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049 - The Importance of Collaboration in Goalie Development with Justin Goldman
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Show notes are available at https://thediygoalie.com/pod049
This week we were fortunate to be joined by Justin Goldman of the Goalie Guild who provided some awesome insight into a variety of topics, including why having a collaborative environment is better for overall goalie development. We also chat about Justin's other projects, such as the Lift the Mask program and the Power Within series of books he has authored.
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Transcript
Introduction to Improving Goaltending Skills
00:00:07
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.
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome back goalies to another episode of the DIY goalie and it's been a few weeks since we have had an interview on the podcast so we figured we'd bring someone else on board to give some fresh perspectives you don't quite have to listen to me and Connor all the
Justin Goldman's Contributions to the Goalie Community
00:00:38
Speaker
time. um So ah we've got um Justin Goldman joining us. He owns the Goalie Guild and does a bunch of cool stuff that we're going to be diving into to help the goalie community out today.
00:00:52
Speaker
um Thank you for hopping on with us today, Justin. How are you doing? I'm doing good. Excited to be here. Excited to chat goaltending with you guys. And yeah, I appreciate the opportunity to to chat with you guys.
00:01:05
Speaker
Yeah, awesome. We ah very much appreciate you hopping on with us and and shout out to Billy Teefy for the connection and getting us hooked up for this episode. So um yeah, we're pretty excited to have you on. So we've got myself, Nathan Park and Connor Monday as always as the co-hosts and Justin's
How Did Justin Goldman Begin His Journey in Hockey?
00:01:31
Speaker
joining us today. So just to start off,
00:01:33
Speaker
Why don't you give us a little bit of ah an intro to yourself and kind of a background, just kind of the, you know, 10,000 foot view of of your goalie career and just kind of what you've done.
00:01:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, thanks. Very non-traditional hockey background. i was actually born and raised on a horse ranch, like in a rural area of North Dallas.
00:01:57
Speaker
So I was about as far removed from ice hockey as you could possibly be when I was born and raised. And this was in the, ah you know, I was born 1982. So um I didn't even know hockey was really a sport that I could play until I was basically a teenager. Yeah.
00:02:12
Speaker
So in 1993, when the Minnesota North Stars relocated to Dallas, that was the same year my family moved off our farm into a suburb of Dallas. So it was just kind of like worlds collided for me. um You know, pro hockey in Dallas was...
00:02:27
Speaker
Totally new. um Nobody knew how to play the game. Very few of my friends knew how to ice skate. um But a bunch of us just fell in love with the sport right away. Like the stars were this gritty physical team. And that just like gelled so perfectly with the culture.
00:02:44
Speaker
in Dallas, you know a bunch of football fans everywhere. so The team was successful right out of the bat. I was one of the first you know members of the Junior Stars program. um and It took me a couple of years to learn how to ice skate, for sure.
00:02:58
Speaker
but yeah it was just this athletic late bloomer that's just had this huge passion for, you know, playing the position and wanting to learn about every single goalie's unique style and what made them different.
00:03:12
Speaker
And comparing those styles together was just this passion of mine. So um I definitely had to work extremely hard to like be a competent skater and to get good enough to, you know, play some college hockey.
00:03:24
Speaker
um But my career was very backwards, right? Like I didn't become an emergency backup goalie for the Avalanche until i was 35 years old So literally my teenage years and all of my 20s and even halfway through my 30s, it was just learning every day um from the best coaches I could find, from the best goalies I could find.
00:03:45
Speaker
um I'm an extreme learner and I've always been that way and I always will be. And so I think that passion for learning just helped me finally get to the point where I was just good enough to be an e-bug for the avalanche.
00:03:57
Speaker
ah for five years, which was, you know, an absolute honor. um And now that I'm a little bit older, it's, you know, just mostly focusing on my foundation and giving back to the game that's given me so much.
Inspirations and Self-Development in Goaltending
00:04:09
Speaker
that's interesting again justin thanks so much for for coming on here uh i want to dive in quickly just a little bit about your playing career um just kind of ah just your upbringing with it how you might you might have touched on a little bit already how you got into goaltending what inspired you specifically to be a goaltender were there any of gold any of the goalies that you looked up to you like the mike broder the mike broder is the uh Martin Brouters, Eddie Belfours.
00:04:38
Speaker
I know that he was with Dallas for a little bit there. so just kind of yeah And Turco as well. That's a big name down there. So just kind of what just what inspired you to be a goaltender?
00:04:49
Speaker
And did you watch a lot of the games that you saw on TV and kind of try to emulate their style? Or like did like it was did you have any kind of structured coaching as as you were going through your playing career?
00:05:01
Speaker
Yeah, no, I, I, it was definitely a lot of watching hockey. I mean, i again, I was so far removed from hockey culture growing up where I did, and I was very lucky to have access to, you know, TV.
00:05:15
Speaker
um And I just remember watching ESPN to, you know, fire on ice catching as many hockey games as I could. And this was back when you would still order the hockey news, like a subscription, like over the internet, and you'd get it in the mail every week. So like the hockey news was a really big um vehicle for kind of like pushing my passion forward. But I never had any structured coaching with goaltending until i was almost in college.
00:05:40
Speaker
I got a little bit when I was in high school and I was very, very fortunate for that because it was the first time I'd really gotten any goalie specific training. um But you're looking at a guy that was completely self-taught when it came to, you know, just the fundamentals and the basics.
00:05:56
Speaker
um But what really helped me, you know, kind of develop, you know, like a core competency and enough to just keep pushing every single day was that passion for just watching goalies on TV.
00:06:08
Speaker
um And again, obviously, the Dallas Stars being there was absolutely huge. Like beforehand, we had season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks and they were just this absolutely brutal team in the mid ninety s So it was really easy for you know my dad and I to be like, all right we're done with the Mavericks. Let's watch this new hockey team.
00:06:25
Speaker
um And my dad saw that I had a passion and and I gravitated directly to goaltending. I never once ever had any type of passion or interest in being a forward. It was just directly focused 100% of my passion on being a goalie.
00:06:39
Speaker
um And it seems a little silly, but everyone's like, you know, how does this guy from Texas that like never knew hockey was a thing become so passionate about goaltending? And what the biggest thing was just I saw this connection between like a medieval knight and all his armor and a goaltender. And to me at that age, being, you know, 11, 12 years old, I thought that was the coolest thing ever.
00:07:01
Speaker
um I'll never forget being at one of the very first Dallas Stars practices and the first two guys on the ice, obviously, are the goalies. And it was Darcy Wakaluk and Andy Moog. And Darcy Wakaluk was wearing like all black head to toe with a little bit of green accent on his pads.
00:07:17
Speaker
And I just I lost my mind. I was like, that's what I want to do with the rest of my life. And so. uh it's kind of what i've been doing but yeah that was where the initial spark was like i actually just like thought of goalies as medieval knights in awesome gear and it looked like a lot of fun to do that on the ice so that just kind of captured attention i love i i love that a lot i like that yeah um yeah that's funny um so just out of curiosity then because we kind of ask uh you know any of the guests that we have on that kind of played in this era but uh what did you find kind of was different between the game now and when you played kind of back in the 90s and what do you think is actually still like the same or similar
00:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, back in the 90s, again, for me, everyone around me was new to the game. So the level of skill was really, really low.
00:08:16
Speaker
um I didn't face any real legitimate talent like guys from Boston or Minnesota um or from Canada until, again, I was in college. So now you're talking, you know, early two thousand Um, so my experience with like mid nineties hockey was mostly just watching the game on TV and play street hockey.
