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033 - Acting Like a Pro and Adding Tools to Your Goalie Toolbox
108 Plays4 months ago
Show notes are available at https://thediygoalie.com/pod033
This week, we dive into two segments:
How to act like a pro - we dive into the importance of character and how to start making a good impression on coaches and scouts. We talk about the influence parents have as well on how their goalies are perceived.
Building your toolbox - every situation in goaltending is different, which is why it is important to fill your toolbox with multiple tools to allow you to make the right decisions. We discuss how to do this and why it is important.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Purpose
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to the DIY goalie podcast, where hosts and goalie coaches, Nathan Park and Connor Monday share their insights on how to become a better goalie.
00:00:20
Speaker
How are we doing today, goalies? Welcome back again to another episode of the DIY Goalie Podcast with your hosts, Nathan Park and Connor Monday, as always. um Before we get started, I do want to touch on a couple of things quick.
Announcements and Personal News
00:00:37
Speaker
So when this episode airs, we'll be pretty close to the end of the month in November.
00:00:43
Speaker
um So every month, the last day of the month, so it'll be the 30th this month, um we send out a monthly newsletter where we have a little bit of a a kind of mini article um that's exclusive to the email list as well as a full-on practice plan. So we have kind of different themes each month and so I'm actually going to put together a practice plan of kind of on-ice cognitive training that'll be our theme.
00:01:15
Speaker
for this month, so that'll be a good one. So if you guys want to hop in on that, you can head to the diygoley.com slash email and sign up. and The other thing too is we are running a Black Friday sale for all of the merch that we have in our shop. So that is gonna be running until December 1st.
00:01:40
Speaker
So you can use the code BF24 at checkout and get 15% off everything on our store. So if you head to the diygoley.com slash shop, that's where you can do that and take advantage of that while you can. um So that's kind of all I have for the housekeeping stuff before we get started. How are we doing today, Connor?
00:02:07
Speaker
I just signed up for the newsletter, so I'm excited to get those. ah No, I'm good. I have some exciting news that I think we can bring to the ah to the podcast. there's just I've been telling everybody about it because I'm very, very excited. ah We found out, my wife and I last Tuesday, that that she's pregnant. And so we are expecting a little Monday to be to be ah running around here, which is it's a little Monday. It's ah it's exciting. um
00:02:39
Speaker
very very very important to us for reasons that I'm not going to get into on the pod because they are kind of a little bit personal but um No, we are we are very very excited about that. So I've definitely been picking up I love a few more shifts with which we know school attending and trying to bring in that trying to bring in that extra cash flow as well because children are expensive ah but especially if you have a goalie cold out one hundred percent I saw the Snapchat video that you sent me the other day of Hayden in the living room with the street hockey pads on. I was like, Oh no, Nathan's indoctrinating him now. So yeah. or Well, that was all on him. So not to get too far into the weeds, but just quickly, my oldest, he is five and he has been really into us playing many sticks in the living room lately.
00:03:31
Speaker
And so he put on his pads and he was like, daddy, I want to show you my drops. So that's what he called going into his butterfly was his drops. So he's like, I want to show you my drops. So he was showing me his drops and going to the butterfly. So meanwhile, I'm in trouble. Yeah.
00:03:52
Speaker
yeah Hey, hands up. Knees together. yeah Anyways, the point being you're in trouble, you're screwed, nice knowing you. True North India, why it's going bankrupt. so yeah um No, that's all all good. so yeah and We've got a couple segments
Teaching Young Goalies Responsibility
00:04:12
Speaker
again today. so We each got one on the docket. Do you want to start us off today? I think I went first last time. so ah Yeah, so I'm actually gonna kind of echo our boy David Hutchinson from Ingold magazine and Still kind of jealous that you got the chance to talk to him and have him on I'm sure he'll come on again. He's a beauty. You know what? It's either get him or or woodley I would actually love to have woodley on because I feel like he and I would just I
00:04:45
Speaker
be talking for hours on end. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not a part of that. i'm It's going to be a live 10 hour DIY goalie podcast. I'll just be chirping back and forth. That's all I did. I did end up reaching out to Darren Millard on for Facebook. He was not answering me. I wouldn't have expected him to answer me, but it wouldn't have been cool if he did.
00:05:06
Speaker
Anyways, um what Hutch talked about at Engle magazine that I kind of wanted to echo on our platform was talking about having your young goalie start to learn a little more responsibility, but also learn to kind of bigger act like a pro um at a young age level. Hutch goes into a little more detail in this particular instance, but um he has kind of touched on it and ah some other podcasts or some other angle podcasts that he was talking about. So I just kind of wanted to go and to go and echo echo them here.
