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043 - Don't Do What the Pros Do and the Different Paths to Pro Hockey
100 Plays2 months ago
Show notes are available at https://thediygoalie.com/pod043
On this week's episode, we provide a drill of the month for February. We also dive into why goalies shouldn't be trying to copy the game of their favourite pros and how it can actually hinder their game. We also discuss different avenues goalies can go to get to playing at the pro level, especially in Canada.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the DIY goalie podcast where hosts and goalie coaches, Nathan park and Connor Monday share their insights on how to become a better goalie. How are you doing today? Goalies. Welcome back to another edition of the DIY goalie podcast with your hosts, Connor Monday and Nathan park. As always, if you are new to the show, welcome, welcome. And if you are a returning listener,
00:00:35
Speaker
Thanks again for tuning in.
New Month, New Drill
00:00:38
Speaker
Um, we are starting a new month, which is crazy that we're already in February. Um, I still have way too much stuff to do for business taxes. So, you know, um yay me, uh, but, uh, a new month also means that we are starting another drill of the month today. So that's exciting. And Connor is going to present it to us, but we figured that we would run with,
00:01:05
Speaker
one of the themes that we've been working on with one of our organizations and we've been doing a lot of post play work with them lately. So we brought you guys a post play drill because post play is something that goalies do not work nearly enough on for the amount of times that we are in and out of our posts. And quite frankly, too many goalies are uncomfortable on their posts. So anytime you have to work on it,
00:01:36
Speaker
work on it. And this is a good drill to be able to work on multiple facets of host play. So why don't you take it away for us, Connor?
Focus on Organizational Skating
00:01:46
Speaker
And I guess how are you doing today? I'm good. I am. I'm good. Yeah. ah Like you said, we yeah that's kind of been the focus for the last three weeks um when we've been doing our organizational skates. So that's been that's been a lot of fun. I think just spending a lot of time, you know, because we only have the hour, right? And so we got there's like a lot that we got to get done that hour. And so to be able to work on progressions like that, I think that was actually the most exciting thing for me, like this these past three weeks and getting but and being able to do that. And so this drill that we'll talk about here in a second kind of encompasses kind of everything that we built on for the last ah for the last three weeks here when we were doing or ah organizational stuff.
00:02:32
Speaker
Beyond that though, I'm good. It's a new month. Um, a lot of exciting things happening both in my life and as well as with the true north goaltending and the DIY goalie can't, uh, can't wait for all that, so all that fun stuff there. So it'll be a good time.
Drill Explanation: Four Options at the Corner
00:02:48
Speaker
Uh, so the drill that we're doing today is called the four options at the corner. And so what this drill basically, um, emphasizes on is, um,
00:03:00
Speaker
Basically, just kind of like we were we in the first week we touched on about how we set up on our post when the puck is in the corner. um Week two, on top of, rather, um with week one, talking about overlap. Week two, we talked about um getting into our RVHs, how to properly get in and out of our RVHs.
00:03:22
Speaker
And then week three, which was just our past skate here on Monday, um as of recording this, it was kind of just encompassing all all three and then and knowing when to use each one. So with the four options at the corner drill,
00:03:39
Speaker
The coach will start in the corner with the pox. Goalie will start flat on their post, whichever post it's up to you. um And then in our little diagram here, we have four different colored lines. The first um first line, which is a black line, will be kind of like a a walk up the high wall and then kind of cut through the circle for an attack on that. This one with the goalie will be starting on their posts, on their feet, kind of shuffle, stepping out, and then making small adjustments at the top of their crease to make sure that they stay square with the shooter.
00:04:08
Speaker
The red line is basically like um is is ah is a straight drive ah to the nets. I try to keep it when I'm doing this drill. I try to keep it at the goal line.
00:04:20
Speaker
maybe kind of above or a little bit below, but then that's that overlap position that we're talking about there. Because again, if if you're imagining like a player is coming down long to half fall into the corner and he's making a B line straight for the net, we would want to be in that kind of um and that kind of overlap position. Oh, sorry, that's a green line, not the red line that I'm looking at here. The red line, this one would be the um ah drop down into the RVH.
