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065 - In the Hot Seat Goalie Questions Part 1
100 Plays24 days ago
Show notes are available at https://thediygoalie.com/pod065
This week, Connor and Nathan take turns asking each other "on the spot" questions, meaning we didn't know the questions ahead of time. This sparked some interesting in the moment thoughts on certain topics, such as rebounds, drafts, situations, and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the DIY Goalie Podcast, where hosts and goalie coaches Nathan Park and Connor Munday share their insights on how to become a better goalie.
Holiday Recap and Episode Plans
00:00:20
Speaker
Welcome back goalies to another episode of the DIY goalie podcasts presented by true north goaltending with your host Connor Monday and Nathan Park hope you guys are all doing well today um i guess for those of you that celebrated happy Independence Day and you know the Canada Day festivities too I hope you guys had fun with your days off times off all that good stuff and um It's ah been a little while since we've been together on the same pod. and I know we've only skipped one week, but it's been a couple of weeks inning since we recorded. So um we're back and we've got what we think is going to be a very fun episode.
Mystery Questions Game
00:01:06
Speaker
Probably going to have to split it in two parts, but we've each kind of gotten a list of mystery questions that the other one does not know what questions they are.
00:01:16
Speaker
We might end up with the same questions, which would be pretty interesting. But yeah, basically we're going in this blind. We're going to throw some curve balls at the other ah their host here. And hopefully that makes for some interesting content. So how are you doing today, Connor?
00:01:34
Speaker
I don't know why I'm so nervous about this. i tell I have no idea why I'm so nervous about what you're going to ask. don't know. I think it's just maybe just...
00:01:47
Speaker
It's basically a game of would you rather or never have I ever. I mean, we're going to do. I don't know. I guess just for me, it's like the fear of like looking stupid. oh But that's the yeah that's the beauty of that.
00:02:03
Speaker
That's I mean, granted, but come on. um No, I'm good. ah Man, was it ever a hot day here today? I think we've been 32 at one point today.
00:02:14
Speaker
Like I'm, I'm, I'm wearing a tank top underneath this today. And just like, it was, it was just so, so hot. Like I spent most, I did spend most of my time outside as you probably can tell by my face. so Um, that just yeah hung out in the, thank you.
00:02:29
Speaker
Um, just kind of, uh, um, hung out in the pool there and, uh, and, uh, yeah, didn't, didn't get to, didn't get around to doing a lot today, but, uh, hopefully for those, uh,
00:02:42
Speaker
In the offseason, um yeah, hopefully everybody's doing well, training and all that stuff. Congratulations to those that made it into the NHL draft, all the goalies that got drafted.
00:02:55
Speaker
And if you didn't get drafted, you know, your chance will still come. It just may come at a later time.
Winning vs. Losing Teams: What's Better?
00:03:01
Speaker
Anyways, you know, we should have done. We should have rock, paper, scissored to see who go first.
00:03:08
Speaker
So I'm just going to go for it. I'm going to dive in. All right. Sounds good. All right. question Question number one for you. If you had to pick what is better for a goalie, would you rather be on a team who constantly wins 10 nothing or constantly loses 10 nothing?
00:03:27
Speaker
Hmm.
00:03:33
Speaker
I guess I would rather be on the team...
00:03:43
Speaker
Oh, that's a good one. Jeez. I don't know. I'm coming in hot right off the bat. Um, I don't know. Cause like there's, there's pros and cons to each. Um, like the pros for being on the team, you know, that's losing 10, nothing is, you know, it's, it's giving you that opportunity to kind of really nitpick the game, which I guess in turn can be a con.
00:04:08
Speaker
Um, um,
00:04:10
Speaker
And then ah the con, the actual con to that is like that's, that, that's a huge blow to the self-esteem and then the mentality of, of a goaltender. Cause we've all been in those games where we got absolutely blown out and it, and it messes with you.
00:04:26
Speaker
The pros and cons for being on a team that wins 10, nothing is, well, okay. The con is, is that maybe you don't get to do a whole lot. The pros is, is that, well, maybe you get 10 shots in a game, give or take. And,
00:04:39
Speaker
You stop all 10 or you stop nine out of the 10. So hu um i think I think I'd rather, i don't know, kind of weirdly, I think I'd rather be on the team that loses 10-0 every game. Because I think it that gives you an opportunity to, you know, kind of really evaluate your game and you get to you get to exploit a lot of a lot of weaknesses in your game and it gives you a lot of chances to develop. So then you can eventually be the goaltender for the team that wins 10-0.
00:05:09
Speaker
um Yeah, I think that would be my pick. Yeah, me personally, I think the adversity is better than the sitting there picking your nose for the game.
Goaltending Styles: Efficiency vs. Athleticism
00:05:22
Speaker
If I had to pick, I think for a goalie, it'd be better to be on the 10-0 team. But as you said, it's it's tough mentally if you can get past that and and figure out how to deal with the adversity and get the positives out of it then I think it can be a good thing but uh yeah getting three shots every night in games is also not very you know good for development so but yeah that that was my first question so Well, I think it's a lot better than my first question here.