00:05:47
Speaker
um as your goalies start to get older um comes with more responsibility such as in life in general um so at some point as goalie parents we need to kind of take the leash off of our kid if you will and start letting them kind of make their own decisions or kind of let them start to game plan their Their day or kind of their their for lack of better term warm-up if you will um so Talk so what Hutch was going on about today just when it comes to You know having your young goalie start to learn to be a pro it starts with things, you know, like I
00:06:39
Speaker
Learning when practice is learning when games are what time what? What rink are they at? um You know and starting to relay that information to the parents, you know, it's particularly once you starting to getting to you 13 you 15 dare I say you 11 Start to have start to ask your questions to your kid Something along the lines of like hey, when's practice, you know, do you know what time practice is? You know start start to have your kid learn to have that responsibility um You know in terms of when knowing when practice or when when game time is what time do you want to be there for the rank? Do you want to be there an hour and 15 boat beforehand? Do you want to be there?
00:07:23
Speaker
45 minutes beforehand. What does coach say? um You know, so starting to learn um the I want to say inner workings, but it's not the words I'm looking for starting to learn the the the the habits of getting into a um a mindset or getting into a rhythm rather when it comes to um playing hockey.
00:07:47
Speaker
There are other things as well as mean we've had Pete Fry on in terms of getting your so getting you or getting your goalie into a um professional mindset and getting to getting into a good mindset before you go into a game. um Even there were things um like the hush was kind of talking about is that you don't you also so you don't want your kid to be um So serious either, you know, like so kids still need to have a little bit of fun at the same time. You know, um you know, if you're going on a tournament, you know, you want to play mini sticks in the hallway or whatever, that's fine. But your kids also in the same breath need to learn to, um you know, so, hey, seven o'clock is coming about. Coach wants us in bed at eight. So which means I shouldn't be going to the pool at seven forty five, you know.
00:08:38
Speaker
um but So it's just small little things like that. There was another podcast that I was listening to. It's called Goalie Science with Jamie Phillips. um Another guy we should probably get on um when it comes to um dress in terms ah and coming to the rink. um I'm all for the standard suit, tie,
00:09:01
Speaker
you know, if you want the beanie cap, whatever. um This is kind of where I have a little bit of a little bit of an issue with it because I really have a problem with players hockey players coming to the games in suits, which is fine, but their pants are maybe a a couple inches above their bare ankles being exposed. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to when it comes to that regard. And so just that that it it threw me off guard because it was it was it was one of the hosts was like
00:09:34
Speaker
i you know don't wear white, don't wear white socks, but was perfectly OK with having bare ankles being shown. And said I'm like, that that makes no sense whatsoever, in my, and in my opinion. But I mean, but that's the other thing as well, you know, like starting to come starting to come to to work and essentially looking a little more professional along are the the, you know, the, you know, the hood, there are no hoodies, no track suits or nothing, unless team approved or whatever.
00:10:05
Speaker
And I'm going to be a little bit controversial here and I intend to be cut your hair, clip clip clip the hair, look sharp, look professional. you know don't have I genuinely hate the toque with the the wings, they call it, out from under the toque. I genuinely hate it. You look like an idiot.
00:10:28
Speaker
Um, doesn't like salad. No, I do not. I really don't. I actually don't. I'm 100% a traditional is man. And that's, uh, and that's, and that's perfectly fine. The point being yells at cloud.
00:10:47
Speaker
I hate you. Shout out to, uh, to Brad McDonald. I'm very sorry for putting you on blast last fall.
00:10:56
Speaker
oh dear Um, anyways, but the point being is that if you want to start taking hockey seriously, if particularly if you want to get into the more competitive streams, it is things along things like that, that kind of require a little bit more.
00:11:18
Speaker
I want to say gumption, but that's also not the word that I'm looking for. It just requires a little more responsibility out of you, out of your athletes. So if your athlete is 100% dead center on, you know, I want to, I want to play AA. I want to, I want to.
00:11:31
Speaker
work towards playing double a playing triple a major juniors want to play in the show or whatever, or I want to play overseas or play in the fed or the the SP or whatever, wherever it is that they
Balancing Seriousness with Fun in Hockey
00:11:41
Speaker
want to go. But if they want to start getting into the more competitive streams, then they need to start taking and owning a little bit more of that, uh, of that, of that responsibility themselves without also sacrificing being a kid at the same time. I've seen, I've been on spring league teams where.
00:12:01
Speaker
I don't know, I don't know what, but like these parents are so dead set on like my kids gonna, because my kids playing that extra little bit of hockey, no, he's gonna, it's gonna help their chances and in getting into the show or or whatever, because they're, because they're, they're, they're training basically 24 seven.
00:12:19
Speaker
365 days of the year and it's and i've seen and i i've seen these kids later and one of them so from what i remember was playing junior b hockey which is not like it's a bad thing but um i have another one that i that i know of who was playing who was playing hockey over uh out in b c ended up getting traded to the states decided not to go to the states is now playing some for some random no-name team in mannitober saskatchewan one of the one of the one of those two places there so
00:12:50
Speaker
If you want to start taking this game seriously, that's fine. Start working towards taking the game seriously. Start taking a little bit more responsibility than what you were now what you originally dealt with, but also don't sacrifice being a kid at the same time.