00:04:50
Speaker
Right? Yes. um this That one would be um something similar, kind of similar to the green line one, but that one's kind of more so an attack above the goal line. The red line drill or the red line portion of the drill is kind of an attack below the goal line. No root no goalie is realistically going to be in their overlap.
00:05:12
Speaker
if the puck is below the goal line. If we're reading that the player is driving towards that net and they're staying below the goal line, then we want to drop down into our RVH on on that short side post.
Wraparound and RVH Transitions
00:05:24
Speaker
And then the last line, which is the blue line, is a straight wraparound. This one, um same idea, your end position should be ending up into the RVH driving into your post.
00:05:34
Speaker
Um, but this one we touched on Starting on your feet in a near side post Using your windows behind your net to watch the player drive but drive around your net get in that proper rotation And a hard slide and a good seal in into the ah end of the post there. So this one really um It kind of it like I said before it touched on all the different kind of facets of what we were building on um post exs entries and exits overlap and then utilizing your um your rvh as effectively um excuse me as i was working through this drill with our goalies there was a couple of times where we would be driving the uh or doing the uh the net drive above the goal line
00:06:20
Speaker
and they'd be dropping down to their ah RVH. And I'm like, well, why are you doing that? And they're like, well, because you're driving towards the net. And I go, yeah, but if I'm above the goal line, I have all that net to be working with, right? So I don't know. There was a little bit of, um there like it definitely kind of causes you to think a little bit. And I think that's probably something that maybe we'll touch on next month is just a little bit more situational awareness.
00:06:44
Speaker
Um, tight stuff there, but that was, uh, that's the drill all the week. And it's a, it's, ah it's definitely a good one kind of working on different, uh, different aspects of, uh, of, um, a post play. Yeah. I like that drill a lot. Um, because it touches on all the aspects, like you have a high drive up.
00:07:06
Speaker
the wall, which requires the goalies to really have small adjustments because the dead angles don't change too much. And it really shows the goalies how little they have to move. And like you said, the low drive above the goal line, they work on that overlap because they find a lot of goalies suck back to their post as you start attacking the net low. And then they get caught on their posts when you take a shot and they try and drop.
00:07:32
Speaker
Um, so that's good for them to get comfortable. And then obviously the two drives below the goal line, like the short side stuff, and then the far side wrap around just as good to get that transition down to the RVH early. So you're not trying to drop as the stuff is coming and all that.
00:07:51
Speaker
um I will apologize for ah the picture of the drill. Like unfortunately the rank options on the drill building website are a little limited. So that one's the only one that's like zoomed in and it doesn't actually have the corners or the boards on it. Yeah.
00:08:13
Speaker
But I kind of, I kind of noticed that as as I was explaining, yeah like, Oh, did we do this right? No. So if, if you guys are doing the drill, it is designed to actually be out of the corner, but the, the farthest or the closest up you can get well, having the corners in it is just kind of too far out to really see what's going on. So that's why I did it that way. So just as a caveat, if you're using this drill, um, apologize for that, but.
00:08:42
Speaker
The premise is there, it's a great drill for different aspects of post play.
Episode 10: Further Learning
00:08:46
Speaker
If you guys want to kind of get some more tips on post play, episode 10, way back in the archives at this point, is is a total solo episode by myself on post play. I think it's like 40 minutes just talking about post play.
00:09:03
Speaker
So um yeah, good time of the year to be working on it. I think I think like I said, it's also not worked on enough. So make sure you guys are adding that to your repertoire. um Yeah. And just some of the just some of the key points um for this one is that I kind of want to just highlight is just making sure that you get those proper seals in your RVH. I know that there's different ways to do it, whether you want pad and pose, toe strap or steel on steel.
00:09:32
Speaker
um But just as long but just as long as we are making sure that we're hitting our marks essentially um This one I don't want to talk about bumping off but just making sure that we're tracking the puck again behind the net especially for those wraparounds Especially and like and even anything like above the goal line to right make sure that we're making those small adjustments um And just kind of just the small just the small stuff like that. But yeah, I know this was ah this was a fun drill and that we did last week aside from me possibly pulling my groin, but it's fine. I'm fine. Thanks for asking. It's all good. We're good to go. Put some ice on it. All right. Maybe you should go back and listen to the injury prevention episode again. um All right.
