Transcript
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.
Speaker: Goalies, how are we doing today? Hopefully you guys are having a good summer day. um Now that we're kind of in the middle of the off season, we are back on the DIY Goalie podcast presented by True North Goaltending as always with their hosts, Nathan Park and Connor Monday. And We're a little bit into the month, but we have yet to do a drill of the month. So we are going to pop that in for you guys today. And yes, we've been talking about it for a while, but we do have a couple of guests lined up. We are actually supposed to have one that would have been coming out this episode. But there is kind of some scheduling conflicts that came up last second. But over the next couple of weeks, we do have a couple of spots with some people that come on that we are excited to have on.
Speaker: um So yeah, and then just ah a little PSA I guess. It might be fixed by the time this airs, but if you guys are on the website trying to get some merch, um we have been having a couple issues with the website that we're trying to figure out. So right now the store is just kind of disabled. So if you guys do want any merch, just send us an email at goalies at truenorthgoaltending.com and we can figure that out.
Speaker: um So just as a heads up on that, it might be fixed by the time this comes out, but we're trying to figure a couple of things out there. um And yeah, that being said, we, as Connor alluded to, we have both of our week long camps filled up. We do still have have spots for our beginner camp.
Speaker: that we're hosting this year as well as our ringette camp. There might be a possibility I might pivot the ringette one to hockey, we will see. um But we want to try and grow the kind of ringette side of things. So if you are a ringette goalie in the Edmonton area, come check us out and have a good time over the course of a three-day camp, learn lots, get get ready for tryouts in the fall.
Speaker: um So other than that, I will pass it over to you, Connor. You've got the drill of the month locked and loaded and ready to go. and yeah.
Speaker: First off, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. um yeah i' i'm I'm perusing the website right now. It does not appear that the ah the the merch the merge store is back online yet, which we'll hopefully get that sorted pretty soon. A couple of things that like I just kind of want to talk about quickly before I jump into Joel Munther. I did have the chance. Again, thank you to Evan Carrillo for yeah allowing me to come and do the ah do a couple of sessions for the Western Elite Showcase that happened in Edmonton a couple couple of weeks ago. So it was really cool to see that and just to kind of see all the...
Speaker: all the upcoming ah um all the upcoming stuff or all the upcoming players, you know, and I didn't really get a chance to ah um talk with really any teams, which I think would have been cool, but you know, it is it is what it is. But other than that, it was fun time. So thank you, Evan, for for asking me to come and do that. um On top of that, that's really all just wanted to say. i just want put the shout out out there.
Speaker: But hey, look, we're back on the pod together. It's only taken us a couple of episodes, but... so and then yeah like nathan had alluded to as well we were supposed to have a a guest on this pod but um it uh it ended up in my pocket nope
Speaker: no no sorry sorry my my text messages were going off here and i read pockets so uh it's a it's a it's a nice sunday morning uh but yeah no unfortunately just scheduling conflict happened and um Yeah. All right. Let's go to Jill a month. I should stop talking. um We're going to we're gonna jump into today. We haven't really touched on stick handling a whole lot in this ah in our pod lately, so we are going to jump into that today. This one's always a fun one when we do do this drill in our camps. It is the stick handling podcast. obstacle course so basically like any obstacle course you have set up um basically things to avoid um and so the goaltenders will start on one side of the boards you can set this up anywhere we just have it set up in the neutral zone and you kind of follow the path that that you go around the first cone located toward closer towards the red line Go around the second cone located closer towards the um the faceoff dot and then go a full 360 around the third cone that's kind of set up just below the circle, just kind of off to the side of the circle. Then you kind of want to do a little bit of Connor McDavid where you stick handle around each puck and in between each puck. And then same thing on the opposite side of the ace here.
Speaker: go around the first cone located towards the side of the circle or the faceoff circle. Then go around the second cone located towards the the faceoff dot. go Go around the third cone that's located towards the towards the red line and and then go around the fourth cone again located it about the same distance um or about a distance away from the the faceoff dot pylon and then that's kind of your route.
Speaker: The actual description goes... Cones and pucks are set up in an obstacle course for goalies to work on their stick handling. Goalie does a figure a rate around two cones in which they are facing forward the whole time, pivoting backward around the second cone, around the first cone rather, and then forwards around the second cone. While handling the puck, the goalie then goes to the next cone, performs a tight turn around the cone. Next, the goalie skates over top a line of pucks while stick handling through them side to side. Last, the goalie must weave around a set of cones while carrying the puck through. Once the goalie reaches their tight turn, the next goalie can go. Each time the goalie goes, they should switch they should switch directions in which they start the figure eight and switch directions on which they perform the tight turns. So key points for this one is to keep elbows away from the body when handling pucks as best as possible to try and keep your head up while stick handling and then work on keeping a nice and nice in control of the puck and quick footwork as well.
