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Net Result: Water Easily Accessible

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 3, 2007

TAMPA - One of the great subtleties of hockey occurs when a wind-up slap shot rockets past a goaltender and hits nothing but twine and pops the water bottle up into the air. Nearly as sure as the red light flashing behind the net, the bottle jumping off the top of the net - what is often referred to as a "popper" - signifies the puck hit nothing but twine.

But there were issues with the bottle resting atop the net that the league has tried to eliminate.

"We felt that it was becoming a competitive advantage because some goaltenders were taking the water bottle and placing it in the front part of the net," said Kris King, the NHL senior manager of hockey operations. "With the bottle in the front, we have the potential to lose sight of the puck on the overhead view of the net."

Together with Gatorade, the league implemented the use of a coozy-like sleeve that can be fastened to the back part of the net and hold the bottle in place. A memo was sent out before the start of the season informing teams that goaltenders are required to replace the bottle in the holder after taking a drink, and if they failed to do so the referees were at their discretion to remove the bottle. And if it continued to be a problem, a fine could result for failing to comply with the league mandate.

The memo wasn't much of a deterrent, however, as the bottles often times ended up on the back of the net but outside of the sleeve. While it was easy to take the bottles out of the sleeve, it became difficult for goaltenders, who are bogged down with gloves and straps on each hand, to get the bottle back into the sleeve without undoing either their blocker or catching glove.

"It would take too much time to get it out and put it back in because the holder was so tight, so I really didn't have time to drink between whistles," Lightning goaltender Johan Holmqvist said.

Given the time constraints, Holmqvist would end up skipping out on taking a quick swig of water before getting ready for a faceoff. And for a player like Holmqvist, who is constantly hydrating himself before a game and sweats profusely during the game, every ounce of water is required to keep him hydrated.

Holmqvist expressed his concerns regarding the issue to Lightning assistant trainer Jason Serbus, who along with assistant equipment manager Rob Kennedy began to brainstorm before coming up with what the team - and subsequently the league - feels is a solution soon to be implemented league-wide.

Serbus had the idea to take a piece of Orthoplast - a soft moldable medical plastic normally used for braces and plastic casts which becomes hardened after being exposed to heat - and shaped it to fit the inside of the sleeve. The new insert not only allowed ease of slipping the bottle in and out, it held in place in the event of the net getting knocked off its pegs.

"When the plastic gets a little wet, it becomes sticky, so it acts like an adhesive," Serbus said. "Plus, because it's used primarily for casts, it's virtually indestructible. I guess we just got a little lucky."

After getting good reports from Holmqvist, the team received permission from the league to begin testing it during home games. Kennedy also got the ball rolling to inform the league and Gatorade that what they developed might be something worth looking into, first by contacting Rich Villani in the league's marketing department before speaking with King.

"They took a look at it and from there they asked us to send them a prototype to the league office and we sent one to Gatorade, too," Kennedy said. "They took it from there and made one that is almost identical to ours, minus the Tampa Bay Lightning sticker we put on the inside of them."

King said it should only be a matter of time before every arena in the league begins using the new inserts. The prototypes were expected to be in the league's Toronto office last week, but hadn't arrived as of Friday afternoon.

But unless there is some kind of a safety issue that pops up, approval should just be a rubber-stamp process at this point.

"We think they are really on to something, and this really gives the goaltenders no excuses not to put the bottle back in the insert," King said. "I know that they have come up with a couple of plans and we are close to having them in our hands. Once it gets approved, and if it's anything like the one the guys in Tampa came up with, then there should be no issues and we'll start getting these out to all the teams."

Serbus and Kennedy are not looking for any type of glory or financial gain - although one would have to think it would reflect favorably on their next review - out of their idea. Their concern is making sure they are doing whatever they can to help the players and team.

"Our goalies, because they just weren't taking the drinks, discovered that at the end of games they felt more dehydrated, started to overheat, started to cramp because they just weren't drinking," Serbus said. "And these guys started thinking about, are they going to get in trouble for not using the coozy sleeve, and we don't want them thinking about that during a game. If it's one more thing we can do to help them keep their concentration totally on the game and keep them hydrated, that's our objective."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be

reached at (813) 259-7835 or

eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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