Calculated Reactions: Putting up a .915 or better in the 519

Here's the men's version of the best goalies in CIS this year. (For explanation, see the women's post from March.) Stats include the regular season, conference playoffs, and University Cup.

The complete rankings are here.

1. Ryan Daniels, Laurier (+4.2 wins vs. average): It really wasn't close. Daniels had a fantastic year, worth one win better than the next 'tender on this list. He was named the OUA West MVP (not MVG, MVP). Which of course means that he wasn't an All-Canadian. I gave up trying to understand CIS hockey awards a while ago, but really?
   
   
2. Joseph Perricone, StFX (+3.1 wins vs. average): As much as Daniels finished ahead of everybody, Perricone finished ahead of everybody but Daniels. And like Daniels, he wasn't named the first-team conference goaltender. Notably, Perricone was 1.2 wins ahead of the next AUS goaltender (who wasn't named to either team), and three wins ahead of Neil Conway, who was the first-team goalie. The awards don't consider playoff results (which is a bug, not a feature), but these rankings do.
   
   
3. Jim Watt, Windsor (+2.2): One-half of one of the Southwestern Ontario Goalie Duos (...it'll make sense soon enough), Watt has garnered plenty of respect around these parts. "No team is out of a game when Jim Watt is in net," said our Daniel Da Silva in January before the Windsor goalie went off to Turkey for the Universiade, where (based on this game alone) he got a lot of reading done while in the crease. Less than a month after Windsor's season ended, Watt was in Bakersfield with the ECHL Condors.
   
   
4. Josh Unice, Western (+2.0): Despite playing less often than his teammate (and follower on this list), Unice's numbers were good enough to put him on top among non-Watt OUA goalies. And far be it from me to question Canada's obvious and far-reaching dominance of the ice hockey competitions, but of the top four on this list, two (Unice, Perricone) are American and the other two played junior in the U.S. (Daniels with Saginaw, Watt with Spokane).
   
   
5. Anthony Grieco, Western (+1.9): The second-team all-star (and apparent dominator of the Universiade), Grieco finished third last year in these rankings with a +1.9, so "dropping" to 5th isn't really dropping at all. His "unbelievable" playoff performance helps him stay among the leaders. Yet another American connection to a CIS goaltender: Grieco previously played for the University of North Dakota.
   
   
6. Travis Fullerton, UNB (+1.9): We kind of had a Showron Glover situation (in a weak sense) here, with Fullerton missing out on conference awards completely but then winning the CIS championship. (Oh well. There are probably just as many people who are outraged at the anti-UNB bias in the awards voting as there are people who are thankful that UNB didn't get any awards or first-team AUS all-stars other than Hunter Tremblay.) Also, Fullerton started playing junior in Lewiston! More American connections!
   
   
7. Dustin Butler, Calgary (+1.6): A Portland Winter Hawks graduate, Butler was the top Canada West goaltender by these rankings and effectively in the awards as well. CIS goalie of the year might be a stretch, but that's not a knock on Butler--more an appreciation of just how many players could have been named to such an honour.
   
   
8. Frank Dayus, Windsor (+1.2): "We can just assume that any game Dayus starts in, he will be the player of the game." Yep, another example of how part-time players can show up near the top of these rankings. Dayus (who was 19th overall last year, hardly a nobody) played the equivalent of just eight games this year, but whenever you put up a .930 you'll get noticed. He's also one of seven OUA goaltenders in the top 10; if you think that's fishy, and want to restrict it to more full-time players, then remove Unice and Dayus and the next two on the list are Saskatchewan's David Reekie and Acadia's Kristofer Westblom.
   
   
9. Matt Hache, Nipissing (+1.1): A goalie who doesn't wear number 1 or a number in the 30s? I'm not sure how to deal with this. Thankfully Canadian hockey is known for being open to new ideas. Our top OUA East goalie, Hache did not make either all-star team, though he wasn't far ahead of Carleton's Matthew Dopud in these rankings. And, again, these rankings include the playoffs, when the awards generally don't. (Having said that, I can only assume Hubert Morin's second-team status is a group award given to the Redmen as a whole.)
   
   
10. Jean-Christophe Blanchard, UQTR (+1.1): The third of three goalies to appear in the top 10 both years (Daniels and Grieco surprising nobody by being the others), Blanchard gets a lot of credit for playing for a Patriotes team that had the worst penalty-kill in the OUA (non-Queen's division). Given our methodology, he's "excused" for nearly five of the 95 goals he gave up, and is then further credited (to the tune of a 5% adjustment) for the strength of schedule UQTR played. Without those adjustments he would have appeared to be worth just three goals above average (around 21st or so); with them, he's at 8 goals and in the top 10.