IIHF – Pulling the goalie…when? 

In the old days, the really old days when it was revolutionary, a coach might pull his goalie with 30 seconds or less when trailing by a goal. 

The gamble paid off often enough that pulling the goalie late in a game became common practise, and over time the standard was to get the extra skater on with about a minute remaining. After all, what difference does it make if you lose a game 3-2 or 4-2? 

Some time in the 1990s, coaches started to pull the ‘tender when trailing not by one but by TWO goals, figuring the same logic applied to losing 4-2 or 5-2. And even if a team rallied only once a year from two goals down, it would be worth it for the points in the standings.

But these IIHF Women’s World Championships have taken the practise to new levels, as wins become ever more important with ever more significant implications. 

Even on the first day in Utica coaches were doing things a bit differently. Trailing 2-0 in the third period to Czechia, Finnish coach Jusso Toivola pulled Sanni Ahola with 3:12 remaining. The Czechs scored just six seconds later, but Toivola still kept his goalie on the bench even though it was now a 3-0 game. Fifty seconds later, and after a second empty netter, he called give and put her back in the crease.

The next day, in the Denmark-Germany game, something similar occurred. Trailing 4-1, the Danes pulled Emma-Sofie Nordstrom with 3:33 remaining, but just 47 seconds later the Germany added a goal into the empty cage and won, 5-1. When you see the score, 5-1, you certainly don’t think an empty netter was involved.

Toivola was extra aggressive in the next game against Canada. Trailing 4-1, he nonetheless pulled Ahola with 57 seconds remaining. She stayed on the bench the rest of the game, and Canada picked up two penalties along the way, so a six skaters on five situation became six-on-four and then, briefly, six-on-three. Canada withstood the disadvantage, though, and won by that 4-1 score.

Colin Muller gave it a good go against Canada last Friday. Trailing 2-0, the Swiss coach pulled Andrea Braendli with 2:08 remaining, and the Swiss had control on and off for nearly two minutes. But Sarah Fillier found the empty net, and Brandli returned to finish the game.

Japan and Germany set an IIHF record for the fastest three goals by both teams, 52 seconds, thanks to a crazy sequence precipitated by Yuji Iizuka’s pulling of his goalie, Riko Kawaguchi. Trailing 2-0 with 1:53 remaining, she raced to the bench for a sixth skater, but…