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035 - How to Deal With Mistakes and Why We Became Goalie Coaches
118 Plays4 months ago
Show notes are available at https://thediygoalie.com/pod035
In this week's episode, we go through our drill of the month, the five puck tracking sequence (https://thediygoalie.com/drill/five-puck-tracking-sequence). Connor and Nathan then dive into how to properly deal with mistakes and shifting to have a better mindset around them. They also go into why they became hockey goalies and why they became goalie coaches.
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Transcript
Introduction and Show Updates
00:00:00
Speaker
How are we doing today, goalies? Welcome back to another episode of the DIY Goalie with your hosts Connor Monday and Nathan Park. This is going to be episode 35, which is pretty crazy that we've been going 35 weeks strong. um Fresh off of our first interview in like 16 weeks. And we've got a couple interviews lined up too for the next little bit as well. And we're going to also.
00:00:33
Speaker
kind of front load some episodes here before the holidays so that you guys still get the content throughout Christmas and we can still get a break. So um just before we get started, I do want to remind you guys of a couple ways you can help support us and help support the show. So we do have some merch available on our website at the diygoley.com slash shop.
00:01:00
Speaker
you got some goalie specific designs for t-shirts, hoodies, um stuff like that and you can use the code PODCAST to get 20% off on that.
00:01:11
Speaker
And then we also have a 26 video full complete breakdown course of the position that goes from the basic stance all the way to breakaways, odd man rushes, all that good stuff. And you can get 25% off on that using the code podcast. If you head to app.courses.thediygoley.com.
00:01:40
Speaker
We'll put all that in the show notes. So I was going to say that's a complicated. list Yeah. All right. Yeah.
Fitness and Upcoming Interviews
00:01:47
Speaker
Not a huge fan of how that one played out, but it is what it is. So that's, uh, that's how, how you can get to that. Um, how are we doing today? Connor? Uh, I just came off of a workout, like a really, uh, not intense workout, but, uh, like ah a good, and like a nice little, got a nice little s sweat going. My, uh, my legs are killing me.
00:02:08
Speaker
Intense for us old retired out of shape former goalies. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Uh, no, apparently, uh, running on the treadmill for 15 minutes and then doing dumbbell lunges is not a good mix for me apparently, but it is what it is. We continue on and, uh, and yeah, no, no, um, no, things are good. We kind of had a little bit of a mishap yesterday with our association skate. So that was, that was, that was fun. Um,
00:02:37
Speaker
Then when I broke down, melted the ice through to the concrete. So we did not do a session last Yeah, no, it's unfortunate. And I don't think I even have anything on my calendar for next. Oh, no, that's no, that's wrong. I have I have a Sunday skates this upcoming Sunday. No, but no, I'm looking forward to as a recording this. I'm looking forward to um December 4th interview that we have lined up. um I'm really excited about that.
00:03:06
Speaker
um and then I don't remember who the other interview is, so I kind of have to i have to apologize about that now.
Holiday Articles and Goalie Drills
00:03:12
Speaker
but All in all, mean it's been pretty good. um you know It's obviously the holiday season right now, so ah lot of great a lot of great goalie products you know to to to kind of for for you guys to get your hands on, whether it be at the DIY goalie or in goal or wherever else you guys want to get your goalie products from Now's the time now's the time to jump on it and kind of um If you want to take your game to the next level you want to make sure that you have the best available resources to you so
00:03:44
Speaker
It's uh, it's exciting and as well as the merch that we have on our store as well. So that's uh That's uh, that's that's exciting there as well. I uh, I think we have to put together an article maybe to post on the website of good goalie gift ideas because I do see a lot of posts on the facebook groups like Yeah, what do you guys get for your goal? It's actually well, it's you know, it's funny like I was I was debating about making that a segment for this episode And maybe I might wait till next episode. I don't know depending on kind of how things schedule out um
00:04:14
Speaker
But I know like I like I do have kind of like some ideas in terms of goalie ah goalie goalie parent um Christmas ideas I won't go into those today, but um They're they're out there they're absolutely out there for sure and it doesn't necessarily have to be like resource material wise I think it could also just be you know kind of fun little ah fun little t-shirts like you know what we have at at the DIY goalie dot com and Yeah. There's also cool, like, you know, dress socks out there and all that good stuff. ah yeah Yeah. Well, ah we'll maybe dive into that on an article. I don't know if we'll slide it in before Christmas this year, but we can maybe do a, do it an episode next year right before. Yeah. but so
00:04:59
Speaker
Going in, hopefully you guys, all all our American listeners had a good American Thanksgiving recently and you guys got through Black Friday. Okay. Um, holidays coming up. We're going to start the show off today with a pod or not a podcast of the month, a drill on the podcast. Um, so Connor, you have.
00:05:23
Speaker
one of your favorite drills that we do at our sessions with True North Gold pending, what do you got for us? I find i find that a lot of the drill, the week drill, the months that I do are probably just ones that I've been reiterating a lot lately. And this is just another one of those another one those drills that that we have for this month. We've been talking a lot this month, or just kind of going back to basics a little bit when it comes to head trajectory and tracking, um that also leads into our rotation at the same time. So we have a nice simple drill um to showcase for you guys today. i'm really I'm really excited about it. And this is called the Five Puck Tracking Sequence. You can find it over. ah we'll link the link We'll leave the link down in the show notes of this podcast, um but you can also find it over at the diygoli.com.
00:06:09
Speaker
The five puck tracking sequence drill. It's nice for a number of reasons because it really gets you to focus your eyes on each individual puck and then as well as kind of have to force your head to find that last part that's kind of off in the corner there. But you guys don't even know what I'm talking about yet because I haven't explained the drill.
00:06:29
Speaker
So, what it is, is um we have four pucks kind of lined up, um kind of a middle of the ice, about where the hash marks are. They're all kind of lined up in a row there. The farthest away puck from the crease is puck number one. Puck number four is the ah closest one. And then the fifth puck is kind of off to the side, just below the dot, or just below, yeah, below the dot, below the face-off dot.