00:08:35
Speaker
That's really where I got my start and like the passion for, you know, being a goaltender, um for the rest of my life really kind of, um, set in was just street hockey. Um, and then ice, like I said, learning how to ice skate took longer, but I think today, like, you know, I still play beer league obviously, um and spent some time, you know, as an e-bug for the avalanche and just,
00:08:56
Speaker
You hear it all the time, but it's so true. Just the speed of the game. Like the game is just so much faster. um And what players are able to do um with their hands to mask shot releases and the deception that shooters have right now, I think is way, way higher than anything we saw in the early two thousand s Um, so again, a lot of that is coaching. Some of that is culture.
00:09:21
Speaker
Um, I think, you know, players evolve and their creativity starts to go up as time goes on, as the, you know, um, the equipment continues to evolve. So I think it's a little bit of all those pieces that make the game faster and seem like it's just more electric.
00:09:36
Speaker
Um, and it's a really fun challenge to kind still skate with some of the younger guys that I play with in beer league. Yeah, i I get it. I sub in with Beer League every once in a while. and ah yeah you like even i like i'm all like I'm only 26 years old, but I'm not on the ice very much anymore. And it's like, damn, I can't even keep up with these guys.
00:09:58
Speaker
Justin, you and I share a little bit of a little bit of similarity here. as We'll talk about your ah your your career in with the Colorado Eagles and NHL.com when it comes to broadcasting and journalism. um I did a little bit of play-by-play for of the local Junior junior a teams here, and as well as the U18 AAA team that I fill in for every every once in a while on top of doing the podcast here.
00:10:22
Speaker
So let's talk about what inspired you you to get into to doing broadcasting and journalism. I'm going to guess that probably hockey on TV played a played a small part in it. On top of how did you get how how did you get into your career with writing and broadcasting with your start with the Colorado Eagles of the ah of the American Hockey League up to workingforNHL.com?
Justin's Path into Hockey Journalism and Broadcasting
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, growing up where I did in a very rural area of Texas, um I spent a lot of time outside. I was this huge nature kid and writing is something that came very naturally to me. So I was writing a lot of journal stuff. I remember writing about goalies when I was really young, you know, again, 11, 12 years old.
00:11:03
Speaker
um when I picked up this passion for hockey and even before then. So to me, it was pretty obvious by the time I was done with high school, i was really focused on, you know, continuing my studies in broadcasting and technical journalism because I knew I wanted to put, you know, hockey, I wanted to put goaltending and hockey and writing together.
00:11:22
Speaker
Those were my two passions. Those were two things I knew I was good at um growing up. And so, yeah, I was just, trying to be creative and try to find ways to make this work. You know, ah my dad had a family business and I didn't want to go that route. I wanted to kind of carve my own path and try to make goaltending a career some way, shape or form.
00:11:42
Speaker
um And that definitely brought a lot of challenges in college, but Again, it was just sticking with it and knowing that um this is what I wanted to do. And eventually I would get to where I wanted to go. And so, yeah, just like in college, you get so many great opportunities to kind of, you know, create your own career um and create your own pathways. And i was just very, very fortunate going to Colorado State University um in northern Colorado that I happened to be going to school in a town where all of a sudden my sophomore year, you know,
00:12:15
Speaker
the newspaper announces minor league hockey team coming to Northern Colorado. And it was just like this epiphany, like, Oh my God, this is perfect timing again. It was like lightning striking twice. Right. Um, I got introduced to hockey in middle of nowhere, Texas at age 11 or 12.
00:12:30
Speaker
And then here I am, you know, sophomore in college, just trying to find my way and, um, the opportunity to cover a minor league hockey team while I'm in college dropped right in my right on my plate.
00:12:40
Speaker
So I took advantage of that opportunity. I went into my college newspaper and said, you know, I'm a goalie. ah There's a new minor league hockey team. I'm going to be covering them. Like there weren't any questions there. It was just this is what I'm going to do. You can post my stuff or you don't have to whatever.
00:12:57
Speaker
um I wanted the opportunity so badly. And I was the first guy to jump in and and take advantage of that. um And the Colorado Eagles, you know, again, credit it to them. And I'm so thankful for them. you know They gave me that opportunity. They gave me a press credential as a junior reporter for the Eagles.
00:13:12
Speaker
um And you know while I'm supposed to be writing about the entire game up in the press box, you know covering these games, where do you think I was gravitated towards directly on the crease? Of course. Of course. my My post-game articles on, you know, all the Eagles home games literally just turned into like 2000 word scouting reports on the goalies.
00:13:32
Speaker
And so that's when I kind of realized, oh, my gosh, you know, I might have an opportunity here um to write about goalies. And again, you got to go way back. This was mid 2000s. So this is before Twitter was a thing.
00:13:46
Speaker
um And again, social media was not really emerging um on the scene as like, you know, an integral part of, you know, daily hockey fans life. So, again, right place at the right time, the opportunity to cover the Eagles, plus, you know, this passion for, you know, really analyzing goalies on a very deep level.
00:14:07
Speaker
um I continued to do that for probably five or six years after I graduated from college. And by that time, you know, I'd been doing it for so long. um I had I had built a little bit of a following on social media because, again, nobody was covering goalies at the time. Right. So um just kind of carved my own niche as like this Very goalie specific, very detailed a writer of the position. And sure enough, one thing led to another.
00:14:37
Speaker
um i had opportunities to do some broadcasting and radio for the Colorado Avalanche after my time with the Eagles. And then in 2011, that's when I kind of got my big break. I was almost 30 years old. So again, grinded for a lot of years.
00:14:51
Speaker
And then I think I was 29 when NHL.com knocked on the door and said, hey, we'd love to have someone that just focuses on analyzing goalies. um And that was a huge opportunity. And again, something that I know I worked really hard for.
00:15:05
Speaker
um And I did that for four years. And so that's that's kind of the steps that I took. It was, again, back then the Colorado Eagles were not an AHL team. They actually started out as a central hockey league team.
00:15:17
Speaker
So we're talking like fourth level of minor league hockey. That's where, you know, I paid my dues. That's where I put in the time. That's where I grinded to learn as much as I possibly could, not only about, you know, the goaltending position, but just how to handle myself professionally and, um you know, how to act around scouts and pro goalies. And every single day was a learning experience that I truly cherished. um And, you know, almost a decade later is when I finally got my break.
00:15:48
Speaker
Sounds ah kind of similar to like Kevin Woodley ah over at Ingle. i was i was I was just about to say that because like because i think because because I think you've done some work with the boys over at Ingle along with Goalie Guild Retreat and and all that there. So I have no doubt that probably you and Woodley have crossed paths from NHL.com.
00:16:09
Speaker
Dude, he's he's unbelievable. he and i I can remember going back, like, In Goal and the Goalie Guild started at roughly the same time. Like, again, this was way back when we didn't have social media influencers. We didn't have any of that. It was literally just like...
00:16:24
Speaker
the goalie guild was a blog, like a WordPress blog where I would update like stuff on pads and stuff. Like i was doing pads tracker and tracking all the gear and just posting scouting reports from all these abs games. It was so bare bones compared to what you see today.
00:16:38
Speaker
And then yeah, Ingoal Mag started right around the same same time. It was like those middle 2000s when, you know, the position was starting to change and we started to see more goalie specific coaching and social media, like,
00:16:53
Speaker
Facebook and and Twitter, you know, mid 2000s, that's really where a lot of us, you know, started to um provide more coverage and get more exposure for goaltending, you know, at a professional level.
00:17:05
Speaker
And credit to those guys, because yeah, it's they've done such amazing stuff. And like, they're so like integral to the goaltending community because they're one of the really few resources that are consistently, you know, giving you insights to what the pros are doing.
00:17:20
Speaker
Um, and so I was fortunate to kind of have that stretch when I was with NHL.com, but a guy like Woodley, like we call him a media shark, right? Cause he's just got, you go through his phone and he's got contacts for every single goalie at every level everywhere. So, uh, yeah, like,
00:17:37
Speaker
goes back a long way. And I love those guys for what they do. And um they're, they're doing some excerpts of the new book that just came out that Mike and I wrote um that just came out in December. So it's great to have those guys, you know, be able to support some of the stuff that we've been doing um over all these years.
