The Barrie Colts should be proud.
Earlier this year, Hockey Canada had placed a ban on Canadian junior teams from drafting European or non Canadian goaltenders. Their thinking was that at a national level, our goaltending is lacking. Therefore if the junior teams only draft Canadian goaltenders, they will be able to get more conditioned and improve their game.
MY thinking is…..how do you get better if you don’t play against better players?
Barrie decided to defy that logic and drafted 18 year old goaltender Daniel Gibl from Slovakia. He was the only goaltender selected and it is possible that he could be the last European goaltender to be drafted into the league. Gibl played in the U20 league and boasted a .902 save percentage. Dale Hawerchuk can’t complain about that.
Anyway, it was nice to see a Canadian decide to go above and beyond and pick a foreign goalie. Like I said, you only get better when you play against better players.
marchhockey.com 