00:05:56
Speaker
And so i got to preface with this again because we're talking we've been talking so much about robotic goalies or goalie school goalies as of late. So my question to you is is that do you believe there is a right versus wrong way to play the position?
00:06:14
Speaker
Well, yes. Now, now I'm going to caveat that with on certain things.
00:06:24
Speaker
So to me, you know, unfortunately for the keyboard warriors out there, the strictly stand up all the time on everything is the wrong way to play goal. ah There's also, you know, if you're going to be facing towards the net the whole time, that's probably a wrong way to play goalie.
00:06:48
Speaker
and So, you know, okay say these so so can I can i can i reword my question? Can I mulligan this? Well, here. So I was going to then carry on to being like, I doubt you meant that.
00:07:02
Speaker
So when we're talking about... So if we go into the assumption that the fundamentals are the same across the board, so you're tracking your movements, your efficient, you know, like goaltending, I guess, if you put it in the box of modern goaltending.
00:07:23
Speaker
If you have the basic foundation of fundamental skills down pat, I don't think anything from there is necessarily wrong if it works for you.
00:07:37
Speaker
um So because some people are more flexible than others, some are more athletic than others, some are you know better at understanding the game. So there's going to be different variations of how to play the modern style that's going to work for you based off of your skill set.
00:07:57
Speaker
So I think on that sense, there's not necessarily a wrong way per se but there is for sure a wrong way that you could go.
00:08:08
Speaker
So if you're, if you're laying on the ice in a pad stack, the whole game, that's probably not going to do it for you. But yeah, I think, I think if we talk about in the context of modern goaltending, if you're,
00:08:20
Speaker
hitting all the checkboxes with the fundamentals, you should be good. Yeah, so the way that like I was thinking about it, I'm going to bring this kind of back to Edmonton for a second since we like to talk about the Oilers goaltending so much. um it's i To the untrained Oilers fan or to the untrained hockey fan or goalie eye, um a lot of fans think, thought that the style of Calvin Pickard or Mike Smith was better to this compared to the style of Stuart Skinner, Mikko Koskinen, Cam Talbot.
00:08:57
Speaker
And so for me, like, i think as ah I think for a goalie that relies on athleticism too much, ah particularly in today's game, doesn't cut it as much. i mean, guys like Jonathan Quick, dominant hat Dominic Hasek, to name the top two that I can think of off top of my head, were great for their athleticism in the game that they played back in the early 2010s, something along those lines, to two thousand s as well.
00:09:24
Speaker
Um, but in today's game, again, lay, as long as you have a good foundation to start, i I genuinely hate the term goalie school goalies, robotic goalies, because that's not exactly what we're doing in this instance.
00:09:42
Speaker
We're just trying to make the game or make the position more efficient. So for me, I would say, again, yes, that there is a right way to play the position, and that's to play it more efficiently rather than, you know, oh, look at the look at Mike Smith or look at Calvin Pickard and how...
00:10:00
Speaker
And insanely, i don't know, not flexible. It's not the right word that I'm looking for, but how insanely athletic that those guys are. And I think if we start leaning more towards that, then all the work that all the goalies have all the goalies and goalie schools have put into up to this point to make the position more efficient kind of goes out the window.
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah, the way I see it is basically you're setting yourself up to be as consistent as possible when you have structure to your game. Now, that being said, you do need some athleticism and some battle, and sometimes you need to improvise. A lot of times you need to improvise.
00:10:42
Speaker
um But it's one of those things to, like, unfortunately, A lot of the people that are evaluating goalies aren't goalies.
00:10:53
Speaker
And so they go off of how much you look like a goalie in their mind anyways. And so you may consistently make saves by flying around, diving around. But a lot of times people aren't going to pick that just because statistics say that that's not the best, most consistent way to go about it.
00:11:16
Speaker
Um, so I don't know. I mean, it's tough to say because at the end of the day, our job is stop the puck. And if you can do that successfully, no matter how you do it, theoretically, that's, that should all be that matters.
00:11:30
Speaker
But there also is a few ways that help to do that a little bit more consistently. So, yeah, I don't know. I'm kind of on the fence with that one. Like, I don't necessarily think there's a right or wrong way. I mean, but there are some things that are definitely no-no.
00:11:48
Speaker
But um ah if you are consistently stopping the puck and achieving higher and higher levels as you go doing so, then to me, you're doing something right. Even if it's necessarily not, you know, quote unquote, right by ah average goalie coaches standards at the end of the day, your job is stop the puck. So whatever works for you to do that, have at her.
00:12:17
Speaker
So that's kind of my thoughts on it.
Imposter Syndrome in Coaching
00:12:20
Speaker
and All right. So my next question, what is the one skill you think would have changed your career if you had been really good at it?
00:12:35
Speaker
My athleticism. Okay, so all that we just talked about... it
00:12:45
Speaker
elaborate. What part of that? Like your improvisation skills, your flexibility, your lateral movement? Like what part of athleticism? I think my lateral movement was actually okay.
00:12:59
Speaker
um I think it was just... Okay, let me let me put it this way. Controlled athleticism. And so what I mean by that more so is um like my lateral movement was fine.
