When the Tampa Bay Lightning traded rookie sensation Cory Conacher and a fourth round draft pick to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for goaltender Ben Bishop at last year’s trade deadline, the initial fan reaction was a bit of a mixed bag. Fast-forward nearly one calendar year, and all doubts have been put to rest.
Thanks to his solid (read: spectacular) play, Bishop now finds himself in the Olympic conversation. The big tender is challenging for one of three highly coveted goalie spots on Team USA’s Sochi roster. This blogger, along with a growing contingent of hockey writers, believes that Bishop should make the cut.
It’s often difficult to find a consensus when discussing predictions, but most prognosticators seem to agree that Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings and Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres are locks to make the US squad. That leaves one final crease spot up for grabs. Cory Schneider of the New Jersey Devils appears to be the odds-on favorite to take it.
As easy as it might be to give Schneider the job after looking at the headlines he has made in both Vancouver and New Jersey, it would be silly to ignore what Bishop has done this season in Tampa Bay. Often times, we hear about guys who ‘play their way’ onto a team. It’s my opinion that Bishop has done exactly that with regards to Team USA and the 2014 Olympic Games.
Before getting into some subjective analysis, let’s take a look at the raw numbers. League wide, Bishop sits fifth in goals-against average (1.93), fifth in save percentage (.935), second in wins (20), and tied for first in shutouts (3). To say that Bishop has been good this season is to greatly understate his accomplishments; he’s been brilliant. He may not come with the same name value as a guy like Schneider, but his numbers speak for themselves. Bishop is the runaway leader in each of those categories among American goaltenders.
Schneider, for his part, boasts a 2.20 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage, four wins, and two shutouts. Impressive? Sure. Bishop-like? No.
Moving away from the numbers, take a moment to consider the following. When Steven Stamkos broke his leg back in the middle of November, nearly everybody immediately wrote off the Lightning. Critics near and far predicted that the Bolts would tumble down the standings without number-91. Well, as the numbers show, that just hasn’t happened. A large reason for that is the play of Ben Bishop. He is turning in an MVP-like goaltending clinic on a nightly basis. Without him, who knows where Tampa would find itself right now. For the first time in what seems like an eternity, a goaltender wearing Lightning blue is stealing hockey games.
With only a few days remaining before Team USA’s brass unveils the 2014 Sochi roster, Ben Bishop and his support base have nothing left to do but wait. He has done everything in his power to make the team; he’s left all his cards out on the table. The question now is whether or not the folks who make the decisions have taken note. It is my opinion that it would be utterly foolish to leave the highest performing American goaltender in the world off the roster. Hopefully the decision makers agree.
Before signing off, I’d like to share a poll question that our resident friend Artyukhin76 has drafted up.
I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and I wish you all the best as we move towards 2014. As always, thanks for reading.