00:06:53
Speaker
um So what happens is that the goaltender will be down in their butterfly at the top of the crease setting their eyes on puck number one. So the coach, what'll what they'll do is they'll yell out each individual number. So they'll yell out one, goalie will get their eyes on puck number one. They'll yell out two, get their eyes on puck number two, three, four, so so on and so forth. When they get to puck number five, they have to essentially rotate their heads. So they get eyes on target to where the coach is with the pile of pucks, which will be puck number five.
00:07:23
Speaker
They have to turn their body, up bring their body over, keeping everything in front. It's all biome mechanics really, right? like Wherever your head goes, your body is automatically not to follow. So down here, you make your eyes on punk number four, turn, rotate, grab an edge, recover back to your feet for that for that shot, rebound pops out, play it. The biggest key points ah for this one is making sure that we're getting used to tracking the puck. I would extend that further than making sure that we're getting eyes on target to each individual puck, particularly in that four puck line. um The goalie should really be encouraged to use their to use their eyes in the head to follow each puck just like they're making a save. Goalies should also be tracking down to the pucks, chin down to chest is a good habit. I kind of take it a little bit a different way where I say nose nose to target, um or nose to glove rather, and then as well as kind of bringing your body down towards the save as well.
00:08:18
Speaker
Proper rotation and recovery, particularly from after we go from puck four to puck five. Down, look, over rotate, get a hard push um to that next position. We want to make sure that we don't over rotate. Happened to be at a town skate the other day where the goalie was over rotating, where he his body was basically facing into the corner.
00:08:37
Speaker
And then, um, that chest save, I don't really shoot for the chest on that. I just kind of go wherever I demo, please. Um, but the, the idea being is that they track the park into their save track it out. Should a rebound pop out? And then, um, and then we go and, uh, and play the rebound there. Do I actually have it? There is a chest shot. Yeah. It says chest save should be tracked in cradle properly and the body should be leading it to the save. I mean, I don't even follow my own practice plans. Well, I mean, like, case so okay, so in in fairness to you, you have the fifth park kind of lined up just below the face off dot of the of the of the of the of the circle. um I generally station those parks either on the dot or actually above the dot in the kind of the face off circle there. Yeah. One thing I will say for you guys, if you are um checking out our drills,
00:09:29
Speaker
Um, sometimes with the kind of smaller area on the screen, a lot of it's not to scale, especially with the skating drills, because with a small neutral zone, trying to make it legible with cones and arrows and goalies and coaches and whatever, a lot of times the cones are not to scale. ah I've had that happen before where somebody's put Cohen's based off of my practice plan. And I'm like, whoa, those are way too far apart. And they're like, well, this is how it is and in relation to the neutral zone on the on the page. And I'm like, well, if I made it to scale, you wouldn't even tell what was going on. It'd be a mismatch of stuff. so
00:10:15
Speaker
Yeah, I usually have that fit pot closer. um i have I have it farther away just cause I want to give like, I like it as like a, as a warmup drill or even as a kind of like the first drill of my hour skate. Cause it gives the goalie even just a chance to just get their eyes going. Right. And just making sure that they're again bringing nose to target, making sure that they're really emphasizing, bringing the head around the elbow and not over the shoulder. Cause that's what creates that forward motion. Right. Versus if the heads over the shoulder, that's where the weight goes back, right? so that's that's why I have those pucks for the way and that's why I treat this as a Either as a warm-up drill or as a as kind of like the first drill of my hour skate because I line up my drills in like threes, right? So I have my skating drill I have my first drill and then I have my second drill and then that second drill is kind of more so where I I dive into More of the more of the important stuff, but that's that's why I have it there's because I want to make sure that we get
00:11:11
Speaker
the ah particularly in this instance like the eyes and the hands going right and then everything else follows too for having something and like having it having the pocket in tight isn't a bad idea either but i wouldn't i personally wouldn't do it until like we've gone through a couple of other drills to make sure that they get the head and hands going to make sure that the save execution is where it's supposed to be Yeah, I was more talking about that fifth puck before the shot. Like, um, that one that's off to the side there, that one I usually have kind of in tight because to me, when I designed this drill,
00:11:42
Speaker
um The thought process behind it was kind of um to simulate a save. So you have kind of the different stages of tracking a puck into a save. And then that fifth puck that's just off to the side is kind of the first stage of your recovery. So you have to track to the side, see that kind of first stage of your rebound, and then you move to the actual puck that's getting shot. So that was kind of,
00:12:10
Speaker
for you guys who are going to check this drill out. um That's kind of what it's simulating. That's kind of the purpose of it is to just focus on that head trajectory down through a simulated save and then off of your body too for the rebound.
00:12:27
Speaker
at the risk of, um, making things more complicated. Um, what I, what I, okay. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna level with you here. I did kind of butcher this drill a couple of times because I thought puck number one was the closer one. The puck number four is a farther one. So for the longest time I've been going as one, two, three, four, and then five, right? Which I think can go either way, realistically, right? Depending on what you're trying to get out of the drill, right? But.
00:12:52
Speaker
And yeah, but no, you're right, though. in In this instance, it's meant to be like, puck number four is like, you made the save, puck number five is kind of the rebound afterwards. um Yeah. I know sometimes if you are able to get the rebound past the dot because either your defense or the offense is terrible, then, you know, hey, but by all means, is get on there. Just you have really bouncy pads or sticks for...
00:13:12
Speaker
for for for for whatever reason there, but no, i ah we've been I've been doing this drill a lot lately and last ah in the last little bit that I've been on the ice with my goalie, so i'm ah i quite I quite like this one. i'm all I'm all about the tracking. I'm all about the hedge trajectory. Thank you, Dustin Schwartz.
00:13:30
Speaker
um and so know I do like this one. I'm i'm so fascinated, honestly, with like the body mechanics and just kind of how the body works. I'm not I'm not a biological major by any sorts of the imagination but I just it's that's one thing that was kind of really hammered into my head when I was playing and um so just kind of like wherever like your head goes body has to follow wherever the arms go body has to follow. I always equate it to I always use this And again, I got a credit, Dustin Schwartz here with the Edmonton orders, because it's actually one of my favorite analogies ever um is is that is is like playing goal is like driving a car in a way, right? In terms of your movement, right? Your head and your hands are the steering wheel, your body's the the car itself, and then your legs, the engine.