00:13:16
Speaker
um I was able to beat the putt he beat the pass on most pucks. um But I think just... um afterwards you know you just scramble in front or whatever i don't think i did enough or wanted to do enough to be able to lay my body on the line to make the save however i did um my um butterfly crawls were not to standard as they would be nowadays um flexibility definitely did play a part in that um
00:13:53
Speaker
I was the most flexible guy. i don know not I'm not going to, I'm not going to deny that. um So I think just, I think that kind of part in particular is just kind of being able to maybe just be a that inch or two, a little bit more athletic rather than trying to find, again, like we were just talking about the more, the more efficient way back or whatever. Right. So that's, i yeah, yeah.
00:14:18
Speaker
So more so kind of like that battle then a little bit more. but Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Cause like, yeah. Cause like, especially like I don't know, like throughou life throughout life, throughout the entirety of my career, you know, I'd make, you'd make the first save, maybe you'd make the second save. And then when it came to that third or fourth shot,
00:14:37
Speaker
And you're way out of position or your're ah you you end up falling on your butt somehow, right? And that's just because your weight's not taking you the right way and you you don't feel confident in your lower body movement, especially in like a butterfly crawl or you know just trying to get the splits across or whatever to be able to make that extra save or get a limb out there to to to make it. So I don't know.
00:15:02
Speaker
I think just probably just that would probably be actually be it. Fair enough. Because again, like same thing as well. like We were talking about in the episode of Troy, I'm six one so crossbar probably sits about middle of my lower back, give or take.
00:15:19
Speaker
right And so I took up a good chunk of the net already. The equipment that I had took up a good chunk of the net already, but there there there were holes when it came to a lot of scramble in front.
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I had the complete opposite problem. I was very athletic and had no structure whatsoever until um junior.
00:15:43
Speaker
So, you know, we, uh, we should have melded together to form one super goalie or something. Yeah, really. All right. What do you got next? Um, I guess I'll go. What, which one do I want to go with here? I guess.
00:16:04
Speaker
let' Let's do this. okay So you and I were talking about this earlier in the season, um especially when it was to a point where i didn't I wasn't able to find a team to be able to be on the management staff for this year.
00:16:18
Speaker
So I guess just, again, kind of continuing on with this, is just how do you as a coach – deal with imposter syndrome, especially when there's a way that we teach things and you get goalies like Mike Smith and Calvin Pickard, and they completely throw everything that we say out the window.
00:16:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think time, honestly, like I don't nearly have the imposter syndrome that I did couple years ago.
00:16:50
Speaker
Now, of that being said, if I were to get a coaching gig at a certain level or higher, I might have it for a little bit. um But I think it comes with, I guess, the confidence, right? I mean, like,
00:17:10
Speaker
we get a lot of good feedback on the way we coach the goalies we work with and i guess hearing that lots over time kind of helps helps build the confidence but I also think too like the ability to have an open mind and to keep learning and to actually admit when you're potentially wrong or need to make some changes or tweaks, I think that goes a long way too. Like, I think if you can understand that just like goaltending itself, coaching is a process and ah process where you're constantly learning and all that stuff.
00:17:51
Speaker
I think that helps kind of minimize it or take it away a little bit as well, just because it's like, you know, if I know that I don't know everything, all I basically need to do is know more than the goalie I'm working with, or at least be able to help them get to a point where they need to find their answers, right? Even if it's just through discussion or you know, like going through video with them and they kind of reach their own conclusions, but you're there to help guide them kind of thing.
00:18:21
Speaker
I think that's, that's a big one to kind of help with that. um Yeah, I don't know. I think as with everything with the imposter syndrome, just time and experience is probably the biggest thing that helps with that going away. But yeah, I think if, if you're just,
00:18:38
Speaker
taking it as ah continuous learning experience, having an open mind and and all of that, I think that helps as well. So i think I think if you have too much of an ego, that's kind of when you you can really find yourself doubting yourself if somebody comes and challenges you. but i find that I find it to be the opposite for me.
00:19:01
Speaker
And so what I mean by that is like when I was coaching on a team, For me, I could say that these are my goalies. I'm working with these guys consistently throughout the year. I'm able to bounce ideas off of them. I'm able to have these discussions and such. And so I'm able to build that relationship with them throughout the course of the season. So and for me, that builds...
00:19:22
Speaker
my confidence because I'm able to have those, you know, discussions with them versus what we do on our side of things, which is nothing ever really wrong with that. But I'm seeing different kids throughout the week. Sometimes I'll see them three times in in in three months or I'll see them three times in a week or two weeks or whatever. Right. So, and even then, like it's a, it's a constant,
00:19:45
Speaker
you know, flow of, of, of, of goalies coming through and it's all different faces and such. And mean, you've gotten those text messages from me, who am I working with today? And, and all that. and or what do we know about this kid? and and And, and everything else. So, yeah, I don't know. I guess just for me as this,
00:20:03
Speaker
The goalies that we work with are true north goalies, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I guess, you know, for me, it's when I'm on a team, I can say that these are my goalies. These are who I'm working with throughout the years, and and these are the guys that I'm seeing consistently throughout the year. So I'm able to build that confidence, to be able to build that relationship with them, be like, okay, I see goalie A.