Speaker: does incorporate a little bit of edge work as well. But, you know, as they always say, the goalies, you know, as much as the goalies should be the best skaters, the goalies should be the best puck handlers as well. So this is always a a nice little fun, challenging one. And it's something it's kind of funny as well sometimes when the goalie loses their puck and they have to skate like halfway telling the ice to go get it. But, you know, it is it is what it is. But, so yeah, there's your there's your drill of the month for this month, the stick handling obstacle course.
Speaker: Yeah, I'll um I should probably actually go in and add it to the key points. The other key point that I will say, because they do see goalies do this um both hands on the stick, because a lot of goalies tend to just use their blocker hand um and not the like not keep the glove on kind of that paddle or the the shaft where it kind of meets the paddle um having both hands on the stick is a really good habit to build a lot of goalies just like to use just the the blocker hand at the top so um That's a good one to do to make sure you guys are are doing that. The other thing with these obstacle courses is you can literally set up however you want. You can change things around, make it fit to the the age and the skill level. You know, for older goalies, you can add kind of shooting into a small area like a small net or whatever, or something like that.
Speaker: um there There's lots of things you can do with these types of drills. You just get creative with it, have some fun with it. And that's kind of the point of those drills. So. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like kind of like you talk about with the ah RVH, you know, being a an underrated skill or not something that gets talked about a whole lot. I honestly don't see stick handling happen a whole lot, too. It's kind of one of those things, you know, especially in goalie camps.
Speaker: You know, even like month or like year long ones where like stick handling kind of gets shoved towards the end of the end the end of the end of the sessions or, you know, just kind of towards the end of the year. Not really something that you see a whole lot on or something that really gets dedicated a whole lot. So The more that we're able to do it, the better because, you know, again, if you're able to incorporate your goalies into like your power play or into your breakout, your penalty kill or anything along those lines, um that's definitely it's definitely an option and something that will be you know successful to you and the team. So.
Speaker: Definitely, and you know, something for for something like this, you know, if goalies are able to have better control of the puck and be able to and are just more comfortable in using their stick other than what it's meant for, typically, um I don't think it would be a bad idea for that.
Speaker: yeah Yeah, I know for sure. And that's um it is a secondary skill. Like, obviously, you don't need to stick handle to be a good goalie. You don't need to be able to play the puck to be a good goalie. But it does make things a lot easier. And when you get to the higher levels and you're neck and neck and skill level with another goalie, If they're able to handle the puck well and you aren't, that could be kind of that last little deciding factor. Right. So it's always good to have that skill set as somebody who is not very good at playing the puck. I can tell you it would have been a lot easier if I was good at it. And that it'll tie in a little bit to what we're about to talk about, because, um you know, I think.
Speaker: I don't know, like some parents, some goalie parents, I guess, are so worried about specialization and getting goalies in or like getting their kids into being full time goalie all the time when they've made that decision to get them as much development as possible. and we've kind of talked about this on the cross training, but it does not hurt to have your goalie play out at some points, whether it is spring hockey, whether it is kind of just some, you know, fun skates over the off season, or, you know, if you're playing ball hockey or inline hockey as a player, or something like that, like getting used to shooting pucks, getting used to having those hands, um you know, stick handling a little bit, stuff like that. That's,
Speaker: that's skills that are useful to a goalie, even if it's not directly related to what you do as a goalie. It's just like we talked about lots before. It's good to have that extra tool in the toolbox.
Speaker: So, right, let's move into what we're chatting about here today. Yeah. So kind of ties into, uh, to what we were just talking about with the specialization and stuff, but what Connor and I are going to go through a little bit of an interesting kind of thought exercise on our end and kind of provide some insight for you guys, you know, you goalie parents, you goalies out there. um What we're going to do is we're going to take our knowledge of our previous, you know, careers and what we know now as goalie coaches you you know, our infinite wisdom now of being around the game for however long. um
Speaker: And we're basically going to do an exercise where we kind of pretend like we're starting again now, like we're starting over as kind of, you know, your whatever, seven year old goalie.
