Nolan Maier makes a stop in goal for the Blades. |
As a 16-year-old rookie in the 2017-18 campaign, the
Yorkton, Sask., product joined the Saskatoon Blades and racked up a string of impressive
performances including a run of winning 10 straight games.
He became a WHL starting netminder as a 16-year-old rookie,
which is not very common in the current era of major junior hockey.
Maier finished out his rookie campaign posting a 23-17-2
record, a 3.31 goals against average, a .895 save percentage and two shutouts.
There were times that season you could argue he was one of
the top five netminders in the WHL.
Last August, Maier joined Blades teammate and star centre
Kirby Dach on Canada’s under-18 team that won gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup
held jointly in Edmonton and Red Deer.
Going into last season, it seemed like Maier was going to be
a sure bet to be a prospect that was picked in the NHL Entry Draft coming up on
June 21 and 22 in Vancouver, B.C.
Still, it seems like the attention given to Maier from professional scouts is lukewarm at best.
Nolan Maier has put together two stellar seasons with the Blades. |
Still, it seems like the attention given to Maier from professional scouts is lukewarm at best.
Maier cracked NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings for
North America goaltenders at the 22nd spot.
That was after he had a stellar sophomore WHL campaign where
he posted a 36-10-6 record, a 2.64 goals against average, a .910 save
percentage and four shutouts.
Thanks to Maier’s efforts, the Blades finished fourth
overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 45-17-8 record and made the
post-season for the first time since 2013.
Maier kept up his impressive play in the playoffs helping
the Blades advance to the second round.
In Saskatoon’s 10 post-season contests,
Maier posted a 6-4 record, a 2.86 goals against average, a .903 save percentage
and one shutout.
Nolan Maier tracks the play coming up ice for the Blades. |
The Blades fell in a six game series in the second round to
the eventual WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders.
Maier proceeded to join Canada’s team for the world under-18 hockey championship tournament that was held in April in Ornskoldsvik and Umea, Sweden.
Currently, Maier is taking part in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence Goaltending Camp in Calgary, Alta. The camp started Wednesday and wraps up on Saturday.
Maier proceeded to join Canada’s team for the world under-18 hockey championship tournament that was held in April in Ornskoldsvik and Umea, Sweden.
Currently, Maier is taking part in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence Goaltending Camp in Calgary, Alta. The camp started Wednesday and wraps up on Saturday.
Maier’s biggest challenge when it comes to cracking into the
NHL might be the fact he stands 6-feet and weighs 173 pounds. It seems like
those that make the decisions regarding player personnel in the NHL are
weighted towards finding puck stoppers who stand preferably 6-foot-3 or taller.
Nolan Maier moves the puck to the side of the Blades goal. |
Maier can’t control how tall he is. The one thing he can control
is stopping the puck, and he is very good at that.
Last season, Maier shutout the powerful Raiders twice. On Dec. 9, 2018, Maier made 32 stops to back the Blades to a 1-0 victory over the Raiders at the SaskTel Centre.
Last season, Maier shutout the powerful Raiders twice. On Dec. 9, 2018, Maier made 32 stops to back the Blades to a 1-0 victory over the Raiders at the SaskTel Centre.
On April 9, Maier turned away 26 shots in a 1-0 playoff
victory over the Raiders at the SaskTel Centre.
Maier follows in a line of great goaltenders the Blades have
had in their history including Dave Parro, Tim Cheveldae, Norm Maracle, Anton
Khudobin and Braden Holtby.
Maier is a great athlete who can make the impossible save or
hold up against the barrage of pucks, when his team is pinned in the defensive
zone.
On top of his hockey skills, Maier is a stellar person.
Anyone that knows him from his time growing up in Yorkton will tell you how
great of kid he has been.
Blades G Nolan Maier, left, celebrates a win with Dawson Davidson. |
With all that said, it feels like Maier might play out his
final three years of eligibility in the major junior ranks without being an NHL
Entry Draft selection. He wouldn’t be the first star netminder to get less than
a realistic shot from the NHL ranks and move on to play U Sports and get a
degree.
For NHL club that does select Maier in the NHL Entry Draft,
that team is likely in for a pleasant surprise. That club will likely discover
the selection of Maier is a wise one from all sorts of levels like the Blades
have already discovered.
Dyck takes over as under-18 summer coach
Michael Dyck surveys a situation from the Giants bench. |
On Friday,
Dyck was named the head coach of Canada’s summer under-18 that will play in the
Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which is slated to run Aug. 5 to 10 in Breclav, Czech
Republic and Piestany, Slovakia.