00:17:56
Speaker
So in your time then doing, you know, the play by play and working with NHL.com and all the journalism stuff, Do you have any like interesting stories or kind of some cool people that you got to meet or or anything kind of along those lines with maybe some of the pro goalies or goalie coaches or anything like that? That's, you know, kind of an interesting thing we could share for the listeners.
00:18:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, it was, i was really, really lucky. Again, i think it was a lot of right place at the right time. NHL goalie coaches were really excited to know that there was someone out there that worked for NHL.com that was like really geeking out on goalies.
00:18:43
Speaker
And so NHL goalie coaches would, you know, when teams would come through Denver, you know, I took the initiative. I was just like, hey, I'm going to, I'm going message Mitch Korn.
00:18:54
Speaker
um One of the most legendary goalie coaches in the NHL. I've been doing it since the mid-80s with the Sabres and worked with Hasek. Mitch Korn is a legend. And even though it came with nerves and um you know I was still kind of cutting my teeth in in this whole you know trade of being a goalie scout or an analyst for NHL.com.
00:19:15
Speaker
Every NHL goalie coach I reached out to was so appreciative and so like welcoming and made me feel like um what I was doing was valued. And that was such a great confidence boost. And I'll never forget the first time I met Mitch Korn.
00:19:29
Speaker
It was at a morning skate. He was with the Predators at the time. And this is when Nashville Predators had Pekka Rene, who was 8 foot 11 and Anders Lindback, who was 10 feet tall.
00:19:42
Speaker
And I just will never forget going into the locker room after the pregame skate. Pekka Rene broke one of his warrior sticks in half, and he's signing it for me, and he stands up, and these guys are in their gear, and I'm just like – You guys are so big, you're so fast, and you're so athletic.
00:19:59
Speaker
this is mine you know It was just mind-blowing to be that close to those guys, like right next to them in their gear. um And that was a really cool moment. I think that's something that Mitch saw as well. you know He realized that I was a guy that didn't play at a high level growing up, um never had these kind of experiences, and just wanted to learn every single day.
00:20:19
Speaker
And so for him to kind of take me under his wing a little bit, and he's been a mentor of mine since that very day, um for him to kind of take me under my wing and just give me that boost of confidence to be like, hey, it doesn't matter if you didn't play at a high level. It doesn't matter if you're from Texas um or whatever the case may be. Like if you've got an eye and a passion for the position, you know, go with it. And so.
00:20:40
Speaker
It was guys like Mitch Korn and Mike Valley, who obviously I've gone on to write books with when he was with the Dallas Stars. um Some of the goalies as well. that I'll never forget the time ah the Avalanche played the Tampa Bay Lightning. And Matthew Guaron was the goalie for Tampa Bay. And he's like this sick, you know,
00:21:00
Speaker
butterfly goalie catches with the right hand and was unreal in shootouts. And I'll never forget just like talking about how good he was in shootouts. And sure enough, the game goes to a shootout. um And I'm pretty sure Tampa Bay ends up winning that game and going into the locker room afterwards, you know, his gears down on the ice. And I was just like, man, what do you, what do you do that makes you so good in breakaways and in these shootouts?
00:21:23
Speaker
Um, um And just, you know, you're expecting this like really complex answer. And, you know, Matthew just looks at me and he goes, just focus on the puck. Does it, you know? And so i was like all these little experiences I was having after these Avalanche games with all these different types of goalies from different parts of the world.
00:21:42
Speaker
um Their mindsets were so simple, but they were so focused. um You know, you're learning from those things. You see what it's like, you know, right front and center. um What it means to be a pro goalie and what it takes to be good on a consistent basis when, you know, everyone's looking at you and all eyes are on you. So there wasn't really one big one that stood out, but ah Mitch Korn for sure meeting him for the first time.
00:22:07
Speaker
Legendary goalie coach getting to, you know, connect with him for the first time. And then, you know, interviews with guys like Matthew Guerrero or one of my favorite goalies of all time. I know you asked me this earlier, like who was the goalie that I most closely followed or idolized? It was Chris Osgood, actually.
00:22:22
Speaker
um for whatever reason like just you know western canadian boy played juniors worked his way in with the red wings um his style was so natural and so effortless and he was so flashy with his glove hand um and everyone loved to hate him because he wore that old cooper mask and would give up really bad goals at bad times but still went on to win 400 games so you know getting to interview chris osgood after a game was a huge moment for me it's something i cherish and Again, just taking all those experiences year after year after year helped mold me into where I'm at now.
00:22:56
Speaker
Edmonton Oilers legend, Matthew Garrell. Yes. and He was so silky. like the skating style back then with the pads and everything else, like he was so silky smooth and so good in penalty shots and shootouts. I'll just never forget that.
00:23:13
Speaker
um so Again, you're thinking he's going to have like this like wildly like deep answer, then it's just like, focus on the puck, man. Let's all i'm do it. It's not that easy, man.
00:23:26
Speaker
I always found it just terribly like sad that he was always on the Oilers teams of the Decade Darkness. That's Oilers fans. yeah all like all like I'm not going to lie, like I wasn't a fan of him at the time because like the guy that I wanted to see play like almost every game was JD Delorier.
00:23:46
Speaker
Loved him too. Yeah. And then after, like I never actually took the time to like appreciate Garron until after he had left. And we think we were stuck with Javi Boulin and Dubnik and, what was the other guy? Gerber for a while there, but, uh,
00:24:04
Speaker
Yeah, you never actually never actually appreciated him until until after. Well, and sometimes ah and something that I've like noticed over the past probably, I don't know, I'd say four or five years is how much more respect I have for the veterans that may not play very much but play until their late thirty s early 40s.
00:24:20
Speaker
That is remarkable to me now that I'm at that age, you know, 42 going on 43. Like if you're playing NHL hockey into your late 30s and you've had 10, 12 year career, doesn't matter if you haven't played a lot of games, you're still showing up every single day.
00:24:35
Speaker
You're on that grind. Like that's amazing. Like guys like Curtis McElhenney. or Craig Anderson, you know, like those guys, holy cow, to be able to still stop pucks at that level um after your body has been through so much is truly, truly amazing. So like I've had a whole newfound respect for those kinds of, you know, Flurry, obviously Luongo, like the guys we know that played really, really long time.
00:25:03
Speaker
That's, that's truly amazing. yeah Yeah, definitely. ah For sure there. i wanted I want to jump back now because we talked about where we kind of briefly teased it with the Goalie Guild and Goal Magazine start starting at the same same time.
Evolution of The Goalie Guild into a Nonprofit
00:25:18
Speaker
um Why don't you tell us about the Goalie Guild, what it's about, and kind of how it came to be and why you started it? Yeah, I mean, originally when it first started, it was like I said earlier, there was really no resources out there besides InGoal Magazine that specifically catered to goaltending analysis in the goalie community.
00:25:40
Speaker
um When I originally started it, it was just a vehicle for me to post my goalie scouting notes. I had no intention of doing anything, you know, nonprofit related um or anything like that. It was mostly, like I said, just a resource for goalie geeks to nerd out about goalie style and technique.
00:25:59
Speaker
And really, again, this was back in 2008, 2009. So around the same time. um You know, social media is starting to flourish and become more popular for sports fans.
00:26:10
Speaker
um What really allowed us to take off was this concept. I came up with this in this project project called Pads Tracker, um which, again, was literally just a little spreadsheet on a blog that listed every NHL goalie and every single piece of gear that they wore.