Speaker: um And we're kind of going to go through like, our thoughts on how we would approach our progression if we were kind of giving ourselves at eight years old, kind of you know, advice moving through our career at this point. So um Kind of going to go through, I think, some, you know, things to do on the development side, some things to do on the mental side and kind of potential paths to we can kind of touch on that. I know a lot of you guys listening, it won't really be relevant for it because we'll be talking a little bit about the Alberta side, but we'll try and keep it as general as we can, because I know that's a big thing a lot of goalie parents ask to is,
Speaker: You know, should I go this route for my kids? Should I go that route? At one point, should we be worried about AAA? At what point should we be worried about, you know, if they're still playing house league, that sort of stuff. So we'll kind of touch on some of that stuff as well.
Speaker: um But yeah, just kind of ah a little bit of a a fun activity and on a career reset. If we hit the reset button and we started at seven years old today, how that would look. So we did do a thing or do a pod however long ago where we talked about, you know, things that we would tell our younger selves. So this is kind of a similar thing, not really because we're more so doing a like Like a hard reset in terms of like if we're starting out for the very, very first time, this is this is what we would do differently using the knowledge that we know now.
Speaker: Yeah. So basically the way I'm thinking about this, too, is because I have a a six year old who. has expressed interest in being a goalie. So I'm going to think about it from the aspect of, okay, if, if this is him, how are we, what's our ideal, our ideal approach here. So ah this is where, this is where we see Nathan become the full on crazy hockey dad. And so he's going to live vicariously through him.
Speaker: Yeah. So literally he'll get six hours to sleep. And other than that, it's just on the ice every day. You mean, you mean in the facility every day?
Speaker: Yeah. shame plug Yeah. Um, I don't know. How do you want to break this up? Do you want to just kind of go back and forth and like phases of the career or what do you think? I think what we, I think well how we can do this is kind of, we were talking about offers. So we'll kind of break it up by so not like segments, but but kind of break it up by, um,
Speaker: for lack of a term, age levels, I guess. So if we start at the U7, U9, up to u thirty te go from U15 to U17, and then juniors onward, essentially.
Speaker: um One of us has experience in that regard. The other one doesn't. But, you know, I think if we break it up something like that where it's not like – Or if we just kind of break it up into categories rather, that's word that I'm trying to use is break it up into like categories. be like, hey, and in this category from you seven to U13, this is what I would want to focus on. From the category of youth fifty to U18, this is what I would do. From the category of juniors onward, this is what you should do.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, no, I like that. I think um that first group, we might split up into two because I think if we talk about the initial kind of U7, U9 approach, um and then we can kind of talk about U11, U13, because to me, i think that we are pushing kids a little too early into full-time goalie, but I also think we're sometimes...
Speaker: not pushing the position enough to everybody. So what I mean by that is the kids that want to be goalie, um And I know this one's tough because like I experienced this this winter, like our kid, he's around goalies all the time around the facility, blah, blah, blah. So he was asking like all winter, want to try goalie, I want to try goalie, I want to try goalie, but he's playing U7 and there are no goalies. So that's the only reason why we tried out spring so he could get a taste for being a goalie. So he was a goalie for spring, but we are going back to minor hockey. where he will be a player.
Speaker: um So I know it's tough because if your your if your kid gets the goalie bug, that's all they want to do. They want to be in the net. But if you kind of have that conversation with them and say, hey, if you stay out for a little bit longer, you can work on some of those skills that will translate well into being a goalie, like your skating ability, your your stick handling, your shooting, stuff like that. And then also getting just a sense for how the game is played from from the player perspective a little bit. um That can be super beneficial. So to me, the U7, you got to find a bit of a balance where I don't think, in my opinion, it's it's the time to start specializing yet.
Speaker: Yes, give them any opportunity they have to get into the net, to scratch that itch and to work on those skills and to develop. But I also think... you know, having that that extra kind of skill set to be working on is beneficial to just, again, like we've talked about with the cross training, just making them kind of that general better athlete.
Speaker: um So the U7, U9, I think, in in my opinion, if if I was starting over, I would not want to be full time yet as a goalie.
Speaker: and And then the other thing with that is in the off season, give them a break and do something else. um Right now is not the time to go full in on hockey. Right now is the time to let them be kids, to let them experiment a little bit and to let them become just well-rounded athletes. And that comes from multi-sport training and and doing a bunch of other stuff and just enjoying kind of the, the childhood aspect of it.
Speaker: Do you want me to give my thoughts or do you want me to move into the next category? No, I'll give your thoughts. my thoughts are well We'll kind of go back and forth and then you can start the next U13. Sure. um I don't know. Cause like when i when I started, like I jumped into hockey a little bit later and I guess what would be considered a U9 or whatever, not whatever novice would be considered as. um So I jumped, I, when I started, I jumped right into goalie right away.