00:14:19
Speaker
For those of us who do have their driver's licenses, and you should if you are driving, um you cannot operate a vehicle by just going pedal to the metal and just say, let's see where this goes. And then you end up in a ditch somewhere.
Biomechanics and Goaltending Techniques
00:14:34
Speaker
Right? Like there has to be a little bit of mechanics or a little bit of thought process behind it. So if I want to go from point A to point B, in this case, like I was at the gym today. So if I want to go from my house to the gym, I got to steer the car in the direction that I want it to go. It's the same idea, right? When you're, when you're making a save.
00:14:54
Speaker
or particularly when you're going um cross-ice or just increased movement, right? We have to look where we're going, bring the body across. Okay. So now the car is in line of where we want to go and then the engine and then our legs.
00:15:05
Speaker
being the engine, that's where we need to push, and that we'll be in the lane that we want to be in in order to get to our destination, right? So I don't know where I was going with that, but it's one of my favorite analogies. And so I really got a question. I really got a credit for something. I just followed it into an episode somewhere. Yeah, somewhere. Honestly, I've been using that a lot lately, and even I'm kind of getting annoyed with it, so. Yeah. No, I think, yeah.
00:15:34
Speaker
Same with you. I didn't have a lot of technical aspects of my game until I started working at short C in my first year in junior. And the revelation of the head trajectory and the tracking is, is a massive game changer. And for you younger goalies out there.
00:15:52
Speaker
skating and tracking slash head trajectory. Those are the two things that if you can nail down as ah as building blocks for your foundation of your game, you will be set up for a solid career moving forward. And for the older goalies, there's never a better time to start than now. yes Start working on that.
00:16:15
Speaker
but No, well, ah we'll get into the segment side of things now. so um Um, for my first segment, I, um, I recently started listening to a podcast called The Walls With It. And it's hosted by Curtis McElhaney, who is in the former NHL goalies, kind of a, you know, veteran backup goalie, won a couple of cups with Tampa and St. Louis.
00:16:48
Speaker
Um, and then I can't remember his last name, but, uh, he, he co-hosts with like a fighter pilot. Um, and his name's Dave, I think starts with a P. I can't remember his last name, but, uh, it, it's, it's a cool dynamic. It's a cool take. Um, cause their whole shtick is kind of.
00:17:10
Speaker
the mental side of things, um, you know, the mindset side of things like, you know, dealing with pressure or stuff like that, because both of them have, you know, been in high pressure situations throughout both of their careers. And it's kind of a cool yang yang yang between the, the goalie side of things, as well as the fighter pilot side of things and kind of the, the similarities between the two. And, um,
00:17:37
Speaker
So they they were talking about the mentality of mistakes and bouncing back from a mistake. And, um, so that's kind of where I wanted to go with this segment. Um, they played a video from somebody who was basically talking about, uh, you know, he was, he ran a business or whatever. And anytime somebody came to him with a problem or when stuff was going south, stuff's hitting the fan.
00:18:10
Speaker
He, um, he would always reply with good, you know, like somebody would come to him and be like, Oh, our company truck broke down and he'd be good. And they'd kind of be like, what, like, what do you mean? Good. And his thought process behind it is if you're in a spot to say the word good, you're in a good spot. That means you're breathing or, you know, you've got your wits about you. You can, you know,
00:18:41
Speaker
Process what's going on whatever so if you have the ability to answer to a situation the word good You're actually in a good spot And I thought that was a really interesting take because as goaltenders, like we're in such a unique position where there is so much pressure. And like we deal with this, and you know, with with the HSL for those who aren't um aware of that. It's the hockey super league out here kind of out West. um
00:19:17
Speaker
It's, uh, it's an unsanctioned league that's kind of geared towards a more elite stream. Um, I guess level, like more development, more ice time than what minor hockey gets. And, uh, the mentality of winning and pressure and all that comes with it as well, more so than the minor hockey stream, um, normally has most of the time and.
00:19:44
Speaker
A lot of that falls on goalies. And when you're eight, nine, 10, and you cover half the net that you're going to in six years from now, when you you're a lot bigger, you still are getting put or you still have the same pressure put on you. And that can really break young goalies and even older goalies, right? Like, even if you're playing beer league, I kind of saw somebody post today in one of the goalie groups, um, posted a text from their, uh, captain, their team captain or team manager or whatever that, I mean, it was, it was a nice text, like classy text, but he was basically just like, Hey bud, like it's not working out on the ice. We're looking for another option, blah, blah, blah kind of thing. And so.
00:20:36
Speaker
Goalies are a lot of times the scapegoat. Goalies tend to get the spotlight on them. They have the most pressure. A forward makes a mistake. Well, there's 2D and a goalie to bail them out. D makes a mistake. Sometimes their partner's there to bail them out. Sometimes the goalie's there to bail them out. When a goalie lets in a bad goal and they make a mistake, everybody knows. Everybody knows, right? Like ah you can't hide anywhere.
00:21:04
Speaker
um And with that comes the fear of making mistakes, right? And that leads to, you know, like what we talk about with players, the gripping the stick too tight, right? Like when players are nervous, we talk about gripping the stick too tight, kind of the same thing, right? Like as a goalie, when things aren't going right, when you're worried about making a mistake, you think too much. And goaltending is probably one of the positions, one of the few positions that Thinking makes things worse, right? At least when it comes to performance, if you're trying to think about what's happening, you're usually kind of the second behind, a step behind, and that's when we get into trouble, right?
00:21:49
Speaker
um so The things that I wanted to touch on when it comes to mistakes is to not be afraid to make a mistake and to actually embrace your mistakes, right? Have that mentality of good. Like you made a mistake, tell yourself good, right? Because what that does is making a mistake offers you the opportunity to learn, to develop, to grow and When we have our goalie sessions, I will tell my goalies all the time. I do not care if this pot goes in. If you are making the effort to do the right things, because a lot of people don't understand how much of a process goaltending is. So it takes a while to go from, you know, current habits to new habits and
00:22:48
Speaker
There's going to be a time when you're slow, when you're implementing new things. There's going to be a time where you might not do it perfectly or correctly or whatever, but you're trying and you got to stick with the process and you can't be worried about, Oh, I tried leaning my body into that save, but I was too slow and it went in. So I'm not doing that ever again.