00:20:26
Speaker
week one, I see goalie B week two, i see goalie C week three, and then I don't see goalie A again until couple months later. Yeah. Yeah. Fair enough. I don't know.
00:20:38
Speaker
I think those are maybe like two different questions then. Cause like, it might be ah yeah. Like me personally,
00:20:48
Speaker
I don't know. i I don't mind being on a team, but it would have to be at a decently high level.
Should Goalie Draft Ages Be Higher?
00:20:54
Speaker
Like I find, and until you get to the higher levels, the goalie coach is just kind of an afterthought and it's not really worth us going out a whole heck of a lot of the time.
00:21:05
Speaker
ah So yeah that's why I personally like not necessarily being on teams. That being said, if I could find ah a college or a junior coach, an up gig, then I'd probably jump on it. But um yeah, I don't know.
00:21:21
Speaker
That's kind of where I'm at with that. um and You got anything else on that or want me to go No, I think you can jump jump in your next one. I think just, yeah, just for me, it was just it was hard for me this year opening up.
00:21:38
Speaker
um It was hard for me this year, you know, being on a team or being not being on a team because I've been on a coaching staff for the last 10 years of my career. And, yeah, just seeing different faces all the time was kind of – It's kind of different for me this year. Yeah.
00:21:55
Speaker
And you got to build that toolbox, that skillset we talked about. Yeah. All right. so fresh off of the draft, this is a draft related question, not just the NHL draft. This can also be the CHL draft or insert draft here.
00:22:19
Speaker
ke Do you think... that we should make goalie draft eliible eligible ages higher than players.
00:22:35
Speaker
Why?
00:22:38
Speaker
So because the whole talk of the goalies developing later, you know, like you see the NHL goalies on average probably being about 26, 27 when they finally get a foothold and establish themselves in the league.
00:22:55
Speaker
So when you think of like the CHL draft, for example, or I guess just the CHL draft, If you're drafting a 15 year old goalie and because those teams are more centered around winning as opposed to developing because they are businesses.
00:23:14
Speaker
If you have an 18, 19, 19 or 20 year old goalie and you draft 15, 16 year old, realistically, how long do you think it's going to take until that drafted goalie might get any sort of games, any sort of meaningful games?
00:23:32
Speaker
probably not for three years, right. Two to three years at least. So i don't know. I just thought it'd be an interesting talking point to, uh, to throw it out there and see what your thoughts would be on it.
00:23:47
Speaker
So I guess I'll talk or I'll tackle the, excuse me, the, um, ah the CHL or the WHL draft, because that's one I'm more familiar with.
00:23:59
Speaker
I think at that level, the draft eligibility would remain the same for me. Because I think at that level, it would be more so about development to be able to progress those guys to the next level. Same in any sort of junior-ish fashion.
00:24:22
Speaker
um
00:24:25
Speaker
comment When it comes to the pro levels,
00:24:34
Speaker
I think of a guy like Stuart Skinner because Skinner was drafted... I think it was drafted in 2017. 17, I think, yeah. 17, 18. Yeah, 17, 18, around that.
00:24:50
Speaker
And he's only started, i mean, and I've said this in other pods, like he's only, this is his third full year. This was his third full year in the NHL. but And, you know, he got some games in here now.
00:25:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:07
Speaker
i The goaltending market in the NHL is so weird because it you have goalies that ah yeah there's only two spots on each team compared to, what is it, the 18 spots for players? Yeah.
00:25:31
Speaker
players 23. Four lines, three, something like that. 23 active roster spots. That's right.
00:25:42
Speaker
So i I think I'd honestly have to say no.
00:25:49
Speaker
i don't like I don't think the the eligibility for goalies in the pro aspects of it would change or would need to change.
00:26:02
Speaker
I think just it's all it's all due process. And so I think for goalies in particular, getting that
00:26:15
Speaker
getting that ECHL, AHL experience, Because you're effectively growing up with the guys that you got drafted with that are the same birth years.
00:26:30
Speaker
There's only a select few amount of players, particularly the players that are first or our first three draft picks that will make it onto the pro roster. and that's because they're exceptional players.
00:26:43
Speaker
um But I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for goalies to develop later compared to compared to players because there's more there's more of an aspect for goalies to develop compared to players.
00:26:57
Speaker
And this is me being ignorant because I can say like all players develop their shooting, develop their skating and such. We we have more. We as goalies have more intricate levels of skill, which there in turn require a more um elongated development process compared to players.
00:27:19
Speaker
Yeah, I just, I don't know if I have an established stance on that yet. um I do think that the problem is, is we have a development system that isn't really designed for development.
Critique of Junior League Development System
00:27:35
Speaker
It's designed for success.
00:27:38
Speaker
Like you look at junior teams, they're businesses. They're trying to keep the doors open, which means they're trying to win, which means they're trying to do whatever they can to put the best product on the ice. And,
00:27:53
Speaker
that's not the right environment for proper development. That's the right environment to, you know, play a 20 year old goalie for, you know, 80% of the games through a season while your supposed runner up goalie sits on the bench. Or we see even a couple guys that kind of get lost in limbo, right? Where maybe they're third on the depth chart of a CHL team.