Speaker: When my brother started playing, he went right from Timbits up to whenever he dropped out, which I think it was about PeeWee. Um, um, So I don't know. it's It's a little bit different for me to say because my experience was different. And for me, i don't know if I'd change that, to be honest with you. um Again, just...
Speaker: i When I started playing hockey, I wanted to jump right into goaltending right away. I didn't have any interest in excuse me i didn't have any interest in in any other positions, really, or any other any other spot in hockey. It was just, no, I wanted i wanted to be the goaltender.
Speaker: um I don't disagree with what you said, though, is that if you're starting right from right from the beginning in the U7 category, yeah, there's no goalies. So everybody's gonna have everybody has to be a player to at least learn the basics of it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. um And then when you jump into U9, again, some teams have dedicated goalies. Some teams don't.
Speaker: um I, yeah, I just, I think for me, I don't think, I don't think would personally change any aspect of that. Um, but I would definitely encourage, you know, to try, um different things or to try to try different positions, um, be a player, go sort of, go score some goals, work on your skating. Cause yeah, Nathan's right. That will translate into, um being a goaltender but if it was me personally I don't think I would change that I think it's just no I'm just jumping right in um obviously with that there does come like okay well you're a little bit late coming into playing hockey so you have to kind of learn things a little bit differently or learn things a little bit more on the fly compared to you know if you were starting right from the beginning um in in the U7 so
Speaker: Yeah, for me, I don't think I'd change that. um Again, depends on if Little Miss here wants to play. It'll probably be different where probably we'll start her right into you know you seven and and we're and work our way up, but that'll be a decision for her to make. Yeah, and...
Speaker: The one thing I will say on this front too is somebody who threw a kid into the fire at you know, full ice, full size nets, offsides, icing penalties, whatever.
Speaker: i will fully hop on board Jamie Phillips train that hockey needs some sort of midsize net because those small U9 nets with full equipment are probably a little too small for those kids.
Speaker: But a middle-sized net where they're not jumping right to the four by six. Like, I mean, over spring, there was a handful of games that we just got blown out. And I think like, it's tough with those goalies, like, cause at that age, you get so many breakaways, you get so many like breakdowns cause kids just, you know, don't know. Right. And you get one kid that's faster than everybody and they just skate around everybody and get a breakaway. And When you're seeing 80% of the net because the goalie is tiny, it's it's tough and it's demoralizing. So I think giving them a bit of a better chance too, that can kind of help.
Speaker: And I know that they've talked about it on the Goalie Science podcast and I'm fully... fully in agreeance with that, that if we could have some sort of mid-size net, maybe like a three by five, like, I don't know what the size of those U9 nets are, but even if you just shrunk it by a foot each, each way, that would make a big difference too. So.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know. I definitely i definitely kind of i kind of agree with the half ice stuff or like quarter ice, whatever it is that they're doing. I do like that. But as long as there is that transition at some point as well to two to full ice throughout the season. Yeah.
Speaker: like when When you do make that jump from U9 to U11, that is going to be um a big ah big change for them. um yeah Speaking of U11, as we translate now into the U11, U15 stage, I'll start off with this. I think one change that I would make...
Speaker: in my career in my career now would be just to kind of take the the on ice training a little bit more seriously especially through you know goaltending camps you know start to really focus on skills and not just kind of be a donkey about it really um With that you know being said as well, as that you know just start to pay a little bit more attention to just kind of what other people kind of what other goalies are doing. um I know that, especially throughout my time playing, i was just kind of I'm just do whatever. um
Speaker: But... I definitely think, you know, as the training aspect becomes a little bit more serious and just starting to have some fun with it as well, but especially to start to pay attention to kind of the more the um the technicality part of it, because that age range between U11 to U15 is so, so crucial in terms of development. That's where you start to see real big jumps in growth.
Speaker: compared to if you go from U15 to U18. But I just, I see some goalies that, you know, are good athletically and you can see spurts of, you know, not creativity, but you can kind of see spurts of like a come to Jesus moment where they have that, you know, all they incorporate the the the changes that you're making and they understand the technicality behind it.
Speaker: and then they just revert back and it's just, there's no consistency there. so just that would, that would be one thing that like I would change in terms of my development is just kind of start to, um just kind of take the development aspect and the technicality aspect a little bit more seriously.
Speaker: Yeah. As somebody who was never introduced to the concept of tracking a puck until I was 17 playing junior a, um,
Speaker: this kind of U11, U13 age range is like, if we're talking about the developmental approach, it's so critical for building that foundation.
Speaker: And honestly, for the couple of years in U11 and U13, the biggest thing to focus on is literally your tracking ability, your skating ability, your positioning and your save execution.
