Philadelphia Phantomsin fanisivulta Littlestä
From: Gabey8@...
Date: Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:38 pm
Neil's style is kind of a hybrid between a butterfly and standup goaltender. He's been consistently good over the years, to the point where I think we might take him for granted a little bit. We KNOW every time he steps onto the ice that we're going to see a 100% effort from him. We also know that when he's on his game, which is the vast majority of the time, that the other team will be hard put to get a puck by him.
He's very territorial about his crease. Heaven help the opponent who thinks he can invade Little's personal space; the crease-crasher will have a few new bruises by the end of the game for his impertinence.
He's also NOT shy about standing up for teammates if he thinks one of our guys has been cheap-shotted. He's been in several fights over the years, mostly with other goalies. (His first fight was against Sinhue Wallinheimo, a Finnish goalie... Little broke the guy's nose with the first punch and basically lambasted him in that bout.) However, the most spectacular example of his willingness to defend his teammates happened during a game vs. the Binghamton Senators a couple seasons ago. At that time, there was a line brawl on the other end of the ice, triggered by the Sens' goaltender spearing one of our guys in the ear. Little skated the length of the ice and LITERALLY leaped into the fray. See this animated image:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v430/Gabey8/NeilJump.gif
Actually, his intent at the time was to get at a Senator whom he thought was sucker-punching one of our guys from behind. However, when he jumped up, the Senator AND the Phantom both ducked down, causing him to fly over both of them... and the rest of the players as well. LOL... he earned himself #3 in SportsCenter's Top Ten list that night. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPERGOALIE.
He has been invaluable as a mentor to younger goalies coming into the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) system, who are being acclimated to the pros by way of a stint on the Phantoms (AHL, the level immediately below the NHL).
Anyone who's followed the Phantoms for any length of time will tell you that he SHOULD have had the opportunity to move up to the NHL. It's a testament to his loyalty, in a lot of our opinions, that he not only stayed here after being stuck in a logjam behind various veteran NHL goalies when he was a few years younger, but has *willingly* accepted the role of mentoring various younger goaltenders who've been partnered with him on the Phantoms... knowing he is training them for the opportunity to play in the NHL that he should've been offered, but wasn't.
That he's capable of doing that, and truly does become good friends with the younger goalies he's mentoring rather than resenting the role, IMO speaks absolute VOLUMES about his character. Every person I've ever heard speak of his off-ice role with the team has only praise for his leadership, not just where the younger goalies are concerned but with the rest of the team, as well. He's one of the veterans whom the rest of the team looks up to; if league rules permitted a goalie to be a captain or assistant captain, he'd surely have a letter on the front of his jersey.
Little has also been tremendously popular with Phantoms fans over the years. Again, those of us who've followed the team for any length of time, and know what he's meant to the team, can only compliment his performance and be grateful for what he's done for the team over the years... both with his own play, and with his assistance to the other goalies he's been entrusted with. He'll be tremendously missed here if he does go overseas to play. And if he has an "out" clause (as he did a few years ago when he signed a tentative agreement with a Russian team), and re-signs here, you'll see a bunch of posts on this mailing list celebrating his return.
Those who've known ME for any length of time are aware that Little's my favorite player on the team. But I've got plenty of company on that score; many Phantoms fans either consider him to be their favorite player or, at the very least, they count him as one of their favorites. I hope that with this post, I've been able to make clear some of the reasons why my fellow fans and I regard him so highly.