Caution: Emulating NHL Goalies
00:10:19
Speaker
So we are going to move into topic number one today, and this is one that
00:10:26
Speaker
I think you guys need to turn up the volume on, pay attention, take notes, whatever you need to do, because this is something that drives me a little bit bonkers as a goalie coach, but I totally get it. So.
00:10:44
Speaker
A lot of goalies, they have their favorite goalies they like to watch. They have high level people that they follow and listen to, especially nowadays with social media and you know YouTube, all of that stuff. A lot of this stuff is a lot more easily accessible than it has been before, like tips, tricks, advice, blah, blah, blah.
00:11:10
Speaker
But the caveat to that is A lot of the goalies out there are trying to emulate these NHL goalies or follow what like these and NHL goalie coaches or former NHL coaches or goalies are saying and doing. Um, and sometimes that stuff, even though it's valid, does not apply to you at the point that you're at in your career.
00:11:41
Speaker
One of the biggest issues I see is so many goalies have such an incredibly wide stance because they see. But brovsky, they see Vasilevsky. They see other guys like that, that are incredibly wide in their setup and they kind of think, Oh, that's kind of how I have to play. And the, the reality is, is that.
00:12:07
Speaker
You guys at 10, 12 years old or the beer leaguers at 30, 40, 50 or whatever. You guys don't have the ankle strength or the flexibility or, you know, any of that stuff, the repetition, the training, the practice that those guys do to make it work for them. And what I see a lot of these goalies do when they get so wide is they get stuck. They can't move. Really all they have in their toolbox is to drop into the butterfly.
00:12:39
Speaker
because that's the only thing their body can do. If somebody passes it, they can't move. If they skate the puck side to side, they can't move. And even if they do drop into the butterfly, it's usually their weight's back, their hands pull back because they're off balance because they're so wide and you know they kind of leave that five hole open a little bit. So The segment that I kind of wanted to touch on, just the general um you know point, I guess, is that
00:13:15
Speaker
take some of this stuff with a little bit of a grain of salt. Like, yes, these guys know what they're doing. They know what they're talking about. Yes, they are at a high level. Yes, they're where you want to be. But some of the stuff they do and they talk about and all that just is a little past where a lot of us are at right now in our current and situation with our career. Another one as an example, this has been gaining popularity, especially at the high levels ah recently. And most notably who has done it was the Boston Bruins when we had Swamin and Almark. Like Almark was talking about how this kind of changed his game and revolutionized this game a little bit was what they called the recoil.
00:14:04
Speaker
And that's basically the added movement to their game. So what they were doing was they were starting to time their plays where they would start backing up a little bit in their net to try and gain a little bit of fluidity to their game, to be able to move side to side a little bit easier. Now that's great, but.
00:14:29
Speaker
A 10 year old to 12 year old, you know, these kids that don't have a lot of in-game experience, they don't have that sense of timing yet. And so if you're sitting there, you're trying to add recoil to your game when you haven't even gotten to the point that, you know, you can rotate properly in a movement or that you can, you know, track a puck or whatever, all this other stuff.
00:14:56
Speaker
what's going to happen is you're going to time it wrong. Mo most likely more often than not, you're going to suck back too far, open up too much net. You're going to, you know, do it at the wrong time where it's a shot instead of a pass and open up that net gets scored on all of that stuff. Right. So, um, I just kind of wanted to touch on that today, just to kind of,
00:15:23
Speaker
caution you guys that, you know, um these guys obviously know what they're talking about. They obviously know what they're doing, but some of this stuff doesn't apply to where you guys are at right now. And that's even, that even goes for us. Like the stuff that we're putting out to you guys, you know, some stuff that we say is going to work for you guys. And some stuff we say isn't.
00:15:46
Speaker
Right. And some stuff isn't going to be relevant to your current situation. And some stuff is right. So make sure that yes, you can follow these guys. You can take what they say. Um, and add that to your, your kind of resource bank when it comes to the position, but don't take it for gospel, right? Like think about it, analyze it.