00:23:12
Speaker
Right. Cause if you keep working at it, you'll get faster at it. And now you'll be more efficient than if you didn't lean your body at all. Right. And yes, you may go through a little bit of a transition phase where your game dips a little bit while you try and figure things out. But the more mistakes that you make, assuming that you actually, you know, take the time and effort to think about them after the fact and learn from them.
00:23:42
Speaker
the better that you'll be overall, right? So think of mistakes as an opportunity to learn, embrace them, don't be afraid to make them. At the end of the day, what is the worst thing that can happen, right? Like it's not like you go out and you make a mistake and your life's over, that's it, you're done, see you later, right? Like they happen.
00:24:06
Speaker
Right. Look at Charlie Lindgren a couple of weeks ago. He literally shot the pocket into his own net. Right. But they went on and they won the game. The team rallied around him. He shut the door after that. They scored two more goals. They won. Right. Even if he lost, he still would have gotten another start. He still would have gone to the rink the next day. He still would have, you know, been in the NHL. Right. Like these things happen.
00:24:35
Speaker
Don't worry about it. Don't get worked up about making mistakes. Embrace them and bring that mentality, bring that good mentality. anything Anytime anything bad happens to you, just say to yourself, good or whatever works for you. So that's kind of the end of my long segment rant on mistakes, but. I was listening.
00:25:02
Speaker
to one of the other glory podcasts that I listened to. And the host had said kind of something similar to what you had said.
00:25:19
Speaker
um Cause realistically, like what we need, what we as goalies and what we as athletes need to understand, or you would just need, what, just what we as people just need to understand in general.
00:25:34
Speaker
What you did Friday night, whether it be scoring on yourself or you got a little too sloshed at the bar or whatever, whatever kind of mistake or embarrassing thing that you did. Nobody's going to remember it by Wednesday, by Monday. Nobody, nobody, nobody cares. Nobody, nobody's, nobody's paying attention other than the select few. So.
00:26:04
Speaker
When we go out and we have a bad game or we make, or we make a bunch of mistakes, like Nathan had said, like learn from it, take the value in it, but then toss it out of your head. Cause you still have the rest of the game to play. That was something that I think I struggled with a little bit or a lot of it rather when I played cause.
00:26:32
Speaker
I always would get so hung up on, you know, I got scored on glove side. Okay. What was my defense there? So like, I'm like i'm replaying the the the the play in my head.
00:26:50
Speaker
while the rest of the game was going on. And it got to a point, actually I think it was actually in the atom, where I was so worked up because I didn't make the first save and then got scored on and then got scored on again and then got scored on for a third time and then afterwards went out check trying to try and play the puck and I completely missed it and I got scored on for the fourth time.
00:27:14
Speaker
ah was so out of my own i was just I was just in my own head. I was in my own way that my dad, ironically, being the head coach of the team, ended up pulling me. Eventually, I eventually got to go back in afterwards, but its just I was not in the right head space. I was just not there because I was so hung up on the mistakes that the mistakes that I made. At the end of the day, too, and like I tell this actually to the people that I work with is I work in a job that people hate. We're like public enemy number one, honestly. And that's fine. That's perfectly fine to me. I i always had said to myself that people can make their assumptions about me. People can talk whatever it is that they want about me.
00:28:10
Speaker
At the end of the day, I know who I am. I know my values and I have, and the people who I hold closest to me know who I am.
00:28:22
Speaker
I really could care less about what Steve on the internet from Idaho has to say. Sorry from Steve from Idaho, but I really could care less about- That's very specific.
00:28:35
Speaker
ah ah but But realistically, I could i could i could care less about about about what he has to say about me or what he thinks, rather, right? If there is a Steve for listening to this podcast from Idaho, I'm not singling you out. You just it just happened to be the case. But the point being is that like we live in and we live in a day and age now. wherere social media is is the worst it's the best and it's the worst because you can say what you want you can hide behind the screen hide behind an anonymous name and something embarrassing or something that maybe you didn't want put on the internet I can think of one for example they'll play by play
00:29:17
Speaker
That Schuyler showed. Yeah, Nathan knows what I'm talking about. um i mean yeah i I Knew it was gonna end up on this account and I'm ashamed of it because I was so hyped up into the moment But like at the end of like like at the end of the day, I don't care I don't care like it is like it is what it is I moved on from that from from that incident So as goalies, we kind of have to be like goldfish in a sense. So we have to have short-term memory Right, because we have to move on to the next play. Whatever happens afterwards is what is is whatever is whatever happens afterwards. And I think. What we also need to do at the same time is we need to eliminate that victim mentality. Oh, I got scored on five. I lost five to today. I got scored on five times on 20 shots, 25 shots or whatever. My defenceman's fault. Yeah, it's my yes, my defenceman's fault. My coach's fault. My coach hates me. It's this, it's that.
00:30:17
Speaker
OK, there probably is some legitimacy to it, but what were you doing to try to try and mitigate, to try and manage that? Well, and also what can you do about what they do? Like, you cannot control your defensemen giving up a bad pizza up the middle and you can't control if your coach is a dunce cap, right?
00:30:44
Speaker
yeah its You do to you boo boo. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And that's, that's, that's, that's kind of the, that's, like that's a mentality that that we have to have. We cannot have, we have to eliminate the victim mentality and we have to help basically have short-term memory.
00:30:59
Speaker
particular one we're playing, we can dissect and do what we want with the the stats and the the video afterwards, but for the time but at but in that current moment, we have to have short term memory. I'm gonna leave with this as well because I think it's also kind of something important.