00:28:23
Speaker
Um, and they're kind of pushed somewhere in junior because, you know, the junior coaches of the well-established programs are like, well, I don't know if this guy's going to get called up in two weeks.
00:28:36
Speaker
I don't want to take him. We have two goalies that we know are here for the year. We're going to ride them out. And all of a sudden your third guy on the depth chart is playing junior B or is playing junior A somewhere in the middle of nowhere, um not getting good playing time or whatever. So I don't know. I mean, if you adjust the draft eligibility age for goalies, does that maybe force guys to stay where they are a little bit more and get some better development instead of jumping up to a level where they're only going to get 12 games in a season?
00:29:11
Speaker
That's kind of, I don't know if, if we're not going to be able to change the system to develop properly, then maybe you put constraints in place to help kind of and force people to make better decisions for where they're at in their career. But I don't know. And so I just think, I think that's where the, yeah, I might be stretching this here, but I think that's kind of where the NCAA changes,
00:29:38
Speaker
probably would take effect. And that's kind of where maybe you would see change um in that aspect where, because like a lot of a lot of the the good WHL players or the good Canadian Hockey League players would rather go to the NCAA because it is a better league by miles compared to what we have up here in Canada when it comes to junior hockey.
00:30:09
Speaker
And then so kind of echoing what you would say, would that trick that, that trickle down effect when it comes to both players and goalies, would that make an, have an effect on, you know, kind of changing kind of just how, how they, how they develop their players or how they, uh,
00:30:31
Speaker
um you know, the the the models of um that these organizations bring to the table when it says, hey, you come play with us and this is how we'll get you to that next level.
00:30:42
Speaker
We talked about it again earlier as well, where... um you know, like there's, there's the open borders thing that's happening now. And you got all these different leagues and the minor hockey systems and, and whatever else. And, uh, you know, so there's, there's a lot of competition out there, which means that there's a lot of spots. So,
00:31:04
Speaker
these organizations again, to echo what you were saying, it says like they have to change. They should be changing how they, um, do their operations, do their business, be like, Hey, come play with us. This is how we'll develop you. This is how, this is all the stuff that you're going to get, or this is all the stuff that we're going to promise.
00:31:22
Speaker
And then, you know, move move forward from there. Because before it was, there was one there was one road in the development stream when it came to hockey, especially in Canada.
00:31:35
Speaker
You played minor hockey, you played minors, minor double-A, triple-A. you went on to WHL if you were good enough. And then from there, you went on to, to play in the show. Now you have all these other options and stuff.
00:31:51
Speaker
Mind you, we're not seeing a lot of players coming out of these outlaw leagues when it comes to getting drafted into the CHL as a general, as a general stance. But again, I would imagine that with this,
00:32:06
Speaker
um NCAA change that maybe you do see differences in that. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see the landscape in five to ten years because, I mean, we're in the thick of a ah bunch of change and who knows where it's going to end up um with the NCAA rules, with the unsanctioned stuff. And, you know, we've seen it with the BCHL leaving Hockey Canada.
00:32:33
Speaker
I'm curious to see but the ripple effects that has on other teams or leagues. But um yeah, i don't know. It was just some food for thought to, since we have some very systemic issues with our, uh,
00:32:49
Speaker
development plan here in North America in general, pretty much. So don't think you changed the whole system. So I don't know what other constraints you could do. And I thought it was just an interesting talking point.
00:33:05
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I guess this kind of, kind of segues way segues nicely into this question is here in, I guess, both Alberta and in Canada,
00:33:18
Speaker
what do you think of the current state of goaltending development?
Goaltending Development in Canada
00:33:24
Speaker
We've talked about it before in a previous podcast. um Do you think it's easier or harder for goalies to be able to advance to next level?
00:33:38
Speaker
Well,
00:33:43
Speaker
don't. That question, how easy or hard it is to advance to the next level.
00:33:51
Speaker
i don't know. I mean, the thing is, is there's so many different levels now. So like, it's like kind of on one hand, maybe easier on another hand, maybe harder because the competition is a little stiffer. What I will say is the skill level is astronomically better than when we played.
00:34:11
Speaker
Um, like I see some of these goalies and I'm like, dude, you're better than me when I was five years older than you are now. Um, I do think it's tougher to navigate the current landscape because,
00:34:28
Speaker
There's so many options. It's almost like the analysis paralysis and like there's so much jumping around. Like when we played, it was you go to your zone, you play in your zone.
00:34:40
Speaker
And if you get cut, you just go down to the next level in your zone. um And so now you could play for a different team in a different league every year if you really wanted to. And ah we see players doing that.
00:34:57
Speaker
Um, what I will say though, is I think ah specifically with goaltending, I also think players as well, but I think access to development is the easiest it's been and is continuing to get better.
00:35:14
Speaker
um which I think is part of why the skill level is so high these days. Um, I do still think there's a lot of headway to make though.
