SteelFlyers Football Videos
Prospect Watch: Daniel Hauser
The name I have for you today to keep an eye out for is Daniel Hauser. An 18-year-old who is currently the starting goaltender for the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Winnipeg Ice. Now, if I know anything, I would say I know how to spot a good goaltender in the making, seeing that I’ve played the position myself for close to 35 years and have spent some time helping coach the next generation of the guardians of the blue paint as well. So, believe me when I tell you this. Over the past couple of seasons, I strongly believe that Hauser has been vastly overshadowed by some of his other teammate’s success, such as Connor McClennon, Matthew Savoie, Connor Geekie, Zach Benson, and Carson Lambos, to name a few, and therefore has not yet been given the credit he thus deserves.
That’s all about to change because while his teammates’ accolades over the last couple of seasons may have assured that they were selected in the NHL Draft. Daniel has been posting up some pretty impressive stats of his own. So much so that I would dare say without him in between the pipes the last couple of seasons, I don’t think the Ice would be considered the elite-level prospect factory they are today.
Disagree? Well, in this season alone, Daniel is currently leading the league in wins with a perfect 14-0-0 record. On top of that, Hauser’s play this season has him ranked within the top ten in both goals-against-average (GAA) and save percentage (SV%), with Daniel allowing an average of just 2.42 goals per game and him managing to stop .915% of the shots that have come his way.
Thinking his success this season is a fluke? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but Hauser was also an absolute workhorse for the Ice last season. Playing in an impressive 40 games, he maintained a record of 34-3-1 during the regular season, with eight of those wins coming by way of a shutout. To add to that incredible league-leading win total, he also finished the season atop all other netminders in goals-against-average by averaging just 2.00 GAA that year, which he paired with a .914SV%. This means that at just 5’11 and 17 years old last season Hauser was able to best the highly touted 6’6 19-year-old goaltender, Sebastian Cossa (who also played in the WHL last season) in every statistical category there is for goaltenders, and that’s saying a lot considering the Detroit Red Wings took Sebastian in the 1st round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
What is equally, if not more impressive, is that Daniel has been able to maintain these numbers over this season and last, even though he commonly has to go up against conference rival, and the consensus’s pick to be the number one overall selection this summer Connor Bedard. Who this season alone is averaging well over two points a game.
How does this youngster that doesn’t quite fit into the NHL’s stereotypical goalie mold of 6’3 and 225 pounds manage to win all these games? Well, it starts with Daniel always maintaining the proper position to ensure his angles to the shooter are sharp so that he gives the opposition as little of net to shoot at as possible. Also, Hauser excels at moving post to post, which is helpful considering when Daniel is in the butterfly, he is unable to cover the entire goal mouth like most larger goalies manage to do with ease. To counteract that, Hauser has learned the art of movement. He did so by learning to utilize the butterfly slide and or push to his advantage. Daniel does this so seamlessly that although to the untrained eye, it may appear as though it is effortless. I assure you that every other goalie (myself included) who has spent countless hours on the ice working on trying to master this technique would disagree.
So, in closing, while it is true Hauser does play for an excellent Winnipeg Ice team, perhaps after reading this article, you won’t be so quick to give his teammates playing in front of him ALL the credit. Hopefully, I’ve opened your eyes to why Daniel should at least be considered a contributing factor to his clubs’ accomplishments over the last few seasons. I mean, it’s no coincidence that during the combined 62 regular season games he’s played for the Ice over the last three seasons, Hauser and his team have only managed to be defeated just three times in regulation!
The Flyers’ Effort is there, but Sadly the Talent is not
After being dealt their fourth consecutive loss Tuesday by the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets, it is becoming increasingly more apparent to fans that this team is not destined to sustain themselves atop the Metropolitan Division as they did at the start of the season. Instead, their early success should merely be attributed to the Flyers’ new head coach John Tortorella demanding the most from his players out of camp, where he made sure that his new team would at least be able to skate with the opposition out of the gate. Since then, though, the Flyers lack of skill (thanks to injuries and poor choices made by management) has managed to catch up to them.
How could it not right? With over $29 million in players currently out on Short or Long-Term IR, I think most would agree it is almost impossible to replace that kind of production. Especially since most of them are players like Cam Atkinson, Sean Couturier, James van Riemsdyk, Ryan Ellis, Bobby Brink, and Wade Allison, which are considered top six talents on a team like this. Don’t get me wrong, though; the team has tried, but having no star prospects in the system to call up doesn’t help the situation either. I mean, with Torts being stuck with replacements like Morgan Frost, Tanner Laczynski, Egor Zamula, Hayden Hodgson, Max Willman, Jackson Cates, Kieffer Bellows, and Olle Lycksell all only scoring a combined 8 points on the season. I don’t know how Philadelphia has managed to win as many games as they have to this point. In fact, with the current amount of injuries, it almost seems fitting that the Flyers should just now be referred to as the Philadelphia Phantoms.