00:31:19
Speaker
as goalies will get older and as they leave the crease and kind of get into the real world or even just if you kind of struggle with anxiety or just you kind of get overwhelmed by a lot of things. The best piece of advice that my dad always gave me was regardless of all the external stuff or kind of all the like you have to
00:31:43
Speaker
do laundry, you have to make the bed, you have to clean the car, you have to fill up the car with gas, you have to do this, you have to do that. And ah the the list piles on and on and on. What's step one? What is what is step one? What is the first thing that you have to do? Is it is a cleaning a room? Okay, that's your sole focus. That's what you should do.
00:32:06
Speaker
I kind of have a little bit of a game plan in my head when I'm cleaning, uh, when I was cleaning on my apartment, when I was living there, I was like, Hey, I start in the kitchen. I'm going to go to the bedroom and then we're going to do this and I'm going to do that. Right. But I always focused on what was step one. What was the very, what's the very first thing that I have to do? And then everything else will follow suit afterwards. So I think in the same breath in terms as, as, as goaltending,
00:32:31
Speaker
What's step one? Okay, well step one could be um making sure that we're looking for the puck. Okay, step two. Getting ourselves into position. Step three, making the save. Step four, if applicable, watch the rebound out. You know what I mean? it so that's Take it one step at a time rather than trying to deal with a whole we're trying to do with a thousand different things at once. That's probably hadn't had nothing to do with mistakes, but i'm just i i just I think just kind of the mentality of that in general is important. No.
Embracing Imperfection and Personal Journeys
00:33:09
Speaker
Yeah, and and kind of the last thing I wanted to to touch on, and then we'll move on to your side of things, but um I'm only like four episodes deep, I think, into this podcast. um I highly recommend checking it out at the walls, and we'll link to it in the show notes, but the one thing that Fighter Pilot David mentioned to you was, because he was talking about,
00:33:37
Speaker
You know, you your flight's never perfect, but if you let the little mistakes compound, you can get out of control real quick. And for them, it is like a matter of life and death kind of thing, right? When it comes to making mistakes. So there's like high high pressure, high stakes compared to like goaltending. I don't think about it. But one thing that he said that was kind of cool too, was he talked about Um, his, his, I guess way of dealing with it or way of thinking about her and visualizing it, I guess was if he made a mistake, he would think to himself, he would take that mistake. He'd put it in a jar, put it on the shelf. So it's out of the way. He can't change that it happened. So if you let in a bad goal, you cannot change it. Who cares? Whatever.
00:34:35
Speaker
You can't do anything about it. Take it, put it in a jar, put it on the shelf and head to your next safe. Get ready for the next shot. It is what it is. Mind of a goldfish, right? Yeah, exactly.
00:34:49
Speaker
Um, yeah, so One more thing before you oh i was I was I was I was I was just gonna say this and i'm it's it's just Kind of a kind of a quote that i've been living by lately perfection. It perfection doesn't exist There is no such thing as perfection. We will never ever achieve perfection, but it's something that we can strive for Yeah Awesome. Well, what do you got for your side of things today? Your segment? I've been flipping back and forth between the two that I want to talk about, but I think we're going to go with this today. um Nathan, you and I have been doing this for 35 episodes, and we've never really talked about ourselves. And I think that's probably for the best, honestly. But um I feel like for the sake of kind of letting go.
00:35:36
Speaker
see yeah
00:35:39
Speaker
ah guys thanks for watching me makes sense like ah how that's sticking'
00:35:49
Speaker
um But no we're 35 episodes deep And we've amassed quite a bit of a following. And so I think we kind of need to talk about us for a little bit, kind of introduce ourselves a little bit maybe more formally and kind of talk about why both you and I became goalies and subsequently later on in life, goalie coaches. So I will, do you want me to start or do you want to start? I feel like I don't really care.
00:36:18
Speaker
You can start. One thing I'll say though, ah just as a warning, my reasons of becoming a goalie coach are so much more profound and significant than my reasons for becoming a goalie. And I don't even know if I want to go into why I became a goalie, but have at her. Couldn't hack it, man. Like he couldn't hack it. Like after David Poyle wouldn't even let him dress up. It was like, no, no.
00:36:46
Speaker
Anyways, he had had the premonition. ah well So my story is kind of the same as everybody else's. um My dad played goal a very long time ago. you know Back we're into Cooper Pads and and and all that and fun stuff. And then eventually I wanted to start getting into hockey. And this was actually after the 2006 Edmonton Otis playoff run. That's when I was really wanted to like, dad, I want my dad and mom to want to play hockey.
00:37:15
Speaker
And so already like we got taken to the store and like the guys fitting me for player game. I'm like, nah, screw that. I want to ah I want to I want to be a goalie. And so we ended up going to Ikea, not Ikea. We ended up um i see the Ikea box in your room. Yeah, we just went to Ikea. No, no, we we went to Canadian Tire and ironic and like I swear to God.
00:37:45
Speaker
The set that we got was an iTech set, but it was actually meant for ice hockey. So you got the glove, the pads, the blocker, and a chest protector. Swear to God, it wasn't road hockey stuff whatsoever. It was actual ice hockey stuff. And so right then and there, that's when I wanted to, when ah's that's right when I wanted to be a goalie. Cause I wanted, I was a big fan of ah um Tommy Sallow and Dwayne Rollison. And yeah, especially after that, that 06, that 06 playoff run, my dad was a big, was a big influence on that as well um afterwards. um And kind of, ah kind of never looked, ah kind of never looked back on that.
00:38:24
Speaker
Um, so it was the pads and just kind of like the outside, uh, the outside stuff with that as well. Um, my favorite goalie, like I said, i was Dwayne Rolison. And, uh, yeah, but when it came to, when it came to coaching,
00:38:40
Speaker
It was kind of interesting because I was about 15, 16 years old. I was in grade 11 and I was attending the Vimy Ridge Hockey um Academy at Vimy Ridge.
00:38:55
Speaker
um And I only went just because I'm like the thought of going to school and play and playing hockey is pretty cool, I guess and Schwartz he was The old kings gold coach at the time and So he Schwartz and I have been working pretty close together at Vimy train train together for the first five years and then he got hired by the Oilers and Did they get hired by the lawyers in September? well I keep thinking of November for some reason.
00:39:26
Speaker
Remember I can tell you a month. It was I couldn't even tell you what is Lincoln is telling me 14 I mean, yeah about so. Yeah, so I would have been 15. Yeah But anyway, so then so then shorts you got hired by the all kings not the oil but all kings the oilers rather and At that point in time I'd already kind of knew that like my hockey career wasn't going anywhere because you know like everybody you want to go to the show and every and everything else you want to play in the WHL and So after Schwartz got hired by the Oilers, it kind of sparked something inside me because I was already doing kind of just some odd ah
00:40:04
Speaker
um kind of mentorships at the goalie academy that my minor hockey ag organization was doing. And then after Swartzi got hired by the Oilers, um I was like, well, i mean if Swartzi can do it, maybe so can I. And so um I kind of turned the page from playing to coaching um kind of that same year. After my playing time had, after that season had come to a close, I had reached out to
00:40:36
Speaker
um One of the local spring hockey teams that's no longer in service and um said, hey, like I just i reached out on on their website and said, like hey, my name's Connor. I'm 15 years old. I'm looking to start getting into coaching.
00:40:54
Speaker
what do you guys got? And they reached they got back to me and said, hey, yeah I'd love to have you. um Was working with kids like six or six to six to eight years younger than me. And again, the same deal, kind of never looked back. I've been coaching goalies now for 10 years, which is wild. um And yeah, so um kind of the influences on that. I mean, biggest influence was Mr. Schwartz.
00:41:23
Speaker
I credit, I give a lot of credit to to him as well as ah Curtis Muca. I got by the name of Nathan Park as well. you know but He's kind of a loser, so you know maybe maybe not him, but um shout out to Ben McDonald.
00:41:41
Speaker
But so but yeah, I mean like this like there's nothing like interesting Kind of about kind of about like how I got into playing like it's the same as everybody else, you know I thought the pads were cool. My dad played um You know, my favorite goal is at the time it was Tommy sallow and Dwayne Oleson And then yeah kind of same deal with coaching as well I just I I really kind of harp on the fact that you know, like oh I started coaching when I was 15 years old I got bullied for it actually in school a lot because like I would kind of draw my own like goalie school or whatever. And you know i just I kind of made websites just for fun on the side. And yeah, I got bullied for it a lot by the AAA guys there. But um regardless though, but no, it's it's been like it's been pretty successful and for me at this point. I've gotten to know a lot of great people. I've gotten to coach with a lot of great guys. I've gotten to coach a lot of great goalies. And I've got've had a lot of ah lot of cool opportunities. I think probably the coolest opportunity that I got was to actually go coach in another province.
00:42:40
Speaker
Um, and she would, the first goal Institute that I was with, uh, we were in a small town called Nelson, ne Nelson, British Columbia. And, uh, we were working with some of the local goalies out there. So we spent a week in, uh, spent a week in, uh, Nelson BC. And, uh, yeah, so I think that was kind of the coolest part of my coaching career was, uh, getting to go, getting to go coaching another province. Yeah, it's, uh, quite the journey. It's, uh,
00:43:09
Speaker
It's cool how fast it goes, but kind of what you get to do along the way, that's for sure. um Before I go into mine, I will explain. I'm excited. Oh, I'm excited. after like After you said that, I'm like, oh boy, what's the scoop here? wow this is gonna This is gonna be an article, by the way. Yeah, I was gonna say, ah for all those that don't know, which is everybody but one of our listeners,
00:43:34
Speaker
Um, the inside joke about Brad is, uh, cause he's a, he's a dad of one of our goalies. And he told Connor, uh, after one of the sessions that his favorite part about our podcast was what Connor says, I hate you to me. With love, of course, with love. yeah And then, and that out yeah and then uh, ended up accidentally roasting the guy. Yeah, that was a whole nice communication. yeah just so you know we Thank you, Brad. We love you. Uh, I think you guys are overdue for a session. So, uh, she should get, she gets you guys back out. Calling him out. Well, he did order a couple of hoodies from us. So yeah. there you ah No, for me, i'm I'm that kid that gives us all a bad name and I apologize to all the goalies out there, but I became a goalie because I couldn't skate very well. I couldn't shoot very well. I, i yeah, I would have been your tier seven house league player. So for me, it was, well,
00:44:48
Speaker
I want to be that kid that doesn't have to do anything and I can just go stand in the net. Golden Coach's worst nightmare. Yeah, but lo and behold, it worked out for me. and um My mom, she loved her to death, but I don't know how much of this is an exaggeration because sometimes she does exaggerate, but she used to she says all the time that I used to push players out of the way to get in front of Pox even when I was a player. I believe that. I 100% believe that. So I do remember because I don't remember much since I started playing goal basically the second that I could because I knew I just I knew I was a player.
00:45:30
Speaker
Um, I do remember though, like being that kid that hung out at the blue line, just waiting, just cherry picking because I couldn't do anything else. So I was like, Oh, maybe I can just get a break away by standing at the blue line. Um, so instead I stood in the blue paint and, uh, low and behold, it worked out for me. Um, I found like for me, I was never.
00:45:58
Speaker
One for like stamina. I was always one for like quick explosive bursts of energy. Like I was a good sprinter. I was not a good like long distance runner. So I think that worked out for me just the way that I was kind of built, I guess. Um, and the other thing too is like a lot of you can probably relate to is it was just fun. I don't know what it is, but throw on a piece of your body in front of a park or not.
00:46:26
Speaker
guy who has a wide open net and then he stares up to the ceiling after is I don't know there's a feeling that you just can't like yeah it's like yeah i an o it's like it's like the greatest feeling in the world honestly yeah yeah and yeah so my none of my family had played goal and I don't know, my dad, I guess, was the stereotypical, like, okay, well, my kid's a goalie, so maybe I'll try and find some drills and get on our housely coaching staff to, you know, maybe get a little bit.
00:47:03
Speaker
but back when I played, which wasn't that long ago, but there is even less goalie development than there is now. Like it was, you did your one camp in the summer and then you just went with your house league for the year. And that was it. Um, you, you'd be lucky if your house league at the time actually even did have like any in-house goalie development.
