By SAL MAIORANA - The Times Union - 1/13/1995
Rochester Knighthawks goalie Steve Dietrich doesn’t sugarcoat the truth about his desire to become a box lacrosse goaltender — truly a (black and) blue-collar occupation. “When I was a little kid, I was really fat,” Dietrich said, laughing as he recalled growing up in Kitchener, Ontario. “I had my stick and I was going to play out, but we didn’t have a goalie.
The coach looked around, saw I was the biggest kid and he said, ‘You, we need you to go in the net.'” Dietrich was 5 when he was told to go between the pipes and try to make the ball hit him. It was OK back then because “the balls don’t hurt when you’re little.”
Nearly 20 years later, the shots fly at the net between 80-100 mph. Last Saturday at the War Memorial, Dietrich and the Knighthawks made their MILL debut, defeating the New York Saints 12-8.
He endured a tough night. The Saints took 60 shots, and Dietrich stopped an MILL career-high of 52. Box lacrosse goalies wear so much padding, they look like the Michelin Man.
Still, when that ball hits them, it stings. “I was bruised everywhere,” Dietrich said. “The stuff (pads) is not made to have a hard indian rubber ball coming at you 100 miles an hour.”
League officials have considered reducing the padding goaltenders wear to defend a 4×4 net. “It’s crazy,” Dietrich said. “They want us to take equipment off. If I do that, it’s going to hurt more than it did Saturday night. “They say the goalies are getting too big. They won’t say it, but they want more goals. Hey, the guys still see lots of the net, and a guy like Paul Gait, you can’t stop him no matter how much equipment you have on.”
Dietrich wears a caged helmet, football shoulder pads, a protective vest, hockey goalie pants and over-sized shin guards. Every part of his body is covered, and still he feels pain. Yet, Dietrich has never sought another position. “In goal, it’s always one-on-one, you against the shooter. It’s a challenge and that’s why I like it so much.”
Dietrich also likes the pressure of being the last line of defense. “If someone makes a mistake on the floor, there’s four other guys to back them up,” he said. “If I make a mistake, the ball’s in the net.”
Dietrich was the difference against New York. “He made some phenomenal saves,” Knighthawks coach Barry Powless said. “He was out of position sometimes, but he’d throw a stick up, a glove up, a leg up, and make the save. Some of those saves, you had to call 911 because someone got robbed.”
Dietrich, whose full-time job is selling furniture at Big Bill’s in Kitchener (Ont.), is in his third MILL season. He spent 1993 on Baltimore’s roster but didn’t play. Last year, he was Detroit’s top goalie. He compiled the third-best save percentage in the league (74 percent) and was the MILL’s player of the month for January.
“Without a good goalie like Steve, we wouldn’t be anywhere,” Gait said. “I think we realized at the start of the year that if we didn’t get a good Canadian box goalie, we’d be in trouble. I’m really happy he’s here.” Powless agreed with Gait that the first building block for a new team should be the goalie.
“In any game, offense sells tickets, defense wins championships,” Powless said. “It’s a cliché, but it works. You can get by with a so-so offense, but if they can’t score on you…”
