The goalie is an instrumental part of a hockey team. It doesn’t take an NHL analyst to know that a hockey team cannot be successful without a strong goalie. If a team trusts their goalie, they may be able to play an entirely different style of hockey than a team with a less reliable goalie at the back. It allows for aggression, offensive play, and risk taking—all necessary parts of winning a hockey game.
But having a reliant goalie is nothing new for the Greeley Varsity Hockey team. Greeley has had a 7 year streak of goaltending excellence. Class of 2022 graduate Ben Madden was arguably the best goalie in Greeley history and one of the most talented to ever come out of Section 1. Madden kept the team in every game last year. Boasting an astounding 0.917 save percentage, meaning he shut down 91.7% of the shots that came his way, and 4.08 goals against average, another metric indicating a highly effective goalkeeper, very few games were lost when he was in net. However, his graduation opened up that space between the pipes, giving current senior goalie Ryne Wolberg the opportunity to step up and replace Ben Madden’s inhuman-level play from last season.
This, understandably, was a daunting task for Wolberg. Not only was Madden a brick wall in the crease, he was, in Wolberg’s words, “the heart and soul of the team.” When spirits were down or nerves were up, Madden was always the one to manage the team’s emotions, steady the team’s ship. Madden’s influential locker room presence only deepened the vast responsibility of the shoes Wolberg was expected to fill.
Wolberg, while a talented goalie, has one clear disadvantage to Madden: experience. Madden had been tending the nets of AAA hockey – the highest youth level – for almost a decade when it came his time to shine at Greeley. Wolberg’s case could not be more different. He switched to goalie in 8th grade and has never played club hockey in net. His only previous experience came from serving as the backup to 2 Greeley greats in Madden, and Ryne’s older brother, Arye. Ryne was at a disadvantage to almost every other goalie going into a season in which he was expected to start.
Wolberg faced this insurmountable task head on. He took it honestly and accepted the cards he was dealt. Wolberg said, “I don’t know if it’s possible to repeat what Ben did last year…but it’s not about me replacing him…I’ll just do whatever I can to help the team win.” Wolberg’s straightforward, steadfast attitude sparked a desire to get better and to support the team as much as possible. He planned his offseason and executed day in and day out with that one goal in mind: “I took actions that I never would have considered before, such as working with a goalie coach and playing club hockey.” Between the end of the previous winter season and the start of this one, Wolberg underwent a superhuman transformation. He improved so much that his club team, which had multiple talented goalies, made him the clear-cut starter in every important game. When club hockey ended in November making way for the start of varsity hockey, senior Wolberg was in a spot to take the section by storm.
While coaches and players across the section doubted Wolberg’s abilities in net, he has proved each and every doubter wrong. Through 20 games, Wolberg was for this team what Madden was for last year’s team. Wolberg sported a 0.906 save percentage and a 4.01 goals against average, stats almost identical to Madden’s. Wolberg’s play was so striking that after a game, an opposing team’s coach asked the Greeley coach, “Didn’t Ben Madden graduate?” referring to Wolberg’s Madden-esque performance in net. This comment alone speaks volumes to Wolberg’s work between the pipes this season. Wolberg accomplished the Herculean task of replacing the irreplaceable Ben Madden, and, although it is his last and only year as a starting varsity goalie, it was one that he can certainly be proud of.