Praise for Tomas Holmstrom

Like every other hockey fan, I'm pretty irked with the NHL right now (thanks for the lockout, idiots....). But, this doesn't prevent me from admiring the truly remarkable career of Tomas Holmstrom, who retired recently.
Take a look at some highlights:



I think that every goalie in the NHL was glad to see Holmstrom go -- he drove them CRAZY. He scored most of his goals 3-4 feet from the net -- most of these were redirections and "garbage goals". He made a fine art out of these goals, but of course he had to work really hard and take a TON of abuse for each one.

Can you imagine having a job in which it is your task to stand in front of the goalie, trying to obscure his vision while a giant defenseman tries to move you out of the way?  Oh, and then, what happens next is that some guy shoots a small hard rubber puck in your general direction at around 100mph....and while the defenseman is seriously abusing you, it is now your job to "tip" the puck with your stick, hoping to direct the puck into the net.   This is what Holmstrom made into art.

I'm a hockey fan, and I cheer for the players more than I do for the teams. I'll miss seeing Homer out on the ice.