00:35:25
Speaker
So the current state of development is better, by still needs a lot of improvement. But again, going back to what we were just talking about, a lot of that's systemic, right? Like it's,
00:35:40
Speaker
you'd have to overhaul the whole minor hockey system to make the significant changes that we need to make. And I don't think people are here for that. Like that's the unfortunate part is especially with the hockey community, there's so many people that are like traditionalists um where it's like, no, this is how we've done it. Why are we going to be changing kind of thing? And yeah,
00:36:06
Speaker
Unfortunately, too, it's a sport that doesn't get a whole lot of research or a whole lot of um you know, kind of money funneled into it compared to some of the other sports out there. So i don't know. um it It's improving, but there's still lots of legwork to do, in my opinion. And the current landscape is very complicated. And I feel for all the goalies out there trying to, like, we get questions all the time. Should we go HSL? Should we go...
00:36:42
Speaker
jphl should we stick with triple like what what should we do and it's like well blu let's unpack this can of worms here but realistically i i don't even have a solid answer and it's all situational and it it's tough um Yeah, I don't know.
00:37:05
Speaker
I guess in one sense easier, one sense harder. So it's it's a whole different beast than when we were playing. That's for sure.
00:37:19
Speaker
yeah I don't have a stance on it one way or the other. um I was all, I was mainly just genuinely asking that question. Cause I was listening to the, uh, angle podcast with all the Alberta hockey coaches, kind of the round table discussion that they did. I don't remember much of it now, but yeah, that is a, it's, it's a good one. I don't think it doesn't touch on the things that I think they should have been talking about, but the hard questions, the hard questions. Yeah.
00:37:48
Speaker
Um,
00:37:51
Speaker
But the general sense that I get from that pod, and we've and we and there's a few good friends of mine that are in that roundtable, one of our past guests, Ian Gordon, Curtis Mooka, Dave Ratchett, and a couple of other ones that I know very, very well.
00:38:08
Speaker
A lot of good insight, and it sounds by the sounds of it, there's making a lot of headway with that podcast. I guess me being the lowly coach on the totem pole, I i didn't even know that they were having that camp. but not Again, not that I paid too much attention to hockey Alberta in general.
00:38:29
Speaker
But I don't know. I guess just for me, like like we again we've talked about this here before as well. You don't see or hear a lot about the... hey, here are the camps that are coming up for Hockey Alberta for goalies of certain development levels happening at this date and this time. Because I would totally love just to want to go and go and just sit down and just kind of watch kind of what they're doing throughout the session and and kind of just be a fly on the wall in that way. But yeah, I don't know. That was just a question that came up as I was listening to the roundtable discussion.
00:39:04
Speaker
Yeah, before I move on, and we'll just say i think we were kind of critical of that in our Canadian goaltending episode was just the lack of communication or marketing or whatever you want to call it between hockey Canada and the entities when they have events like this going on. And I don't know, like, like you said, it'd be nice to kind of be able to sit in on some of this stuff or or, kind of at least check it out to see if it's something that's of something maybe that we should, something maybe that we should revisit at some point.
00:39:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. All right.
Mental Challenges in Goaltending
00:39:41
Speaker
Um, in your opinion, What is the hardest part about goaltending?
00:39:55
Speaker
All of it. All of it. It's all difficult. That's such a goal cop. but ah um I think just the hardest part of goaltending is the um i think it's the, I think it's the IQ.
00:40:11
Speaker
I think it's the the understanding the situation part of it. It comes easier um as you get older, but you know a lot a lot of the stuff that we do with t True North Goaltending is situational work, along with some standard development work.
00:40:35
Speaker
But our whole spiel is that we provide ourselves or that we pride ourselves on providing the the why aspect excuse me, of doing everything that we do.
00:40:45
Speaker
um And, you know, for 11-year-old Tommy, who's playing the position because his friend's playing the position, won't understand that or won't visualize that the same way as, I don't know, 20, 22-year-old twenty two year old Alex Johnson. I don't know. I'm just naming himself at this point.
00:41:11
Speaker
Um, yeah so I think just, I think that's the more difficult part of playing goal is just the, the IQ or the mentality part of it. I should know. I'd mentality is different. I would say the, the, the IQ part of it, I think I would say is probably the hardest part.
00:41:31
Speaker
Yeah. So the awareness, the, uh, yeah, just anticipation, Yeah, I don't think um people realize who aren't goalies just how much information is processed.
00:41:45
Speaker
And, you know, there's the classic clips of the NHL guys that in a minute you see them shoulder check like 40 times or whatever it is, something crazy like that. Yeah.
00:41:57
Speaker
And I never really appreciated it until I started to dive more into the coaching side of things, because when I played, it was just kind of I called it the sixth sense. You just I'm like, oh, it's just there. You just kind of, you know, have a feeling that things are going to happen.
00:42:15
Speaker
And now I realize that that was the anticipation, like basically the subconscious mind being able to be like, hey, we've seen this before. Most likely this is going to come to the back door. Oh, look, past back door. We're right there. Big save. Everybody loves it. And it's.
