Bigger goaltenders have become the norm in men's hockey, and it seems the trend is beginning to expand into women's hockey.
In the NHL, seeing a sub-six-foot goalie is a rarity. Today, most goaltenders drafted to the league top six-foot-three and teams are searching for monolithic netminders to fill as much of the net as possible.
If recent trends for netminders earning national team attention in women's hockey are any indication, big goaltenders are starting to find favor in women's hockey as well.
At this year's World Championship, Team USA's third netminder Abbey Levy was the first USA national team netminder in program history to top six-feet topping in at six-foot-one. Levy is not alone however.
The other two netminders invited to USA's development camp last summer, Callie Shanahan and Amanda Thiele were both five-foot-ten. This year, six-foot Cami Kronish earned an invite.
USA's U-18 netminder the past two seasons was Annelies Bergmann, a six-foot-one goalie who will play for Cornell this year.
Prior to this cohort of sizeable stoppers, the only goaltender in USA Hockey history to stand five-foot-ten or taller was Sara DeCosta. Since then, the program has favored smaller netminders.
In Canada, Kristen Campbell, who currently is the national team's third goalie but has not appeared in a senior national game, is the only goaltender in Team Canada history to stand five-foot-ten or above, but that does not mean she'll remain the only.
This year's national development team features two goaltenders, Hannah Murphy (five-foot-ten) and Hanna Zukow (five-foot-eleven) who both eclipse the mark.