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It takes a special kind of person to willingly do a job where you routinely run the risk of getting plunked with a hard object capable of traveling over 100 MPH. That’s the line of work you sign up for when you’re a professional lacrosse goalie, and Austin Kaut showed off the battle scars he earned en route to winning a PLL tournament championship.
NHL goaltenders (and hockey goalies in general) have a reputation for being a bit…out there. Many fans will tell you that’s the result of players needing to be somewhat unhinged at their core to play a position where they voluntarily use their body as a shield to stop the pucks that are hurled at them dozens of times over the course of a typical game.
Those netminders minimize the damage that comes with doing that with the help of the pads they wear, but shots can still slip through the cracks every now and then. They also have significantly more protection than their counterparts in lacrosse, who are much more vulnerable while rocking a kit that usually only consists of a chest guard, gloves, and a helmet.
Those players are also pelted with a tiny rubber projectile that tends to fly at a speed that would trigger a traffic stop on most highways in the United States, and one man was more than happy to show off the damage they can do in the wake of the showdown for the Premier Lacrosse League Sixes title.
Pro lacrosse goalie Austin Kaut was covered in bruises after helping the Carolina Chaos win a PLL championship
Austin Kaut is a Pennsylvania native who spent four years as the starting goaltender for the lacrosse team at Penn State before being drafted by the Boston Cannons in the Major League Lacrosse draft in 2014.
That marked the start of a pro career that’s spanned more than a decade, as Kaut (who supplements his income by working as a mortgage loan officer) spent time with the now-defunct Florida Launch before linking up with the Carolina Chaos of the Premier Lacrosse League, which merged with MLL in 2020.
Remember that thing I said about hockey goalies being a little crazy? The same can certainly be said for Kaut.
On Sunday, the Chaos faced off against the California Redwoods for the right to hoist the trophy presented to the winner of the PLL’s Championship Series, the league’s winter Sixes tourney. Carolina ended up earning the 24-16 win thanks in no small part to Kaut, who made 20 saves while stopping 57.1% of the shots sent his way.
He faced a barrage of shots over the course of the two-week tournament that led up to the game, and after it came to an end, he sat down for a press conference where was asked about the difference between traditional field lacrosse (which features 10 players) and the six-man format the PLL harnesses during the Championship Series.
He kicked off his answer by peeling his shirt up to expose the torso that was covered in some massive bruises he sustained during the tournament before elaborating on other factors he’s had to adjust to.
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Dudes rock.