00:42:34
Speaker
I wish I understood that a little bit more when I played to be able to work on that or embrace it or actively think about it a little bit more, because i think it was something that I did get really good at without even realizing. So I can't even imagine like where I could have got had I actively been working on it and, you know, doing some more cognitive stuff and, and all of that. Cause we didn't really have a whole heck of a lot of that available when we were growing up, at least not mainstream. I'm sure it was available, but nobody talked about it or it wasn't really pushed or, or talked as a benefit. So, um, yeah, that's, I think that's a good one and kind of stole your limelight with a little bit of a rant there, but.
00:43:23
Speaker
I was, the that I was going, I was going to ask like, um, like that, like that would be your answer too.
00:43:30
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I... Part of me is like, I also more so want to say that the mental or the emotional side of it would be the toughest. Like...
00:43:46
Speaker
It's a position that has such little support and yet such high expectations. Like every coaching staff out there is like, oh, I want a goalie that can steal me games. And yet they're running, you know, three on O drills for 35 minutes of a practice and expecting their goalies to get better.
00:44:07
Speaker
So with it being so isolating, with it being so high pressure, i think that I would probably give the edge to that. with being the toughest part about being a goalie. But to be honest, there's probably five to 10 plus things you could make a good case for is being the hardest.
00:44:29
Speaker
So I just more so wanted your opinion on it. the The, the, the, the IQ part and I'll, I'll end this here. The IQ part to me is I think is the hardest part, like, especially in games like where I put, where I'm playing beer league.
00:44:43
Speaker
um I could read the play well, but, And i know i I can anticipate and know what's going to happen. And then it happens that I still get beat because i just drop, you know, and then I'm kicking myself and kick myself in the butt afterwards. It's like, I knew that was going to happen.
00:45:02
Speaker
Why didn't my body do what I knew, what, what my brain knew what was going to do. Yeah. Anyways. um That's part of that, that cognitive processing skill, I guess. But yeah,
00:45:17
Speaker
Exactly.
Are More Rebounds Given Up Today?
00:45:18
Speaker
I think maybe we'll do the last one here and then we'll do a part two. I had two that I have two that I really want to ask you, but now you're going to make me limit to one. Okay. Well, here, why don't we do we can do your then.
00:45:38
Speaker
And I can add one more too. We'll go a little. well I have, i have one, two, three four, five questions left over. So if we each do one each, then we can do part two with four, with our four questions remaining.
00:45:53
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I, I've done four of my eight, you've done three of your eight. So that's why I was like, we could do one more. Okay. All right. Um, okay. Let's do this then. I guess, um, yeah,
00:46:06
Speaker
Oh, this is a tough one. um Okay, know I'm going to do this because I think it's more interesting. yeah This is kind of a stupid question, but I don't like the way you said that.
00:46:17
Speaker
um I like the tough ones. Well, here, let me ask you that. well i'll ask I'll ask it to you. and i In today's state the game, do you think that we're seeing more rebounds being given up?
00:46:35
Speaker
And would you perform and for you as a coach or as a head coach or whoever, would you prefer to see more rebounds or would you prefer to see more shut it down saves like chess saves?
00:46:48
Speaker
Okay. So i don't watch very much NHL. I just don't have a whole heck of a lot of time. I'll be honest on that front.
00:47:01
Speaker
I,
00:47:04
Speaker
I don't know if necessarily I would say there's more rebounds. What I would say is the rebounds are different. So. Pads nowadays are very different than like when we were playing, like in the peak of our careers.
00:47:25
Speaker
um Like when I played, there were two streams. There was your hybrid pad and your stiff pad. And that's kind of gone to the wayside. But pads back then were a lot softer. And so a lot of things would kind of stick or just kind of hang out like two feet away from you. Whereas nowadays, it's more common to have that kind of like shoot off the pad like faster than it came in kind of thing. So I think that that could potentially lead to the anecdote of, oh, there's more rebounds, but I think they're just coming out further. I don't want to say that there's necessarily more.
00:48:10
Speaker
um and maybe you could run stats on that and maybe I'm wrong. Now, how would I want to play that? I'm usually of the camp of swallowing the pucks. Like I like to be able to control the play. I like to be able to get fresh legs, all of that stuff.
00:48:30
Speaker
um And I do think more often than not, that's the right play. But there are some instances where you might be better off to kick out a rebound, especially in a situation, maybe like a three on three overtime type deal where, you know, maybe your team made a bad change and it's a two on one and they shoot far pad and you just kick it as hard as you can out of the zone to try and get a two on one back the other way.
00:49:03
Speaker
Um, so I'm not going to say there's a wrong or there's ever or never a right time to kick out a rebound. But I do think I personally like controlling rebounds more often than not.
00:49:22
Speaker
Um, but again, with a lot of things, goal tending, it's, there are certain situations like it's not always black and white. So, yeah,
00:49:33
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. That's kind of my take on it, I guess. i i I'd like to see the stats to see if maybe there is a ah dip or an increase and and kind of to see. But I genuinely think there's probably not much of a change in the amount of rebounds. I just think the type of rebound has changed over the year years or the more common types of rebounds.
00:50:02
Speaker
We're going to have to reach out to Hiroki and get him to run the numbers on that. Yeah. Either that i know or that. Hey, I noticed when Powder is doing one season, why don't we do another
00:50:16
Speaker
well two do do do one from the two thousand and three two thousand and four season and do the one from this past year I don't know. For me, I guess like i get just watching the playoffs in particular, just I don't know. Just something felt like just that there were more rebounds being given up this year and just kind of more opportunistic chances for players this year compared to other years.
