Is box goalie gear too big today? NLL legend Dallas Eliuk thinks so.
Dallas Eliuk, Scott Gabrielsen and Paul Gait, 1994 MILL Championship
Whenever a National Lacrosse League highlight video goes viral (usually a fight, let’s be honest), like clockwork, one of the first things that shows up in social-media comments is something about the goalies being way too big in all that gargantuan gear.
Usually, the Michelin Man is brought up, sometimes the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man or another colossal fictional character.
When a recent goalie fight between Rochester’s Rylan Hartley and the-then Albany’s Ethan Woods got shared by many in mainstream media, including hugely popular Jomboy, stopper size was, as always, mentioned.
“Speaking of goalies, those pads are too big,” Jomboy Media Founder & CEO Jimmy O’Brien said in his a breakdown video of the stopper scrap. “I think anyone looking at those pads would say those pads are too big - they’re just too big.
“Why not make the goal smaller, and then normal sized pads? We got a ridiculous looking thing. It almost looks like a joke.”
Dallas Eliuk, Bill Gerrie and Marty O’Neill
Well, one person that doesn’t find any of this funny is NLL legend Dallas Eliuk, who has been extremely vocal in the past about his feelings on today’s goalie gear. If you’re one of the few in the sport that had yet to hear, he’s very much against the additional mass today’s equipment adds to a goaltender’s full getup.
Eliuk is considered one of the game’s greatest goalies & most successful shot stoppers to ever strap on the pads. Whether you agree with his tendy hot take or not, Eliuk’s opinion is based on many decades of playing the position at the highest of levels. While some may say his views are dated, he certainly seems qualified to critique what happens in the crease.
Yesterday the always-acrobatic Eliuk, who was recently added to the rules committee of the coming-soon Professional Box Lacrosse Association, shared his stance on not only the size of goalie gear today, but his philosophy on how the position should be played as well.
Part of his statement, which he shared on both Instagram & Facebook, reads:
“To quote a goaltender friend of mine, ‘It seems a lot of the goalies playing goal don’t understand what it means to play goal.’ The amount of work to stop a ball in today’s game is only a fraction of what it once was. If you follow me here, I’ve made it perfectly clear what needs to happen for the goalie position to be respected in the public eye. Optics have determined that box goalies are perceived as interchangeable and insignificant to the game. Not my words, but to an extent, I have to agree. I’ve never been about cheering for the home team or alma mater, but rather for a game that’s entertaining.”
Marty O’Neill, Dallas Eliuk and Derek Keenan
The entire post can be viewed below, including a picture of former NLL (Major Indoor Lacrosse League when he played) goalie and Minnesota Swarm (now Georgia Swarm) general manager, Marty O’Neill, Eliuk comparing his long-time friend’s sleeker protection to today’s generation of goalies.
Eliuk, who also works with the US Box Lacrosse Association, spent 18 seasons in the NLL, collecting four Cups with the famed Philadelphia Wings, twice named the MVP in those games. A 9x All-Pro Team selection, Eliuk was inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame in 2009, and is also a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, his Junior & Senior seasons equally as impressive as his pro background. Playing his final NLL season in 2008, Eliuk has also coached in the league with the Colorado Mammoth and the no-longer Portland Lumberjax franchise.