As part of our 20th season celebrations, the Kitmart Dundee Stars are excited to bringing you the special opportunity to vote for who should be in our coveted all-time starting six line-up.

Today, we bring you a special version of Stats of the Stars that is aimed at helping you make your decision when voting begins on Friday.

This article will compare the statistics of the eight goalkeepers we have selected to be in with a chance of winning the netminder spot in our all-time starting six.

However, you can still send in your own suggestions for other players we have not listed by using #StarsStartingSix.

 

Joe Fallon makes a pad save against Manchester Storm in the 2016-2017 season. Image Derek Black

 

Firstly, we begin by looking at how many games each netminder played for the club and this includes both regular season and playoff matches.

GP

  1. Stephen Murphy – 95
  2. Pontus Sjögren – 59
  3. Daniel Bakala, Joe Fallon and Travis Fullerton – 54
  4. Nicola Riopel – 51
  5. Alex Leclerc and Evan Lindsay – 48

Murphy is the only one of our eight nominees to play more than one season and his two years were both during the days of the British National League.

Evan Lindsay also back-stopped the Stars during the BNL era and the other six keepers all manned the crease for the Stars during an Elite League season.

 

Evan Lindsay holds a shot following an attack from Guildford Flames in the 2004-2005 campaign.

 

Next, we rank the goaltenders by their amount of games won with the Stars and from here, we are only comparing league statistics as not every goalie played playoff or cup matches.

Wins

  1. Murphy – 67
  2. Bakala – 28
  3. Sjögren – 23
  4. Fullerton – 22
  5. Fallon – 20
  6. Riopel – 19
  7. Leclerc – 18
  8. Lindsay – 14

Again, the double season total helps Murphy top the list, as he won 40 of 44 matches in the 2001-2002 season and 27 of 36 in the 2002-2003 campaign.

 

Stephen Murphy dives on top of a loose puck against Fife Flyers in a British National League match. Image Godfrey Moredente

 

Each shot-stoppers goals against average was next to be compared and this number is worked out by taking the number of goals conceded and multiplying it by 60, before dividing it by time on the ice.

GAA

  1. Murphy – 2.31 (01-02)
  2. Bakala – 2.66
  3. Murphy – 2.81 (02-03)
  4. Sjögren – 3.05
  5. Fallon – 3.37
  6. Riopel – 3.47
  7. Leclerc – 3.66
  8. Lindsay – 3.68
  9. Fullerton – .3.89
Pontus Sjögren sprawls to stop a Cardiff Devils attack in the 2018-2019 season. Image Derek Black

 

The Stars first ever season was a very successful one, as the team lifted both the BNL League and Playoff trophies and therefore, it is no shock that Murphy recorded a very low GAA in that year.

However, in a very competitive Elite League, Dan Bakala’s 2.66 average was very low and it was the fourth best in the league and only 0.38 more than Belfast Giant’s, Stephen Murphy’s average that topped the league.

Next to be compared was every goalies save percentage, which is just their total saves divided by the total shots faced, then multiplied by 100.

SV%

  1. Bakala – .928
  2. Riopel – .912
  3. Murphy – .912 & .911
  4. Lindsay – .903
  5. Sjögren – .900
  6. Fallon and Leclerc – .896
  7. Fullerton – .882

This time Bakala came out on top, as his impressive season between the pipes in Dundee once again shone through in his statistics.

 

Dan Bakala protects the Stars goal during the 2013-2014 Gardiner Conference winning season. Image Derek Black

 

Many teams faced a long and difficult night of trying to find a way past the Canadian but his predecessor, Nicola Riopel also put up some impressive numbers and was another tough goalie to beat.

Finally, the number of shutouts recorded by each netminder were compared and this is a statistic that is very hard to achieve high numbers in.

SO

  1. Murphy – 10
  2. Bakala and Riopel – 4
  3. Fallon – 3
  4. Sjögren and Fullerton – 1
  5. Leclerc – 0
  6. Lindsay – Unknown

Once again, Murphy’s two seasons helped the Dundonian top this list as well, as he recorded 6 shutouts in the 2001/2002 campaign and another 4 the following year.

However, Bakala, Riopel and Fallon all did well to secure their number of shutouts and those are currently the three highest amounts of shutouts recorded by a Stars goalie in an EIHL regular season.

 

Nicola Riopel fights to find sight of the puck against Edinburgh Capitals in the 2012-2013 campaign. Image Derek Black

 

Don’t forget that you can still take advantage of the 10 per cent off offer at the new Kitmart Dundee Stars online store by using the discount code: stars101 (expires 08/09/2020).

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19 Wins
23 Losses
7 OT Losses
45 Points