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Karl Goehring shines for Blue Jackets


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LITTLE-KNOWN GOALTENDER SHINES IN RELIEF

by Jason Simmonds, Summerside Journal-Pioneer

Filed 09.19.2002

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. -- Little-known goaltender Karl Goehring caught

everyone's attention during the Columbus Blue Jackets' Blue and White

intrasquad game Wednesday night.

The five-foot-seven, 150-pound native of Apple Valley, Minn., stopped

22 of 23 shots to help lead the Blue Team to a 5-2 triumph before over

2,500 fans at Cahill Stadium in Summerside. Goehring relieved starter

Marc Denis at 10:22 of the second period.

"It was a well-played game and both teams came out wanting to give a

good performance for the fans of P.E.I.," said Goehring. "It was a lot

of fun out there."

Goehring says he felt he was ready mentally, but shortly after entering

the game David Ling rang a high slapshot off his face mask. "I got a

wakeup call from David Ling," said Goehring with a smile.

"From there I kind of just focused on my job and these guys are

obviously great players in front of me. It's fun to be here and I'm

having a great time."

Goehring, 24, split last season between the Syracuse Crunch of the

American Hockey League and Dayton Bombers of the East Coast Hockey

League.

"He's had a great camp and has been working real hard," said Blue

Jackets assistant coach Gord Murphy. "He has a great attitude out here.

It's real nice to see a fine young guy like that come in and have such a

good game."

Goehring was especially sharp in the third period when the White Team

went 0-for-4 on the powerplay and stopped 10 of 11 shots. The Blue Team

went into the final 20 minutes with a 4-1 lead.

"Actually Marc talked to me before going out for the third," said

Goehring. "He told me, 'Be ready now because this game is not over and

they're going to come out with everything here.'

"It got me focused and again it was a lot of fun. It was a high tempo

game tonight. It was great."

Goehring caught the eye of head coach Dave King, who watched the game

from the press box with associate coach Newell Brown and goaltending

coach Rick Wamsley.

"This guy has played well tonight (Wednesday)," remarked King after

Goehring made one of his outstanding third-period saves. "He plays

bigger than he is."

Goehring is the least recognizable of the four goaltenders at camp this

week. Denis and Pascal Leclaire are the team's present and future

starters, and Jean-Francois Labbe played with the now-defunct AHL's

P.E.I. Senators in the mid-1990s and has some brief NHL experience.

"You could say he's (Goehring) unknown around the hockey world, but

he's not unknown in our organization," said Murphy. "Our scouts have

seen him quite a bit and the coaches know him a little bit. He was at

the prospects camp in the summer, so he's somebody that we know and are

real happy to have."

:D

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  • 1 month later...

Karl is the # 1 Goalie in the AHL check the League Stats he is on top. Here is a good game recap from Saturday's Game.

Way to go Karl. This is what we need to go all the way a guy to take over the games.

Goehring rises to the challenge

Backup goalie makes the most of his start as Crunch shut out Penguins.

November 10, 2002

By Lindsay Kramer

Staff writer

Syracuse Crunch goalie Karl Goehring continues to turn his understudy's job into a starring role.

Goehring made 31 stops Saturday and was supported by goals from defenseman Dan Watson and left winger Mathieu Darche to pace the Crunch to a 2-0 triumph over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

Goehring got the start ahead of No. 1 goalie Pascal Leclaire after Leclaire was yanked Friday during the Crunch's 5-3 loss to Chicago. Last year, Goehring helped keep the Syracuse season afloat by playing well in the absence of injured starter J.F. Labbe.

"When you're a goaltender, the main thing is you have to be ready for anything," said Goehring, a second-year pro. "Going up the ranks, you know it's a pyramid. Spots are tougher and tougher to have."

Yet Goehring, a 5-foot-7 bouncing molecule between the pipes, keeps elbowing his way into the rotation. He is extremely entertaining to watch, using his strobe-light quickness to make what look like openings vanish in mid-air.

He stated his case early Saturday, denying Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a pair of short-handed breakaways in the first. In the second, he turned away Penguins right winger Konstantin Koltsov on a breakaway. In the third, while protecting a 1-0 lead, he stoned Penguins center Matt Hussey on a re-direction just outside the crease with 18 minutes, 29 seconds left and then frustrated Koltsov again by snaring his bid from the left side of the crease with 9:34 left.

"You love playing the game. You deal with whatever comes your way," Goehring said.

"He's real fun to watch," Watson said. "He likes to make the big save and he's not afraid to show off. But you know what? That's confidence. That's something he needs every game."

The Crunch defense helped Goehring fashion the shutout even though it was down two regulars, Trent Cull, who missed the game with a sore back, and Radim Bicanek, who left the game after the first period with a shoulder injury.

Watson broke up the goalie duel between Goehring and the Penguins' Sebastien Caron with 2:52 left in the second. Crunch defenseman Adam Borzecki hustled to keep the puck in the zone on the left point, and he poked it to Watson above the right circle. Watson then sent a shot through traffic and past Caron for his first goal of the year.

"I don't score a lot of goals. I just want to put it on net and create an opportunity for someone," Watson said. "I just watched it go all the way in."