00:13:09
Speaker
You know, so there's, there's gotta be that, there's gotta be that healthy, uh, there's gotta be that healthy mixer as well. So I don't know if I, I don't know if I really did hutch any justice here in his, in his, in his article and then his segment on the angle. I might've just completely butchered it and completely undone all the work that he was talking about, but that was kind of the way that I wanted to go with it. All right. Can I jump in with a two part tangent? Yes. or Okay. First off. Parents.
00:13:39
Speaker
So where is that there's a very fine line between being helpful and being overbearing. So just as a personal example, last year there was a double A team that had me come out and they had me out a few sessions throughout the year, but They got me to come out and evaluate their goalies at the start of the year. They were down to four goalies. So I went out with them. I watched the session that we had. We had a goalie session and I evaluated. And out of the four goalies, there were three of them that I was like, okay. Like one for sure is kind of the odd man out, but there's three of them. And I said.
00:14:30
Speaker
This goalie, I believe from what I have seen is the most skilled goalie. And then this one's number two, this one's number three, but the goalie that I had listed at the top, the coach specifically said to me, Oh, we are hoping you didn't say that because they did not want to deal with this goalie's mom.
00:14:57
Speaker
because his mom is one of those ones that is involved in everything, needs to have her opinion voiced about everything, et cetera, et cetera. And ultimately, they picked goalies two and three, and they did not pick goalie one. Now, i there is nothing wrong skill-wise with goalies two and three. like They were all pretty close.
00:15:26
Speaker
um But I like, they made that decision solely based off of, I guess the baggage, if you want to say that this goalie's mom came with. So there is a time and a place to step in. If there is a like legitimate problem and a legitimate concern, um, happening, but otherwise let like, there comes a point where you have to let your
00:15:57
Speaker
your players, your athletes, your kids do their thing, right?
Parental Influence in Sports
00:16:04
Speaker
Especially because these kids were at the age that, you know, some of them were driving themselves to the rink. Some of them, like you don't need to be involved in every facet of their life at that point um because it can actually be harmful, right? Like this goalie did not make this team specifically because of his mom.
00:16:27
Speaker
So yes, we all want our kids to succeed. Yes, we want them to get to the highest level that they can, but there is a time where they have to be the ones to figure out how to handle their situations and they need you to step back. So.
00:16:47
Speaker
This isn't just a shout out to the ghoulies out there to start, you know, thinking about acting like a pro and, and, you know, doing the right little things and presenting yourself. Well, it's also the parents, right? Like there comes a time where a coach should never hear from any player's parents. And except for that, Oh, Hey, how's it going? How's the family or whatever in the hallway after a game. So, right.
00:17:17
Speaker
take a step back, enjoy the ride, watch them from the stands, let them have, you know, their success. And if you really need to, if there's a big problem, you can step in, but other than that, let them do their thing. Um, now, um if I may, if I may jump in there, I don't know if you're done with that part of the tangent.
00:17:42
Speaker
kind of not kind of but kind of not really ho in from my, from my experiences and coaching at all different facets of hockey at all different age levels. Um, I, I gotta be, I'm going to have to be straight up here. And again, I'm probably not going to be the most popular guy in that regard. I will not listen to what a goalie parent has to say, unless it is of substance.
00:18:10
Speaker
straight up. I will not like if you you want to, you want to talk to me about a little Johnny didn't make this team because of X, Y, Z reason because the coach hates me or hates the kid or whatever. I'm not, I'm not going to listen to what you have to say. I also realistically won't listen to parents who say, Oh, I used to be a goalie back in the eighties or whatever. Immediately I immediately um I've stopped listening to you because I just fine. Okay. Great.
00:18:42
Speaker
But how you used to play a very long time ago isn't how the game is played now. And so I genuine i genuinely will tune you out. I have not had a problem when I've coached in the junior stream and, um, my junior A team and my junior B team. Again, same deal. There was kind of the one goalie dad who was kind of hanging about, but he wasn't really getting himself involved or anything. And so, um, always volunteered with the team, really nice guy, a little bit, a little, a little out there, but, uh, really nice guy regardless. um And so the few times that I did talk to him and say, I would initiate that conversation and say, hey,
00:19:23
Speaker
Here's how your son's doing because I think you deserve to know, and every deal you're not coming down to me about it. You're not overbearing on it or anything. It's just, Hey, here's, here's, here's, here's what's up. I thought you'd like to know and, uh, and, uh, and, uh, and go on from there. But yeah, I've been on some teams where I've had goalie parents, hockey parents in particular, where I've just eventually had to tune them out because what they're chatting with me about and it either has no substance or.