00:16:12
Speaker
and implement it in a way that works for you and your current situation or don't, right? Like we might say, you know, above the goal line, you should be in the overlap. Well, if you're six foot seven, maybe if it's above the goal line and lower, you can get away with the RVH a little, you know, more so when the puck's above the goal line and that works for you, great.
00:16:36
Speaker
or whatever the case is. Right. So that was just something that I kind of wanted to touch on and make sure that you guys are thinking about that, you know, take some of this stuff for the grain of salt, take it in and make it fit for you.
00:16:53
Speaker
Tell me how you really feel. That's probably not even top 10 of my rants in this podcast. No, it's not. No, but you wouldn't stop talking about it for the last little bit. um No, but you are you you are correct, though. um I think we forget sometimes that yeah somebody who's 10 11 12 Excuse me years old
00:17:26
Speaker
um like they're not going to be playing nowhere near to the to the same capacity as Jeremy Swamin or or Sergey Brabrowski or Vasilevsky or insert another goal. Yeah, exactly.
00:17:44
Speaker
um But like Nathan said, like it's OK to take to look at your favorite goalie, whoever that may be. And say, hey, yeah, I want to play a similar, I want to play exactly like Bobrovsky. Okay, well, what about Bobrovsky's game? Do you like on top of as well? Is it actually realistic for you to do at your current point in your development? You know, um there was a thought that was popping into my head earlier today, because I was thinking about your point, actually. And
00:18:24
Speaker
I might be totally out to lunch here and that's totally fine but I'm kind of tired of the the like the goalies are not robots kind of talk that's been happening for the last however many years I think of what I think we all need to accept, and probably have accepted at this point, that the way of Dominic Hasek, Chris Osgood, Marty Broder, Henrik Lundquist even, and he that's even recently, is gone. It's not coming back. With that being said though, the game has gotten a lot more tentacle.
00:19:07
Speaker
which means that we as goalies, excuse me, I should to grab water, um which means that we as goalies need to adapt as well, right, we kind of have to play a little bit more, not necessarily robotic, but we have to play a little bit more technical as well, you can start adding for lack of better term flare into your game as you progress through the age levels and stuff. But at the grassroots level of things for the first four ish years of your development, we're teaching you tracking the puck nose to contact um moving with
00:19:46
Speaker
crisp efficiency, for lack of a better term. um So I just i i I think right now there's like a little bit of a little bit of a disconnect, I'm going to call it where Yeah, on the one hand, we want to add a little bit more flair for all intensive purposes, back into kind of the position, which is fine. But goalies kind of have to play a little bit technical, and a little bit robotic for
00:20:24
Speaker
in the for the grand scheme of things and for lack of a better term excuse me realistically um for it to for for you for you to have for you to build a successful foundation for you to have a successful career yeah I don't like I don't know like I just I know like I like Nathan you and I grew up in the areas of the Marty Broders and the Henrik Lundquist and the Mika Kipper soffs and Dwayne Rolison's and you you can name a lot of goalies like that and they all had their different kind of Aspects and they all had their different pros and cons and everything else and if you asked me to compare today like somebody like Logan Thompson to um Sergey Bobrovsky there are probably minimal differences, but realistically it's probably
00:21:15
Speaker
They're virtually almost the same goalie to an extent, of course. But that's kind of that's that's kind of the way that the game is gone. And that's kind of the way that the that that the position is nowadays. No goalie is going to be pulling off the Michigan. right No goalies is going to have the hands of Bedard and McDavid. But that's because they like they have the skill level to do that. And they've mastered their craft enough to be able to have that little bit of extra flair.
00:21:42
Speaker
We're no different. We work on the skating patterns. We work on tracking. We work on positioning. And then eventually later on, then you can add the, um, the recoil, which I recall reading that article with, uh, it was Eric Portillo and one of the other Kings goalies, um, with their goal to coach, but, uh,
00:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know just I think like I think we need to The point that I'm trying to make is that I think like we need to stop thinking like all goalies are gonna be all goalies are robotic or all goalies are trained to be robotic because that's Not the case is that we're just building a technical foundation. So then as they progress in skill level and as they progress throughout their hockey career, then they can start adding a little bit of flair back into their game. But at the level right now of U9, U11, U13, U15, that's not the time and place to do it. That is a time and place to continue to be working on their on on their foundational skills. so
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah. Robotic definitely kind of puts the negative spin on it. The proper word I would use is efficient. Like yeah that's the way that goaltending has gone is efficiency. Like how can we maximize our output by minimizing our input, right? Like we need to make sure that we're basically like.
