Cool Cats continuing to succeed with goalie rotation

By Aaron Smith

The man behind the goalie mask may be different every weekend, but the results have been similar week in and week out.

Juniors Jim Borgaard and Derek Steinbrecher are sharing goaltending duties for UK (10-1). UK head coach Rob Docherty decided on the rotating system before the season began.

Jim Borgaard, pictured, and Derek Steinbrecher have rotated at goalie throughout the season for the 10-1 Cool Cats. Photo by Scott Hannigan | Staff

“I made a decision that we would use two goalies, but I emphasize that there is no number one and no number two,” Docherty said. “I talked to both of them together before the season and told them that I expected them to help each other out.”

Docherty gives the goalies a week of notice, and whoever gets the call plays in both games of the weekend series. Rotating goalies is unusual for a hockey team, but UK has had great success despite who’s been between the pipes.

“Whoever is hot, he’ll get the big starts, but right now both are playing solid,” Docherty said. “We have to have good goaltending, and we know either one will give us that.”

The goalies may be splitting time but both are stopping opponents from splitting the posts. Combined, the two are giving up four goals per game, and their save percentages are nearly identical. Borgaard has stopped 86 percent of his shots against while Steinbrecher has saved 87 percent of the shots taken on him.

Even though the two have posted similar results this year, they bring contrasting styles to the goalie position.

Borgaard, who Docherty calls “the more vocal one,” played on the team last year but was part of a three-way goaltending shuffle throughout the year. Steinbrecher, more of a “lead-by-example kind of guy” as Docherty said, made the team for the first time in three tries.

“When you don’t play hockey you really realize how much you miss it,” Steinbrecher said. “But it was better for me to make it this year, and I’ve been working all year on proving myself to the team, showing them they can depend on me to win games.”

The decision on who gets to stop the puck could have created tensions between the two competitors. Instead, the two essentially became each other’s coach.

“We talk to each other in between periods and after games,” Steinbrecher said. “We just let each other know what happened on goals we let in, what we saw from the bench.”

The competition hasn’t created any hard feelings between the two goalies.

“It’s not a rivalry at all. It’s competition, yes, but we are pushing each other to get better,” Borgaard said. “We cheer for each other no matter who’s on the bench and who’s in the goal. We’re buddies on and off the ice.”

With fewer opportunities to showcase their talents on the ice, it would be understandable if one felt the other breathing down his neck, but both recognize it comes with the position.

“It’s a goalie thing. No matter how much ice time you see, it’s all about seizing opportunities,” Borgaard said. “We both know there are no guarantees and we know coach will put out the best lineup, and we try and be part of that lineup.”

To be part of that lineup, Steinbrecher said he has to be on top of his game or someone else will be there waiting. And when not in the lineup, the sitting goalie has to play cheerleader, a role no competitor wants.

“We both want to be in there, or we wouldn’t be goalies,” Steinbrecher said. “It’s tough waiting around, knowing that when midnight comes around you have to put on all your equipment and sit on the bench all night. But winning makes it easier.”