00:19:54
Speaker
Questioning my ability is is wrong or questioning my ability, right? So um I I and I hate to say that I really do I really I hate that I just said that if like I will I tune goalie parents out because I don't because I don't want to I don't want to have to you know, I want to have that dialogue with them but
00:20:16
Speaker
Nathan, you and I have been in both that same boat where we've had, we've had parents where you and I have talked afterwards and we're like, Oh boy. You know, um, yeah, you, did yeah, you, you, you, do you don't want to be a parent cut. You don't want your kid to be a parent cut. And I've seen and heard of more and more stories like that nowadays. And I don't know where this is coming from. Yeah.
00:20:45
Speaker
So yeah, that's, um, it's one of those things, like if you are a goalie parent and you're interacting with coaches and whatnot, um, like the one thing that irks me a little bit, um, I'll kind of entertain it. But one of the things that does irk me a little bit is the.
00:21:11
Speaker
my goalie needs to work on this, this, and this. This is what we should work on this session. And to me, I'm like, okay, but more often than not, they don't have the experience to really, you know, make that judgment call. Like a lot of it surface level stuff, right? Where it's like, um,
00:21:38
Speaker
you know, this session, we need to work on
Accountability and Positive Attitude for Goalies
00:21:41
Speaker
blocker side. Cause my kid can't stop anything to the blocker. And it's like, okay, but like why, like there's something there that is more than just the surface level, like, you know, Hey, let's work on screens today or whatever. Cause they're struggling with screens. Well, are they struggling with screens because they're not tracking the pack or they're not battling hard enough to yeah find, you know, like there, there's other things there besides the surface level stuff that a lot of people don't have the experience to notice. And for me, especially if I'm working with a new goalie, I want to see their fundamentals first before I look at anything else. So don't come at me with, uh, Oh, I think we need to work on this, this, and this.
00:22:29
Speaker
And I'll be like, well, I need to look and see how this goalie tracks a puck. I need to see how this goalie executes their saves. I need to see how this goalie skates. And then from there, we can identify what the issues are and hone in on the issues and then build out from there. So that's kind of a side tangent just based based off of that. But, uh, yeah. Um, the last thing I guess I'll say when it comes to the parents is just.
00:23:00
Speaker
Set your kids up for success. They will be fine. Give them the tools to be good people. Cause that's going to translate into being good hockey players. The problem is I find, and I've heard it from players that are in their teens is there are some players that are talking about how entitled they feel like their teammates are and how much drama there is on teams nowadays. And to me.
00:23:30
Speaker
You need to teach your kids, I guess, set themselves set them up for success, right? When we talk about acting like a pro, what it takes to be a pro is owning up when you make a mistake, having some accountability, having the drive to get better and to to lessen those mistakes. Everybody's going to make mistakes. It's fine, right? Like the problem is, is when you get the players, this is not just goalies, but just in general that are blaming other people for their mistakes.
00:23:59
Speaker
Um, and not taking that accountability. So that's, that's the big one. Like you need to teach your player that they are not going to go far. If they don't hold themselves accountable, if they're a bad teammate, if they're bad body language, if they don't know how to deal with stressful situations and all of that stuff, like.
00:24:26
Speaker
set themselves up or set them up to be successful and to have the tools to deal with situations on their own. Yes, you can be there as support, but at the end of the day, especially if they play at a higher level and they're being billeted three provinces away or in a different country or whatever the case is, they're not going to have you to lean on. So give them the tools.
00:24:54
Speaker
to be a pro on their own and to have the the good character traits that make good players and good people. And that's kind of all I have for the parents. Yeah, again, we could do a whole nother podcast on that, and I think we should because I think we can kind of maybe throw ourselves under the bus a little bit, but I think we need to talk about influences in hockey.
00:25:23
Speaker
Because there's one social media influence. Yeah. Well, just social media. But I'm also thinking of just like media in general when it comes to hockey. Because when I'm listening, to you talk about it. And I hate that I'm going to bring this up because I love this show. I think of Shorzy. I think of Shorzy immediately. But then there's another guy who does a podcast out in Winnipeg. I'm not going to name drop him. But I can't I like can't stand listening to him talk.
00:25:53
Speaker
Because I think he has a bad attitude. Again, I'm not going to go any further than that, but I think that's, I think we'd maybe need to talk about the influencer influences in hockey as well. Maybe that could be its own separate pod, but I think because there's a little, because social media is so.
00:26:14
Speaker
free and open nowadays and you can get exposed to a lot of different types of people with a lot of different types of content specifically relating to hockey. There are some people in the hockey world outside of what you generally see in the pro leagues that I think kids look up to and utilize as as an as as a bit of an influence so to speak um that that's that's all that i'm going to go into more in that but i think uh i mean it won't be like again like we talk about haunt league like there's been such a such a such a uh massive talking point about hockey hockey culture specifically in canada where
00:27:03
Speaker
people really have a problem with it. Right. And so ah yeah again, we could, we could totally do a whole podcast on that. We're not going to today, but, uh, um, I think that's maybe some, maybe we're talking about later down the line. Yeah. Well, and that kind of, um, I guess segues into my second part of the tangent, which I completely forgot about that. Um,
00:27:29
Speaker
um No, like I was going to kind of now just talk to the players, like the goalies and just, you know, at the end of the day, the word that everything comes down to is respect, right? And that's, you know, your teammates, your coaches, your parents, the refs, yourself, whatever it, it comes down to respect and just, you know, the attitude.
