Goalie Cams: Would They Work?

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I've thought about this and likely brought it up once before in the past, but figured I'd throw it out there to see what others think.

A few weeks ago John from In Lou We Trust proposed the idea of iso cams on players throughout the game.  While interesting to say the least, I have a feeling that if networks decide to include this on their actual broadcast it would get extremely boring very quickly. 

So, here's another idea.

If you think about it, the average player is only out there for a few seconds at a time.  And really, we've all seen the horrific camera angles that NBC tries to work with during the power play (behind the net - blah).  So to keep a camera locked on a certain player, even if he is the star of a team, would leave a lot to be desired and would take a lot away from the game.  Although I'm not opposed to seeing the iso-cam replay or something.

But one thing I think would be pretty successful is the goalie cam.  And I'm not necessarily asking it to take up the entire screen or anything, but instead to pose as an interactive add-on of sorts.  Most of us here on Pensburgh sit in a game thread while the game is going on, and there's already been plenty of evidence that suggests a growing number of fans of all kinds of sports do something similar.  So why not offer a goalie cam online? 

The risk in this is the potential for a tape delay, but this is as much a benefit as it could be perceived as a hindrance. 

I don't know about you, but I still like watching the traditional style of a hockey broadcast.  But if the goalie cam is, say, 10 seconds behind the game, the opportunity to keep an eye on it while also not missing any of the action is something worth considering.  The only downside to a goalie cam is the inevitable boredom that will come in watching a long-distance shot of action down at the other end of the rink.  But if this goalie cam allows you to switch between goaltender or maybe even does it automatically for whichever end has the action, I think it'd be a pretty intense feature.  Plus, shootouts would benefit greatly from this feature, and we already know just how much the league loves shootouts.

And just in case you were wondering, this has been done before.  By that I mean, not to the degree in which I presented my wish list of sorts, but with placing a camera in a goalie's helmet to record all of the action.  Here's a post I did up on Marc-Andre Fleury sporting the cam a few years ago which playing for WBS.  It's doable.

And in case you haven't seen this by now (I try to unsurface it at least once every year) here is the actual video footage of the camera which, sadly, remains to the tune of Kenny Loggins: