I'm not a hockey enthusiast. I don't even know all the rules of the game, but...
I know that the home team has to provide an amateur goalie who is available to play for either team in the event of an emergency (i.e. Scott Foster played for the Blackhawks). My question is why do they do that? Is an amateur who actually plays goalie in a rec league a better defensive option than using another professional player from your team who maybe played some goalie in high school? Major league baseball teams don't have emergency pitchers--they just use position players to pitch when they want to save the bullpen.
So, what is the reason for the rule? If both of your goalies go down, why a guy off the street--is it because an amateur dedicated/actual goalie is more likely to stop the puck than a NHL position player subbing in at goalie? Is it a safety issue for the non-goalie players? Some weird contract issue between the players association and the league? What?
Thanks!