00:27:58
Speaker
is probably the biggest thing about being a quote unquote pro, right? Like coaches will overlook certain things. If you have a great attitude about things, especially if you're a bubble player with other bubble players or goalies or whatever, if you are on the same level in terms of skill, maybe even slightly less, but you have a much better attitude. Coaches are more likely to pick you if you're coachable, if, you know, you, um, what sort I'm looking for. If, if you're, I dunno, willing, I guess, to, to take that feedback. And if you have that drive, that perseverance to get better and, you know, again, are accountable.
00:28:52
Speaker
These are the things that, you know, coaches do actually take a look at. They notice these things, right? They look at the kids who are there two hours before a game, as opposed to 30 minutes before a game, right? They look at the kids who, you know, go and give somebody a tap after they make a good play or whatever the case is, right? They go shake hands and and they're personable, they're respectful.
00:29:22
Speaker
um There was a goalie that I worked with who is a junior B goalie and he wasn't really happy with the spot that he was in and he's in the same spot now, like he's still playing for the same team, but I could, I just got the sense from him that he was not like he thought he didn't belong in the spot that he was. And one thing I'll tell all of you right now is you are not better than where you are. Yes. Maybe you should be playing at a higher level for whatever reason you got cut or whatever, but
00:30:07
Speaker
You are where you are. Deal with it as best as you can. Make the most of your situation. You are not better than where you are. Because once you have that attitude that you should be playing somewhere else, you should be at a higher level. You should be, you know, that you're just better than the situation that you're in. That's when things start to go downhill really.
00:30:30
Speaker
Like really quick. Cause for example, this goalie that I'm talking about in practice, I talked about it with him. He would drop one knee, like he'd almost do a VH in practice when he'd make a save. He'd keep his glove leg up and he'd drop his blocker leg down. And I kind of went up to him and I'm like, Hey,
00:30:52
Speaker
Is this how we make saves in a game? Like, is this how we want it? Like how efficient is the save right now? And you're basically just blocking the puck and yes, it might hit you. But then he comes back to me and he's like, well, I know where they're going to shoot. I know they're shooting glove side. So I'm just like, this is just what I'm doing when I know they're shooting glove side. And I'm like, okay, whatever. Um, and then.
00:31:19
Speaker
you know, halfway through practice, he gets beat blocker side doing that. And I'm like, Oh, you know, they're shooting glove side. Hey, like, you know, it's just, it's kind of that attitude, right? That's like, I shouldn't be here. I'm better than this boo. Who like, you know what I mean? And not to ah ruffle too many feathers, but it's kind of the reality, right? Like you are where you are for whatever reason.
00:31:45
Speaker
make the most of it. Ian Gordon said at the end of the interview that we had in the episode that we had him on, he said, embrace, you know, embrace the development, embrace your opportunity, right? Like every time you're on the ice is an opportunity to get better. Regardless of the situation, you can pull something out of there to get better. So do it, right? Don't, don't have that attitude, that mentality that you know, the world's out to get you, you're in a spot, you shouldn't be like, take accountability for why you're there, work on the things that need to get better, be respectful, be coachable, have the right character traits. And that will take you a lot farther than any sort of, you know, level of skill will.
00:32:34
Speaker
So i'll end of my rant. um yeah it's ah again just
00:32:45
Speaker
Yeah, just better, at better attitude. That's, that's how you, that's how you got it. That's, that's big thing that a lot that coaches look for. Um, anyways, I feel like I completely butchered Hutch's post. So sorry, Hutch. Um, and, uh, I guess we'll jump into, uh, we'll jump on into your thing here, which is talking about tools in the toolbox. Yeah. So what I had wanted to touch on.
00:33:14
Speaker
And, uh, before I got on a bit of a heated around, ask so I was gonna like, I was gonna like, Nathan's talking for a while here. Like, who hurt him? Um, no, I wanted to touch on, you know, and we, we've kind of briefly talked about it throughout other podcasts episodes, but I wanted to touch on the fact that goaltending is very much not black and white.
Developing Diverse Skills and Adaptability
00:33:42
Speaker
And there's a lot of variables, a lot of different situations. And what I want all of you goalies out there to really take away from this is that we need to put as many tools in our toolbox as possible because not every situation is going to be the exact same and we're going to need to be able to do a bunch of different things at any given time. Right. So, you know, there's, even though it's not really taught anymore, and even though it's kind of gone the way of the dodo a little bit, there is an argument that the odd time of VH might actually be a decent decision to make. Right.
