The battle for time in the crease: Brockport's goaltending trio

By Brandon Wood
@Brandonwood27

Three goalies, all hailing from different parts of Canada and junior teams joined together to form this season’s College at Brockport ice hockey goaltending corps. Each of these men have one goal in mind: be the next goaltender to start in the crease for the Golden Eagles.

The three current goalies on Brockport’s roster are junior Aaron Green, sophomore Jared Lockhurst and freshman Andrew Winsor. All three goalies have been in the crease to start at least one game this season.

Brockport carried four goalies earlier this season, but senior Joe Reagan was cut from the team to clear space to add freshman forward Nate Pelligra. Pelligra has one goal, three assists and has played in all eleven games since he joined the team.

Lockhurst (3-8-2, 3.39 GAA) is from Caledon, Ontario, about an hour away from Toronto, and has seen the most time in net this season. Lockhurst remembers his hometown fondly.

“I was just kind of a country kid growing up playing hockey and lacrosse,” Lockhurst said. “It was a great place to grow up.”

He then went to play junior hockey for three different programs: Brampton Capitals, Villanova Knights and the Wellington Dukes. After his time with the Dukes, he was heavily recruited by Division III programs such as SUNY Oswego and said he even talked to Division I Niagara at one point.

Despite interest from those other schools, Lockhurst said he is “happy being a Golden Eagle, that’s for sure.”

Green (5-2, 3.35 GAA) is from Mount Albert, Ontario, about an hour away from Lockhurst’s hometown. Green has started seven games this season for the Golden Eagles and started 11 last season. Green played his junior hockey for the St. Michaels Buzzers under a coach he described as incredibly influential to him.

“St. Michaels was one of the best places I’ve ever played,” Green said. “I had a lot of fun there, I learned a lot and I had one of the best coaches in Canada teaching me there.”

Green was the hero this past weekend for Brockport as he made 47 saves against SUNY Oswego in Brockport’s first win against the Lakers since 2003. He was also in net when Brockport upset then-nationally ranked Elmira in overtime two seasons ago.

Both Lockhurst and Green were battling groin injuries earlier this season, which gave Winsor, the rookie, the chance to start a few games.

Winsor grew up an hour east of Toronto in the town of Coburg. In his two SUNYAC starts this season, Winsor went 0-1-1 while stopping 67-of-76 shots he faced on the road against SUNY Fredonia and Buffalo State College. Winsor came to Brockport from the Trenton Golden Hawks with four of his fellow teammates that also came here.

“As soon as I got here, I fell in love with the school, the background and the history of it,” Winsor said. “As I was taught about the hockey team I just wanted to play here more and more. When I made my commitment, it was exciting for me and my family.”

Winsor said he looks up to Lockhurst and Green, but understands that they are the main tandem on the team and he will have to wait his turn.

“I give [Lockhurst and Green] my full support,” Winsor said. “But as for myself, when I play I try my best and I want to win. I obviously want to start but I have to wait for my time and I’m supporting them all the way. They’re playing amazing this year and I support them 100 percent.”

Over the past two seasons with Lockhurst and Green starting in net, the Golden Eagles have scored more than one more goal per game when Green has started.

Brockport averages 3.99 goals per game with Green starting, while Lockhurst gets just 2.6 goals on average to work with. Lockhurst has been in net three times in the past two seasons when the Golden Eagles have been shut out and Green has been in for two.

There are several different styles of goaltending including hybrid, standing and butterfly. Lockhurst said he is a very positional goalie and his success depends on not scrambling around a lot and works a lot on his rebound control. Green said he most closely identifies his goaltending style as butterfly.

Winsor said he is more of a hybrid style goalie, meaning he incorporates a mix of butterfly and standing aspects into his game.

Each of these goalies grew up modeling their game around people they saw as role models: NHL goalies.

Lockhurst grew up as a big fan of the New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur. Green said Patrick Roy was his favorite goalie growing up. Winsor compares his game more similarly to retired Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

“[Kiprusoff] isn’t the biggest goalie but he gets the job done,” Winsor said. “That’s what I think I do, I try my best to stop every puck. It doesn’t matter how I stop it, I just need to.”

Lockhurst said competing with Winsor and Green has been a healthy competition and has kept the competitive level to play high.

“All three of us work hard, we get along with each other, and we’re all pushing each other to get better in practice,” Lockhurst said. “I think we’ve got three really good goaltenders here so we’ve got to battle every day and hopefully get the opportunity to help the team win.”

Green said that even though all three are competing for the starting job, they all want to see each other and the team succeed.

“All three of us are comfortable with each other in net, so whoever gets the call [to start], we’re supportive of them,” Green said. “We compete, we help each other and we give each other pointers. It’s a great experience working with each other.”