As any Tip's fan who attended the last two games knows, it seems we've got a quality goaltender developing in young Shayne Barrie. Two games don't make or break a goalie, but it was certainly a promising start to what we hope is a long career in Everett.
Leland will be back in net this Friday against the Bruins and the Everett faithful will welcome him with open arms. Some fans have questioned whether we should continue to have Leland backstop the team since his performance has been so inconsistent, and there's no reason at all that we shouldn't.
Irving is a great, not good, goaltender who hit a rough patch. He didn't have a lot of help from his defense and he didn't play extraordinarily well, so he gave up some goals. He is not the reason we struggled early this season and he can return to his league-leading performance with just a few great games. It's not the time to panic and turn to an untested, young goaltender especially now that the team has finally started spending some time AWAY from our own goal!
That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Becanic experiment more with starting percentages for the two goalies (maybe having Barrie play more often than once every four or five games), especially if one or the other is riding a hot streak.
The Tips peaked too early last season and it showed during the playoffs. Now, with a mediocre 50% of the season behind us, we can start focusing on making a run that will carry us right through the playoffs. We shouldn't write off Leland Irving to be the backstop during that ride just yet...
Let's Go Tips!
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Thanks for doing this guys, I can now find my Tips news in one place.
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