Speaker: If you can build those four things to be extremely efficient and to be consistent, That makes the later stages of your career when you start getting into more advanced situational stuff so much easier.
Speaker: And from the development side of things, it that chunk, if I was starting over now, um Knowing what I know now with my current knowledge, those would be the four things that I would be hammering home over the course of you know the first two to three years. And I know that that can get redundant and might not be as fun. um But when it comes to like the development session, so you can still at like practice and like if you go to the ODR and stuff like that, you can still fool around and have some fun with that stuff.
Speaker: But the development portion of it and when you're at practices and you're thinking about what to work on, those are the four things that in this part of your career are so critical to really get consistent at.
Speaker: And then building off of that becomes so much easier as you go if that foundation is laid. um The other thing too, more off ice, I would start introducing some routines, but not be too crazy with it. Because usually at this age, you're not getting to the rink two hours before.
Speaker: um Most of the time, you don't really you know have that luxury. Like you're playing at six o'clock on a Thursday evening or whatever, right? Parents are rushing home from work, all of that. you know You don't really... have the luxury of the time or wherever your rank is, you might not have the space to do much or whatever. um Either way, start introducing a little bit of some routines um and keep building kind of each each season. So if you start with just like maybe five minutes with ball work or whatever, like as an example, with our six year old in spring this year,
Speaker: Once he got his lower half of gear on, he would grab his blocker and glove and I would just throw a squash ball at him and he would just try and catch with his glove or try and deflect with his blocker. It was nice and simple. That's all we kind of did.
Speaker: um You know, so i think I think you can kind of start introducing some of this stuff. You can start thinking about, you know, okay, what do you do and after you get scored on? And, you know, like start kind of introducing that mindset um and just kind of that preparation stuff.
Speaker: um This is also when i would say we can start maybe thinking of, you know, kind of some of the more advanced stuff like the journaling or whatever. That's probably at the tail end of this chunk, like maybe kind of your second year you would start to prepare for trying to move up to the club.
Speaker: um section of things even though i know now u13 does have triple a double a so does u11 but i mean realistically yeah does that matter too much at this age right like you'll probably have a lot of kids who are triple kids at u11 u13 that drop off and vice versa right so To me, the level of play doesn't matter as much. But wherever you go, this is critical to make sure that you're getting time, because if you're chasing the AAA dream at U11, but it makes it so you only play one out of every four games.
Speaker: Is that really where we want to be for development? Like for me right now, we want to get touches and we want to get ice time and we want to get exposure to the game as much as possible. So that's kind of the approach I would have for this sort of segment.
Speaker: um I don't know if you have anything to add on that. um
Speaker: I was thinking about spring hockey a little bit. And this wouldn't still be an age level that I would really encourage spring hockey unless you had felt...
Speaker: that there still just needs to be a little bit more for lack of better term development to be had. Now what that basis is, I have no idea. Um, would still try and avoid doing that as, as much as possible. But if it, if it's something that, you know, cause that, cause that's what spring hockey is more so geared towards, right? Is that you fit you 11, you 15 ish age range.
Speaker: Um, i would just I would really only encourage to go for it if you were if you had felt that you just need to work or just need to continue just to develop on a couple of more things that maybe you hadn't had the chance to in the regular season, whatever that may look like.
Speaker: Otherwise, again, during that time, spring, summer, go play soccer, go play baseball, go play basketball, go go do go Go for a hike. I don't care. you know Just go do something, again, that gets you away from hockey, working on other muscle groups and such in at that age range. And just, again, go go have fun and go be a kid as well. That's basically what I never played a lick of spring hockey when I was a kid.
Speaker: It was more so, again, soccer, baseball. That was the the two sports that I would play outside of hockey in the offseason. A little bit of karate as well, and but that's about it. um And so thus that would be that would be the only thing that I would say to that. Because again, like I know that spring hockey is more so geared towards um that particular age range. So again, i just i wouldn't i still wouldn't touch spring hockey unless you absolutely felt that it would be more but a little bit beneficial to you at that point.
Speaker: Yeah, the one thing I'll say um that I think actually would be something to explore if you have the option is maybe doing some of those like offseason, like three on three or four on four leagues or whatever. um Because to me, like we talked about the the foundational skills, but to me also like we've talked lots about the ability to improvise and to kind of you know, be able to problem solve when there's breakdowns, when there's chaos happening in the game.
Speaker: And those are perfect opportunities to get exposure to that sort of stuff. Right. Like a three on three little tournament, you're getting peppered with two on O's all the time and whatever. And I know when we talk about practice, we shame that sort of stuff.
