Corrado Micalef

Something about Corrado Micalef always intrigued me. Maybe it was his unique name (he was born in Montreal but most of his family moved there from Italy or Malta). Or maybe his funny looking mask, as seen here in my favorite hockey card of his. Or maybe it was because he could be a flashy and spectacular goaltender. When on the top of his game he was entertaining to watch.

The problem was he often played spectacularly bad. His balance was questionable, and he was weak on his angles play. He relied heavily on his reflexes, but his goaltending fundamentals were his weakness at the NHL level. Experts at the time also often criticized Micalef's mental game, specifically his fragile focus and his lack of consistency.

Ultimately Corrado Micalef disappeared quite quickly from the NHL scene. In 113 games (all with the Detroit Red Wings), he had a weak record of 26-59-15 with a 4.24 GAA. Hey, it was the 1980s and the Red Wings at that time were a very weak team. Terry Sawchuk would not have thrived with the Wings at that time.

Micalef left North American pro hockey in 1986. But he continued playing in Europe for many seasons, playing in Switzerland, France, Italy and Germany, retiring in 2002. He also play professional roller hockey in the summer time, playing with the Montreal Roadrunners (1994, 1995), Orlando Jackals (1996) and San Jose Rhinos (1997).