Early Goalie Update

Excluding the goaltenders at the NHL level (Vokoun and Anderson) and Rochester's Chris Beckford-Tseu, there are six goaltenders that are currently Panthers' property spread over two continents and several different leagues.

In no particular order, a little summary of the start to which each goaltender has had:

Jacob Markström
2008: Round 2 (#31 overall)

League	Team	GP	W	L	GAA	Sv. %	SO
SEL	Brynäs	10	7	2	1.88	.940	2

There's no doubt that Markström is the Panthers' top prospect as a goaltender and up until Saturday night, he has been almost flawless. Markström's impressive start has drawn comparisons to Henrik Lundqvist a few years ago, and for good reason. Markström has carried a team with low expectations to the top of the Elitserien and through thirteen games, a three point lead of the second place team. Even more impressive is that despite giving up five goals to Färjestad on Saturday, Markström's numbers are among the best in the league.

Over ten games and with 314 shots faced in that time, Markström holds a 1.88 GAA and a save percentage of .940. Two of his ten starts have resulted in a shutout, and seven have resulted in a win (7-2-1) for Brynäs.

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Brian Foster
2005: Round 5 (#161 Overall)

League	Team	GP	W	L	GAA	Sv. %	SO
H.E.	New Hampshire	3	3	0	0.67	.975	1

Foster has gotten off to a phenomenal start in New Hampshire and if he can keep it up, the Wildcats are going to continue to move up in the national rankings. UNH has moved from 6th to 3rd since the previous poll, and Brian Foster has had a huge hand in the team's early success.

After giving up only a goal to Wisconsin in the season opener ten days ago, Foster did himself one better by shutting out Rensselaer -- and then handed 3-0-0 Boston University their first loss of the season by stopping 31 of 32. During the second period, UNH found themselves on the short end of not one, but two Boston 5-on-3 chances, each over a minute long. Foster still turned aside all but one of the eighteen Boston University shots taken in the second period, handing the Terriers their first loss.

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Tyler Plante
2005: Round 2 (#32 Overall)

League	Team	GP	W	L	GAA	Sv. %	SO
AHL	Rochester	2	0	2	3.96	.868	0

When Tyler Plante was drafted in 2005, he was coming off of a 34 win rookie season with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL. His numbers dropped considerably the following season, and he rebounded with a very strong final year in juniors.

Last season, Plante split time between the Rochester Americans and the Florida Everblades as he struggled to adapt to the pro game, although he had a strong save percentage in the ECHL. Still, Plante posted a 6-16-1 record with an Amerks team that didn't need any extra help losing games.

This year, Plante is expected to alternate starts with Chris Beckford-Tseu, and he's played in two of the Amerks' five games. His first game was awful, and he was pulled after allowing three goals on five shots. In his second start, he gave the Amerks a chance to win against Manitoba, stopping 26 of 28 and making a couple of big saves, but the offense was only able to score once and an empty net later, the Amerks had fallen 3-1.

Through only a game and a quarter, Tyler has allowed five goals on thirty-eight shots or, a 3.96 GAA and a meager .868%.

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Marc Cheverie
2006: Round 7 (#193 Overall)

League	Team	GP	W	L	GAA	Sv. %	SO
WCHA	Denver	3	3	0	3.67	.884	0

Cheverie has been fortunate to have such a high-powered offense in front of him, as he hasn't assumed the starter's duties quite as smoothly as Brian Foster in UNH, but in spite of it all, the Pioneers are undefeated through three games and Cheverie has been able to build some confidence to move forward despite his inexperience at the collegiate level.

The Pioneers' netminder had a strong 23-save opener against Notre Dame but gave up nine goals in two games against Wisconsin this past weekend. Averaging a little under 32 shots against per game, his .884 save percentage is a good indication that Cheverie will need a little time to settle in, but as he gets more comfortable, with the offense the Denver Pioneers have generated -- yeah, Cheverie gave up nine goals in those two games against Wisconsin, but Denver scored 13 -- the now #2 team in the nation (#4 in the previous poll) could get even better.

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David Shantz
2004: Round 2 (#37 Overall)

Still fairly young at 22 years of age, Shantz hasn't quite developed the way the Panthers had hoped when they selected him in between Rostislav Olesz and David Booth, but when the dust settled on his recall and subsequent loan to the ECHL's Dayton Bombers, it became evident that David was being put in a position to play a lot of games and really start to bring it all together.

As of right now, Shantz has yet to play in a game this season. However, the Bombers are welcoming him with open arms as his presence is one they hope will help the team's rookies adapt, and of course, take a little pressure off of Dayton's rookie goaltender Paul Drew.

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Sergey Gayduchenko
2007: Round 7 (#202 Overall)

Gayduchenko may never see time playing in North America and as of now, the 6'5" goaltender is third string for Yaroslavl in the KHL. Because of this, he has yet to play in a game this season.