My feelings are similar. I loved playing goal. I am of the belief that everything about a hockey team flows out from the net. The teams' styles of play, the pace of the game; everything follows from the play of the goaltender. The fate of the entire game rests in your hands.
And yes, perversely the fact that most people didn't want to play goalie made it more appealing. You're the only one on the team crazy enough to purposely put themselves in front of the very hard, very fast-moving projectile. At a bare minimum your teammates wear a cup, shin guards, gloves and a helmet. You don't wear shin guards, you wear pads. You don't wear gloves, you wear a blocker and catcher. You don't wear a mere helmet, you wear a mask. When you're in net you don't just wear 'equipment': you wear armour.
No one dares to enter your crease. It is yours, and yours alone. (Or else someone gets a lovetap to an ankle.) You rarely venture from your crease but you still have to follow every single play, every single man out there. You have to because there's no defensive partner to bail you out, no winger setting themselves up for a pass from you if only to deflect the other defence's attention away from you. You are the last line of defence. You are the last man standing. If you let one in you're not only letting the other team win, you're letting them crush your team's spirit. If you let the other team think they've got a chance at scoring and then steal that goal right from under their noses you can intimidate them like no body check could.
There's no better feeling playing that game than catching a glimpse of the face of an opponent as you make a save. There's no mistaking that look of frustration or dejection for anything else. The best is when you can tell they're thinking "Dammit! I can't believe he stopped that! How the hell am I going to beat that guy?!" You have become their worst nightmare. You have become the faceless warrior at the other end who is the arbiter, the one man who will decide, at will, who the victors shall be tonight.