http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dssports/pro/202sd8.htm http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/sports_story.asp?intID=38311101 http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...19fire,1,4193263.story?coll=cs-home-headlines
"We believe Zach will be the better person to have in our net next year,'' said Fire general manager Peter Wilt. "He is a proven champion. We are fortunate to have the choice of two outstanding goalkeepers. It was a difficult decision to make." Tough business.. after being an All-Star, Ring is looking for a job... Another thought.. where does Razov fit in '05? Isn't his contract out? Will the Fire resign him or will he be traded?
Honestly, I thought this was insanity. He was fine... kind of. I never trusted his hands. He never had the control of the defense that Zach had. He made some great saves... but he let in soooo many soft goals. He was caught standing utterly still on several of them. Now, I think the 2003 Zach Thornton was seriously unimpressive. I hope his time away has been beneficial. I was ready to move on... but now I'm ready to come back. All this said... Ring was, IMO, our third best keeper. He was far below Zach... a bit below Snitko... much better than Greg Sutton and miles better than Coufal and Spiteri. But that's it. I never thought of him as anything more than an average keeper. All star? Puh-lease. That said... I have always complained about the defense's utter reliance on Zach. I'd like to see more playing time for our backup. The defense needs it, and the team will be better for it.
This made my day! Finally a smart decison by Fire in 2004. The way I look at it. We played good defense it's just that our goal keeper sucked (well, midfield was really the reason why we played like crap all year). All it took was a shot or 2 and it was in. For Fire to win a game in 2004 they had to hold oppositon to ZERO shots on goal or hope that they go straight where Ring was standing. Sure he was a good shot blocker. I bet you would as well, if you would not catch the ball, it would hit you. I'll give Rign credit where credit is due. He had "positioning" going for him all the time. Sadly, too many times he depended on it and was cought watching the ball go past him, standing still, and hopeful it goes wide. Hence a nickname "ballwatcher"