CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

Bob Essensa was one of my favourite Canucks’ goalies – and a finer person to boot.

He was a standup guy who could get down and stack his pads with the best of them.

And he was another goalie who was dicked around by the ‘nucks.

He helped to carry Felix Potvin through the regular 2000-01 season, and then Dan Cloutier was brought in from Tampa Bay.

Marc Crawford should have kept Essensa in for most of the playoff games – see stats below – but insisted on using his new goalie for two contests.

Many will remember the Canucks’ faithful chanting, “Bobby, Bobby!”

Essensa was a  balding guy who looked like your kids’ sunday school teacher and Vancouverites loved him.

Then the ‘nucks set Essensa adrift at season’s end when they brought in AHL hotshot Martin Brochu for 6 games.

That was up there with the Bill Laforge experiment, and Vancouver had to sign the king of the waiver wires – Petr Skudra – on  November 7, 2001.

*****

Bob is now in his 6th season as Boston’s goaltending coach.

Based out of his home in Michigan, Essensa joins the team at various times during the season to work with his goaltenders both in Boston and in Providence.

The records of his NHL goalies this season is a tribute to his knowledge and dedication.

I came across an interview he did a year or so ago with Central Collegiate Hockey Association radio.

…what’s changed the most about the position over the past 15 years?

Essensa: Well the position has changed. It’s gone from a little bit of a fly by the seat of your pants type of style, you know real aggressive. When I first came into the league, it moved toward the Patrick Roy, the real orthodox butterfly, real technical type of goaltender – almost back to kind of what it was say a few years before Patrick was so dominate in that. With the quality of scoring chances going up, the defense’s inability to put a stick on guys, the real technical goaltender, who doesn’t necessarily have the hand skills, made it more difficult for those guys. What I’ve seen, especially in the last couple of years, is it’s almost reverting back to the real athletic type of goaltender. It is a transition period for the goalies and the goalie coaches. We are trying to adapt the best we can.

…has the shootout affected the position and how you coach it with so much at stake?

Essensa: Yeah, you are right. There is a ton at stake, and last year that was our biggest thorn in our side. We didn’t really fare too well in them. I don’t know if it was because of the shooters, or the goaltenders, or both, but we do analyze what the opposition is doing not only goaltending-wise but shooting-wise. Sometimes it works not necessarily to your benefit. You pass on information to your goaltenders about what shooter’s tendencies are when they are coming down and then they do something totally different and the goalie can look pretty stupid. More so, we try to figure out where is the best place to shoot on the opposing goaltender? We try to figure out where he’s going and where he’s been beat through the course of the last season or the last 20 games or whatever it is. That’s not always easy either. You know goalies adapt as well. Certainly, we’re trying as goalie coaches, as NHL teams, to pick these things apart.

How did Michigan State and the CCHA prepare you for pro hockey and what you’re doing now?

Essensa: I was lucky. Winnipeg wasn’t really banging on my door to sign me early so I was fortunate enough to play all four years, which from a goaltending perspective isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You are allowed to mature not only physically but also mentally. They were the best four years of my life, playing at State. I made a lot of friendships that I have kept to this day, and certainly, from a hockey perspective, it allowed me to mature as a goaltender. Even when you get thrown into the NHL, or in my case I got thrown into the minors, it’s still a huge jump from there into the pros and like I say from a goaltending perspective, the biggest thing is to have your head screwed on straight and still have confidence in your abilities because inevitably they are going to get shaken that first year coming out of school. Just being able to play all four years was something I am very grateful for.

Many ingredients go into a 15-year pro career. In the mid 90’s, you spent two full seasons in the minors before playing another six seasons in the NHL. What kept you motivated?

Essensa: I still enjoyed playing. I still loved the game. Actually the one year that I got sent down to Ft. Wayne may have been my most enjoyable year. It was like you say mid-career but I also got to play with a few guys that I had played with in Winnipeg, a couple of my college buddies, one of my college roommate’s in Mitch Messier, who I played my first couple of years in the minors with, which for me made a real enjoyable year. Obviously there’s not as much pressure playing in the minors as there is playing in the NHL so for me it’s one of my best memories, being sent down there.