Goaltender

In ice hockey, the goaltender, also known colloquially as the tendy, is the player who defends his/her team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his/her team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goalie usually plays in or near the area in front of the net called the goal crease (often referred to simply as the crease or the net). Goalies tend to stay at or beyond the top of the crease to cut down on the angle of shots. Because of the power of shots, the goaltender wears special equipment designed to protect the body from direct impact. Only one goalie is allowed to be on the ice for each team at any given time.

As there are no jersey number restrictions in ice hockey, a goaltender could theoretically wear any number from 00 to 99 (or 1 to 98 in the NHL, since 99 is retired in honour of Wayne Gretzky throughout the league and 00 notably of Martin Biron has since been banned), however there have been traditional goalie numbers. During the "original six" era, it was normal for teams to dress only one goaltender and their number was commonly 1 or 30, the numbers at the either end of the range of standard jersey numbers. As teams started dressing two goaltenders, other numbers entered into the mix. The most common additional numbers were at the end of the range, such as 29, 31, 35. Non North American hockey had additional traditional practices for goalie numbering such as 1 and 2 or 1 and 20. In the modern era, goaltenders have used a larger variety of numbers. Besides the long established #1, they are typically in the range of 27 to 60, with the 30's being the most common, particularly the traditional #30. The #40 is becoming more common among young goalies, a notable example being Boston's Tuukka Rask. The two players in NHL history who wore the number 00 before it was banned, John Davidson and Martin Biron, were both goaltenders. George Plimpton, the author, also wore number 00 as he was researching his book about his experience playing goalie for the Boston Bruins.