# Sumo wrestler as NHL goalie? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 16, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994 "2012-02-16T02:13:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pablo\_O\_Malley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pablo\_O\_Malley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablo_O_Malley)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/1 "2012-02-16T02:13:13Z")
so why can’t a 600-pound sumo wrestler stand or sit in front of the goal so there’s no room for the puck to get in? you can’t say he’s too heavy or tall or whatever, that is discrimination, like saying manute bol is too tall to play in the nba:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/2 "2012-02-16T02:21:21Z")
The goal is four feet high by six feet wide, I suspect you’re vastly overestimating how much of that a stationary sumo wrestler would cover. Also the leg pads have a maximum size which is independent of how big the goalie is. NHL players are quite adept at shoot the puck into open corners. In addition the goalie wants to be mobile so he can play the puck behind the net on dump-ins. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/3 "2012-02-16T02:22:07Z")
> [@Pablo\_O\_Malley](#): > > so why can’t a 600-pound sumo wrestler stand or sit in front of the goal so there’s no room for the puck to get in? you can’t say he’s too heavy or tall or whatever, that is discrimination, like saying manute bol is too tall to play in the nba:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Yes you can say he’s too heavy. If an NHL team is looking for a goalie they’re going to need someone who has agility and reflexes, not pure mass of fat. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/4 "2012-02-16T02:23:36Z")
Wouldn’t work. It’d be easy enough to shoot in between or around his legs. And sumo wrestlers usually weigh a lot less than 600 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/5 "2012-02-16T02:25:10Z")
One of those random shows on Spike TV or a similar channel explored this idea. They found a guy a sumo wrestler’s size and got an NHL player to take shots at him. The pro hockey player had absolutely no problem scoring almost every shot. And this wasn’t a sharp-shooting goal scorer - it was some fighting goon. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/6 "2012-02-16T02:43:00Z")
Moved to The Game Room. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/7 "2012-02-16T02:46:59Z")
Not agile enough - he still has to be on skates, after all. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/8 "2012-02-16T02:49:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Moved to The Game Room. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator You missed, and hit Cafe Society. You do, however, get credit for the assist. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/9 "2012-02-16T05:24:22Z")
This isn’t the first time the question has come up. The answer, which has already been mentioned but can be summed up a little more succintly, is this; there is not a human being on earth healthy enough to get onto the ice who can cover the net. \*\* An NHL net is much, much bigger than it looks on TV.\*\* If you actually go up to a regulation size net it’s shockingly big. A really, really fat person might be, say, 3 feet wide. (If that doesn’t sound like much, hold your hands that far apart and compare it to yourself. It’s huge. I am a large man, about 25 pounds overweight and 6’2", and I just figured now that my body is not even a foot and a half wide.) But an NHL net is six feet wide. I doubt any human is six feet wide - six feet around, maybe, but not wide. Of course if there was a human large enough to entirely cover the net, and who was suicidal enough to try, he wouldn’t have to be able to skate or handle the puck. But there isn’t such a person. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/10 "2012-02-16T05:30:33Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > You missed, and hit Cafe Society. You do, however, get credit for the assist. And **twickster** scores on the rebound! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/11 "2012-02-16T05:59:57Z")
Actually, they COULD technically say you’re too fat to play, because physical fitness is a part of training. Not that a person weighs too much, but that they’re not in proper shape. Hockey players tend to weigh about 200+ pounds, but most of it is muscle. If someone starts looking like a sumo wrestler, they’d be in danger of being cut. (The biggest goalie I can think of is [Ken Dryden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Dryden), who’s 6’4, and was about 207lbs, according to wiki) Watch a hockey game sometime and keep an eye out after they score a goal – most of the time, they’ll show the replay from different angles. You’ll get a good look at how big the net really is. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/12 "2012-02-16T08:17:41Z")
[It’s been tried. It ended badly.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaqA3riikCY) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/13 "2012-02-16T15:00:22Z")
[Previous thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=159263) ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/14 "2012-02-16T15:04:54Z")
This was an idea that Sam Seaborn had on _The West Wing_. (pretty much debunked there, too, with the reasons given above). ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/15 "2012-02-16T15:23:12Z")
What if they trained gorillas to be goalies? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/16 "2012-02-16T17:17:31Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > What if they trained gorillas to be goalies? I thought that’s what the Flyers did in the 1970s? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/17 "2012-02-16T17:18:55Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I thought that’s what the Flyers did in the 1970s? Holy crap, they were _trained_?? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/18 "2012-02-16T17:46:45Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > (The biggest goalie I can think of is [Ken Dryden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Dryden), who’s 6’4, and was about 207lbs, according to wiki) Pekka Rinne - 6’5", listed at 205lbs. [Jason Missiaen](http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospect/Jason_Missiaen) is a Rangers prospect (4th round, 116 overall, 2008 Entry Draft, selected by the Habs but not signed) playing in the ECHL. He’s listed at 6’8" and 220lbs. > [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Holy crap, they were _trained_?? Nope. That was the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/19 "2012-02-16T19:56:38Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > One of those random shows on Spike TV or a similar channel explored this idea. They found a guy a sumo wrestler’s size and got an NHL player to take shots at him. The pro hockey player had absolutely no problem scoring almost every shot. And this wasn’t a sharp-shooting goal scorer - it was some fighting goon. Pretty sure it was _Sport Science_ - used to be on FSN, then was bought by ESPN, who has stopped running it as a full show and it’s now just an occasional segment on SportsCenter. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/20 "2012-02-16T20:40:31Z")
200 pounds, that’s all? That’s what I weigh, and someone for whom all that weight is muscle would be smaller than me. I would have guessed they’d at least be in the 225 range or so. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994.md?page=2)