Time repeats itself; the goaltending situation in Brampton

As the Battalion season came to a close in March, and overage goaltender Cody St. Jacques departed from the team for good, my brain was already consumed with the goaltender situation this upcoming season. I was confident in saying that Matej Machovsky wasn't going anywhere; he's a young goaltender with a lot of potential, he had a 2.65 goals against average, and a 0.901 save percentage in 18 games with the Battalion last season. I know, it was only 18 games, but he came to Brampton midway through the season and adjusted nicely.

And he had a great first game against Kitchener. But...he's a young goaltender.

As we saw from last year with this squad and other occasions in the past, teams need a veteran goaltender. The arrival of St. Jacques last December was not only the added experience and skill the team required, but also a boost of confidence to a struggling squad. Safe to say his presence had a positive effect on Machovsky as well, as rookie goaltenders need that big brother influence from a veteran netminder (right, Brandon?) to keep their nerves in check; intangibles a lot of teams will tell you about.

I figured Stan Butler would learn from last season and not wait until the halfway mark in the year to get that experience between the pipes. I waited most of this summer and still no talk of goaltenders. Then Keegan Wilson arrived. Is this the veteran goaltender I've been waiting for?

Wilson isn't a bad goaltender, he just simply doesn't look ready for the OHL. 19-years-old and he's a rookie here, which could be part of the reason why he let in too many bad goals Monday afternoon at home against Kitchener.

Last season, Wilson played in the Georgian Bay Mid-Ontario Junior Hockey League, Junior C, for the Stayner Siskins where he won the league's rookie of the year. He put up impressive numbers throughout the season and pushed the Alliston Hornets (four-time consecutive provincial finalists at the Junior C level) to seven games in the playoffs. But that was then...and this isn't Junior C hockey. Welcome to the O, Keegan.

With that said, there's still time. One thing is for sure, he needs to be more ready than that. Baby steps fro this senior netminder. Of course it's so easy for me to be an observer and have an opinion on this matter, since I'm not the one with the pressure on my shoulders, I don't have to strap on the gear and stand between the pipes...I get that, but I think this team probably wants and needs to prove a point right away. And they did a good job of that on Sunday with Machovsky in net.

Looking at the player roster from Monday's game, there are only two goaltenders listed, which leads me to believe that Stan Butler is still looking. However, as of right now, he's eaten up his OA cap with Michael Santini, Ian Watters, and OHL rookie, former Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL winger, Mitchell Porowski (so far, this guy is in my good books, although he was a healthy scratch on Monday).

I have no problem if someone proves me wrong, and I hope that Wilson does because I don't want to see a repeat of last season.