00:23:04
Speaker
doing the least amount possible to get the job done. Um, because ultimately as goalies, we can't afford the delays. We can't afford the extra seconds, right? And what I tell my goalies is not sexy is sexy. When you're making the saves that everybody is on their feet, cheering and whatever, something probably went wrong.
Efficiency in Goaltending
00:23:25
Speaker
If you're making the save that, you know, you get the golf clap. That's like, yeah, wo good job. um I'll be sitting there in the stands like, yes, I'll be on my feet clapping and cheering and everybody else is looking at me. Right. Yeah, exactly. Right. So I don't like the term, the term Instagram sexy was kind of been thrown around lately. Yeah, I know. that I've seen that a couple of times on ah on Daniel Waffles page with increased performance.
00:23:55
Speaker
Fun page, by the way. um But yeah, there's like this. I think the term Instagram sexy has been. popping up one too many times, which we're not going to get into. But I think leads into the bigger question of, you know, the Instagram highlight reels that you see how and how pe how the old guard, John Tortorella, I'm looking at you um are not are not a fan of them. I'm not either, to be honest, but that's we're going down a rabbit hole that we don't need to. But I think it's still but I think but I think I think it's still in that topic of conversation.
00:24:31
Speaker
Yeah, here's a, here's a live idea thought on the DIY goalie podcast. Why don't we start it? Why don't we start a movement? Why don't we start the not sexy movement? And if you guys, if you guys have footage of a save that's technically sound and does not get anybody off of their feet, except for us goalie coaches, send it in and we'll post, we'll start, we'll start a movement. We'll start the not sexy movement. So That needs to be a segment on here. I think that actually needs to be a segment. The welcome to the DIY goalie. And after we do the drill of the month, it's like, welcome to the not sexy segment presented by yeah the least sexiest ad sponsor that we can get. Yeah, or we'll just do like not sexy Sundays or something on Instagram and TikTok and you guys can send us footage and and we'll look through our videos with true north and we'll We'll hear we'll we we'll hear we'll do this. Okay, we'll do this. We'll we'll do this two ways Saturdays can be sexy All right, so we'll have sexy Saturdays. All right, so we're not excluding people and Right because we we already have when the Wednesday yeah yeah well Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's what do we need two days dedicated to flare? I don't think so. I think we know get lot sexy certain love okay odd not sexy Sunday's coming next podcast here on the d y goal yeah
00:26:03
Speaker
We'll figure something out. If you guys want to join in, send us a DM, tag us in something, whatever. we'll We'll figure it out. We'll flesh out the details. This was a live thought, thought, baby. But you know what, we can break it down. We can break it. We could totally break it down, too. Oh, we could. Yeah, we absolutely could.
00:26:23
Speaker
So there you go. Send us, send us your saves info at the DIY goalie.com or goalies at true north golden.com. That's how you can reach us or Instagram DM at Facebook. Damn it. Yeah. That's a DIY goalie. All right. So yeah, just to wrap up this segment, there is one other thing I kind of wanted to say, and then you can say your final things, but.
00:26:47
Speaker
Um, just backtracking probably 15 minutes, uh, before we started rambling. Uh, it's okay to have a favorite goalie, but emulate yourself after a different goalie. Like for example, if your skillset is more tailored towards like a Connor Hellabuck and You maybe watch Hellabuck play a little bit more to take stuff away from his game to implement to your game. And then your favorite goalie is shout out to Connor Monday is Stu Skinner. you You want to watch Stu Skinner as a fan. That's totally fine too, right? Like you don't, the goalies that you like and the goalies that you're looking up to and that, you know, you're a fan of.
00:27:43
Speaker
can be different than the goalies that you emulate your games after, right? Based off of your skill set and their skill set and all of that. um But yeah, just make sure you take what applies to you and don't try and change your game to make it so you're like somebody else. Just you do you.
00:28:02
Speaker
yeah And you might take something from Bobrovsky. You might take something from hella buck. You might take something from Skinner and put it all together. And that's you, right? Like you do you boo boo. Well, here I'll be the first example.