Syracuse 2, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 0 umbfPenguins 000-0Crunch 011-2

First Period - Scoring-None. Penalties-Reich, Syr (hooking), : 35; Lupaschuk, WBS (holding), 3:44; Leroux, WBS (interference), 6:03; Manning, Syr (hooking), 7:49; Hussey, WBS (interference), 10:38; Schill, Syr (interference), 14:11.

Second Period - Scoring-1, Syracuse, Watson 1, (Borzecki,Moran), 17:08. Penalties-Scuderi, WBS (holding), 4:55; Sloan, Syr (elbowing), 8:58; Bellefeuille, Syr (hooking), 15:57; MacDonald, WBS (tripping), 16:12; Manning, Syr (holding), 19:40.

Third Period - Scoring-2, Syracuse, Darche 6, (Ling,Westcott), 19:48, (en). Penalties-Buckley, WBS (interference), 7:01; Westcott, Syr (hooking), 10:27.

Shots on Goal - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 12-7-12-31; Syracuse, 11-12-4-27.

Power Play Opportunities - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 0 of 7; Syracuse, 0 of 6.

Goalies - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Caron (3-7-1), out 19:21 of third, return 19:48, 26 shots-25 saves; Syracuse, Goehring (1-1-0), 31 shots-31 saves.

A-5,393.

Referee - Bob Langdon;Linesmen-Brian Lemon,B.J. Ringrose.

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More stats about Karl from the Syracuse Crunch Website...

Way to go Karl

:D:0:0:0

GOEHRING SHINES FOR CRUNCH: Goaltender Karl Goehring took advantage of his second start of the season on Saturday, November 9, recording his first shutout of the season and second of his career as Syracuse defeated Wilkes- Barre/Scranton 2-0. Goehring made 31 saves in the victory. Entering this week, Goehring leads all American Hockey League goaltenders with a 1.53 goals against average and is second in the league with a .944 save percentage. Goehring has appeared in a total of five games for the Crunch this season with a 1-1-0 record. A native of Apple Valley, Minnesota, Goehring is the Crunch

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Karl nearly got another shutout tonight, giving up a PP goal with three minutes left in the 3rd. Sounds like the ref made a bad call on the penalty too. So Anderson takes away a goal from Zach and another ref calls a penalty that costs Goehring his 3rd straight shutout!! Stupid refs!!! :D:0

Karl did get the Crunch record for most consecutive shutout minutes with 197:58, though. :0

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  • 2 weeks later...

Karl,

Continues to shine..

AHL Shutout Leader

Syracuse's Karl Goehring posted his fourth shutout in his last five starts, making 26 saves as the Crunch beat Hamilton on Sunday, 1-0. Goehring (5-1-0) has allowed just one goal in his last 320 minutes and 18 seconds of work and just six goals in nearly 22 periods this season, and his goals against average is now a minuscule 0.82 on the year.

:angry:???:p

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Karl Goehring leads all American Hockey League goaltenders in save percentage, goals-against average and shutouts, but he has lousy numbers.

Those being his height and weight -- which is listed at 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds (although, teammates say he's more like 5-6).

In the current hockey climate, many goalies are just mountains on skates. A player the size of Goehring falls into the category of prospects who have to prove they can play, as opposed to those who have to prove they can't.

The second-year pro and AHL rookie, is proving a lot with some stunning play for the Syracuse Crunch. He recently completed a five-game stretch during which he stopped 145 of 146 shots, including four shutouts. The only goal Goehring allowed was by Philadelphia's Kirby Law with 3:14 remaining in the third game of the stretch.

"I'm not really doing anything differently,'' said Goehring, comparing his play with last year, when he shuttled back and forth between Syracuse and Dayton of the ECHL. "It's just one of those unique situations where the team comes together, and I've been fortunate to get the bounces."

The bounces seem to go his way an awful lot. Goehring, an All-American at North Dakota, played well in both Syracuse and Dayton last year, leading Dayton to the Kelly Cup final.

So it could be more than just luck. It might even have something to do with his size.

"One of the things I focus on," he said, "is watching the puck. They teach goalies to look between all the legs and get low to find the puck. And sometimes when you're smaller, it's easier to do that."

Goehring's stint in Syracuse last season was definitely being in the right place at the right time. He got to practice with J.F. Labbe, the best minor-league goalie of this era. Labbe has always been considered a "small" goalie, though at 5-10, 175, he makes Goehring look like a welterweight.

"It definitely helped being here with (Labbe) last year," Goehring said. "We are such similar heights, and it was important to see how successful he was, and be able to pick up on the little things he did, the positioning, and how got himself ready to play night after night."

Law's goal snapped Goehring's shutout streak at 197:58, a bit shy of Johnny Bower's AHL record of 249:51 set in the 1957-58 season. Bower was a big goalie for his time, 5-11, 189, but a lot of the all-time AHL greats match up well with Goehring. Gilles Mayer, second in career shutouts, was 5-6, 135. Marcel Paille, first in games played, was 5-8, 175. Bobby Perreault, third in shutouts, was 5-8, 170.

Goehring doesn't mind being compared with goalies from the past when it comes to shutout records or size, but that's as far as it goes. Don't expect to see him peeking through a forest of legs without a mask on.

"Oh, no, that's way too much," Goehring said. "I don't know how any of those guys ever played without a mask. Just thinking about what it was like in the old days is hard."

And, these days, so is putting a puck past the hottest, and smallest, goalie in the AHL

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