Goalies have a reputation for being crazy, insane, or a little “off”. What drives an individual to jump into the position? Is it an inherit personality trait? An unfortunate accident? I have my own reasons, of course, but I wondered what makes other people do it? I asked a few goalie friends of mine, and got some interesting responses.
It was an accident. Most of the people I talked to were former defensemen. Me too, I suppose. One day the goalie can’t show up, or the team loses a goalie, and the next thing you know you’re volunteering to strap on the pads. I find that you either take to it right away, or you don’t like it.
They love the thrill. Being able to trash-talk to friends about stopping all their “weak” shots is certainly fun if you’ve got friends that can handle it. (Hehe!) And there’s the ecstatic feeling of making that one stupendous save that makes everyone in the arena cheer. I’m sure every athlete regardless of sport or position knows what that feels like.
Bring on the pressure. Probably the most logic-defying reason to play goalie is actually enjoying being the last line of defense for the team. A player can not score goals and the team can still at least tie game, a defenseman can miss a check or a pass and the team can still win, but if a goalie errors more than once, it could easily spell defeat. A goalie is relies on the skill of his team to win the game as much as the team relies on the goalie to play to perfection as much as possible.
Personally, I’m a mix of all of the above. I started playing hockey when I was 22 and played defense my first year because I was one of two people on the team who could kind of skate backwards. Our goalie announced she was leaving at the end of the season and I volunteered to be goalie next year if we didn’t find another one. I played street hockey that summer in preparation, as well as some pickup here and there. I took to it right away and absolutely loved the pressure, the glory and the action. Don’t get me wrong, my team was horrible, but it certainly gave me a lot of practice. 
Thanks to joecwik, joeboughner, hockeycardshow, kezbat, GhostOtaku, alaskanchick and jasonboche for their responses.
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I used to play goalie (soccer and handball) and I loved it because: the buck stopped with me. I was the last defense mechanism for the team and there wasn’t a better feeling in the world. Nothing can replace the “you have to get past me bro’ to score” and I am going to make it as hard as hell. You just keep on trying and trying and trying. I miss it! Keep on trucking!
That was a fun read! As the wife and mother of goalies it’s nice to see other goalie’s reasons for putting themselves out there like that. I can tell you, being the mom of the goalie is rough enough when the team isn’t doing well. I can’t imagine what the pressure is like on the goalie him/herself.
OMFG I’m mentioned in a goaliegirl.com blog! This is awesome!
I grew up playing hockey but I was always a winger. My older brother was a goalie, though, so there was always lots of gear around for road hockey and I loved playing there.
A few years ago I started playing road hockey with friends and realized I still really loved my turns in net. So I invested in some cheap gear and found a few ball hockey leagues.
I still haven’t moved to ice hockey but I love playing goal for ball hockey games – some of which get really competitive and pretty intense. I like the pressure, somewhat, but I also love the mental side of the position. Finding the angle, deciding how far to challenge depending on the position of the second attacker… oh, and I LOVE the rush when you decide to try to beat the attacker to a loose puck inside the blueline. Commit to that poke check and go.
There is something absolutely soul-satisfying when a forward breaks in all alone, makes his (or her) top move, and you shut them down making it look easy. When they thrash the boards with their stick, screaming out loud at the injustice, you just know you did it right.
Perhaps that’s a bit cruel, but so it a fricking foghorn and 35cm lit up numbers with a flashing red light tracking the mistakes you make.
I haven’t played in years, but for me, I was always my older brothers target. When I started to play, and the team passed the pads around the dressing room, it was soon discovered I had gotten pretty good at it. Although truth be told, I have the personality for it and always loved doing it.
… and in our league – goalies play for FREE (the team picks up the cost). I’m sure that doesn’t hurt :0~