Holy Angels' dual goalies aim to break State drought
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Holy Angels girls' hockey team is ranked number two in Class A. They are hoping to end a long state tournament drought. The program is on the rise with an unusually even split at goaltender.
"Each year we've gotten a little bit better," said goalie Eva Bentley. "So we've been getting used to it slowly. But I think we feel pretty comfortable with the pressure now."
There's no bigger pressure position than the goaltender and Holy Angels has two: Eva Bentley and Zoe Rimstad.
"I think it's great because neither of the goalies are burnt out from playing back-to-back games," said Rimstad, a sophomore.
This is about as even a split as possible.
"It's not like there's one starter and one backup," said Bentley. "We have two goalies and on any given night we can put either of us in net and know we'll have a good game."
The stats back up how level this tandem is. Bentley, a grade older, has two more starts. She's given up twice as many goals but faced twice as many shots. Both have the exact same save percentage, down to the decimal.
"Anybody that plays varsity hockey wants to start, wants to be involved in the game," said Holy Angels Head Coach Ryan LaMere. "I think both of them are fantastic kids. But when it comes to who gets the start, each and every time, one wants it more."
It's been this way since the start of the season when the Stars were looking to fill the void of a graduated three-year starting goalie.
"Just the way the schedule set up, we said we're going to start out this way the first three, four games and see if one takes off. But they've both been doing a fantastic job so we've just stuck with the plan since tryouts," said LaMere.
Now it's an advantage as Holy Angels aims for their first state tournament since 2006.
"I think they do usually have to prepare for two goalies because we usually don't know who's going in net," said Bentley. "It's changing so much that you never really know."
