"You see a goalie celebrating, and people say, “This guy is weird.”"- Charles Williams explains a modern goalie's mentality.

A goalie fight during a game is a rare occurrence in modern hockey history. But starting with the 2022-2023 season, something switched off.

The game of hockey is growing, new sticks are lighter than air, fans are turning into sports bloggers, and goalies are scoring goals. Still, a goalie fight has been a rare event in modern hockey history. The stereotype traits associated with the position are cold-blooded, introverted, different, lonely, and moody.

If everything goes right, goalies experience a lot of pressure and must play for at least 60 minutes without substituting. But it doesn’t mean that the players of this position are distant from the game and don’t have the same feelings as other players. They can get angry, upset, or happy in a moment. It’s all allowed. There are no rules about how one player, a goaltender or a forward, should feel during a hockey game.

In the last two months, there have been at least two goalie brawls in the ECHL, two in the AHL, and another this week in the NHL. We are used to emotional performances by Jordan Binnington of the St.Louis Blues toward his opponents. But on Wednesday night, Binnington was ready to battle with anyone, including Marc-Andre Fleury. Referees were able to manage the situation before it exploded.

So, what do goalies feel about fights?

I interviewed the Jacksonville Icemen goalie Charles Williams about his netminding experiences. The full version is available in audio and video formats.

Daria: Willy, did you ever fight?

Charles: I had one little fight, just a little bit. It was a crazy event back in the AAA days, a bench-clearing brawl. It was a championship game, and things got out of hand. We were outnumbered and missing four guys that game. It was more of helping teammates out. I think I was in the 8th grade. And that was it. I haven’t gotten to it ever since. We have many guys on our team, especially this year, who can handle brawls. They have my back. They have anyone’s back on the ice. And that’s just great.

Photo: Gary Lloyd McCullough/For the Icemen

Daria: Did you watch the FIFA World Cup? Martinez is a great soccer goalie. He loves to celebrate his saves. But so many people judge him for that. If you are a goalie, you can’t celebrate your accomplishments?

Charles: You know what, that’s a great question. I agree. A player can celebrate, a team can celebrate. Then you see a goalie celebrating and people say, “This guy is weird.” What? He is doing the same thing that everyone else on the field does. The stadium gets to do. But for some reason, you have it in your head that he can’t show his emotions because he’s a goalie. Why not? It’s exciting. You know you do well as a goalie, and everyone’s happy. But if you do poorly, everyone doesn’t like you. And you just live like that, trying not to show emotions. You keep it bottled up. Forget that. Show your personality. So yeah, I love having a good opportunity to celebrate after a win. My buddy, Francois Brassard of the Maine Mariners, scored a goal. He did a knee slide and put his hands up. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

Daria: Do you want to score a goal?

Charles: Oh, yeah. I would love to score a goal. I’ll leave that for the puck handlers, though. I’m just trying to make a pass to the defense, you know. But I think that is so good for the game, so good for goalies to see that you can.