00:47:25
Speaker
Yeah, like we organizations we work with are getting us out with the team specifically for more hours in a season than I got from an organization my whole career up until like junior. say Um, the trend is definitely in the right direction, but yeah, so that was me. I ended up playing Banham AA, then Banham AAA, and then I played midget 15 AAA, and then midget AAA, and then I played four years of junior A and two years of college. I got to do a lot of cool things too, like I went
00:48:03
Speaker
Overseas to Europe for ball hockey twice. Um, I went down to California twice for inline hockey. Um, so on a couple of gold medals in those tournaments, um, got to be the emergency backup for the Oilers for 12 games, I think over two seasons. And like we talked about with belly last week, it came real close to dressing with Nashville, even though I would have not been on the bench, but still have been cool.
00:48:32
Speaker
And my nape pads at the time would have matched perfectly because they were navy and sport gold. um and yeah i ah And I got to play in an Oilers rookie game in half of one where I played against Stewart Skinner, Kylie Yamamoto, Caleb Jones, Ethan Bear. So that was kind of cool.
00:48:56
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I don't really have a, a super great origin story still. I became a goalie. Um, but the coaching side of things is definitely a lot different. So I really rode my athleticism when I played up until junior and looking back at it as a 17 year old, I really don't know how I made junior a and I think in today's day and age, I wouldn't.
00:49:24
Speaker
But again, because not a lot of guys had consistent development, um, it was a lot easier, I guess, to go as far as I did on athleticism. Um, and then I started working with Swartzi. He, uh, the one year that I had him in Spruce Grove, he kind of shaped me up with the tracking, the head trajectory, a lot of positional stuff, a lot more technical stuff.
00:49:51
Speaker
And then I had the following three seasons, I had a solid junior A career between my 18, 19, 20 year old year, um won a couple championships, a couple top goaltenders, a playoff MVP.
00:50:05
Speaker
ah So because of that, like I felt like I wanted to kind of make it my mission as much as I could to make it so other,
00:50:20
Speaker
goalies didn't go through that same experience where they are at a junior level. And that's the first time they're getting any sort of like real consistent goalie coaching. Um, cause when I was still playing, I did a little bit of coaching, like, you know, you have people ask you to come out, like, you know what?
00:50:42
Speaker
Uh, at Nate, our head coach, Tim Fraggle, he asked me to come out with his kids, minor hockey team and work with their goalie. Um, and that was kind of my first real taste, I guess. And, you know, kind of do like some little mentorship things while you're at that level two with some of the younger kids, but, uh,
00:51:06
Speaker
Basically, once my career was done, um I kind of knew I wanted to get into coaching for those reasons. I did a little bit with a couple organizations here in the Edmonton area, like Ian Gordon being one. He came on episode 13 of the podcast.
00:51:24
Speaker
He was my first taste with coaching and it was, um, it was something that I enjoyed doing, but I just didn't really enjoy doing it for somebody else. If that makes sense. Like I, I didn't like kinda.
00:51:45
Speaker
you know, not having as much say as much control. Like I wanted to do a little bit more. So kind of similar to you when we moved from Edmonton out to the Duke where we live now. Um, I, uh, I emailed a bunch of teams around here and there was only one that got back to me. And that was the junior ragers spring hockey And now they are the riggers hockey academy in the HSL and they are probably our biggest client at true North goaltending. They have nine teams that they bring us out for at least 10 hours a team, which is ridiculous. yeah So, but I started off just me and them pretty much, and then went from there. I'm a guy I worked with.
00:52:39
Speaker
his kid became a goalie. And this was like right around the time that ah we started talking at work and getting to know each other and whatever. And I was like, Oh, just so happens. I used to be a goalie, you know, coaching now and whatever. So I started working with his kid and they helped push me, I guess, to go out and start True North Goal attending. It was one of those things that I was kind of saying, yeah, I'd love to get started on it. I just don't really know if I want to take the leap yet or whatever. And he said to me, he's like, well, we will pay for the ice. If you book it and nobody else comes out to a session, we'll cover the ice. So you're not out any day. And we would just love to have you out working with our kid.
00:53:32
Speaker
I said, okay, we'll do that. And then I posted around Facebook and a couple groups and ended up getting quite a bit of interest from surprisingly enough adults. Adults were the ones that reached out the most to start. So that's why we work with youth and adult goalies. Now it's definitely more so youth, but at the start there's definitely more adults that reached out and, uh,
00:53:58
Speaker
So I started a little private Facebook group that I think I called it like Nathan Park goalie sessions or something like that. And it ended up getting like a hundred people in it. And I would post like, Hey, thinking of booking ice at this time, who's in? And then, Oh, we got enough interest. So then I'd book it. And, uh, from there, I was like, wow, this is generating enough interest. So started.
00:54:25
Speaker
Basically making it a little bit more formal and that's how true north goaltending was born and the DIY goalie was born basically from the 26 video course that we had like before true north is even a thing. I booked ice. I think it was over four or five hours of ice time and We shot the video for the, this video series that I had wrote, like I wrote 26 scripts and made a shot list of what I wanted. And so booked the four or five hours of ice and shot all these videos. And I literally sat on them for probably about two and a half years. And cause I didn't have the time to edit them and I didn't have the money to get somebody to edit them. So finally.
00:55:12
Speaker
We had some cash to pay somebody to do that. And that was kind of how the DIY goalie was born. But um before the videos were done, that's when I kind of started, I think six months earlier or something like that was when I started the blog and the articles and it's kind of just gone from there. So that's ah that's that. But the biggest thing is I just didn't want goalies to feel like I did where they showed up in junior and was like, oh, wow, this would have been nice to know 10 years ago. Like, oh, tracking a park. What's that? Head trajectory. What's that?
00:55:54
Speaker
But, and I still see it and it's sad. It's, yeah, it's dependent on a few things. Um, I feel like I should preface like I didn't start getting into coaching because I wanted to make it to the show. Like I feel, I feel like I should preface that. Like obviously, like obviously that was kind of the goal at first, but then as I, as I progressed into it as well, and then I started learning from the guys who I've worked with.