Speaker: But realistically, those sorts of situations, especially in more of a game like kind of scenario, as opposed to like a practice like scenario, is really good for developing that kind of battle, that compete level, that improvisation that we talk about. And and is really good to build off of that, because I know I work with some high level goalies that when we play out rebounds, they are kind of upset with, you know, the two kind of backdoor passes and like the four on O or whatever, however many shooters we have that we do after a rebound.
Speaker: And I'm just like, okay, I get it. And it's not really game like for you, but at the same time, this is your chance to really work on that ability to battle and to read the play and all that stuff.
Speaker: So duke it out, play it out, you know, face some adversity of a four on O and and try and see what you can do. And I might be biased because me, when I played, I loved that stuff. Like I hated going to the gym, but I would sit at the ODR for five or six hours and get shelled with three on O's the whole time. And I loved it. I loved playing stuff like, you know, last puck or rebound or juice or shootouts or you know, whatever those things like whatever.
Speaker: i love that stuff. Right. The battle, the compete, the big saves. That was kind of what I live for. and that's why I got to junior base purely off athleticism and not a lick of technicality to me whatsoever.
Speaker: So. um But yeah, so we'll kind of move into that next chunk, which is that U13 to you fifteen Sorry, U15 to like you eighteen kind of age range. So kind of the last tail end of your house league career, I should say. Right. so your minor hockey career, let's let's call it that. So this is when we're starting to look at potentially AAA and AA levels. um you know This is where you got stuff like you know the CHL drafts, junior drafts, or recruiting, um stuff like that. If you're at the higher levels, if you're at the lower levels, this is kind of potentially your last kick at the can before we make the shift to junior or to beer league, right? um So you know this is where we're trying to really kind of
Speaker: hone in our our situational skills. um We're trying to learn the game. We're trying to figure out patterns and be able to kind of anticipate plays and all of that stuff.
Speaker: um So to me this one is really where the off ice kind of hockey IQ stuff really makes a difference. So once you start, you know, doing video breakdowns, once you start kind of, um,
Speaker: working into, you know, some cognitive training, some vision training, getting your processing better, being able to now move away from the structured development and kind of move towards more chaotic development where, you know, there's screens, there's tips, there's options, there's passes, you know, all of that stuff.
Speaker: This is kind of the chunk where we're really leaning into that because hopefully by now we're, we've established a good solid foundation of skills, like our consistent technical skills that now we're using that to kind of build off of and you know, actually play the game and understand the game and be able to now react to what happens in front of us.
Speaker: I'd also say in this window is where we're really leaning into that preparation side of things. So now we're really working on our strength, our flexibility, right? We're working on, you know, pregame preparation. We're working on reset routines after we get scored on those sorts of things. This is where we're really leaning into that. And you know, the stuff like the nutrition, the hydration, the sleep, all of that stuff becomes very important and almost kind of becomes like micromanaged a little bit. Like you actually want to have active thoughts and intervention as to how that sort of stuff works and looks.
Speaker: um But the biggest thing I would say, too, for me, if if I was starting over and was in this phase again, um the biggest thing is this is kind of the area to where you really want to Appreciate the work you've put in and appreciate kind of the development you've had up until this point, like start giving yourself credit and appreciation for where you've gotten to and um don't take that lightly because it goes by quick as somebody who's now like 10 years out of not playing basically pretty close. I think it's eight, but even still, it's it's one of those things that before you know it, you're old, washed up, coaching, running a podcast and you know not not playing it anymore. So it does go by quick. So
Speaker: You know, for those of you who your U15 to U18 is kind of your last little bit of playing. take advantage of it, have fun with it while you can, you know, kind of the adult responsibilities suck once you get there. So it's fun having that outlet of just being able to go play hockey, kind of forget about things for a little bit. So that's something too, that I don't think gets talked about enough and doesn't get passed on enough to, to the younger players. And as someone who is there too, like you kind of hear it and you're like, yeah, I get that. I get it. But you don't,
Speaker: really get it until it happens. So take take us old, washed up, wises the wise guys advice, you know, and and enjoy the ride while you can, especially if that's kind of your last little kick at the can, your last window to play.
Speaker: Yeah, shoot. Now I guess I'm in that boat. Yeah. We woke up. yeah um we woke up um
Speaker: Yeah, I would just I think with that age range, it's more so about the, you know, the consistency aspect, the um the office aspect, you know, the the workouts and, you know, the the the nutrition stuff is kind of the stuff away from the ice. I don't think is where um You know, for me personally, i mean, like, again, like I didn't play at, you know, any AAA or AA level. So if I guess in like the house league sense, didn't really matter a whole lot. But you never really thought about that at that point in time either, at least for me.
