Goalie prospect DiPietro playing big in the crease
Give them a little face paint and mohawks and Vancouver Canucks netminders Jacob Markstrom and Anders Nilsson could make you think of the Road Warriors, the powerhouse pro wrestling tag team of yesteryear.
In that vein, Canucks goalie prospect Michael DiPietro offers up images of some speedy, highflying, cruiserweight type.
When it comes to his time in the crease these days, DiPietro is giving you reason to believe that he could have a long pro career, despite not fitting the current big, strapping goalie stereotype. He’s sparkled in the Ontario Hockey League, putting up a 12-5-1-0 mark along with a 2.44 goals against average and a .922 save percentage for the Windsor Spitfires, and he’s in the running for a spot on the Canadian team for the World Junior Championships.
He’s a member of the Team OHL squad that played the Russians Monday in Sudbury as part of the CIBC Canada Russia Series that Hockey Canada says it likes to use to help finalize players for its national junior team tryout camp. DiPietro, 18, was one of four goalies to take part in Hockey Canada’s summer development camp.
At 6-foot and 207 pounds, he was the shortest guy in that quartet. Markstrom (6-foot-6, 196 pounds) and Nilsson (6-foot-6, 229 pounds) tower over him as well.
“Absolutely a guy his size can play at the next level,” said Windsor goalie coach Perry Wilson. “One of things that Michael does well is get square to the puck. I also like his chances because he reads the play so well. He works hard to get to where he needs to get to early. His consistency in doing that, I think, really helps him.”
There are those who will tell you that the discrimination against shorter goalies at the NHL level is starting to fade away. For instance, in a Sporting News article about DiPietro, Adam Herman quoted InGoal Magazine staff writer Paul Campbell as saying this: “Size still helps. But the position has advanced so much in the last decade that a giant with poor technique is going to be picked to pieces by today’s shooters, compared to a technically sound goalie a couple inches shorter.”
But the draft numbers haven’t quite caught up to those ideals.
There were 21 goalies picked in last summer’s NHL Draft. DiPietro was the third one selected, with the Canucks using a third-round choice, 64th overall on the Amherstburg, Ont., native who backstopped the host Spitfires to the 2017 Memorial Cup championship.
DiPietro was the shortest netminder among those who had their names called. Seven were listed at 6-foot-4 or taller, including first rounder Jake Oettinger, a 6-foot-4, 218 pounder from Boston University who went 26th overall to the Dallas Stars.
For comparison, three of the first eight skaters selected in this past summer’s draft were listed at under six feet.
“He’s heard all his life that he’s too small,” Wilson said of DiPietro. “I can’t see why he can’t win at this one, too.
“He’s got a little bit of Henrik Lundqvist in him, except he plays out further. He’s about his reactions and his reads. He’s a throwback. He has a little Marty Brodeur in him in that way.”
He obviously drew considerable attention at last spring’s Memorial Cup, where he was named top goalie and to the all-star team.
Wilson says that one of the things DiPietro is striving to add to this game is improved puck handling.