00:50:44
Speaker
Maybe it's just because you're thinking about your poster boy, Stu Skinner, giving an absolute pizza to Barkov in game six. Still don't really know what he was doing there, but...
00:51:00
Speaker
that how Ah, whatever. Anyways, continue your rant.
00:51:07
Speaker
No, i have I have absolutely no merit to back this up. um Yeah, Stuart Skinner probably is a or is a contributing factor to that. um But even then, like i was watching i caught I caught some of the Toronto-Florida game. I caught some of the, what was it, Dallas-Colorado first round. I think that was around. Yeah.
00:51:29
Speaker
Thank you. Um, the, some of the Dallas Colorado game, I just, it just seemed like that there were just more rebounds being given up by goalies this year, rather than should have just been put into the corners or swallowed entirely.
00:51:44
Speaker
You know what I will say though? and Maybe you're right. And I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case, because if you think about how much the game has changed and how good the players are now, the goalies might just not react well enough in time to, you know, put a rebound where they want to. Right. And I mean, if you think about it, if you get a, you know,
00:52:11
Speaker
ah power play or whatever that has a ah cross ice pass through the seam even if you get across and make a six save you're probably not in a position to actively you know put your rebound where you want it to it's probably just hitting you and bouncing off and that might be contributing to it a lot because we We know that teams and players understand the game more and kind of understand the analytics behind things. And so we've seen an uptick in high danger chances. so
00:52:48
Speaker
even if goalies are getting into their positions to make their saves, they're probably... not reacting very well to those because it's bang bang right so that could be playing into it too right like we are not seeing 35 shots a game per team because everybody's shooting everything on net like they were in the mid two thousand now it's you know what, we might only get eight shots in a period, but seven of them are going to be high quality, you know, off the rush or off the cycle, you know, pass across the seam kind of thing. So i I could see that playing a factor into it. And and maybe maybe you're right, like anecdotally, maybe the rebounds are up.
00:53:37
Speaker
um And I wouldn't be surprised just given that fact.
00:53:44
Speaker
I'd, uh, I'm going to have I might have to go so do some digging on this. Are going to start counting rebounds in the two thousands and the 2020 is there?
00:53:56
Speaker
Well, don't know. I might, uh, there's, there's gotta be a way to like, figure that out. I might just pick out a singular season. I might just like look for the season where there was a lot of goals scored by all teams.
00:54:12
Speaker
And ah so take the highest number from 2000, 2009, take a season that had the total amount of goals scored, I guess, um in that year, and then go from 2020 to Well, maybe 2010 2019 2020 to 2000.
00:54:32
Speaker
ah there's there's There's some parameters. so
00:54:37
Speaker
What, you don't want to cherry pick every game of every season of the last 25 years? No, not watching. Do you know how many games? Oh, my God.
00:54:48
Speaker
you know how games that would be? Holy. Just put it into chat. GPT, get it to count. Yeah. AI. Yeah. Well, all right. Well, um we'll save part two next week.
Conclusion and Community Call to Action
00:55:03
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm gonna have to, I'm going have to change a couple of these questions, but, uh, all right. Well, you want to take us home then? I'll take us home. Um, well guys, thank you very much for another edition of the DIY goalie podcast presented by true North goaltending. If you're watching on the YouTube side of things, make sure you hit that like button and subscribe button.
00:55:25
Speaker
Um, Nathan and I both have the merch. Um, can't really see it. There you go. Good enough. Um, uh, yeah, if you're watching on the YouTube side of things, make sure you hit that like and subscribe button.
00:55:36
Speaker
ah the more goalies that we're able to bring to our little community, the better. If you are and a new viewer to this channel, first off, welcome. Um, If you are listening over on the yeah on the podcast side of things, Apple, iHeart, Spotify, thank you very much for being a follower. If you're new to the podcast, make sure you hit that follow button.
00:55:53
Speaker
And again, on both platforms there, make sure hit the share button. takes a couple of seconds. The more goalies that we're able to bring it to our community, the better. You can follow us on our social media platforms at True North Goaltending, except on Instagram because we like to be different. That one is Y-E-G Goalie Coach. You can follow myself on Instagram at Monday GC.
00:56:13
Speaker
Uh, we have basically transitioned everything over to the true North, uh, goaltending website. So make sure you guys check that out. All of our stuff there. We do have some open spots for open spots for our three day camp, which will be happening in a couple of weeks as of this episode airing.
00:56:30
Speaker
Uh, we also do have a limited amount of spots for our five day camp happening in August. So make sure guys go check that out. And if you're interested in booking with us, um, More than happy to have you. We do have synthetic ice facility sessions all year round. So if you want to do some one-on-one, three-on-one, two-on-one stuff with us, more than happy to have you out.
00:56:49
Speaker
um I don't think I'm missing anything else. If you have any questions, do it for for any of us. Make sure you reach out to true north goalies at truenorthgoaltending.com. I'll see you guys next time. Make some saves. Take care.