I think pretty highly of Ryan Miller. Above all the pedestrian numbers and critics and other nonsense, is the fact that he’s a winning goaltender. He may let in the occasional weak goal, especially late in the game when his team is ahead by safe margin, but when the game is on the line, Ryan Miller always comes through. I’d rather have a goaltender like that, who statistically is not on par with the elite goaltenders of the league, than a goalie who shuts out poor teams and lets in four goals against elite teams. Ryan Miller gives you a chance in every game he plays while still having the ability to steal a game or two. He’s young and getting better.
He’s also a very focused athlete. The guy mediates before games and has a reputation as someone who takes practice very seriously. I can understand why teams would consider bumping Miller to try and take away from his focus.
In my eyes though, there’s a big difference between the contact that took place on the play in which Miller was injured and the strategical contact that teams use to try and distract Miller. I’ve watched the play about 20 times and personally, the following is how I feel.
I’m pretty certain that Gomez could have avoided contact. With that being said however, I don’t blame Millers injury on Gomez in the least bit. These guys are competitors and the game is played at such a high speed, it’s ridiculous to think that Gomez is going to jump out of Miller’s way especially since you consider that the puck was just out of his reach. He has a right to be going after that puck and if Miller didn’t come out of his net to swat it around the boards, Gomez would have been able to easily retrieve it.
Injuries happen all the time in hockey. They certainly occur less frequently with goaltenders. When they do happen to goalies, it’s almost always a freak accident like a puck striking a gap between pads or the stretching of a muscle. I definitely consider Miller’s injury a freak accident. Looking at the replay, it’s hard for me to understand just how he twisted his ankle. I know that the skates goalies wear are not very supportive of the ankles. For those that don’t know, the boots are very low cut which allow for greater lateral movement. But Miller didn’t even twist the ankle that Gomez bumped into.
As far as the response. It’s ridiculous to me that in a professional league, where there are two referees on the ice at all times, players are expected to police every nuance of the game themselves. It’s only because the referee’s miss so many calls that players are expected to respond. If players see something they are unhappy about, especially when it’s an injury, they’re expected to call upon the most primitive part of their minds and respond. Ryan’s hurt!? We must hurt them back! Ridiculous.
Now when it comes to bumping Miller as a strategy, a response is necessary. A situation like that is an example where players must respond. Someone needs to put someone else on their backside. Take a penalty, throw a punch, do whatever it takes to make the other team understand that bumping Miller intentionality is a great way to collect a few more bruises.
And just so I’m covering all the bases, Chris Neil’s hit on Drury was completely different. In my opinion that was a deliberate elbow. The referees did nothing about it so Lindy Ruff and the forth line responded. Chris Neal’s hit was a blow to the head of a player who didn’t have the puck.