He replaces Dan Lambert as head coach. Lambert, who was the head
coach of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, accepted an assistant coach position with
the NHL’s Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Due to working for a professional club, Lambert wasn’t
available to fulfill his commitments with Hockey Canada.
Last season, Dyck guided the Giants to the second best
regular season record in the WHL at 48-15-3-2. The Giants advanced to the WHL final and fell in a series
deciding Game 7 to the Prince Albert Raiders 3-2 in overtime.
Dyck was named the coach of the year for the WHL’s Western
Conference.
With Dyck taking over Hockey Canada’s summer under-18 team,
he vacates his position as head coach for Team Canada White for the World
Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which runs Nov. 2 to 9 in Medicine Hat, Alta., and
Swift Current, Sask.
Hockey Canada is searching for someone to fill that head
coaching vacancy. Saskatoon Blades associate coach Ryan Marsh is an assistant coach
for Team Canada White.
Dinos’ Roberts in for Hockey Canada women’s goalie camp
Kelsey Roberts earned a big Hockey Canada goalie camp invitation. |
Roberts
earned an invite to Hockey Canada’s National Women’s Development Camp, which
started Thursday and runs through to Sunday.
The
Kitimat, B.C., product posted a 2.06 goals against average and a .935 save
percentage in 23 regular season games last season for the Dinos. The Dinos
finished last in the Canada West Conference with a 5-20-3 record, and Roberts
was 5-15-3 in her appearances.
With the
Dinos being outshot in most of their games, Roberts stood out with the large
amount of work sent her way.
It was
great to see she was one of 11 goaltenders targeted for potential spots on
Canada’s national women’s team and the national women’s development team.
The U
Sports ranks sent a total of four netminders to that camp. Joining Roberts were
Kristen Chamberlin from the University of Albert Pandas, Tricia Deguire of the
McGill University Martlets and Kendra Woodland of the University of New
Brunswick Reds.
The
National Women’s Development Camp included nine goaltenders that were targeted
for potential sport on Canada’s under-18 women’s team.
I admit I
can’t argue against the selections. Still it would have been cool to see
invites given to Jessica Vance of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and
Lauren Taraschuk of the University of Manitoba Bisons for the camp targeting
players for Canada’s national women’s team and the national women’s development
team.
Vance has
been outstanding in her two full seasons with the Huskies posting a 26-10-3
record, a 1.05 goals against average, a .954 save percentage and 15 shutouts in
40 career regular season games. She was the Canada West player-of-the-year in
the 2017-18 campaign and was Canada’s starting netminder in a silver medal
winning performance at the FISU Winter Universiade that wrapped up in March in
Krasnayarsk, Russia.
Vance has a surreal calm to her game you wish you could see
in all goaltenders.
Taraschuk has been outstanding in her two full seasons with
the Bisons posting a 27-6-3 record, a 1.28 goals against average, a .941 save
percentage and six shutouts in 36 career regular season games. She was the
rookie of the year in the Canada West Conference in 2017-18 and backstopped the
Bisons to a U Sports national title.
Standing 6-feet tall, Taraschuk has an edge in size that
most netminders in the female game don’t have. She moves very fluidly in goal
and displays very little wasted motion in stopping the puck.
A Hockey Canada invite would have been a way to keep
Taraschuk in the game. In April, she gave an interview to the Winnipeg Free
Press stating she was quitting the Bisons due to personality issues on the team
and a coaching staff change that will occur before the start of next season.
Taraschuk said she wasn’t finished with hockey, but she has
to sit out a year before joining another U Sports club or a team in the NCAA
ranks. Actually, a team looking to contend for a national title in the NCAA
ranks would be wise to pick up Taraschuk.
The majority of Canada’s high end players at the university
age skate in the NCAA ranks, and it would help Taraschuk to play against those
players to continue to improve her game. She is more than ready for that step.
One hold back would be educational goals. Taraschuk was
enrolled in the criminology program at the U of Manitoba. If she pursues that
course of study at a United States university, there are no certainties how her
education would transfer back up in Canada.
While, the addition of Vance and Taraschuk at the Hockey
Canada women’s goalie camp would have been great, there are only four spots up
for grabs between the national team and national development team. It is
extremely hard to obtain one of those positions.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
-------
If you like what you
see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like
this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the
DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for
stopping in.