That said, it doesn’t mean that the Tortorella effect is not currently working. Although this team has shown that they lack the type of pure talent that is needed to stay competitive throughout a rigorous 82-game NHL season, they have somehow managed to produce the effort required to keep them in a game or even pull out a hard-fought win against a much better opponent once in a while.
As it would appear is all Tortorella can ask from his rag-tag bunch of players right now, as evidenced by his recent quote.
“You can boo us. You can talk s*** about us. I will back those guys because they are trying. If it were an effort problem, then it would be a different story. So, those are things I have to coach; those are the things I have to be fair about when building this team. I’m very pleased with the effort. I don’t give a s*** what people think about out here” -John Tortorella.
So, the reality is that the current Flyers roster is what we thought they would be under the tutelage of John Tortorella. They are a team reminiscent of the good old days when the players wearing orange and black were at least respected. They may not win as many bouts as their fans may like them to this year, but at least the people who are paying their hard-earned money to come to the games can once again count on the fact that the Flyers will come to the rink every night and play with a ton of effort and a lot of heart. For on any given night, you know that Tortorella is going to squeeze every last ounce of effort out of his players which maybe, just maybe, will result in a win.
Steel’s Corner: Pittsburgh Steelers vs New Orleans Saints
Folks, I want to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers vs New Orleans Saints. I know what you are thinking, here we go another salty article about the Steelers. Well, this is not going to be one of those so sit back and take it all in. Keep in mind that the opinions expressed in this article are my own and is just that, my 2 cents.
At 3-6 coming off the Bye-Week the Steelers laid out an impressive win against a team that perhaps plays with more reckless abandon than the Steelers when it comes to the yellow hankies littering the field for an unprecedented number of accepted penalties against the New Orleans Saints. This was by far the best outing for Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada, with over 200 yards on the ground, and only one that is right one accepted Illegal Formation penalty for the Steelers. Now I do not know about yinz, but that is impressive considering what the offensive output of this team has been throughout this season so far. So, for this to be the best so far for “Safari Hat Matt” is really saying something. Not to mention that Kenny Pickett did not turn the ball over.
Welcome back (on a snap count) TJ Watt to a much-maligned Defense, since going down at the beginning of the season with a torn peck. Also welcome to the team Mr. Damontae Kazee who in replacement of Minkah Fitzpatrick, out with an emergency appendectomy, managed to snag a timely interception of Saints QB Andy Dalton. Now I am going to say that the Defense overall played much better with TJ Watt on the field as Alex Highsmith was able to shed some double teams and get home to the QB for two sacks against the Saints. It was almost like they did not miss #39 Magic Minkah Fitzpatrick out there. New Orleans were held to being one-dimensional, with the Steelers Defensive line taking Alvin Kamara, the Saints leading rusher, out of the game all together forcing QB Andy Dalton to put it on his arm.
Gosh special teams played well, the offense did not turn the ball over, nor did they get penalized for the usual 5-6 Illegal Formation/Down Field/Shift calls that have beleaguered this team so far this season. Kenny Pickett had one of his best days as the starting QB for the Steelers in my opinion. He made smart plays and seemed a little more on the same page as everyone else. Not to mention that Najee Harris with 20 carries for 99 yards and Jaylen Warren 3 catches 40 yards and 9 carries for 37 yards each had phenomenal days. The O-Line was getting some blocks and doing enough to allow the running backs to get to the second level. This combined with TJ Watt lacing it up and the Defense spending 35% less time on the field, plus finally putting some pressure on the opposition’s QB made this game a good team win! Now if we could only have a Bye-Week and Pigeons every week then the Steelers could win a few more.
Oh, come on you knew this was coming…this is the part now when I tell you what scared me during this game. Oh and a few other points as well. But let’s get to the scary part and that was the hit that Running Back Najee Harris took at the end of the long run. Looking at the tape, it is clearly a helmet to helmet hit, the crown of the helmet was used and the defender left his feet. Harris was hit squarely in the chops during the play and even went to the Blue Tent for a few minutes. To me these are the things that need to be removed from the game. Running Backs are not allowed to use the crown of the helmet and it should be that way across the board. I feel that that play would have been a “targeting” call on the defender and it was not called. I am seeing this more and more across the NFL and it is not the correct technique for tackling. You always keep your head up, wrap your arms and drive to the ground, not leading with the crown of the helmet. These need to be called and need to be addressed as these could lead to major injuries not only to the Running Back but also to the Defender.
After watching the tape, you can clearly see times the Steelers offense being blown off the ball and or missing blocks or assignments and there are a lot of things that still need to be improved upon in the coming weeks. This was not a perfect win by any stretch of the word but a win is a win and those are what this is all about. This may not be the year for the Steelers, but at least we can hope for improved play over the next coming weeks, at least I hope so!!