Who should the US start in goal for QF's? DiPietro or Esche?

[lux_interior]

Personally I would start DiPietro. The team played better in front of him, even though Esche made more stops, and had less help than DiPietro. I just think mentally it would be better to start DiPietro, since the team won with him in net.

Thoughts.

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[iAvs]

Not only would I start DiPietro, but I wouldn't touch the roster that won yesterday. Hull can sit his old ass on the bench for the rest of the tournament.

 

[blah]

Ridiculous.

 

[arrbez]

gotta stick with the guys you win with. and yeah, hull is lazy and good for one thing and one thing only: the one timer

 

[MOGiLNY]

how can you NOT start Esche?

 

[Sotnos]

how can you NOT start Esche?

Agreed. No offense to DiPietro, but Esche is cooler under pressure and less mistake prone. Esche more than earned his job.

 

[Jacques Plante]

Esche hands down.

He's been the only reason the US hasn't been blown away in their first 2 games. He made some amazing stops and was consistent all the way through. You start Esche and you know he will pull through.

 

[Postman]

I would say Esche simply because of the amazing way he played in the first two games, even though DiPietro offers a little bit more by eliminating the opposing team's dump and chase game, along with creating offensive rushes with his long passes. He created about 3-4 decent chances last night.

 

[Le Golie]

I would say Esche simply because of the amazing way he played in the first two games, even though DiPietro offers a little bit more by eliminating the opposing team's dump and chase game, along with creating offensive rushes with his long passes. He created about 3-4 decent chances last night.

Postman hit the nail on the head. Many people don't realize how much Dipietro controls his zone and eliminates scoring chances before they even get a chance to form. Teams really struggle to gain the zone with him in net, they can't dump and chase at all because it ends up coming back at them before their forchecker can get to the corner.

Think back to the exhibition games, look how many shots on goal Dipietro faced in one or two periods compared to the other goalie he split with, he is a very tough goalie to play against before it's even time to worry about shooting at him.

He played a good game yesterday, no jitters, sent the US on a couple of odd man rushes and looked extremely poised, no shakey moments at all.

All that being said, I think the US will start Esche.

 

[arrbez]

esche has generally been amazing, but dipietro looked solid, played the puck well, and won the game. esche looks a little awkward with shoot ins and long shots in general sometimes, but has been unconcious at stopping the scoring chances, so it's a toss up for me.

 

[Shoalzie]

how can you NOT start Esche?

I would start him. He faced the two best teams in the pool and kept them from getting blown out the rink. DiPietro looked solid yesterday but played inferior opposition...no disrespect to the Slovaks.

 

[ehc73]

I would start Esche. Maybe now that the Americans are going to work, Esche will only have to bail them out in case a slipup happens instead of all the live long day.

 

[CREW99AW]

Personally I would start DiPietro. The team played better in front of him, even though Esche made more stops, and had less help than DiPietro. I just think mentally it would be better to start DiPietro, since the team won with him in net.

Thoughts.

Esche's been so impressive,you have to go back to him.

I do agree with DC and Postman that DiPietro's stickhandling,has played a big role in limiting the opposition's chances.

 

[NYI]

Being an islander fan i say Dipi

It's wierd how during the exhibition and torunament the team seems to play better infront of him, because he really hasn't been challenged unlike Esche.

As for the comment about Hull, i wouldn't play him anymore either. If this was 5 years ago, sure you would use him on the 1st line, but his 3rd line spot is better off used by somebody grittier(like Langenbrunnier or Blake)

 

[LoudmouthHemskyFan#2]

Conklin hands down....

 

[iAvs]

Esche has been solid, probably the best goalie on the tournament. BUT... the US team plays better in fron of DiPietro than they do in front of Esche. Plus, DiPietro looked solid in the win. Stick with the winning roster, IMO.

 

[ALF AmericanLionsFan]

Esche. Dipietro played good last night ,but Esche has stood on his head for this team and he had nothing to do with the first two losses.

 

[Jormungandr]

Esche, wouldn't even think twice about it. Yes DiPietro is better at controlling his zone with the dump-ins and all that but the fact is Russia, who the US is most likely to face, is not a dump in chase team. Russia likes to carry the puck in the zone so using DiPietro on the basis that he nullifies the dump-in is moot.

 

[Douggy]

Agreed. No offense to DiPietro, but Esche is cooler under pressure and less mistake prone. Esche more than earned his job.

Crappy goals let in by Robert Esche in this tournament: 2

Crappy goals let in by Rick DiPietro in this tournament: 0

I counted Kovalevs dazler as a crappy goal because even though it was a good move and pretty to watch, Esche totally owned himself by floping down on the ice before Al-Kov made his move. Anyone who's ever played goal knows this is not the right thing to do.

DiPietro is the future in goal for the US and they simply played better in front of him, regardless of the level of the opposition.

