Dave Stathos, Men's Hockey Goaltender

Junior Dave Stathos is the goalie for the men's hockey team. He recently sat down with 'Prince' Senior Writer Clark Thiemann.

'Prince': When you were starting to play hockey, why did you become a goalie?

Dave Stathos: I actually played forward between the ages of four and six and actually was pretty good. I was the captain of our team, but one day our goalie got sick and I played and got a shutout.

Then the year after I played goalie and everyone was telling me I was dumb. They thought I was such a good scorer and forward that I shouldn't change. I always loved goalie, though. Every time we played street hockey I played goalie and I had so much fun my first year that I just kept on going.

P: What's your favorite rink to play in?

DS: As far as atmosphere I really like playing at Cornell. I find it really easy to focus there since the crowd is so loud. My problem is with rinks that are pretty quiet where you can hear yourself think. You go to a place like Cornell where you are so focused the entire game it feels like your intensity gets turned on automatically.

P: Is it fun playing with the big crowds cheering their team on?

DS: At a rink like Vermont everything is optimistic. Whether you're a visiting team or a local team playing there they cheer for the game. At Cornell they pick on players and they have chants against the other teams and the goalie.

P: As the goalie you face most of those chants, don't you?

DS: That's one of the great aspects of college hockey. Every rink you go to - no matter who you are in net - if you're the visiting goalie, they rip on you.

P: Does that ever bother you?

DS: It doesn't really bother me. I know it bothers my little brother, though. He's 20 years old and whenever he comes to the games he wants to pick fights with people up in the stands.

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P: Do the students here bring a different energy to the home games?

DS: Yeah, they make a difference. That and the band. The band brings a lot to the game.

The best situation is when we're at home, the band is there and the student section is packed. Those are great weekends to play.

P: When you were young, did you look up to the goaltenders or just hockey players in general?

DS: Pretty much all goalies. I was a card collector and my friends used to just give me all their goalie cards.

My favorite goalie when I was young was Clint Malarchuk. He played for the Quebec Nor-diques and he retired a couple years after getting his throat cut.

I actually still have the video of the news from that night. He got his jugular vein cut from a skate on the ice. I was eight or nine years old at the time and my mom actually wanted me to stop playing right then. He was my favorite goalie and he almost died playing hockey. Nothing that bad has ever happened when I've been playing, though.

P: Do you see yourself as one of the leaders on this team?

DS: The goalie position is so important. You can win the game or lose the game by yourself on any given night. Whether you had an awesome night or everyone's telling you it's not your fault, it doesn't matter to you because you're only one or two saves away from winning the game.

You also have to look right in the locker room. If you're a forward and you're getting dressed before a game and you see the goalie has a bad attitude, the team's in trouble. I kind of have to be the rock of the team.

P: Is there ever a shot that you feel like you have no chance on or do you always feel like you can make the save?

DS: I always feel I can make the save. There are so many things involved in making the save that it's not always the speed. There's reading the play and seeing the play develop.

It's not always that I wasn't fast enough to get across the net so I had no chance. Before that there's another process. You can leave early and get there in time. Sometimes you just have to guess, and then you just have to make a better guess.

P: Your style is fun to watch. Is it also a good style to play?

DS: I'm not the most textbook positional goalie there is. Using your speed instead of just playing the angles can be tricky because on nights you don't show up you're going to let a couple goals in.

P: Is it fun to make one of those spectacular saves and listen to the crowd cheer for you?

DS: I especially like making glove saves, since you see the puck right after you make the save. It's also intimidating to the other player. Other kinds of saves, the puck could have just hit you, but with a glove save it doesn't just hit you. You saved it square. So I like to make the save and just look the other player in the eye. I think it's pretty intimidating.