Friday, December 08, 2006

S-Words and Roloson


While I'm unsure about how writing about goalies affects the age-old hockey superstition of "never mention the s-word while your goalie is defending an s-word" I still figure it would be interesting to bring up some interesting stats I dug up about Dwayne Roloson's s-word record.
So, to respect the fickle "hockey gods" I will not actually type the word that will remain unuttered as the Dallas/Edmonton game is on right now. Interestingly enough, Roli is playing after his 4-0 win over Vancouver (Markkanen played in the Carolina match) and Marty Turco is playing after a 2-game s-word streak. Turco's streak is over already, thanks to Marc-Andre Bergeron.

Albert Dwayne Roloson's S-Words
Facts Unmasked:

Roloson has had 20 career regular season s-word thingies.
15 of those 20 s-words came after a loss in the game preceding it.

12 of those 15 games, Roli was the starter. In three games, he was the backup goalie and replaced the starter.

Both of Roloson's games this year (4-0 against Washington, 4-0 against Vancouver) came after losses. The Washington win came after a two-game losing streak (one game Roloson started, Markkanen finished; one game Markkanen started, Roli finished) and the Vancouver win followed a three-game losing streak.
14 of Roli's clean sheets (I didn't say the word) were during a home game - 6 came on the road.

Roli has blanked Vancouver 3 times in his career.

Roli's first s-word came in his fourth career game in 1996 against Los Angeles. He was playing for the (blah)Flames at the time. That game came after Roli appeared in two straight losses to the Oilers. The second of those two games saw Roloson relieve Calgary goalie Trevor Kidd after Kidd let four goals in the net. Roloson let another six in. The final score of that game was 10-1.
Roli has blanked St. Louis 3 times.

Interesting fact: Roloson has never won a game at all in his career against Toronto (0-5-0 3.01 GAA), Buffalo (0-3-1 2.47 GAA) and New Jersey (0-6-2 2.97 GAA).

The most interesting thing about these stats is the fact that Roloson (with 15 of 20 0.00 GAA games coming after losses) is competitive enough to fight back after adversity. His best games come after disappointment. That's the mark of a player who does not let losses bring him down and finds a way to make up for that.
One of a goalie's best tools is confidence. Roli appears to have enough confidence in himself to bounce back.
Call it Rebound Control.


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