Speaker: um but if that if i were to change that that would be what i what i would do is just that change of kind of how i approach the game off ice how i look at you know nutrition strength and conditioning um and then just understand you know pattern recognition as well too and just the the the The theory of the game now, as I think about it now, compared to when I even thought about it back then, um you know that would that would be the biggest thing that I changed. and i don't I think, again, it doesn't really get talked about a whole lot, but just not that's the...
Speaker: Especially at that age range, that's what we're focusing on because we're not really focusing on anything new at that point in terms of a technical standpoint. It's still skating. It's still save execution. It's still puck handling. It's still this, this, and that. It's just redefining, or not redefining, but it's just hammering those points home consistently at that point. So, yeah, i just that that would be the thing that I would do at that point at that point in time and and and in my career if I were to redo it.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree with that. I think one of the biggest things I didn't do enough of was the off ice stuff. Again, i hated it though. i I'm not a gym guy. I don't like going to the gym. I'd much rather, you know, be playing something as my physical activity as opposed to just like weights or whatever. The one thing I really wish I knew of and knew existed when I played, and I don't think anyone really talked about it much, but was the cognitive training side of things like the ability to process like i think that would have made a huge difference um in my game had i known about it um but yeah i i do think taking better care off the ice because it's also good just for like injury prevention and and recovery and stuff like that so you're not 31 like i am and you know struggling to get up out of the bed some days now that being said i still don't really take good care of myself away from uh away from the ring. Not that I really am playing, but I'm at the rink lots for coaching. But um yeah, that's that's for sure a big one.
Speaker: um As we move on from that, if you are lucky enough to still be playing and now we're looking at kind of the junior, the college, the semi-pro kind of stuff,
Speaker: um At that point, i I think my biggest piece of advice would be to not. And this sounds weird, but don't try so hard. Like I find once we get to those levels,
Speaker: um there's There's a lot of people, and this is not just for goalies, but once people start getting to those high levels, they they start almost trying to change what got them there because they think they need to kind of reinvent themselves a little bit to get better.
Speaker: you know, to keep going and to get to that next level and to be successful when they make those jumps. And in reality, that what got you there is what you need to kind of keep working on um and to keep building off of to keep going. Right. And we've talked about this before, about building your game around your strengths as opposed to your like trying to work on your weaknesses as much, but more so building around what you are successful with and kind of minimizing your exposure to your weaknesses.
Speaker: um It's kind of that same thing. When we get to that level, we we need to make sure that we're we're playing in a way that helps us to be successful. Right. So if you know, you're a goalie that You know, I've used this example lots before, but if you're Stu Skinner and you make it up to, you know, whatever level as your next level, and if you're a positional goalie that covers lots of net that doesn't move the greatest.
Speaker: Well, if you get to that next level, you shouldn't all of a sudden start, you know, starting five feet out of your crease. you know right because then you're just gonna get burned and especially with the players getting better at that level so the big thing is is kind of stay the course and keep working on what's gotten you to where you've gotten that don't try so hard to kind of implement new things or reinvent anything now obviously like there There's a balance there because you still need to be improving, you still need to be developing and you still need to be working on some things and getting better on some things. But I find sometimes a lot of people kind of get into that trap of of trying too much to reinvent themselves. So that's one thing.
Speaker: The other thing is is find yourselves opportunities to give you a chance to succeed. right like If you're traditionally a goalie that has been on a team that only gives up 20 or less shots a game,
Speaker: try to avoid hopping onto a junior team that gives up 50 shots a game because that does not translate usually too well. And there's going to be a much bigger adjustment period than if you can get yourself on a team that's maybe like 25 shots a game. Right. Maybe a little bit more than you're used to, but still kind of in that same realm.
Speaker: um Same thing, too, like we kind of talked about in the earlier stages, like find yourself a situation where you can potentially have playing time. Like as a rookie, you're not going to come in and you're not going to get 80% of the starts in most situations. Some situations allow for that. But even still, you don't want to come into a team. Say you're a 17 year old, you're going into a junior team. Well,
Speaker: You don't want to come into a junior team that has an 18 year old starter and a 17 year old backup that they you know like and have drafted or something like that, because it's going to be very tough for you to get ice time even down the road.
Speaker: But if there's, say, a situation where there's a 20 year old and 18 year old or something like that, and you're coming in at 17 or maybe a 20 year old and a 19 year old, then once that 20 year old moves on, then you kind of slide into the backup role. And then another year or two and the other goalie moves on. Now it's your your ball to roll with for a couple seasons. Right. So um Those are the kind of things to think of if you have the luxury of choice.