00:56:22
Speaker
Um, I've grown a deeper appreciation for the technicalities side of things and for kind of the, the why and everything behind it, which is what I like about what we do at True North. And so I'm very, very, very happy to be here. Cause you and I connected in what, 22, I think it was 22. I think we said September, 2022, when you went back.
00:56:48
Speaker
Yeah, kind of actually went back to see the very first session that I was so I was I was so determined I was so determined to find it at this point. ah It was bothering me over anything i Yeah, and
00:57:05
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, don I don't know. It's been, it's, it's been a ride up to this point. It's been a fun one. Um, and, uh, yeah, I don't, I, I don't, I don't really have much else to say. I want, I wanted to get that point across. At least I like, I did not start coaching to get into the show. Trust me. Um, but, uh, but yeah, I know it's, it's, it's been a fun one for sure. And, uh, we're looking, looking forward to, uh, to watching it, to, to watching it grow. Yeah.
00:57:33
Speaker
I know we kind of did our episode a few weeks ago now on the advice that we would give to our younger younger selves, but yeah for all you goalies out there, the biggest thing I think is just trying to become a student of the game, I think is probably the thing that's going to help you develop the quickest and on the best
Learning the Game and Audience Insights
00:58:03
Speaker
trajectory. Like that's why when it comes to true north, when it comes to the DIY goalie, like a lot of things are broken down. Um, it's a complicated position. There's a lot that goes into it. And when you can start to understand why we want to do things
00:58:28
Speaker
why, you know, putting our hands out is better, why tracking with our eyes and our head is better, why being more efficient is better, whatever, all this stuff, things start to come so much easier. Like the difference between my second, third, fourth year of junior and my years with club hockey before I got to junior,
00:58:55
Speaker
night and day. like I could control the game way better because I i knew how to lean my body into my saves and take a whistle. right um I was going from maybe having to make 30 something saves in a game to only making 20 something because I could control my rebounds.
00:59:15
Speaker
just starting to understand why we want to do what we want to do and why doing certain things is the better approach or why in certain situations, certain tools are better, right? Like the RVH is a great tool, but a lot of people misuse it, right? Like understanding when to use it and why makes a huge difference. So,
00:59:42
Speaker
If you guys can just start to really break things down, really understand the why behind goaltending, that's gonna be, I think, the thing that'll really help you get to the level that you wanna get to. And that includes off-ice stuff too, like why is cognitive training important? Why is vision training important? Why is it important to get good sleep and eat good and exercise and rest and cross-train and all of this stuff? um that's That's I think when you guys are really gonna hit that level. So I think that's all I got for that.
01:00:20
Speaker
yeah think you do a lot more talking in in this episode than i did wow I was like, last episode, I felt bad and I didn't really get to talk. No, I'm just sitting there and I'm just listening to belly talk. I'm like, okay, I guess I'll just go sit here quietly. You can honestly listen to that guy talk for hours. Oh, you could. Yeah. Oh, you absolutely could. You absolutely could. Shout out to Nathan Bell of you. Thank you for coming on Yeah, last I time. think you All right. I guess we should wrap did a lot more talking in this episode than I it up and we'll call did. it a day here.
01:00:53
Speaker
wrap it up um thank you guys for uh for everything so far 35 episodes uh 35 episodes deep really do appreciate it which is crazy and thanks to you guys for supporting us all nathan has kept me around for that long as well so you know no you've only been around for like You know what 20 of them. maybe Yeah. maybe Yeah. Maybe a quarter of that the point is, is that the cage is starting to get a little dusty. So yeah. anti anyway Um, if you are following us over on YouTube, they should give us a like and subscribe there. Make sure you share the channel as well. It doesn't cost you anything. Just a little bit of your time. Maybe your reputation at the same time. I know we won't talk about that a whole lot.
01:01:38
Speaker
um If you're listening over on the on the podcast side of things, whether it be Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and beyond, thank you for listening. ah If you are new to our shows, make sure you give us a follow and make sure you share over on your facebook favorite social media platforms as well. Well, we do see the analytics behind it, which Nathan has found very interesting. But it is don't like it is it is interesting there to to kind of see where we get the listenership from and everything. It's the Council Bluffs, Iowa.
01:02:18
Speaker
um But no, it is it it is it it is interesting to to to see where the listenership comes from. And we just the fact that we're worldwide is is is insane for two guys from Edmonton. Beyond that, make sure you go check us out on our social media platforms for the DIY goalie at the DIY goalie. That's over on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, X, TikTok.
01:02:47
Speaker
Tiktok. Yeah. Is it Tiktok? Yes, it is. Yeah. ah For our in-house goal tending training facility. We do have a training facility out here in the rural Alberta area in Nisku. You guys can go check us out there. You guys can also check us out at the true north at true north goal tending.com. You can also follow us over on Instagram as well at YEG. Goalie coach on Instagram.
01:03:11
Speaker
everywhere else will be true north goaltending um i think that's it i think that's then that's all that i've got am i missing one i'm missing one aren't i uh i don't know technically the diy is on x but i don't know we have like 15 followers regardless make sure you guys follow us on your favorite social media platforms make sure you guys follow us on your favorite podcasting platforms and if you are again watching us on youtube make sure you give us a subscribe at all. It all it all helps at the end of the day. What it does, it just it creates the exposure and it tells the algorithm that people want to watch us, that people want to listen to us because we have important things to say in order to help the goalie union and the goalie community rise up. Beyond that. And honestly, before you sign us off,
01:04:01
Speaker
Any feedback is much appreciated guys like good at info at the DIY goalie comm or at goalies at true north goaltending comm Questions you'd everything if you're a goalie yourself I'm gonna open the floodgates here if you're a goalie yourself and you think you have an interesting perspective that you would like to have shared please feel free to reach out to us and We definitely would I think we would have think we would have them on, depending on what the perspective is. Yeah, depending on what angle you got. That's to be interesting enough that listeners from Sweden and New Zealand and Australia and all that want to listen. so Thank you guys so much for watching and listening. Make some saves. We'll see you guys next time. Take care.