Al Arbour Wake Up Story With John Tonelli The ascent of Ilya Sorokin to near-Vezina Trophy status ranks somewhere between remarkable and stupendous -- with wonderful somewhere in between. And at the rate, The Great Ilya is going, the sky's the limit in terms of his future accomplishments. With that in mind, it's worth wondering precisely where Sorokin -- not to mention his sidekick, Semyon Varlamov -- eventually will rank on the "Best Non-Dynasty Isles Goalie List," My personal choices -- as you shall see -- are very personal. The way I figure it, emotion should play as much a part in this list of faves as pure stats. (That, by the way, should not be interpreted as a knock at the United Nations of Analytics.) You, of course, have the inalienable right to disagree, and frankly, I hope you do because -- as I insist -- this is very personal. So, without further ado, it's on to the crease. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MAVEN'S FAVORITE KELLY HRUDEY: This hotshot Hungarian pulled off the single greatest puck-stopping effort in franchise history with his 73-save performance in the Easter Epic. The Maven covered that game, and I have to say I've never seen a performance like it over four overtime periods. And in case you missed it, the Isles won on Pat LaFontaine's goal at 8:47 of the fourth OT. GLENN HEALY: Forget save percentage and goals against numerals, what matters is that one of the most incredible playoff upsets of NHL history was engineered by Heals. The Mario Lemieux-led Penguins were hellbent for their third straight Cup in 1993 when Glenn got in the way. Granted, David Volek got the game-winner, but Heals' saves enabled the super-upset. CHRIS OSGOOD: Speaking of upsets, the Isles' rise to playoff status in 2001-2002 set up a never-to-be-forgotten seven-game series against a Michael Peca-ruining Maple Leaf team. Were it not for a non-call on Gary Roberts for bowling over Ossie in the crease for a decisive goal, we'd still be toasting Chris for a netminding season to remember. GLENN RESCH: Chico qualifies on the grounds that he only enjoyed one Stanley Cup out of the dynasty's four. More to the point, The Resch Man starred in the Isles first-ever 1975 playoffs that featured an inimitable performance in playoff Round Two against the Penguins. Chico won four straight games after the Nassaumen were down 0-3 and annexed the tourney. ROBERTO LUONGO: Who knew that the tall, skinny kid out of Montreal would emerge as a future Hall of Famer? Certainly, Mad Mike Milbury didn't, and thus the Isles were denied the opportunity of boasting yet another crease ace in the Hrudey-Healy-Osgood class. What we do know is what we had with Louie was one heckuva prospect who, in time, proved his worth. RICK DIPIETRO: William Shakespeare wrote, "There's much virtue in 'if'" and no line -- be it verse or autobiography -- fits an Islanders goaltender than that of The Bard of Avon. What I will say is this: had Rick not gone down with injuries that prematurely ended his career, he'd go down -- at the very least -- as the best puck-handling goalie in National Hockey League annals. ROBIN LEHNER: The Maven unhesitatingly asserts here and now that -- for one season -- had all the goods; all of them. Plus -- and it's a big plus -- he never, ever, should have departed from Uniondale in the manner that he did. Never. That said, I'll go with Rob's arithmetic if you'll permit: a .930 save percentage coupled with a 2.13 goals-against average. 'Nuff said! JAROSLAV HALAK: I was there when he opened his Isles career by whipping the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. This was the springboard to a thoroughly commendable career in the Orange and Blue. Once again, the numbers -- if you don't mind -- commend my claim -- .913 save percentage and 2.59 goals against. I'll say this, Jaro made you feel secure. SEMYON VARLAMOV: Let's start with the fact that Varly could very well be placed 'way higher on the list. Add to that the amazing goalkeeping bond that this veteran has established with his buddy Sorokin, and you have the reason the Orange and Blue remain secure in the crease. Once more numbers count: .917 and 2.54 are nothing to sneeze at, allergies or not! THOMAS GREISS: Nothing pleased me more, as an MSG Networks' post-game, dressing room interviewer, than heading to Tom's corner with a "Greiss Is Nice" opening. For some odd reason, I kept expecting more from Greiss, but -- as his future with other clubs has proven -- Greiss would remain nice but never the guy who'd lift his club higher and higher. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HONORABLE MENTIONS TOMMY SALO: Yeah, yeah, I know; how come he's not in the Top Ten? You've got a good point, no question about that. So, my apologies. Rest assured that it won't happen again. Here's why, as the numbers tell the tale: .902 and 2.77. WADE DUBIELEWICZ: Call him "The People's Choice," and you'd be right about that. Duby-Do produced some of the best poke-check saves you'd ever want to see and, as such, became an Isles legend in his own time. I loved the guy! MARK FITZPATRICK: The redoubtable redhead was en route to a long and creditable career when sickness intervened. Fitz was cured but never regained the express train superiority that we had hoped would be the case. AL MONTOYA: Eloquent in English, Spanish, and puck-stopping, Big Al was one of my all-time favorite post-game chatterboxes. I thanked him with a couple of Tito Puente mambo CDs and wished he'd be around a lot longer. DWAYNE ROLOSON: Intense, combative, and just plain solid are a couple of ways of describing a stopper who never hit the heights but gave the franchise its money's worth during his nights in Uniondale. And a swell interviewer to boot. WADE FLAHERTY: Without going into a song and dance about a fellow I loved watching in action, I'll simply put it this way, Flaherty never got enough credit for his ever-creditable performances. Sum him up as a pro's pro! GARTH SNOW: Would I be wrong in labeling an old pal "The Poor Man's Billy Smith? Snowy guarded his crease with Smitty's kind of vengeance and, of course, made the amazing jump from backup to hockey boss; no small feat. KEVIN WEEKES: There always are goalkeepers who leave you with the feeling that you'd like a lot more of an example. Kevin is Exhibit A. Eloquent, amiable and insightful, Weekes has proven to be a TV all-star analyst-journalist. JAMIE MCLENNAN: Like Weekes, Jamie's produced some outstanding performances but left me with the feeling that I wanted more meat and less gravy. Hey, it happens, and -- like Weekes -- Mac has gone on to stardom as an analyst on networks galore. STEVE VALIQUETTE: I wonder how many Rangers fans -- watching the Blueshirts on MSG Networks -- realized that Stevie Wonder had wonderful numbers -- .945 and 1.57 -- for the Nassaumen. I said it then, and I'll say it now. Val never had a chance to prove how good he could be in Uniondale! FELIX POTVIN: No relation to Denis Potvin; that's for sure, this stopper arrived on the Island in 1998-99 and posed a 2-7-1 mark. A year later, he went for 5-14-3. Now you know why he's at the bottom of my list!