00:26:26
Speaker
um And for whatever reason, that just like people loved it. And a few years after doing that, we created these graphic templates to go alongside them. So from like, again, 2008 until probably mid 2010s, every single goalie that played in an NHL game, we had documented template template of the gear that they wore in a list.
00:26:48
Speaker
And so again, consistently doing it and following the passion for multiple years, um I started to realize that, you know, my experience growing up in a non-traditional hockey market, um completely devoid of any resources for coaching or just education on like how a goalie should train or where do I find a goalie coach in my area?
00:27:13
Speaker
Like there was nothing out there. nothing besides again, Ingole magazine. Um, and knowing that they were based in Canada, it was like, okay, well, what is there for us goalies? Like I'm a us goalie. I was born in the middle of nowhere, Texas. I know there's tons of kids like me, um, that just don't really know where to go.
00:27:33
Speaker
And so for me, it was this opportunity to, um kind of transition from, you know, just solely focusing on scouting and like the real nitty gritty technical stuff to, Hey, let's like broaden the horizons a little bit. Let's create a resource that, you know, all of these underprivileged or undereducated goalies can go to, to get support, um, and the parents as well. So I think it was in 2015, um,
00:28:00
Speaker
um I had spent two years living in Minnesota working with USA hockey. And so that's how I kind of got connected with the national team and was doing some scouting for them. And after that second year in Minnesota, um I just woke up one morning and was like, you know what, I'm going to go i'm gonna go back to Colorado.
00:28:18
Speaker
um That's where my family is. That's where I truly feel like that's where home is for me. And I'm going to transition the Goalie Guild into a five ah one c three nonprofit. um And so it took about a year to get that all done.
00:28:32
Speaker
But in early January of 2015, I got the letter in the mail from the IRS that said like, oh, your you know foundation is like legal now. It's a five o one c three and that was a huge moment. That was like, okay, this is the step I wanted to take.
00:28:48
Speaker
to go from you know being just like this hardcore analyst to um someone that's building and giving back to the community. um And so, yeah, it's been just over actually 10 years now of the Goalie Guild being a 501c3 nonprofit.
00:29:04
Speaker
But its original roots were just like Goalie Guild was this blog on WordPress, like drop all my scouting notes, all that stuff that I had written over the years from all those and NHL and and minor league games.
00:29:16
Speaker
um And then that patch tracker feature was like so popular because we all love gear so much and that's what the people wanted to see. So I made sure I gave the people what they wanted.
00:29:27
Speaker
I took a quick look at that before and the other day when we were prepping for the episode and I noticed that I think it was what, 2017 is the last year on it or something that had Matt Murray in the Penguins uniform with his yeah like V7s or something like that. You got it.
00:29:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. We were really, we were cranking out those templates back when like um the larcenies were really popular and the one, one hundreds and like the first,
00:29:57
Speaker
like the first wave of like the Odin Bauer pads, like the ones that were made out of the rubber Crocs that Lundqvist wore. Yeah. I mean, those templates were awesome and shout out to my good, good buddy um who spent countless hours building those out for me.
00:30:12
Speaker
Mash, Matthew, um who ended up getting a job with Bauer because of it, because he was cranking out the templates. And so it's just so cool, like the evolution of the pads, right? Like we started to see being able to do digi print and like more custom designs.
00:30:27
Speaker
And MASH was the one that was creating all of the templates before templates were really even a thing. um And so like he was in the right place at the right time. And because of the work he was doing with Padstacker, he ended up getting a gig with Bauer for a couple of years, I think. So yeah.
00:30:44
Speaker
and Talk us through then, like kind of what sort of opportunities are available to goalies through the goalie guild and kind of like, um you know, what you offer as support and resources and kind of stuff like that, aside from just like the content and and all of that stuff that you're writing.
00:31:05
Speaker
Yeah, no, thanks for that question. um so So the Goalie Guild five o one c three is is formally recognized as an education nonprofit. And so all of the projects that I'm focused on and 99% of the work I do is based around education. And so I find creative ways to create projects that are going to just continue to educate people um Not only parents, but the goaltenders, obviously, and then, you know, opportunities for coaches to increase their competency when it comes to, you know, training goalies on the position. So it's everything from, you know, grassroots development, like how do I size my gear properly to the really complex and more intricate aspects of coaching.
00:31:52
Speaker
you know, player development and goaltender development from a holistic standpoint. So I run the gamut. It's everything from the content you see, um you know, online when I have some time to do social media to the books that I've written with Mike Valley um to a lot of the events that I help build and support, which are these goalie coaching symposiums.
00:32:14
Speaker
or these think tanks or these, you know, communities where goalie coaches are learning from each other. Um, and they're having the opportunities to share information. And one of the most powerful vehicles, whether you're talking to an eight year old goalie or a parent or a coach who's worked with goalies for 30 years, um, sharing is the most important component of, you know, the community, um for goaltenders and for, you know, coaching the position.
00:32:40
Speaker
If you're not sharing the ideas that you have and the content that you're, you know, reading and writing and watching, um, and you're not willing to have open conversations with other goalie coaches and pick their brains and let them pick your brain, nothing goes anywhere.
00:32:54
Speaker
Um, And so that's something that I learned you know when I first started to travel overseas about 10 years ago. The culture in Europe is so much more open and free flowing and creative because the sharing is truly valued. Whereas here in North America,
00:33:12
Speaker
We've had this trend and we've had this issue where the sharing is just not as open um and it's not as free flowing. And I think that limits some of our opportunities ah to learn more. So I'm trying to break some of those barriers down by, you know, bringing international coaches over to North America and by me going over to, you know, international countries and learning from Europeans and from anyone I can over there. So that's been a big focus of my work with the Goalie Guild over the last 10 years.
How Does Lift the Mask Support Goalies' Mental Health?
00:33:42
Speaker
It's awesome. Like that's kind of a lot of the reasons why and we started doing the DIY goalie stuff. And, you know, with everything going on, like I wish had more time to do more with it. And that's something that we're going to try and do more of like as we go here. But yeah.
00:33:58
Speaker
The one thing that I did want to ask about when it came to what you have with the goalie guild was the lift the mask program and kind of what it is and what goalies can get from it and kind of how they can utilize it to their advantage.
00:34:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, again, this was a program, I think, born out of necessity, as well as, um again, just my experience and the experience of so many goalies that don't have all the resources directly in front of them. And um Yeah, I think it was one day and I started Lift the Mask in 2018. So I think it was early 2018. It was actually Bell Let's Talk Day.
00:34:42
Speaker
um And that was so huge on social media, right? And so that was the day where I kind of like it triggered in my mind that like, Okay, you know, mental health resources are so crucial for athletes in any sport, any people anywhere.
00:34:57
Speaker
um Is there anything that exists for mental health in goalies? ah Couldn't find anything. So that was, you know, again, a kind of call to action when whenever I feel like there's something missing in the goalie community um where the opportunities or the accessibility is not where it should be, you know I wanna step in and help.
00:35:18
Speaker
And um again, because of my own personal experiences, I never had anyone to turn to when I was struggling with the position. And I struggled a lot because I didn't have support. um i was I was self-taught and my parents were so supportive, but they weren't hockey people either.
00:35:37
Speaker
They just wanted to see me enjoy what I was doing and I enjoyed learning, but I also knew that it came with a lot of challenges, um, mentally and emotionally and physically. And so, you know, as I got older and I started to learn more about what pro goalies are going through, I realized that like, they're struggling with the same exact things that like I was struggling with when I was 14, 15, 16 years old.
00:36:00
Speaker
So again, it was just kind of like my own journey and, um, You know, interacting with so many types of goalies from so many different parts of the world and the coaches as well.
00:36:11
Speaker
It was like, man, there's got to be a resource. There's got to be some kind of mental health program for goalies. It doesn't have to be robust. It doesn't have to you know solve all of the problems that every goalie in the world is having. It just needs to be something that's consistent.