00:34:39
Speaker
And a lot of people harp on the ah RVH because players have figured it out and now they're hitting that short side spot. But the RVH is a great tool when it's used properly, when it's used effectively. And having that ability to go into the RVH at the right time and making that decision is huge. But then also being able to play the overlap or standing post play or the VH right because you just never know which situation might be best because we can give general rules of thumb we can give
00:35:22
Speaker
Like, Oh, Hey, in this situation, we would like to do this, but that's in a perfect world. Sometimes we get a little bit out of position and we don't have time to say, get into an RVH. So maybe the VH is the play there, or maybe we miss our posts in an RVH. So we have to kind of improvise a little bit and maybe do a modified overlap or something, right? Like whatever the case is. So when you guys are.
00:35:51
Speaker
you know, practicing when you're developing, when you're working on your skills, this is why we need to have a wide range of what we work on. And yes, we, like, we don't want to get to the point where we're like a jack of all trades, master of none. and That's not really what I'm saying, but we need to be able to have multiple skill sets that we can call upon depending on the situation and depending on the split second decision that we make at that specific time to be able to, you know, help us help put us in the best situation possible because you just never know. There's so many variables. You just never know what's going to happen and what you need to do.
00:36:42
Speaker
I may have one way of looking at a situation. Nathan may have a different way of looking at a situation. As long as the result is a save that ends up going the opposite way into the offensive zone, that's all realistically that we care about at the end of the day.
00:37:03
Speaker
There's no one right way to play the position. um And so again, I've had goalies where I tell and say, Hey, you should try doing it this way. And I'll explain to them why. And I've had them straight up go, No, I don't like that. I refuse to, I refuse to try it. And it's either because they straight up either didn't like it or they, they just didn't understand it for, for whatever reason. But
00:37:34
Speaker
a good goalie, a great goalie, knows when to be flexible, and I don't mean physically flexible, I mean when to be open to new ideas and say, hey, yeah, I might not utilize the VH on the post a whole lot, but not a bad thing to practice in the odd chance that I have to for for whatever reason.
00:37:59
Speaker
um I can kind of relate to that because I find myself using the VH a lot more in beer league than I do the RVH. And I think that's just because I'm tired and I don't want to go down into my RVH. But the point still being that I've there are.
00:38:19
Speaker
a lot of different ways to play the position. There's no one set way over the other. um You may want to play like your favorite goalies, whether that be Brabrowski, Vasilevski, Swayman, whoever. right But you're not going to be exactly the same as whoever it is that you want to emulate your game like.
00:38:44
Speaker
so I think for goalies in particular, particularly even older goalies, whether barely to juniors or to U15, U18, still need to be open and again, flexible to new ideas or to a new way of looking at how to read a situation or how to make a save.
00:39:12
Speaker
Yeah. And get out of your comfort zone, like practice outside of your comfort zone. It's great. Like the thing is, is when we do drills and we're doing recoveries or any sort of thing like that, very rarely do we get our goalies to slide because every goalie out there, as soon as they step on the ice, the first thing they try and do is slide. Most goalies out there are very good, I guess, or at least for their overall skill level. One of their strongest things is usually a butterfly slide. So this is why pretty much every time we work with our goalies and we get them to recover, we get them to do a T push recovery back to their feet because it's, it's,
00:40:08
Speaker
It's a good habit to have, it's a good tool to have in your tool set to be able to get to your feet quickly and not just stay on your knees the whole time, right? And of course, there's times where you you want to stay on your knees. Like when things are are in tight and all of that stuff, um we need to be doing that.
00:40:29
Speaker
but it's It's not like most of the time we are better off on our feet. So we need to make that or have that tool to be able to make that decision based on the situation.
00:40:44
Speaker
Yeah, Edrick is a dying art, I find. ah Fun fact, actually, in a lot of the facility sessions that I do, um I really, really, I don't really emphasize, but I emphasize it enough in terms of when we got our goalies to recover, ah to make sure that they're recovering back to our recovering back to their feet.
00:41:10
Speaker
I am very, very tempted the next time that I am at the facility is to tell the goalie not to put the roller flies on. okay if i'm If I'm doing a drill where I want them to recover back to their feet more, I'm honestly just half tempted to tell them, don't put the roller flies on and because I'm going to make it more difficult for you because I want you to really start focusing on getting back to your feet.
00:41:31
Speaker
whether they actually do that or not. It's a different story. But the point being is that, yeah, just a lot of a lot of goalies we find, I mean, like there's even discussion about this where if the part of the rebound ends up in the far corner, goalies will still recover to their post down in their knees. And then all of a sudden the RVH, when the puck is in the far, far reaches of the corner and it makes no sense because they do give up um ah the top of the net from that, from that, from that corner. It doesn't matter how tall you are.
