zach fucale – McKeen's Hockey

Selecting Team Canada’s Top Four Goalies

McKeen's Hockey — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:56:05 +0000

After watching all six games of the Subway Super Series, I took some time this weekend to put myself in Ron Tugnutt’s and Kevin Prendergrast’s scouting shoes, and selected four goalies to attend Team Canada’s tryouts for the 2012 World Junior Championships.

Below are my selections, along with some scouting notes and insights on why I think they fit the bill for Team Canada. I also discussed the goalies below on The Pipeline Show last weekend, which you can listen to by clicking here.

Malcolm Subban: I think the starting job is clearly Subban’s to lose, and rightfully so. Only in his fifth year as a goaltender, the 18-year-old’s athletic blueprint is extremely impressive. His sheer speed, flexibility, and puck-stopping instincts were consistently on display in his 30 minutes of action in Game 3 of the Subway Super Series, just as it has been all season long in Belleville.

Malcolm’s natural traits like vision, balance, and eye-hand coordination proves he’s a gifted athlete, but he still has the solid technical base to lead Team Canada in the World Juniors. That was likely the main reason Boston drafted him in the first round last summer.

I also really like Subban’s glove hand positioning. It’s out in front of his body, but with the elbow tucked in and activated. If he sees it cleanly, he’s catching it, and that’s an important skill for a goalie to have in today’s game.

Subban tracks pucks well and seals the ice down low with strength and stability, and his wide stance allows him to build a wide butterfly wall on low shots, while still utilizing his reflexes to stop deflections or pounce on loose pucks. With great net coverage at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he also has plenty of swagger in his game, so I think he’ll embrace the pressure of leading Canada at the World Juniors.

Laurent Brossoit: The 19-year-old workhorse for the Oil Kings brings a solid combination of size and athleticism to the crease. His shutout in the 1-0 shootout win over Russia in Game 5 was considered (along with Andrey Makarov’s shutout) the most impressive performance in the tournament.

Brossoit deserves a spot because he brings a mature and composed mindset to the crease, and he’s starting to get hot at just the right time. Heading into the Subway Super Series, he was 3-1-0 with only seven goals allowed on 123 shots (.943 SV%).

What I like so much about his game is the decision-making and the adaptability. If he needs to fill space and rely on blocking pucks to make saves, he can do it. If he needs to rely on flexibility and make a timely reaction save, he can do it. He has good patience on his edges and knows how to stand up to make a save.

Brossoit also has a strong core and a lanky frame, so he can extend a foot while in the down position to take away space at the last moment. He can also make the crowd-pleasing reflex glove save by snaring pucks out of the air, and he can stay square to shooters by gaining depth in the crease, making himself bigger, and relying on that lanky frame to eliminate space in the upper and lower corners.

Laurent wasn’t very controlled or consistent in Game 6 against Russia, but his overall skill-set has him likely slated for not only a camp invite, but a potential spot as Subban’s backup.

Jordan Binnington: The cool, calm, and collected workhorse for the Owen Sound Attack is having a stellar season so far. In fact, he was just voted as the OHL’s Player of the Week after going 2-1-0 with two shutouts and a .956 save percentage. He’ll have his detractors since he allowed two goals in a botched 2-1 loss in Game 3, but he bounced back with a solid outing in Game 4.

The main thing to take away from Binnington is that he’s a smooth operator in goal. He’s a solid positional goalie that relies on his size to let pucks hit him, but he has good hands and instincts as well. When it comes to selecting goalies for a tournament like the World Juniors, the poise and even-keeled demeanor he brings goes a long way, and that’s why I feel he deserves a camp invite.

Zach Fucale: The toughest decision in my book was selecting the fourth goalie to attend camp. I narrowed it down to the two 1995-born goalies in Fucale and Eric Comrie, as both are clearly at the head of their class. In the end, I sided with Fucale, and here’s why.

In his 30 minutes of action against Team Russia, the only goal he allowed was on a shorthanded rush where a shot went off Nail Yakupov’s body and under the blocker. It was a tough and tricky goal to allow at the time, but Zach’s demeanor and body language didn’t change at all. He remained even-keeled in all areas, from rebound control to his ability to square up and seal holes.

That is one of Fucale’s shining traits – he seems to absorb everything, regardless of the situation. The more shots he absorbs, the more he controls the pace and the flow of the game, and the more it helps Team Canada dictate the game’s momentum.

Secondly, the 80 games he played last season allowed him to gain wisdom from experience that Comrie hasn’t yet gained. Fucale won a Gold Medal in the Ivan Hlinka Tournament over the summer, a tournament that was played on the Olympic-sized ice. To me, that’s an advantage worth noting, because it breeds a level of familiarity that can benefit Team Canada. Comrie was Fucale’s backup for that tournament, so while he did get some experience on the Olympic ice, it’s not as significant as Fucale’s performance in the event.