00:36:24
Speaker
um And that's truly dedicated to supporting mental health for goalies. So um it was very easy to incorporate a mental health program into the foundation. And really, the whole essence of Lift the Mask is to eliminate any of those financial barriers that are associated with goalies getting help.
00:36:43
Speaker
And so we always have like $100 stipend set aside so that if any goalie reaches out and is just like wanting to talk to a professional or wants to connect to a mental skills coach or is looking for a sports psychologist or anything in that realm, it's like there's money set aside ready to go so that that's never the thing that gets in between a goalie potentially going on their own mental health journey.
00:37:08
Speaker
um So that's very simple, right? Like it doesn't take a lot of time or effort. um And so we build around that core pillar of, you know, eliminating financial barriers by just doing little things like we have the helmet stickers that go on the back of helmets with the logo.
00:37:24
Speaker
um Kids love to hand those out at tournaments. It's a really simple token and gesture of, hey, there's someone that's here to listen to you. um There's a place you can go if you're struggling.
00:37:34
Speaker
and And then we just lean on the goalies that are you know showing us how important it is to get help. Look at Connor Ingram. Been in the program once. He just went back in literally a couple of days ago. Like his story is a story that we try to reinforce and we try to share because seeing an NHL goalie go into, you know, the NHL program to get help, whether it's for alcohol or it's for loss of a loved one or it's something else.
00:38:01
Speaker
It's like we need to normalize those things. You know, like that's that's how you get goalies to realize that it's OK to speak up when something isn't right. um And, you know, there's always trends that kind of come in and out and flow in and out of the position when it comes to mental health. And, you know, I'm keeping track of those trends by the people that I talk to every day.
00:38:22
Speaker
um And ultimately, that's what I'm doing. Like, I don't claim to be a sports psychologist. Like, I'm not selling any kind of like special mental health program. It's nothing like that.
00:38:33
Speaker
It's literally just having conversations with goalies and talking about how they feel. Like, that's, that's, ultimately, I think that's how, um,
00:38:44
Speaker
that's how you truly connect with younger goalies as someone who's getting a little bit older. It's not trying to preach at them or, you know, give them some kind of system or try to give them all the solutions. It's just resonating with them and having a conversation with them and letting them know that like whatever they're feeling or whatever they're not sharing, like look at all these amazing NHL goalies that go through the same exact thing in their own special way.
00:39:10
Speaker
yeah, so So that's honestly what mostly the program is, is like, you know, there's there's financial support available, um but we're trying to spread a culture where we're empowering these goalies to go out and be ambassadors for mental health by just talking about it.
00:39:27
Speaker
talking about how they feel, tough sharing their own stories on social media, doing the photo contests that we do where it's just goalies lifting their mask. um Yeah, i think I think those things go so much further than trying to sell a program or, you know, force kids to have discussions that they're not comfortable having.
00:39:47
Speaker
um But if you approach them just like, they're normal human beings, just goalies that want to get better. um You can, you can really, you know, make a big difference and you can really help normalize those conversations. And and I think that's, that's ultimately what the program's trying to do.
00:40:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. And what we'll do is we'll link that up in the show notes. So if you guys um want to check it out and want to do anything related to that, if you need the resource there, we'll put it up in there so you guys can can reach out and get involved with that.
00:40:25
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, i appreciate that. And that's, we do a lot of work behind the scenes, right? Like we... I'm out there looking for professionals. So mental skills coaches, um therapists, sports psychologists that have some kind of goaltending background.
00:40:46
Speaker
And when I can find those individuals and get them to want to support other goalies, that's super huge because again, it's all about breaking down barriers. And we know as goalies that it kind of takes one to know one, right? Like we spend so much time, like trying to,
00:41:05
Speaker
teach other people what it means to be a goalie because they've never done it before. So like you spend half of your time when you're talking to someone when you're struggling, just trying to get on the same wavelength of like, this is my experience.
00:41:17
Speaker
I've never put the mask on before. How can I truly understand what you're going through? Well, that's part of the problem is like, not a lot of people know what it really means to be a goalie. So they can't really resonate with the struggles.
00:41:29
Speaker
But when I can find a professional therapist who has those licenses and has that professional um experience, and they also have some kind of goaltending experience, that's like hitting it's it's like hitting the jackpot. Because not only are the professionals like 100% I want to help more goalies because they know what it means to be a goalie.
00:41:48
Speaker
But on the flip side, it's like the kids are so much more willing to talk to someone that has the experience as well of being in the crease. Um, so that, that's like a big part of the program too, is just like trying to find these individuals and and get them to, you know, want to support.
00:42:06
Speaker
And every time I found someone, um, they've all been a hundred percent in. So we have a list on our website of providers that have those licenses, cover a wide range of things and also have the goaltending background. And those are who we're always promoting like goalies or parents or anyone who reaches out, like,
00:42:27
Speaker
Find someone from that list you resonate with, give them a call, they'll help you out. And so that's a big part of the program as well. Yeah, definitely yeah for sure there. um Think something that...
00:42:42
Speaker
you know just we tell you know we like We talk a lot about mental health and you know the the fact that you are ah coming in and doing this with the Goli Guild is just fantastic. and so we really just really appreciate that. We'll link all that there in the show notes.
00:42:57
Speaker
um Let's talk about this year as well because this is also like another big thing when it comes to the Goalie Guild and something that is talked about every year. and but Although I think you know at the start of the conversation, we had said that you guys were taking the year off ah this year. let's let's let's sell Let's talk about the goldie the Goalie Guild retreat.
Success of the Goalie Guild Retreat
00:43:15
Speaker
um How did that all come about? And what do you think has helped make that so so so so so successful into becoming the program that it is today? Well, the the program's successful because of the people that are involved. And I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about the coaches and the goalies that come out and attend.
00:43:33
Speaker
and And, you know, I spent – pretty much like five or six years every summer going to Finland and Sweden to, to, you know, study the position and learn about the culture.
00:43:45
Speaker
And those trips were amazing. Like that's some of the best experiences I've had in my journey came during those summers when I would go over there and just spend a few weeks, you know, immersing myself and in the goaltending culture there.
00:43:57
Speaker
But then I realized I couldn't do that forever. And so I'm going to flip the switch a little bit. And instead of me going over there, ah Hey, I'm going to bring everyone here. You know, like Colorado is a beautiful state. Breckenridge is one of the most iconic, like mountain towns you can find in the state.
00:44:14
Speaker
um And it has one of the highest elevated rinks in North America at almost 10,000 feet. So I kind of put two and two together. I was like, okay, bringing a bunch of really good coaches and a bunch of really good goalies out to Breckenridge in the summertime and train at 10,000 feet. Goalies are going to love it because they're getting gassed and they'll, you know, they'll get great training.
00:44:37
Speaker
Coaches love being in the mountains where, you know, they're away from prying eyes and it's private and it's, you know very much retreat style. um And let's just see what emerges, you know, like, let's see what we can learn from each other when we put a very diverse diverse group of goalies and coaches together from all different parts of the world.
00:44:55
Speaker
um And the only reason it was successful right away again was because of the people that came together and understood what the assignment was. And the assignment was to go out and do what you think is new or unique with the position. Like show us the newest thing that you learned or that you've taught your goalies and share it with the other group and let's discuss and see what emerges.
00:45:18
Speaker
um And I think the coaches were caught off guard that first year because they never get the opportunity to do that. When you're working with goalies during the season, it's always like, get ready for the next game, get ready for the next game, get ready for the tournament, get your boys ready. That's it. You don't really get a lot of time to be creative and try new things.
00:45:41
Speaker
And so again, just like lift the mask, just like the goalie guild foundation, it was, know, I saw that there was a piece missing. I saw that goalie coaches at the professional level did not have an opportunity to create their own think tank um internationally where literally the only assignment was to be creative and try new stuff.
