Height: 6-2
Weight: 205
Catch: L
Born: 5 Jan 1942, Barrie ON (d. 2004)
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Regular Season Goaltending Record (key)
| year | team | ||||||||
| 1972-73 | Houston | ||||||||
| 1973-74 | Houston | ||||||||
| 1974-75 | Houston | ||||||||
| 1975-76 | Houston | ||||||||
| 1976-77 | Houston | ||||||||
| 1977-78 | Houston | ||||||||
| Totals: |
Playoff Goaltending Record
| year | team | ||||||||
| 1973 | Houston | ||||||||
| 1976 | Houston | ||||||||
| 1977 | Houston | ||||||||
| 1978 | Houston | ||||||||
| Totals: |
Shutouts
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Score | Saves |
| Oct 30, 1974 | Chicago | Home | 1-0 | 24 |
| Nov 28, 1974 | Edmonton | Home | 2-0 | 15 |
| Dec 27, 1975 | Minnesota | Home | 5-0 | 23 |
| Oct 31, 1976 | Edmonton | Away | 4-0 | 22 |
| Dec 3, 1976 | Edmonton | Home | 0-0 | 24 |
| Mar 13, 1977 | Indianapolis | Home | 5-0 | 34 |
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In Moments of Great Trial... • by Joey LeBourgeois • The Hockey Spectator • April 20, 1973
Ask a hockey player what the most important factor in winning in the playoffs is and he'll tell you, "The Goalie." Ask a coach the same question and he'll say, "The Goalie." Ask a hockey history buff what man hes won more playoff games than any other and he'll utter, "The Goalie." Ask a goalie what the most important factor is and he'll smile, mumble something incoherent and change the subject. That's the way it is with Houston Aero goaltender Wayne Rutledge, anyway. He knows how important his job is to the rest of the boys on the team, but he'd rather talk about them than himself. The modesty becomes him, but it doesn't become his record. Rutledge has won all of Houston's playoff games, has allowed 11 goals on 168 shots for a 2.17 goals against average and has allowed an average of just 2.75 goals per game. He's come up with the big save time and time again, had good luck in the right spots, guessed correctly when it's come to that and has stood up to the pressure with unbelievable calm. That's the kind of goalle the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League once considered the big man to be, but he was slowed by injuries after a solid rookie year in 1967 and never regained his form. Until late this year, that is. After spending most of the season sparkling one night and falling Mat the next Rutledge suddenly emerged as a confident, alert and tough-to-beat man in the net. The difference, he claims, was simply a matter of positioning. "About two months ago I discovered I was standing too far back in the crease. "It was giving the other guy the angle, and that's the way you get beat in this game. I forced myself to move out some, and it's made all the difference in the world. Now, instead of giving an attacker half the net to shoot at on the far side of me, I'm only giving them inches on each side of me. It is rare when the guy's going to be able to pinpoint a shot like that, especially con-sidering he's traveling 25 miles per hour." What about when that guy's traveling 25 mph on a breakaway? "Now that's a matter of coming out to cut down the angle and holding your ground," says the expert. If there's one particular situation in which Rutledge excels, that's it. He hasn't let a breaking man get a goal past him since correcting his positiona! problem. "You've just got to challenge the man," he says, "and hope for the best, He might put a deke on you and he might come straight on. You've got to be ready for anything." And Rut has been ready. His concentration has been intense, particularly since the playoffs began, and that is another big factor. "During the regular season it's easy to lose your concentration every once in a while," he says, "but when it comes to the playoffs you've got to. have everything together. Sometimes early in the year you might be scraping snow out of the crease when the puck is down on the other end of the ice, or something, but not any more. You've got to be watching that thing all the time." The toughest save for the 31-year-old father of three is the screen shot. That's where the guesswork and the luck comes in. "What you do on a screen is figure out where everybody is and move to cover the spot you think a guy will shoot at. It's guessing and it depends to an extent on luck, but it's all you've got." The 6-2, 200-pounder also has his size to give him the edge in another situation — the scramble in front of the crease. "It helps to be big," he says, "because when you go down on the ice to defend on that kind of play you can still cover most of the net. At my height, I'm longer than the length of the goal, and it's rare that the other team will get the chance to shoot over me. They've got to have a little time to get a shot up from in close, and my defense hasn't been giving that kind of advantage." "I've had some great help this year," be polnts out, "and that means a lot to a goaltender, too." Another thing that means a lot to Rutledge is the kind of crowd he has behind him at home. He's proud of the Houston fans, but wishes there were more of them. "We've got a great group of backers," he says, "They've got the horns and they clap and stomp and keep the noise up from the time we hit the ice all the way to the end of the game. That does a lot to get your adrenaline Nowing and keep you psyched up. We've given them a winner, and they're thanking us for it. But what I can't understand is why we can't fill the place (Sam Houston Coliseum). "There's going to be a great series going on between us and the Winnipeg Jets, and you'd think we'd have the place packed for our home games. I'm really looking forward to that kind of crowd for our games in this series, but you can't tell about Houston." "We had good crowds for Winnipeg in the regular season, so we should have better ones for them in the playoffs. It'll mean a lot to us, I'll tell you that. This will be one tough series, and we need all the help we can get." But not too much help in goal, the way Rutledge has been playing. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
Wayne Rutledge hadn't been in goal for the start of a playoff game in three years, but when Aero starter Ron Grahame tired in the 1976 series against San Diego, Rutledge got the call and stopped 42 shuts to eliminate the Mariners. The 34-year-old apparently is happy to serve as the back-up for Ron Grahame. "He has the perfect mental attitude," says Houston manager-coach Bill Dineen. "I don't worry about him. I'd put him in a game under any circustances, at any time. He stays prepared to play." |
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