Speaker: If you don't, though, the other thing I would say is. Just. I don't know, don't chase.
Speaker: too much, I guess. Right. Like I find my biggest problem when I played junior was I was always trying to think about that next level, that next level. And i I kind of, you know, would get mad about like shots against that weren't counted accurately because I'm trying to showcase for college teams. Right. I'm trying to have good stats for college teams.
Speaker: um But sometimes that kind of distracted from the moment. Right. So you still have to kind of live where you're at, even though you're trying to plan for the next steps, whether it's college or semi pro or whatever the case is. But you still need to be focused on the now and and have good results in the now.
Speaker: um And by now, you also are really refining your processes. So whatever your pregame routine is and that sort of stuff, you basically got it down pat at this point. You might make a couple of tweaks here and there.
Speaker: But one of the biggest things I would say to if you find yourself at this level. Do some coaching like it's it's amazing how much teaching others builds your um view on the game, I guess, or your ability to see the game and think the game.
Speaker: that sort of stuff, if you get to the point that you can teach others, you're kind of at the point that you really understand the game and you're kind of at that level of like expertise, I guess, is the best way to put it. So that was one thing that I wouldn't change. I did some coaching um when I was in junior.
Speaker: i i would actually have said, like, if I would do it over again, I would probably try and do more. um Just because that really does kind of help change your perspective on things and kind of help you understand the game a little bit better. so And again, appreciate it. Appreciate what got you there and and and the route you took, I guess.
Speaker: I'm going to go see if I can put her to bed.
Speaker: ah Yeah, I mean, i never played at that level. I've coached at that level, but I don't think I can definitively say or for sure. i think maybe from the outside looking in, I think, yeah, I just i would agree with what you're saying there with the, um you know, just kind of chasing aspect of it. I think it's just, you know, especially with the goalies that I've had and while coaching juniors is,
Speaker: It didn't, well, it bothered me a little bit, but just, and I understood why just they're, they're trying to chase on the better, better opportunities to further advance their career. And that's fine. um But if you get caught chasing so much, um you know, andm trying to chase the next opportunity before you've finished with the first one, it's it's, It's not a good look and you potentially hinder yourself more. um But to each their own. um Yeah, I don't know. Beyond that, I mean, you've kind of basically covered everything there that I think would need to be talked about. so I don't think I really have anything else to say beyond that.
Speaker: Perfect. Well, I really don't have anything else. So you want to bring us home then? and Bring us home there. A little, little, little dinger home run action. All right.
Speaker: Oh dear. All right. So that'll do it for another episode of the DIY goalie podcast presented by true North goaltending. Go check us out. True north goaltending.com. Like we have already stated at the start of this podcast, both of our, um Our five day long camp and our four day long camp have been officially sold out.
Speaker: Thank you everybody for booking all of that. But if you are still interested in working with us, we do have some facility sessions that do run all year round. We also offer our net sessions and a bunch of other stuff. We also have some video breakdown options and mentorship stuff there as well.
Speaker: We do offer some multi-session packages as well. So if you are interested with that, both on the hockey and ring outside, go check us out, truenorthgoaltending.com. You can go check us out on your favorite social media platforms, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, whatever, all at truenorthgoaltending, except on Instagram because we like to be different.
Speaker: That one is Y-E-G Goalie Coach. You can follow us on, ah you can follow me rather on Instagram as well at Monday GC. You can follow us on your favorite social not on your favorite social media platforms. Already covered that. You can follow us on your favorite podcast platforms, whether that be Apple, iHeart or Spotify. Still not iHeart. The iHeart one isn't updating for us for whatever reason. So we should look into that. But definitely Spotify and Apple Podcasts for sure.
Speaker: um We have released new episodes every Wednesday. Again, follow us on the YouTube channel as well, youtube.com slash true notes goaltending, where you can watch the video version of this and you will be absolutely able to actually see the actual image of the drill whenever we do drill of the month. So you guys can go check that out. um Again, if you're returning listeners, hit the share button. More ah goalies that we're able to bring together, the better, especially if you're watching over on the YouTube side of things. Hit the like button. Hit the share button. If you are a new viewer or listener to our little corner of the internet, hit the follow button. Hit the subscribe button. Like I said, new episodes drop every Wednesday.
Speaker: On behalf of myself and Nathan Park, this has been the DIY Goalie Podcast presented by Torino's Goaltending. Make some safe goalies. We'll see you guys next time. Take care.
