# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/21 "2012-02-16T21:30:20Z")
Bet this guy could make it work: [Link](http://www.totalfab.com/galleries/Film-TV/gallery/index.php?mode=image&selected=04goalie.jpg) \*not a real guy ---
**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, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/22 "2012-02-16T21:47:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. It kind of depends on the goalie, I guess - there’s a fair bit of variation. Carey Price is 6’3" and listed at 219lbs, Martin Brodeur is 6’2", 216lbs, Roberto Luongo is 6’3" and 217lbs… then you have Henrik Lundqvist at 6’1" and 195lbs, Ryan Miller at 6’2" 175lbs and Tim Thomas at a tiny 5’11" 205 lbs. Different styles and agilities seem to matter more than sheer size. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/23 "2012-02-16T21:49:56Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > 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: In that show, they got Ducks enforcer George Parros to take the shots. He got about 90% accuracy or something like that against the man in the fat guy suit (they didn’t get a real fat guy). Point being, if you got a legit 1st line goal scorer like a Teemu Selanne or Bobby Ryan or Corey Perry (to keep with the Ducks), then they would get an even HIGHER accuracy level still. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/24 "2012-02-16T22:02:50Z")
I would imagine that if it worked, it would be done today. And then because no one wants to watch it, the rules would change, either to but a size limit, or to increase the size of nets beyond what a human can cover, even a Bruddah Iz sized human. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/25 "2012-02-16T22:25:50Z")
Slight hijack- Back in the early Seventies, Al Davis, owner of the Raiders, looked into hiring sumo wrestlers to be offensive linemen. He abandoned the idea for several reasons: 1. Good sumo wrestlers made a lot more money in Japan than he could then afford to pay offensive linemen 2. Sumo wrestlers train for SHORT, intense matches. They generally lack the endurance an NFL offensive lineman needs. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/26 "2012-02-16T22:38:17Z")
For an amusing take on the idea, there’s **[Beat the Queen](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1081939/index.htm)** (aka **Porko Von Popbutton** ) ---
**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, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/27 "2012-02-16T23:56:51Z")
There’s a bit in the first _Red Dwarf_ novel about genetically-engineered lifeforms, including them being designed for sports. For a soccer tournament, Scotland had a goalie made up entirely of a 16-foot by 8-foot wall of flesh, yet failed to qualify for the second round. ---
**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 17, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/28 "2012-02-17T00:48:43Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > [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. Shit, he’s almost as big as Zdeno Chara. Size isn’t always what counts, either. Marc-Andre Fleury is 6’2, 180lbs, but it’s his flexibility that’s his real strength. I swear, it’s almost like he can turn his bones into liquid! ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/29 "2012-02-17T15:16:36Z")
There are stories that New York Islanders Charles Wang once seriously considered sending scouts to Japan to see if sumo wrestlers could become goalies. > **[Hradek: Islanders' moves laughable](https://www.espn.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2523578)** > > E.J. Hradek writes that Islanders owner Charles Wang really got back to his screwball roots with his latest move. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/30 "2012-02-17T16:03:07Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > There are stories that New York Islanders Charles Wang once seriously considered sending scouts to Japan to see if sumo wrestlers could become goalies. > > [http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2523578](http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2523578) Interesting side note from this story, which is from mid-2006: > [@Hradek](#): > > Wang, the guy who authorized the league’s first (and only) 10-year player contract While the sumo idea was ridiculous and the GM change was a fiasco, the idea of giving very long contracts to top players has become common practice. [I think there are at least 10 players with a contract of 10 years or more.](http://www.aolnews.com/2010/07/20/the-longest-contracts-in-the-nhl/) The list in that article doesn’t include Kovalchuk, whose 17-year contract was rejected by the NHL but would up with a 15-year deal. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/31 "2012-02-17T16:17:50Z")
> [@](#): > > All this brings me back to Wang, who really should’ve hired a competent hockey guy to run his team. Oh, wait, he already did that. Then, he fired him just 41 days into that guy’s tenure. Maybe somewhere down the road, the Isles’ mad chemist of an owner will get the last laugh. For now, though, the joke is still on him. Nearly 6 years later and we are still laughing. Wang…Snow…Milbury… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![FrustratedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@FrustratedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrustratedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/32 "2012-02-18T02:42:46Z")
There’s a book called Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan that tests this idea. As others have mentioned upthread, the idea doesn’t hold up under testing. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/33 "2012-02-18T03:08:18Z")
> [@FrustratedIdiot](#): > > Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan I would love to see that. For fun, you can use Scott Gomez as the shooter 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FrustratedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@FrustratedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrustratedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994/34 "2012-02-18T03:18:35Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I would love to see that. > > For fun, you can use Scott Gomez as the shooter 😉 https://www.youtube.com/embed/SwfbYdaYEoc?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sumo-wrestler-as-nhl-goalie/612994.md?page=1)