MCGINN 'N TONIC: Dov Deserves His Fair Share of Praise

At this point, Harvard goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris is just a step or two away from a well-rehearsed “no respect” schtick, a starring role in “Ladybugs,” and canned jokes about his wife and the butcher.

Well, maybe more than a step or two.

First in the nation in save percentage and second in goals-against average (GAA) and shutouts, the Crimson senior would appear to have a legitimate claim to the title of the nation’s top netminder—or arguably its top player—as balloting for year-end awards and the post-season draw near.

“He’s a great goaltender,” Brown coach Roger Grillo said. “He’s been solid for them since day one.”

But Grumet-Morris’ isn’t the name most frequently bandied about in relation to first-team All-American or the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, presented annually to college hockey’s top performer. Not even in the ECAC. That distinction would appear to belong to Cornell’s David McKee, who leads the country in both GAA and shutouts while trailing only Grumet-Morris in save percentage. As recently as Tuesday, pundits from insidecollegehockey.com named the Big Red sophomore as one of their five current favorites for the Hobey Baker, while relegating Grumet-Morris to a second-tier watch list.

Grumet-Morris isn’t faring much better in the preliminary fan vote for the award either. He’s not only trailing McKee, but is also, at least in the eyes of the self-selecting group of voters, worthy of no better than 10th place. Among goaltenders.

In fact, the leading vote getter, Northern Michigan’s goaltender Tuomas Tarkki, has received 14.3 times as many votes as Grumet-Morris as of 9 p.m. last night.

Particularly dedicated Michigans with an excess of free time on their hands aside, the consistent and widespread downplaying of Grumet-Morris’ performance this season is mind boggling. That’s not to say, of course, that Tarkki, Northeastern’s Keni Gibson, Bowling Green’s Jordan Sigalet—curently trailing only Tarkki in fan voting—and a host of other goaltenders from around the country aren’t having fine seasons. Many of them are, of course, as is the case each year. But a cursory glance at the GAA and save percentage figures is enough to show that Grumet-Morris and McKee are, at least until this point in the season, in a league all their own.

So why, then, does Grumet-Morris’ name not immediately precede or follow McKee’s in discussion of the nation’s top netminders? I’d speculate the answer is twofold. First, Cornell has something of a reputation as a goaltender factory—remember Ken Dryden or, more recently, David LeNeveu?—and Harvard doesn’t. The reputation of a Big Red netminder, independent of his stats, is automatically enhanced by the fact that he attends Cornell. I’d hazard to guess that if Grumet-Morris and McKee had the same numbers they currently do but played for the other’s school, this column would instead be about David McKee—though both would be equally deserving of kudos, as they are now.

Second, the disparity between McKee’s GAA (1.29) and Grumet-Morris’ (1.55) both overshadows other factors which explain away the difference between the two figures and distracts attention away from Grumet-Morris’ narrower advantage in save percentage. Grumet-Morris’ GAA is inflated by one lousy statistical performance which was largely beyond his control—Harvard’s 8-6 win over Princeton on Nov. 13, in which the Tigers scored two power-play goals and a third with an extra skater in the contest’s final 10:25 as the Crimson defense held on for dear life. Toss out that one lackluster showing, and Grumet-Morris’ GAA plummets to 1.35, a mere 0.06 higher than McKee’s.

Suddenly, the save-percentage and other comparisons become all the more relevant. Yes, McKee’s GAA is just 0.8 percent lower than Grumet-Morris,’ but that indicator fails to take into account both the caliber of the opponent and the quantity of shots faced.

In 27 starts this season, McKee has recorded 563 saves, or 20.9 per outing, allowing a goal for every 16.1 shots he turns aside. Grumet-Morris, on the other hand, has notched 685 saves in just 24 appearances, good for 28.5 saves per evening, while allowing a goal for every 18.5 shots he saves. Logically, then, if McKee had faced the same number of shots—not even shots per-game, but shots—his goals-against average would not be 1.29, but 1.58, 0.03 higher than Grumet-Morris’. Facing the same volume of shots on goal per night, McKee’s GAA would exceed 1.77.

Why doesn’t he face as many shots as Grumet-Morris does? Cornell’s defense and Harvard’s are comparably capable, so that must not be it. The Big Red’s schedule, however, is notably weaker. Obviously the two teams have the same ECAC schedule, but the Crimson has a decidedly more difficult non-conference slate.

Both sides faced Maine and Boston College—Cornell once, Harvard twice—but the Big Red began its year against Army, a game in which McKee faced a mere seven shots, stopping six, in 50-plus minutes. He subsequently faced Sacred Heart and Canisius, the latter of which managed just 13 shots on McKee’s goal, all of which he turned aside. Against BC and Maine, though, McKee allowed three goals on both occasions.

Grumet-Morris, on the other hand, has held BC, BU, and Maine to one goal apiece, Northern Michigan to zero—including overtime—and Northeastern to two, the second of which was scored in double overtime.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which path was more difficult.

“He’s huge right now,” captain Noah Welch said. “He’s been our best player.”

Now why can’t he just get a little respect?

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.