00:42:01
Speaker
It doesn't matter how big you are. You still have those holes opened up there and then for the good shooter knows how to um Knows how to exploit that they will do it um So I do find that edge work is a is a dying art particularly when it comes to where it comes to their recovery comes to their recovery Yeah Well, and that's just it, right? It's always easier to get from your feet to your knees than it is from your knees to your feet. Once you've made that commitment, even just, even just, even just like the cross creases, I had a goalie where, um, he was fast on it. He was fast on his knees, but he was always slow getting there, um, beating the pass across. And so like I kept telling him, it's like, you can't like, it's a, it's a cross. It's a cross crease. Dot to dot top of the circle to the other top of the circle.
00:42:53
Speaker
The heck are you sliding for? Oh, it's because I'm faster. So, well, no, you're not because you keep getting beat when when when when you're coming out of your slide. And so I get him to get him to try going from starting on his butterfly to you push recovery on his feet to his next position. And he's making saves and he still is like, no, I'm going to slide. I'm like, bro, like I just I just showed you the difference.
00:43:17
Speaker
and you're and you're not going to take that. That's one of those instances where it is kind of black and white that I find where it's like I just showed you a system that works and we prove that it works and you still decide that you're going to do it the other way. You are you are you are handicapping yourself at this point.
00:43:35
Speaker
Yeah, attitude. ah yeah yeah Like a pearl. Yeah, no, that's the biggest thing, I guess, just from the point from this segment that I brought is that You guys are going to benefit greatly from stepping outside of your comfort zone and working on the stuff you are not good at, experimenting with the stuff you haven't tried because as a goalie, we are making split second decisions all the time in a game and it's way nicer to be able to
00:44:14
Speaker
have two or three potential options based off of the situation that you can be like, oh, I can do this. This is definitely the better option in this specific situation. I'm doing that. Right. As opposed to just being like, well, I got one tool. Let's see how it goes. Right. yeah Then you're kind of pigeonholing yourself. So if there is something that you haven't worked on.
00:44:40
Speaker
try it out. I personally do not like the panda, but I've never, I still don't understand it. Yeah. I've like the panda kind of came to be after I stopped playing. So I've never used it. So my, my position on it could maybe change if I ever did implement it now.
00:45:01
Speaker
The reason I don't like it is because I think goalies should be square, especially younger goalies. They get into issues if they're not square with the puck. But 100%, there is specific situations that it could be very useful to use, right? um And it's something that if you're working on it, if you're getting outside of your comfort zone, you may not use it very often, but it's there. And there may be a situation where you're like, oh,
00:45:30
Speaker
I could actually play this in the Panda and maybe you know put myself in a better spot, right? And that's that's my challenge to you guys is to take the stuff that you're not good at, work on it. Take the stuff you haven't tried, try it out. Get those tools in your toolbox so that you have the option if you get into that situation to be able to use it. If you don't use it,
00:45:56
Speaker
Whatever, right? Like spend your time more on the stuff that you do use, but have some things in there that, you know, aren't part of your regular, your tool set. And you never know, you might end up implementing something into your regularly scheduled programming, right? Who knows? You might become a panda goalie. I don't know.
00:46:21
Speaker
If anybody's ever worked in construction or has any has has done anything to do with, as if they've ever actually worked with hardware or tools, they'll know they they know that sometimes tools will break down, tools will not be as useful as as as they once as they once were. The similar analogy goes for kind of what we're talking about here. What was working for you in,
00:46:47
Speaker
U9, U11, U13 isn't, and it's suddenly not working in U15. Okay, well now we got to adjust. Same idea. So if you were playing junior, if you were playing AA last year and you go come to play AAA this year and how youre and how you thought your game was, and it's not working as you progress into the next level, okay, well now you got to adjust, right?
00:47:09
Speaker
So think about it maybe that way. It's just always, you just, you always want to be open to improving. You always want to be open to, uh, to new ideas. It'd be, um, I just thought about this as I, if you think about Mark Andre Fleury, oldest goaltender in the league right now, how he played back when he was drafted in. Oh, three isn't how he's playing now in 2024, probably some similar instances in his game, but.
00:47:38
Speaker
I will bet you if you look at a clip from his first year and you look at a clip from his, from this year playing with the Minnesota wild, two completely different goalies. Some to think about realistically, if you think that you're better than Mark Andre Fleury and said, I don't need to change my game. Mark Andre Fleury is one of the oldest and longest serving goalies in the NHL. Take that as you will.
00:48:02
Speaker
Yeah, just to finish it off to you, I like that the construction analogy, like it's going to be really hard for you to build a house with nothing but a table saw, right? Yeah. The table saw would be great for your cutting big sheets of plywood, but it's going to suck for cutting like, you know, small two by fours and stuff like that. Right. So speaking from experience here. No, I have not tried to build a house just for the table. Well, no, I was I was I was I was thinking I was thinking of facility. but Oh, yeah, no. All right. Well, we will wrap it up there.