00:46:04
Speaker
Um, and so I wanted to fill that gap because during my time studying overseas and during, you know, just my time writing the books, I started to realize that we were losing the creativity in the game, not only with the goalies, but with the coaching, it was becoming a little bit too structured.
00:46:20
Speaker
And so injecting more of that creativity and like license for coaches to like work with new props. One year we had drones on the ice, you know, we were working with technology that no one had ever thought about using for goalies before. This was when VR was just coming out.
00:46:36
Speaker
You know, I just took all these tools and all these people that were, you know, really creative in the way that they were using different tools and just put them all together in Breckenridge and let it flourish and it flourished because of the people. Yeah.
00:46:51
Speaker
yeah And so every year I kind of try to make it a little bit different in terms of what the task is for the group and, you know, what is the focus of the overarching theme of the year? Yeah.
00:47:04
Speaker
And those first two years before COVID were amazing because, We were having we had probably 15, 20 countries represented all the way from Jamaica and Mexico to Australia and the big countries like Sweden and Finland.
00:47:18
Speaker
um So when you're like having a conversation with a goalie coach from Australia, like it was so cool because their culture and their background and the way that they teach and the words that they use is completely different. Right.
00:47:30
Speaker
um And so mixing it all together just created this really cool, laid back, chill environment where as soon as a coach saw one guy try one thing, he's like, I've never been able to try that during the season because if I did, my coach would absolutely carve me up.
00:47:45
Speaker
But hey, I can do it here. Like no one's going to get in my way. um So again, that was the opportunity that I wanted to create for coaches from again around the world. And most importantly, goalie coaches that had a passion for wanting to coach at a higher level, but had probably never gotten an opportunity like this before.
00:48:03
Speaker
And that's where your boy Billy comes in to the picture, right? Like absolutely most passionate guy I've met um in many years. And I just knew he would cherish the opportunity to be around, you know, the coaches in Breckenridge. And he was an unreal addition because there's nothing holding him back. Like he had the confidence to just go out and try stuff.
00:48:22
Speaker
And some of the stuff he tried and again, you'd never see it during the regular season on a team, but in this environment, it was, it was like liberating to see um what some of these coaches are willing to do. And that's,
00:48:33
Speaker
I'm proud of that environment being created with this retreat in Breckenridge. All right. Yeah, no, that's that's great. And definitely ah definitely, I think, speak for both Nathan and I here that we'd love to get out to some of that.
00:48:45
Speaker
ah Just something kind of quickly popped into my head, um just how much – like, obviously, like there's a bunch of dialogue between the goalies and goalie coaches there at the Goalie Guild Retreat. How much of – when you're doing your presentations and stuff, like, is there any differences or similarities between how coaching and dealing with goalies is in North America versus overseas?
00:49:10
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of differences and that's why, you know, we make sure to bring as many coaches over from Europe so that, um you know, the North American coaches can get exposed to, you know, different methods of educating and inspiring goalies. Yeah.
00:49:30
Speaker
to be quite honest with you in Breckenridge, at least when we're in the room having these discussions, it's actually not that much about like the real nitty gritty technical stuff. Like we're not spending hours arguing about is your glove hand at one o'clock or three o'clock. um Everyone that comes understands that like what goalies really need right now is holistic,
00:49:57
Speaker
elements of the position injected into the already very technical training. So one of the rules that I kind of live by and what I've tried to teach a lot of these coaches over the years is the importance of autonomy for goalies and for goalie, like coaches need to help goalies gain a higher sense of their own self-awareness.
00:50:20
Speaker
And I think the greatest gift you can give a goalie doesn't matter what age or level we're talking about. The greatest gift you can give a goalie as a coach or a mentor is the gift of self-awareness. And that's a quote I heard from a goalie coach in Sweden that coaches at the you know professional level.
00:50:35
Speaker
And, and it's like one of my pillars for the work that I do. Um, The best way you can truly motivate a goalie is by understanding what motivates them, where their passion's coming from, what um what is it that they need in order to continually push to be the best that they can possibly be.
00:50:59
Speaker
And discovering that isn't always by coaching them. It's by kind of taking a step back and listening um and observing the wider environment of what your students and your goalies are operating within.
00:51:12
Speaker
um But when we're constantly on top of our goalies, shouting directions all the time and giving them all the answers and constantly trying to, you know, be in their ear.
00:51:24
Speaker
we're doing goalies a disservice because we're turning off that ability for them to problem solve on their own and discover solutions for the different problems that, you know, emerge in a hockey game.
00:51:36
Speaker
So that's where a lot of like the research that I do um behind the scenes um And then using that stuff that I'm learning, emerging science around ecological dynamics, which is a phrase you may have heard.
00:51:51
Speaker
I've been speaking about it for three years and learning about it for three years. We've taken these principles of ecological dynamics, which is scientifically based um and researched at extremely high level.
00:52:03
Speaker
And we're injecting that into goalie coaching development. And we're helping the goalie coaches upskill themselves by giving them these really essential tools that, again, don't have really anything to do with the nitty gritty technical aspects of the position, but it's how they can teach those things better and in a more effective way that's truly going to engage and inspire and motivate the goaltenders. Yeah.
00:52:25
Speaker
um So it's more about how we're communicating and how we're um creating lesson plans and creating drills even that truly allow the goalies to flourish and problem solve as opposed to just being like, you go from A to B to C and the shot's going to come.
00:52:42
Speaker
okay, great. You've just given goalie exactly everything that they need to do in order to make a save look really pretty in practice. But you know what? You don't get those answers and you don't get those clean looks in a game. In a game, everything's messy and goalies have to be able to problem solve authentically um and without distraction or overcoaching getting in the way. So,
00:53:07
Speaker
That's like a little bit more of like what we're actually discussing in those rooms. And it's amazing because, you know, the and NHL, vote like, for example, we've had Dave Alexander from the St. Louis Blues come out the last two years.
00:53:19
Speaker
His presentations are amazing because he's giving these goalie coaches a really authentic look at what is happening when he's communicating with Jordan Binnington. And the other goalies in the Blues Association, so like he is telling us this is what we're discussing. And it's amazing because, again, it's not like what you would think it is. It's not these overly technical discussions where they're breaking down frame by frame every little detail.
00:53:45
Speaker
um Some of it's just basic life stuff. It's, you know, how do you trust the process? um You know, what are you doing away from the rink to make sure you have balance in life? Um, these are things that coaches, I think kind of lose track of because they're so obsessed with just what's happening in the crease that they forget the bigger picture of life. And they forget the bigger picture of like, you're trying to guide your goalie to find his or her own solutions because they're the only ones that truly know what's happening on the inside and the outside.
00:54:16
Speaker
Um, so yeah, it's a little bit of a different approach. It's not overly technical, um But we're still leaning on a lot of emerging science in terms of how goalies are interacting with their environment and how can we better support growth and skill development around that.
00:54:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think we kind of saw that at the Four Nations face-off there with Bennington coming up with some clutch saves that weren't exactly yeah the prettiest saves.
00:54:42
Speaker
He is such an amazing puck handler. Yeah. you know he is such an amazing puck handler um yeah And i think what was so cool about his performance in that tournament was how confident he was handling the puck and how good he was, you know, outside of the crease.
00:55:01
Speaker
yeah um And I think that actually goes a long way and like reinforcing some of the stuff that we're talking about here. It's not all about what you do in the crease. It's how you contribute outside of the crease. What can you do to support your teammates and play more cohesive as a five man unit, as opposed to just everything being in the blue paint. So he was a treat to watch props to you guys. I owed a lot of buddies drinks, like all my Canadians fans, I owe drinks not because I made that bet and I lost fair and square.
