nashville this year he still has the best stats of any goalie in the playoffs.

b. Two time Stanley Cup winning Goalie though 1998 was really his year, as of this posting- looking like he'll get No 3.

c. Lead the NHL in 2008 in GAA (1.45), ranked 16th in Save Percentage with .914 and has an astonishing 27–9–4 record.

d. Osgood is 15th in all time wins by an NHL goaltender. He has 364.

e. Osgood beat Sawchuck’s record this year for playoff wins: “Osgood is 13-3. With 51 wins and 12 shutouts – two in this series – he’s surpassed Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk to move into top spot among Detroit net-minders in both categories.”

f. 01-02 and 03-04 he played 65+ games each season and had a GAA under 2.50 both seasons.

g.He’s a two time Jennings winner.

h. He holds a 2.12 GAA for his career.

i. 1995-96 season: 1995–1996 season, and “he led the NHL with a 2.17 GAA and 39 wins. He also finished third in shutouts (5) and was a Vezina Trophy runner-up to Jim Carey.”

j. Ok, I don’t have anymore time to dig up stats- so deal with it.

2. He has the world most thankless job – being a Red Wing Goalie. This town is supremely tough on our goalies- we don’t allow any cracks and we persecute the tiniest oldest mistakes. Look at the greats who have not lasted here.

3. He has humility and is humble and all the attractive personality traits you want in your star athletes.

4. He pummeled Patrick Roy in 1996-97 (OK this one is probably only relevant to me, but it was awesome!)

5. He has spent almost the entirety of his Wings career as a back up goalie, and yet when asked to step up makes the big plays the big wins and carries a team.

6. He has come back from adversity stronger and better than before and you never hear any complaints.

7. In the sports and the real world the truly talented successful people know one key secret: SHUT UP AND WORK- work harder than you think you can, harder than you think you should and harder than you are being given credit or payment for. Ozzie exemplifies this work ethic.

8. Ozzie is continually growing his game his skill set and his talent, and evolving as the game evolves.

ok, I wish I had more time to add to this list, because I KNOW I am missing something. Feel free to share your well reasoned, factually supportable comments- I would love to hear them.

Copyrighted 2008, all rights reserved. No reproduction or use without the express written permission of the author.