On the flip side, there are certainly plenty of good reasons why Comrie deserves to earn an invite to Team Canada’s training camp as well. Both goalies are exceptional for their age, and they will continue to be touted as the top goalies available in this summer’s draft.

But for the sake of this report, knowing I had to choose just four goalies for the World Juniors, I sided with Fucale.

Fucale Excels in the Economy of Movement

McKeen's Hockey — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:53:53 +0000

Today’s junior goaltenders focus a good portion of their technical training on the economy of movement.

Whether they are smaller goalies that need to control their raw athleticism, or they are bigger goalies that want to utilize their size more effectively, the economy of movement is a vital key to success at the higher levels. The economy of movement is also important because it helps goalies conserve energy, and not only over the course of a few periods, but over the course of an entire season.

But the economy of movement is not just a set of technical tools that allows a goalie to be in better position throughout a game; it’s also a specific mindset. This mindset is focused on moving as little as possible in order to always be set and square to shooters. If rebounds are allowed, that limited movement allows a goalie to make controlled follow-up saves, all while maximizing their net coverage.

In the few instances I’ve evaluated Zach Fucale, I believe no phrase reflects his overall game more than the economy of movement.

Last year’s workload is a great example. As a 16-year-old, Fucale played in 80 games between the QMJHL regular season (58), the playoffs (17), and the U-17 World Hockey Championships (five). That’s unheard of for a prospect at his age, but it gave him a chance to learn and understand a concept that many goalies don’t grasp until their early 20’s.

In a game last Friday night against Gatineau, I got a real good look at Fucale, and even though he was rarely tested, I think he’s capable of being one of the top four or five goalies selected in the 2013 NHL Draft. He still has a lot to learn and a long way to go in his overall development, but at his age, I really appreciated his calm and efficient butterfly style.

Knowing that Halifax had a dominant first line and entered the game as the top team in the Canadian Hockey League, I was interested to see how Fucale would handle the mental game. Playing on a dominant team makes the physical workload easier to handle, but it can be tougher to stay focused when facing sporadic quality scoring chances.

Aside from a shorthanded tally on a quick one-timer that beat him over the glove just 14 seconds into the second period, Fucale was picture perfect. Even after giving up the shorthanded goal that tied the game at 1-1, his confident demeanor never changed. He stayed relaxed, he continued to manage the puck very well, and he made the timely saves until Halifax blew it open in the third period.

Beyond his overall economy of movement, Fucale did a great job of taking shots in the belly and not allowing second chances. He did lose sight of the puck a few times when it was directly behind his goal, but he stayed centered in the crease and he didn’t over-amplify his movements. He also made a few good saves through screens, establishing his positioning and staying square despite the traffic.

Fucale’s stick placement on low plays was also quite effective. It was consciously utilized to actively cut off cross-crease passes, and then flipped to the backhand when sliding to cover the glove-side post. Every move he made with the stick was made with a purpose.

Another positive aspect of Fucale’s game was his ability to make saves look easy. It certainly helped that many shots came from the perimeter, but even on a few odd man rushes in the second period, there was no panic in his execution. He didn’t lunge out with his hands to reach for pucks at the wrong time, and he did a great job of letting pucks come to him in a patient and balanced manner.

Fucale’s biggest saves came in the second period when he displayed great timing coming across laterally on a few 2-on-1 rushes. On these plays, he didn’t push early or over-slide his angles, and due to his sound positioning, shots would hit his pads and die, thus giving him the chance to quickly and effortlessly cover them up.

Despite the score or the situation or the lack of action, Fucale displayed the same composure and efficiency on the seven shots he faced in each period. He went on to stop 20 of 21 shots for his 14th win of the season on a relatively easy night for the Mooseheads.

Knowing that Fucale was the only 16-year-old starting goalie in the entire CHL last season, the experience he gained at such a young age really put his development on a fast track. To play in 80 games last season, with more than 25-percent of those coming in the playoffs or internationally, it’s safe to say he had a huge advantage over other top-level prospects his age.

It’s important to note that behind a dominant Halifax team, Fucale has faced more than 25 shots in just six of his first 17 games this season, but he’s also 3-0 when facing 30 or more shots. So while the workload may be low, the mental and technical lessons he’ll learn from Halifax goalie coach Eric Raymond will still constitute quality development.

Behind a solid showing in 30 minutes of action during the Subway Super Series, and with a strong start for the Mooseheads, maintaining that consistency will be the key as he continues to build upon his reputation of being a durable, mature, and economical goalie. By doing so, he should end up as one of the top goalies available in the 2012 NHL Draft.

If you would like to get to know Fucale a little better, here’s an interview I conducted with him over the summer for The Goalie Guild.