00:55:34
Speaker
But yeah, Bennington was an absolute stud in that tournament. He was really fun to watch. Yeah, for sure. No, I love a lot of that. That quote's awesome. That's a lot of kind of our philosophy with ah True North Goaltending, too, about, you know, making the goalies their own goalie coach. And it's not good business practice, but, you it's... We want to make ourselves obsolete, but that's... You're and doing the right thing by saying that. Yeah. There's plenty of goalies to go around, but
00:56:06
Speaker
You know, the answers can't always come from your mouth. You know, like they have to find solutions in their own way and it's going to look different and it's going to look like learning is messy, especially as goaltenders. And I think a lot of coaches out there, like the ego gets in the way a little bit and they want everything to look clean and perfect in a practice. And it's just like, that's not how learning works. That's not how goalie training works. It's messy.
00:56:32
Speaker
um It's very nonlinear. Right. Yeah. You know, you can have all the best progressions in the world in your in your program for a season, but it's going to go up and down and back and loop back on itself and get twisted up in knots. And that's that's the reality of, you know, how athletes, not just goalies, develop. So I love that you guys are doing that. And that makes me happy. That makes me smile. That that might get you an invitation to the GGR next summer. Ooh. Like it. I like it.
00:57:04
Speaker
Yeah, no. And that's like all the stuff you said. It's like, you know, can't help but nod in the head and smile because it's, you know, it's it's awesome to see. And i I love it personally. I know Connor does too. But just to, us since we are getting a little long here, so I do want to touch on before we kind of wrap things up and let you go on the e-bug side of things, because got,
00:57:30
Speaker
i got over two seasons the chance think it was only for 12 games but i got a chance to e-bug for the oilers and uh so i'd like to kind of compare notes a little bit so okay for my for my situation yeah i'll just sit here and twiddle my thumbs guys thanks one of these days one of these days you'll be as cool as us wishful thinking there justin
00:58:01
Speaker
Yeah, for my instance, like it was because I was playing college locally and they had you know the University of Alberta goalies and then myself at NAIT being
What Was It Like Being an E-Bug for the Colorado Avalanche?
00:58:13
Speaker
the e-bug. So I'm curious kind of what they did in Colorado as to how they...
00:58:18
Speaker
You know, hired for the job, I guess. And kind of what your experience was in terms of, you know, did you get to practice with anyone? Did you get to kind of sit on the bench at all? Like like your personal experience with it?
00:58:32
Speaker
Yeah, super interesting experience. Again, um you know I think up in Canada, you know Toronto, um Winnipeg, you know like you said, Edmonton, ah those teams have so many more goalies to pull from when it comes to an e-bug situation. like fair enough They can lean on the colleges, they can lean on you know universities, whatever.
00:58:54
Speaker
ah Here in Denver, there's not too many people to pick from. The the the talent pool for eBug is much, much lower. So ah kind of like a running theme in my life, right, is this sort of idea of right place at the right time.
00:59:09
Speaker
um This one was very unique in the sense that. you know Again, i had covered the Colorado Avalanche professionally through broadcasting, you know radio and NHL.com for many years. So you know I had a press credential with the Professional Hockey Writers Association. i was in the press box for, I think, every home game from 2006 until 2012. So...
00:59:33
Speaker
so You know, over those years, there would be opportunities to skate at Pepsi Center. It was called Pepsi Center at the time to skate there in preseason games to keep the ice ready, you know, in between the preseason and the regular season game.
00:59:46
Speaker
So that's actually kind of where I planted the seeds of like this opportunity to be an e-bug in Denver was just by attending employee skates. Yeah. And being a goalie for one of those.
00:59:58
Speaker
And obviously the avalanche, you know, knew that I was in the press box, knew that I was a goalie scout with NHL.com or whatever. So um I built up, you know, confidence within the organization that I knew how to handle myself around pro goalies and, you know, I wouldn't be a fan boy and stuff like that. So that's... That laid the foundation all those years, just, you know, broadcasting and and covering the team and, you know, skating in these, you know, preseason skates at Pepsi Center.
01:00:26
Speaker
But when the and NHL announced the rule in 2017, that was when I got a call from the avalanche and the call was like two weeks before the preseason. So it's like early September. Right.
01:00:38
Speaker
And one of the abs employees calls me. And I swear to God, I thought that was this was a prank. It was like, hey, new rule from the NHL. We need a list of emergency backup goalies for our team.
01:00:52
Speaker
ah We were wondering if you'd be interested in not only doing this, but you know helping us find some guys locally that can do this. And I was just like, I almost hung up the phone. I was like, whatever. i thought it was a prank call from a friend.
01:01:04
Speaker
Turned out to be real. I was just like, this is I don't even know what to say. Like, yes, absolutely. ah be a dream come true. Tell me what I need to do. So sure enough, I got this opportunity to like work with the organization to come up with a list of 10 guys.
01:01:19
Speaker
um that met certain requirements that the Avalanche had for, you know, being an emergency backup. So we didn't have traditional tryouts. Like we didn't have a group of goalies go out on the ice and, and you know, duke it out for this opportunity.
01:01:33
Speaker
um The Avalanche kind of handpicked individuals that um they were familiar with. And then we kind of like cross referenced some of these goalies. And that first season, there were five of us.
01:01:45
Speaker
So, or sorry, there were four of us the first year. So it was three and it was me and three of my really good friends um that I knew I could trust to, you know, handle the, handle the gig and, and, and, you know, compete if needed.
01:01:58
Speaker
So it was awesome because it was like me and three of my buddies got to do this role for the five years and the other three are still doing it. I retired in 2022. Five seasons as an e-bag for the Avalanche, I never once got to put on the jersey or sit on the bench or anything like that.
01:02:17
Speaker
But absolutely, there were a lot of times in the summer where um you know players would come back and skate at different times, and so you'd have those kind of skates. So I did a ton of those. um But yeah, five years, never once got the chance to even throw on the jersey. Meanwhile, the other four guys have gotten to do it multiple times, and I'm very jealous of them but it's, you know what? Like when I started to get close to 40 and especially the year that abs won the Stanley cup, which was my last season, there were some nights where i was like, okay, i don't think I can, you know, like I started to feel my age. Let's just put it that way.
01:02:57
Speaker
um You know, and it comes with its own stresses and anxieties. It's like, you know, this Nathan, it's like, You know going into an eBug game 99.9% of the time, nothing's happening.
01:03:10
Speaker
But if you're not ready, that 0.001% where something happens and and you're not prepared or you're not feeling good, that could be, you know, that could wreck things, right? Like it would be a horrible feeling to go out there and just not perform well or fall on your face and just look dumb. So the last season was really the most challenging for me mentally and emotionally because I was like – I knew I was getting closer to the age where I just – I realized like I probably would be doing more damage than good to the position if I kept doing it.
01:03:45
Speaker
So that was, that was the challenge for me. It wasn't really anything like a lack of confidence. It was mostly just like, I don't want to be that one guy that ends up ruining it for all the other e-bugs because I'm aged out.
01:03:58
Speaker
So I think I made a good decision to like, I went out on my own accord, so to speak. I made the decision after the abs won the cup that I, you know, I was 40 years old, got to do it for five years. Amazing honor, amazing opportunity. One of the craziest things that I've ever got to experience.
01:04:15
Speaker
um And I was really happy with that five-year stretch, my five-year e-bug career. That's like a good note to end on. Hey, just like cap out the career with basically being on a team that won the Stanley Cup. I think that's a great way to go out. As close as the average Joe gets, I guess. Yeah, exactly. Well, what's so cool, and the reason why it was easy to make this, there was a number of reasons why it was easy to make the decision, so it wasn't like,
01:04:46
Speaker
um you know anything like a normal NHL goalie. But when the Avs won the Stanley Cup, um I had to go to Halifax during the parade. So I missed the parade, which kind of sucked. But I was going to see a good buddy in Halifax for another goalie camp. When I came back, there was a box on my door.
