Axemen First Half Questions Answered – Goaltending

On Sunday, in our first of five questions answered by the Axemen in the first half of the AUS season, we looked at the question of defence. Today, we look at question number 2 on the minds of many AUS enthusiasts for the Acadia team heading into the 2014-15 season, goaltending.

Last season, Evan Mosher led the Axemen to the AUS championship and a birth in the CIS University Cup tournament. Along the way, Mosher was named a first team AUS all-star and a second team CIS all-star, and a nominee for the CIS top goaltender. Mosher graduated and moved on to the ECHL’s Quad City Mallards this season, leaving questions in goal for Acadia, how do you replace arguably the second best goalie in the country?

The Axemen recruited former QMJHL Gatineau Olympiques and Acadie-Bathurst Titan starting goalie, Robert Steeves, and went in to training camp relying heavily on second year goalie Brandon Glover. Glover was selected to the AUS all-rookie team last season after posting a 4-2 record in 7 games with a .882 save % and a 3.13 goals against average. Impressive numbers for a first year backup, but would he be able to fill the shoes left by the departure of Mosher?

Let’s look at his numbers thus far after the 16 games that the Axemen have played; Glover has started 13 of those games, going 9-3-1 with a .920 Save % and a 2.14 Goals Against Average. If the 6ft 5 inch tall, former WHL netminder can continue those impressive first half numbers over the second half of the season, the stats will sit nearly identical with Mosher’s previous season’s all-Canadian stats. Glover along with Saint Mary’s Anthony Peters have arguably been the two top netminders in the AUS through the first half of the season.

Robert Steeves has appeared in three games on the season, all against the St Thomas Tommies, posting a perfect 3-0 record. He has struggled somewhat in the victories with a 4.99 Goals Against, and a .837 Save %, but no doubt the shortage of playing time is a factor for a first year goaltender, especially after playing in 49 games last season in junior. With that being said, an undefeated record through half of the season for a freshman goaltender is definitely a positive for the Axemen.

The two goalies have given Acadia a chance to win in every game this season. Evidence of this is in the scores; of the Axemen five losses through the first 16 games, one was an overtime defeat, three were one goal losses, and one loss was by a 2 goal margin. There have been no blowouts or off nights for the Acadia goalies. The goaltending has done what every coach hopes of their goal keepers – give their team a chance to win each and every game. The Axemen will need this to continue in the second half of the season in order to finish on top of the AUS.

Question Answered.

Submitted by Chris Richards