Top Returning East Metro Goalies
Having an experienced player between the pipes is one step in the right direction to build on previous success. With both the Metro East and the Suburban East conferences home to some top-tier scorers, veteran goalies will play a big…
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Continue ReadingHaving an experienced player between the pipes is one step in the right direction to build on previous success. With both the Metro East and the Suburban East conferences home to some top-tier scorers, veteran goalies will play a big role in how their teams fare when the season gets going.
Here’s a look at some of the top returning East Metro goalies.
Tyler Steffens, White Bear Lake
As a junior, Steffens split time with senior Evan Foss, who graduated in the spring. Steffens logged nine wins, including two shutouts, and posted a .902 save percentage and 1.44 goals-against average. Although Foss saw all the action in the postseason, Steffens, now a senior, has the experience to backstop a Bears team hungry to return to the Tourney.
Tyler McCarville, Hastings
McCarville tallied 17 wins for a 19-win Hastings team that finished 10 points behind Metro East frontrunner St. Thomas Academy. As a sophomore, McCarville posted six shutouts, a 1.55 goals-against average and a .944 regular-season save percentage — one of the state’s best. Of the three losses the Raiders suffered with McCarville starting last year, only one — against perennial powerhouse St. Thomas Academy — was decided by more than one goal.
Jacob Lissick, South St. Paul
The Packers didn’t have the best finish to the 2018-19 season, ending the year 13-13-1 and in the bottom half of the Metro East Conference. But the silver lining? It could be Jacob Lissick, who won seven games and finished with a .912 save percentage — fifth best in the Metro East for goalies who recorded at least 300 minutes.
Josh Davis, Woodbury
Another team that struggled to log wins, the Royals didn’t make it to .500 last year. But Davis, returning for his senior year, will have the chance to build on his nine-win, seven-loss season where he finished with an .894 save percentage and blanked two teams — Mounds View and East Ridge — for a Woodbury program that has to compete with the likes of Stillwater, Cretin-Derham Hall and White Bear Lake.
Remington Keopple, Hill-Murray
Keopple, now a senior, will be backstopping a Pioneers team that fell one game short of a state tournament berth, losing 3-2 to rival White Bear Lake in the Class 2A, Section 4 final. Keopple made 19 saves on 22 shots in that game, after stringing together a 12-win season and boasting a Minnesota high school top-10 .927 save percentage and 1.90 goals-against average.