Do We Have the Right Men in Net for Team USA Hockey?

About a month ago, Team USA GM Don Waddell chose the roster for the US Olympic Hockey team for the Winter Olympics. Three goaltenders were chosen to represent the United States: Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders, John Grahame of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Robert Esche of the Philadelphia Flyers. To me, there was one glaring omission: Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres. First, some background on Miller’s stats. Miller’s record this year is 10-5 with a GAA of 2.37. I’ll also mention that Miller happens to play on one of the bigger surprises at the midpoint of the season in the Sabres. The drawback: Miller broke his thumb earlier in the year and missed significant time.

Now, I’ll look at the players chosen on Team USA. First up, we look at Rick DiPietro. DiPietro is barely above .500 with a 13-12 record. His GAA? 3.45!! That’s one more goal allowed per game than Miller!

The head-to-head matchups with Miller and the Sabres have been dreadful. DiPietro got shelled on opening day, allowing 5 goals to the Sabres offense in a 6-4 loss (one goal on an empty net).

The Sabres and Islanders met again on October 29th and DiPietro got pulled early after allowing 3 goals on 9 shots. The result was another 6-4 victory. He did not take the loss. Miller grabbed the win, winning the only 2 head-to-head matchups with DiPietro this season. Clearly, Miller overshadowed DiPietro.

Now, we turn to Tampa Bay’s John Grahame. He has only one more win than DiPietro, with the same amount of losses – a 16-14 record. The GAA is better (2.93) than DiPietro’s.

As far as head-to-head matchups go, Miller has outplayed Grahame twice so far this year. On October 13th, Miller and the Sabres won 4-3 in a shootout. Miller foiled the two Lightning skaters, while Grahame faced the Sabres skaters. Each of those skaters scored.

On December 23rd, Miller and the Sabres won 4-1 over the Lightning and John Grahame. Miller faced three more shots than Grahame did (30-27) but allowed just one goal, while Grahame allowed three. Score another one for Miller. To date: Miller 2, Grahame 0.

Not much can be said about Robert Esche except that he has been injured, like Miller, for part of this season. However, his 11-4 record and 3.14 GAA prove to me that he is worthy of his spot.

So, in head-to-head matchups with team USA goaltenders, Miller is 4-0. Does that say something?

The icing on the cake: Miller and the Sabres beating Waddell’s Atlanta Thrashers club 4-1 on December 30th. Miller was amazing in goal and he made Waddell and his USA goaltending choices look foolish.

NOTE: DiPietro went down with an injury last week and only time will tell whether he will be good to go for Team USA. Stay tuned…