00:28:18
Speaker
My favorite goalie, not Stu Skinner, actually Dwayne Rolison. I emulated my game after. I emulated my game after a fish out of water. ah there go I don't recall who they play for.
00:28:36
Speaker
All right. Yeah, but no, anyways, no, you are right. Yeah, but I think just having a little bit of diversity and taking things from different goalies, whether it be in the NHL, AHL, ECHL. Shout out Luke. I'm a local junior.
Paths to Professional Hockey
00:28:54
Speaker
or local junior you know or even your goalie partner or whoever you know you as we've said in this yeah exactly well maybe not but um as we've said in this podcast many times however more tools in the toolbox the better you may not use all of them but one day there's going to be that tool that you that that you're going to need And you'll be glad that she did. I think that's a great way to cap it off there. Godspeed. All right. Hit us with your best shot over there, Connor. What do you got for us? I will. The hardest one that I can do is about 82 kilometers per hour.
00:29:35
Speaker
um Actually, that's true because we had a we had a skills competition with a buddy of mine and we had the radar got out and yeah we About eighty eighty but mid 80s is what I like to say. So anyway This segment we got to give a shout out to one of our to one of our staff members because he did come up with this idea I did not come up with this all by myself. My brain is too small for that ah Ethan Martin's pool. Thank you very much for for this suggestion We're gonna talk on my segment today. Just kind of talk about like the different paths
00:30:08
Speaker
To pro hockey and I'm gonna generalize pro hockey um At least here in North America, maybe even in the Europe side of things as well um Just to the five Kind of major leagues that are here in North America, which is the federal federal prospects oculi the southern prospects oculi East Coast a challenge in the NHL um I'm only going to speak from experience here in Edmonton, specifically in Alberta, specifically Edmonton. Nathan could probably touch on the more broader aspect.
00:30:39
Speaker
um With the, I mean, it's kind of old news now at this point, but with the changes in kind of junior hockey and college hockey with the NCAA now accepting CHL players,
00:30:56
Speaker
into their programs. um the the The door and the markets have kind of opened wider as well as diminished, I suppose, to a certain aspect. um When I was playing hockey growing up, the the path to, at least the path to playing major juniors, eventually pro-hockey was House League, double-A, triple-A, Get Drafted, and the Bantam Draft to the WHO. I think it's Midget Draft in in the on the Eastern Provinces, and then kind of went on from there, whether it would be to
00:31:37
Speaker
overseas or one of the five um major pro hockey leagues in North America. Nowadays where you have, quote unquote, outlaw leagues and a bunch of other hockey development programs, it kind of does seem I suppose overwhelming when it comes to like where do you go and what would be the best fit to advance your your hockey career. Social media doesn't really help things either where you have a whole bunch of Facebook groups or Instagram threads and whatever else is out there that all these message boards where
00:32:18
Speaker
Hey, we're looking for players in this random no name league that has only three teams in the middle of in the middle of nowhere. Come try out for us essentially.
00:32:30
Speaker
um The biggest thing that I can suggest is kind of do your research, do your homework, depending on where your your end goal and your end your end position ends up being whether it is at the collegiate level or at a at a pro level of some sort.
00:32:51
Speaker
um And then even then like the path to there is ah is a more broader one than it was I suppose 10 years ago now I guess maybe be a little bit less but I don't know, Nathan, kind of just what just what are your thoughts on the whole thing with the NCAA expansion? um I say expansion, that's probably not exactly what it is. um And then just kind of on top of just kind of what would be your your best recommendation or your best path to, let's say just major juniors, let's just start there.
00:33:26
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. So to me, there's kind of two parts of this. So there's pre junior, which, I mean, the States, I think is a little more streamlined Canada right now, at least Western Canada. And I think Eastern Canada is kind of slowly making its way to us. But I think over here, we've definitely accelerated this a little bit, but.
00:33:56
Speaker
To put it nicely, it's a kerfuffle. Um, I get asked all the time. What's where should we go? What team should we do? Like what league, what's this league? What's this team? How's that? You know, and it's like, when I played, it was, you go to your zoned house league team, you play house league. And then if you're good enough, come you 15, which was Bantam.
