ESPN.com asked Darren Pang to explain why goalies have a reputation for being weird. We also asked him to give a goalie tour of the NHL and run down the list identifying the "normal" and "quirky" goalies in the league. In typical goalie fashion, he did both at the same time. We just sat back and let the tape recorder run.

The quirkiness and the lore of goaltenders being on the edge really was about the Original Six. There were only six teams, there was only one goalie per team and there were plenty of great goalies in the minors. So the fear of failure and losing your job, I think, sent most of those goalies over the edge, to be honest. With really no equipment, felt arm pads and no mask and the shooters -- with Andy Bathgate and Bobby Hull -- were starting to really shoot he puck. It's really no wonder that these guys drank a lot to get away from the game. And it's really no wonder that many of them died at an early age.

	Ed Belfour's personality makes him a candidate for the All-Middle Linebacker Team.

I think, mentally, the anguish of competing at that level for so long was a lot to handle -- Glenn Hall threw up before every game, Gary Smith took off his equipment between every period and showered. It's goalies like that who really started the reputation of us being quirky.

We have some neat personalities, too. Gump Worsley is a neat guy ... a short guy, who's got a little bit of a midsection and his name is Gump ... it doesn't get any better than that. But as the years went on, we had guys like Gilles Gratton. Now this guy thought he was an alien half of the time. If you look at the books, he had one of the greatest masks ever with the lion and the big teeth.

As time went on and the league expanded, you started seeing normalcy, like with Ken Dryden. He was almost too normal to be an athlete, too intelligent. He played the game, left the game at 29 and went to law school and came back to the game. Nowadays we have goaltenders that are so normal, it's scary.

Marty Brodeur is normal, Curtis Joseph is normal, Olaf Kolzig is normal, Marty Biron is as normal as they get, Jocelyn Thibault is normal. I mean normal as in you can talk to them before a game, actually carry on a conversation. Ron Hextall? You couldn't talk to him before a game. Bill Smith, you couldn't talk to him either.

Then there was Tony Esposito. Tony had something like an imaginary crease around his locker. He was in a middle section of the room in the old Stadium where the tape and other stuff was so people had to go by him. But when he had his pads laid out, you couldn't even brush by them. Everything went on one leg at a time. He also took apart his equipment by hand. If the NHL was going to come in and do a check, he'd take it apart, take out all the stuffing, then put it back together the right way. They'd measure it, then they'd leave, and he'd take it all apart and put the stuffing back. Now that, to me, that's Eddie Belfourish.

Goalies have to be the most observant group of athletes out there. Something so subtle as the webbing in your glove could be off a quarter of an inch so that when you move your glove one way the puck doesn't land in it right.

As an example, Arturs Irbe will take it apart and revamp it. Belfour does that a lot, too. He'll take the "T" from the webbing of an old glove he used three years ago and put it in his new glove because he liked the way it felt. That's commitment. Patrick Roy is very similar in that way. He may see someone else's glove and make some phone calls and get one like that to try it. Everything you do has to do with stopping the puck.

Eddie Belfour is either a modern-day Terry Sawchuk or a modern-day Tony O. His attention to detail and his determination to make his equipment 100 percent the best it can be -- that's Eddie Belfour. To a point where if he moves from left to right and he doesn't make a save, he can go back and sharpen his skates 500 times and blame it on the skates. Eddie is quirky.

The quirky guys? Eddie would have to be No. 1. Patrick Roy has mellowed with age. He's got so many other interests in life that he seems almost standoffish, but when you get to know him. He's pretty normal.

Byron Dafoe is a normal guy. John Grahame might get into that quirky area. He seems to have that ability. He wins his teammates over by going out with them and being in the middle of the social part, but he's got the ability to snap. He threw his stick up in the stands when he was in the minors.

Chris Osgood is a pretty normal, quiet guy. Garth Snow is pretty intense. Instead of being a forward or a defenseman in a goalie's body, he's a middle linebacker, calling out the plays. That separates him from a lot of other goalies.

Dominik Hasek is a quirky guy. Anyone who's got everything down to his nail clippers arranged and no one can touch them is. He's a little on the edge. He's an innovator too, not unlike Jacques Plante was when he came into the league.

Jacques Plante, now there's a weird one in the sense that he'd knit to clam himself down. He'd knit hats for the guys and he'd knit shirts. That's a little un-goalie-like.

Fredd Brathwaite is as normal as they get. Nothing bothers him. He just goes about his business. He's got a little bit of Grant Fuhr's relaxation in him.

Craig Billington is a student of the game. There is a guy who has used his position as well as anybody has. He has sat behind great guys, now he's behind Olie in Washington. He's not just a guy who puts on his gear, goes to the bench and just tosses the other guys the water bottles. He studies the plays and studies the goalies, then he gives reports to his teammates about the goalies. There is a guy that's got general manager written all over him in the future. You can't say that about a lot of guys.

	Is Arturs Irbe's plain equipment quirky or old school?

Tom Barrasso. If there is anything wrong with not talking, then that is where Tommy has distanced himself from so many guys. He's got a layer of skin that is thicker than most, but at the same time he must be sensitive because it bothers him. Tommy is interesting because he doesn't let many people into his world. He's going to win his teammates over by going on the ice and stopping pucks.

His partner Archie ... now there is an odd couple. Arturs Irbe is more outward with a vibrant personality. One of the reasons why Archie may not be popular with young fans, and to an extent the media, is his equipment. His helmet isn't flashy -- a little garbage can with a cage on it -- and his white pads look so old I wouldn't use them for street hockey. But he shows the dedication of a goaltender. He's not going to make a change just to make a change. He's going to go to his grave in that stuff. Archie is old school.

It takes a lot of dedication. A dedicated guy, a guy that has a lot of passion about it and has a lot of knowledge about it is a guy like Archie who is going to take that pair of pads and he's going to use those pads because the toe fits right or the knee fits right. The easy way is to go get a new pair of pads and struggle with your game. Goalies do that all the time. Goalies have a good rookie year when they're wearing this equipment that they loved. They make it big for tow months, then they sign on with a company and wear completely different stuff and then they struggle. That, to me, is the easy way. Archie is and old school guy.

Curtis Joseph, he's pretty normal. You can find Cujo talking to guys all the time. But when he gets ready for a game, he's pretty intense, probably more intense than people think he is. He's a little like Steve Larmer - on the outside Larms was so easy going, but then on the inside when you're in battle he's really intense.

Steve Shields, now there is another middle linebacker. We could have the All-Middle Linebacker Team. Shieldsy, who's like "If anyone comes near me, I'm just going to drill them." He's the ultimate battler. Technically, he's not going to win many awards, but he's a battler. Add Garth Snow. And Eddie Belfour, the way he tucks in his jersey and the way he sets up, he looks like he's going to attack something. Trevor Kidd rounds out the team. We'll play a three-four.

As a goalie these days, you have to win a team over. You want to be liked by the guys-slash-respected by the guys. You want the guys to follow you. You basically do things with them socially and do those little things. Then, when you go to the rink, you work your tail off. You give them no excuses not to play hard in front of you. These days, when you alienate yourself and things are going well, you're fine. But the minute things aren't going well, I've found in the past that's when the team loses the goalie ... or the goalie loses the team.

Darren Pang, a former goaltender with the Chicago Blackhawks, is a hockey analyst for ESPN.