01:05:03
Speaker
And I opened up this box, and it's from the Colorado Avalanche. And it is a custom Avalanche jersey with my name and number on the back. And a little letter that says, hey, Justin, from your abs family, thanks for your help over the past five seasons.
01:05:19
Speaker
um You know, the Colorado Avalanche. And that was like, oh, my God, like that was, um you know, the Avalanche did not have to do that. They didn't have to send the E-Bugs jerseys.
01:05:29
Speaker
We didn't do anything in the playoffs. But for them to kind of make that token of appreciation and send us a jersey with like the patches and everything was like, unbelievably cool. And when I got that, I was like, okay, like that's, that's so sick that they were willing to take time to, you know, show appreciation for the e-bugs.
01:05:48
Speaker
Um, and I've got it framed and it's sitting right here. So yeah, that was, that's when I was like, okay, there's, there's nothing else that I really feel like I need to accomplish with this role.
01:05:59
Speaker
Um, yeah. I'm so lucky that I even somehow stumbled upon the opportunity. um But the most important thing to me, and I want to say this because, you know, I still get questions sometimes like, oh, don't you think you can still do it? Like, you know, the guy in Toronto was like 44, whatever, you're only 42. But it's like,
01:06:18
Speaker
I care so much about the e-bug role and everyone who gets to do it that I would never be able to live myself if I was the guy that had to go in and again just struggled or did not look competent.
01:06:31
Speaker
um And so that's, it was out of respect for the position and the role and the opportunity that some of us get to do this that I was like, yeah, I'm done. Like I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I just may not be ready.
01:06:44
Speaker
Um, so, so that's, you know, I'm really proud of that. Cause it, again, it came with its struggles, but the abs made it easy by dropping really sick Jersey on my lap for, for doing it for five years. So that was a really cool moment.
01:06:58
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah, awesome for sure. Well, I suppose we can kind of wrap that there for today. Justin, again, on behalf of Nathan and all are know all of our listeners here at the DIY Goalie, thanks for for popping on here. Just ah very quickly here, just where can people find you? And just we'll kind of touch briefly ah a little bit you little bit ah about your new book with Mike Valli and where people can get it.
01:07:21
Speaker
Yeah. So my main for social media, it's just Instagram right now. We obviously have a Facebook page as well, but you can look up at the goalie guild. um My contact information is on the website, lift the mask.com. Obviously, I appreciate you guys, you know, giving me a couple minutes to talk about that.
01:07:38
Speaker
um That's a big part of what I do. And then, yeah, the book series with Mike Valley is called The Power Within. And we just published the fourth one in the series. And all of those are available on Amazon. So you can just go in and type in, you know, the goalie guil or sorry, The Power Within goalie book.
01:07:56
Speaker
you'll see see the series pop up. ah They're $20 each. So they're not expensive, but they're full of great interviews and a lot of wisdom. lot of the stuff you hear me talk about is because of these books and the goalies we've interviewed.
01:08:10
Speaker
um So yeah, those have been like a real, real awesome, you know, experience ah working with Mike on those. And yeah, we're really proud of the fourth one because we've got goalies like Jeremy Swayman and Tim Thomas and some unbelievable coaches as well. Just again sharing wisdom wisdom and passing that along to the next generation so yeah check those out if you get a chance just hitting up all the bruins yeah yeah we went hard and the cover is gold actually gold is yellow we went with the boston bruins theme uh and we had a vegas gold we had sean burke the goalie coach for the vegas golden knight so we're like all right i guess the cover is gold yeah yeah we'll get all that in the show notes for you guys yeah i heard uh heard i heard the interview with tim thomas was quite interesting we'll we'll probably have we'll have to bring you back on just to specifically talk about the books uh because i feel like that's that's that's a pod episode and it's up to bring uh tim thomas on too yes yes um nobody he's in my life he's a very reserved guy isn't he
01:09:15
Speaker
He's a very reserved guy. Yeah. I mean, he went through a lot with the concussion stuff at the end of his career. And I think he was pretty messed up for a while. um And, you know, i think at some point we're going to hear more about his journey. I think his, I think he's got a story that probably 99% of people in hockey have no idea what this guy's actually been through.
01:09:35
Speaker
um i have never, ever in my life come across a guy who thinks the game, like Tim Thomas thinks the game, like, you know Maybe Dominic Hoshik is the other guy.
01:09:47
Speaker
um But when you talk about creativity and you know just being your authentic self and you know not letting coaching getting in the way of you know discovering who you really are as a goalie, Tim Thomas is like iconic. And some of the stuff he shares – um in the in the chapter are mind-blowing and i'll share one piece and it's where he talks about why he wore the crazy masks that he wore like those pos like everyone's like what are you doing like you look like garbage the reason why i wore those masks is because he needed to be able to hear the game
01:10:26
Speaker
You need to be able to hear the game. He said in, in the new helmets, it just didn't sound the same, but in that combo, I can hear guys on the back door. I can hear their edges. I could hear this stuff.
01:10:36
Speaker
And you're just like, dude, you think the game on such a higher level, you're, you're like a savant. So Tim Thomas, he didn't always look great, but Holy cow, the way he thought the game and the purpose behind and the intention behind why he wore the gear and what it,
01:10:53
Speaker
You're just like, dude, you're, you're amazing. So yeah, we can come back on and and talk about him and some other stories in those books. Cause there's a lot of really good ones. Yeah.
01:11:03
Speaker
Yeah. Sickest Nike Bauer pads. Oh yeah. Right now. Yeah. No, no. Definitely enjoyed what loved watching ah Tim Thomas play there.
01:11:16
Speaker
Well, Justin, again, thank you very much for for coming on the show today. Much appreciated. And, yeah, we'll definitely have to have you back just to specifically talk about The Power Within. um All those will be linked down in the show notes there on Amazon. If you are a – I'm going to plug Ingle here. If you are an Ingle subscriber, they do have some excerpts from the most recent release of The Power Within within their – within their blogs there. So if, uh, if you are an Ingold subscriber and you check those out, then definitely go and, uh, definitely go and do that.
01:11:48
Speaker
Um, on our side of things here, that's where we're going to, uh, wrap it up for today. if you are watching on the YouTube side of things, then thank you very much for watching. Make sure you hit that like and subscribe button, share with your friends across all your favorite social media platforms.
01:12:04
Speaker
If you are listening on your favorite podcasting platforms, Apple, iHeart, Spotify, etc. Again, thank you for being a listener. If you are a new listener, make sure you hit that follow button and share along with your friends as we try to upload a new ah new episode every Tuesday. We got some interesting guests lined up here, Justin Goldman being one of them.
01:12:22
Speaker
Make sure you guys follow us on our social media side of things like Nathan and I had mentioned in the last couple of podcasts. We are planning on looking at... Or we're not planning. We are... um transferring everything over from the DIY goalie website over to our in-house goalie program, true north goaltending.
01:12:39
Speaker
So make sure that to you guys follow, our keep up to date on that over there. Go check out the DIY goalie website for all of our blogs, drills, and everything of the sort there for social media side of things for the DIY goalie. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, e etc.
01:12:54
Speaker
All at the DIY goalie. If you are interested in working with myself and Nathan ah and um and any of our amazing staff members with our in-house program here in the Edmonton area, True North Goaltending, make sure guys go to truenorthgoaltending.com. You guys can check out all the fun stuff that we have going on here. We do have camps that are with some spots that need to be filled here for the summertime. So come ah so come check and come check out us and hang out with us there.
01:13:19
Speaker
That's all I have to say for today. Make some saves goalies. This was a DIY goalie brought to you by True North Goal Tending. Take care. We'll see you next time.