 

[ExplosiveLEAFman]

Crappy goals let in by Robert Esche in this tournament: 2

Crappy goals let in by Rick DiPietro in this tournament: 0

I counted Kovalevs dazler as a crappy goal because even though it was a good move and pretty to watch, Esche totally owned himself by floping down on the ice before Al-Kov made his move. Anyone who's ever played goal knows this is not the right thing to do.

DiPietro is the future in goal for the US and they simply played better in front of him, regardless of the level of the opposition.

You count kovalevs goal as "crap" but the goal dipetro gave up where he practically could have been given an assist because of the horrible rebound he gave up was hard earned.


Even assuming you are correct, I'll take 2 crappy goals against close to 80 shots from the likes of canada and russia as opposed to one off of 18 shots.

 

[NYI]

Yes DiPietro is better at controlling his zone with the dump-ins and all that but the fact is Russia, who the US is most likely to face, is not a dump in chase team. Russia likes to carry the puck in the zone so using DiPietro on the basis that he nullifies the dump-in is moot.

if russia beats canada, then russia would be first, no matter what happens in tommorows game

 

[lux_interior]

You count kovalevs goal as "crap" but the goal dipetro gave up where he practically could have been given an assist because of the horrible rebound he gave up was hard earned.

Huh? I thought the goal DiPietro gave up was on a shot/pass to Nagy which he one-timed into the net.

I'd start DiPietro because the team played better in front of him, he's a better puck-handler, and he has the "swagger."

 

[paxtang]

Huh? I thought the goal DiPietro gave up was on a shot/pass to Nagy which he one-timed into the net.

I'd start DiPietro because the team played better in front of him, he's a better puck-handler, and he has the "swagger."

The goal DiPietro gave up was because of a terrible rebound he gave up.

DiPietro is no doubt a better puckhandler than Esche, but Esche is by no means bad at it at all, in fact he's quite good at it. He also has as much of a "swagger" or cockiness that Dipietro has, and neither of the edges that DiPietro holds should be enough, IMO to place him over Esche, seeing as how Esche has turned in some great performances. The fact that the US finally woke up at the same time DiPietro started to me is more because of the skaters that were brought in, not because of DiPietro. It wasn't like the US was dead, and suddenly a great play by DiPietro turned the momentum. He didn't play poorly, but the win was a product of the teams play, and can't be contributed to anything DiPietro did.

 

[Postman]

The goal DiPietro gave up was because of a terrible rebound he gave up.

DiPietro is no doubt a better puckhandler than Esche, but Esche is by no means bad at it at all, in fact he's quite good at it. He also has as much of a "swagger" or cockiness that Dipietro has, and neither of the edges that DiPietro holds should be enough, IMO to place him over Esche, seeing as how Esche has turned in some great performances. The fact that the US finally woke up at the same time DiPietro started to me is more because of the skaters that were brought in, not because of DiPietro. It wasn't like the US was dead, and suddenly a great play by DiPietro turned the momentum. He didn't play poorly, but the win was a product of the teams play, and can't be contributed to anything DiPietro did.

I would agree it was a bad rebound, that's DiPietro's biggest weakness (but he's only 22). However, that said, he was hung out to dry on that one. Both Martin and the other defender (I don't recall who it was) were both on one Slovakian forward infront of the net, and neither were there to clear the rebound. DiPietro had no chance on the pass to Nagy.

IMO, Esche is ahead of DiPietro right now in terms of puck stopping ability, but that's to be expected since Rick is so young. And with the way Esche played in the first two games, I would give the job to him. But I wouldn't downplay Rick's contribution vs. Slovakia at all, as he came up big when the team needed him, and his stick handling is way above Esche's (that can't even be argued, as teams don't adjust their strategies around Esche's stickhandling like they do with Rick).

I also wouldn't underestimate Rick's swagger, as it's probably his most publicized attribute. Though he's settled down a lot since he came into the league. He'll get his time though, as he's definitely US's future in nets. I'd venture to guess that he'll be ready for starting duty by the time the next international tourney comes around.

 

[Sotnos]

Crappy goals let in by Robert Esche in this tournament: 2

Crappy goals let in by Rick DiPietro in this tournament: 0

....

DiPietro is the future in goal for the US and they simply played better in front of him, regardless of the level of the opposition.

Esche also faced a LOT more shots and played two games as opposed to one, so I'm not seeing the relevance here. DiPietro didn't get much work because the team did play better in front of him, which could be attributed to them finally getting their act together instead of some type of "they feel more confident with Rick in goal" scenario.

How quickly everyone has blocked from their minds that DiPietro put a clearing attempt right on the stick of a Slovak player, I can't be the only one who saw that. That's the type of "rookie mistake" that DiPietro makes, and the type of thing I don't want to see. His decision making will improve as he gets older, but right now he takes too many chances IMO.

We have the same situation in Tampa with our goalies (puck stopper vs. puckhandler with the team frequently playing much better in front of the stronger puckhandler) and I'd rather see the puck stopper start most games. Whatever gives you the best chance to win.