00:48:36
Speaker
um I don't think I have anything else that I didn't say at the start. Just a reminder, um email list is coming out soon and Black Friday sale on everything on our website. As always, we have the complete goaltending breakdown course too that you can check out at the diygoli dot.com slash courses. Um, Connor, why don't you take us away and, uh, tell us all about our, our social media. Ah, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Because I'm the new social media guy. Hey. Um, yeah. So, um, first off, thank you to everybody for listening. If you're listening on your podcasting platforms, make sure you share all across your social media platforms, Facebook, X, Instagram.
00:49:27
Speaker
uh myspace of that even is still a thing um lime wire um so let's see what else do we got uh you can also you can follow us on your favorite podcasting platforms if you're the first if you're a first time listener we are on spotify apple podcast iheart radio um amazon music and all the fun spots there and if you want to see Nathan and my beautiful faces. You guys can check us out over on YouTube, youtube.com slash the DIY goalie.
Connecting with the Podcast
00:50:02
Speaker
Again, you can't visit us. Don't forget the app. Yes. It needs to be slashed. yeah d i go Exactly. Obviously we will have kind of a a brief. ah
00:50:14
Speaker
a brief blurb about about every podcast that Nathan and I do over at the diy goalie.com Again, we got our email list there that Nathan has already gone over um You can follow myself personally over on instagram at monday gc Said that I was going to post more goaltending stuff on there how yet to do that, but that's besides the point um, but yeah, we uh, we're very thankful for the listenership and for the uh for the support group that we do have uh for the diy goalie and true north goaltending that's the other thing that i should have mentioned is that if you are in the edmonton area or coming to visit the edmonton area for christmas time tournaments um
00:50:56
Speaker
just because and if you want to get a quick session in or whatever you want to go or you want to come check us out, you can check our in-person goalie school at True North Goal Tending. It's www.truenorthgoldtending.com. You can also follow us over on again the social media platforms at YEG goalie coach. Again, it's the at sign YEG goalie coach.
00:51:20
Speaker
Um, that's where Nathan does a lot of his, uh, a lot of posts, a lot of his stuff. That's his only social media presence that we that we have for him. And that's kind of the best thing for everybody. Um, and then, uh, beyond that, it's been, uh, it's been a blast and, uh, we are definitely looking forward to next week's episode.
00:51:40
Speaker
but as Nathan, I record this because we have a very, very, very special guest that is going to bring a lot of interesting insight. And he and I kind of share us a similar job. So it's going to be it's' it's goingnna be a fun one. Yeah. So interviews are coming. Yes, they are. We do. We do. We do have a few people ah do have a few people lined up. I know people have starting to get tired, starting to get tired of listening to us.
00:52:07
Speaker
I say that, but yet our listenership numbers from all over the world is interesting. Again, Canada and US s being the top two. And then I still can't get over Australia being number three. And then obviously. I think they're getting overthrown soon because Czechia has moved to fourth now and they're very quick.
00:52:27
Speaker
are very short behind. I really want to start diving into um how goalie development is overseas. The one guy that I want to get on the pod is I do want to ask him that question because being a former pro goalie living back over in kind of the yeah the, I don't want to say the Netherlands region, but that's nowhere near, um, um, just living out, living back over in the European area. I wonder if he is still tied to the game of hockey over there and just kind of what the development is like, um, over there as well. Uh, I do have a few people that, uh, are one other person rather that, uh, came to Canada from Italy. Um, cause she was playing hockey over there then decided to want to come play.
00:53:16
Speaker
juniors here in Canada. So I mean, I'd like to, I'd like to have a chat with her and just kind of talk about, talk a little more in depth about how development and how training and all that was over there. Cause I think it's interesting learning from, from different countries. We have the States and it's like, okay, fine, but they're also boring. So we need to learn from other people. So way to cut out half of our listeners. Yeah. Um,
00:53:40
Speaker
No, actually, if you guys do have any connections out there that you think would be a good perspective, um, reach out to us, pass them along. Cause like I did reach out to, um, ice hockey Australia. I was hoping to get maybe somebody to talk about their goalie development. Cause I thought that would have been a cool perspective, but I got crickets back. So intended might have to find a more direct line. Um,
00:54:05
Speaker
But so yeah, if you guys know of anybody who might have an interesting perspective to come on the podcast, um drop us a line, right? You can always email us at info at the diygoli.com or reach out on our social media platforms. but we appreciate any sort of or even it or even if you are somebody who or yes if you are if you are somebody and you have a and you have a perspective that you would like to share you that you that you think would be interesting to have on the pod
00:54:36
Speaker
same deal, feel free to drop this line. I'm going to plug this as well here. Again, ah any questions or anything we want, we initially wanted to do a whole episode on it, but um i've kind of I've kind of narrowed it down to to just like ah to just like a set to like a segment now. So again, it can be a goalie question, it can be a goalie parent question, a goalie coach question. Again, feel free to feel free to drop a line in our inbox.
00:55:00
Speaker
awesome well thanks for tuning in guys and we will be back next week