00:34:24
Speaker
You'd try out for the club team, which would be the triple a team. If you got cut, you'd go down, try a double a and whatever. And then from there, you'd keep progressing and, you know, go up to you 16, you 17, you 18. I mean, back then it was midget and REM 15. Um, but, uh, yeah, it was kinda like.
00:34:50
Speaker
laid out for you because your boundaries were set. You were given your organization and everyone kind of had the same funnel. Now there's a lot going on.
Demystifying Hockey Leagues
00:35:06
Speaker
So on top of the minor hockey stuff, there's the unsanctioned leagues, like you mentioned. So out here, there's the hockey super league, the HSL. There's the premier hockey league, the PHL. Um,
00:35:20
Speaker
Now there's academies, too, which weren't really a thing as much when I played. They were there, but it was more of a like.
00:35:31
Speaker
Like you went to Vimy Ridge, like a lot of the academies when we played were just like that where they didn't have teams per se. It was just an extension of your school. And you went to the hockey program and you didn't necessarily play games. You just did your practice during school time, but then you had your own team separately, like to go play.
00:35:54
Speaker
Now you've got the CSSHL, which is under Hockey Canada. And that's an academy driven league. But then the like silent ice hockey, which is the owners of the HSL. Um, they also started the JPHL, which is kind of their version of that, which has the academies. Um, but they're unsanctioned. They're not under Hockey Canada. And then.
00:36:21
Speaker
You know, you also have all this other stuff that's kind of come up too, where you've got the BCHL that has left hockey Canada, but then you have these other junior A leagues, quote unquote, like they call themselves tier two junior A leagues, but You know, watch it, watch it, watch it. I'm just saying that. Oh, you're right. But watch it. That's the only leg I have to stand on here. Yeah. But, you know, there's there's so much going on now and there's no real set path like and that's kind of in my opinion, that kind of goes back to our conversation about the lack of
00:37:09
Speaker
Well, not lack of, but I guess the dropping of the ball that hockey Canada has done, that's kind of gotten into this position and it's created a lot of confusion. And like now you look at these unsanctioned leagues that kind of fly by their own rules, which on one extent can be a good thing. On the other hand, it can not be a good thing. Like.
00:37:39
Speaker
you're allowed to have both of your goalies be over ragers. So if you're running a 2013 team, you can have two 2012 born goalies on your team. And I don't know if I necessarily agree with that per se, whereas like,
00:37:59
Speaker
you know You don't really get that in House League. Now that being said, the House League stuff is two years as opposed to the HSL, which just goes by birth year. So you've realistically mostly got only one birth year competing against each other, but it's basically now made it that there's a lot of questions. Nobody really knows what the best option is.
00:38:22
Speaker
A lot of the house league stuff is trying to play catch up, but at the same time, like they're also trying to outlaw, like there's so many rules that if you go play an unsanctioned like league game after a certain date, you're not allowed back to house league or a hockey Canada sanction league or whatever until after the season's done.
00:38:44
Speaker
It, it's a whole mess. And to me, again, it's just overall hockey, Canada has kind of put themselves in this situation to allow these competitors basically to come in and take share of the market because they're not fulfilling the need that's there.
00:39:06
Speaker
And now it's a mess. And now you look at the States that has a very nicely streamed program and their national development team and all this stuff. And to me, it's like, no wonder that they're having much more success at the, you know, national levels than, or I guess international levels than Canada is lately. And I feel for the parents that I feel for the players right now, because it's, it's hard to navigate.
00:39:36
Speaker
And then if we go onto the other side of things, which is the junior and post junior, I also think it's not necessarily a good thing that the NCAA has opened up to the CHL. I mean, that's my personal opinion because there's a lot of kids that develop at a bit of a later stage.
00:40:05
Speaker
Right. I mean, here in Edmonton, we look at a guy like Derek Ryan, who, you know, kind of worked his way. Like, I know he played in the CHL, but then he went and played for the U of A and U sport, like at the Canadian university level. And kind of late bloomer, you know, finally kind of made his way to the NHL and and now has had a few years of ah a pretty solid career. Um,
00:40:33
Speaker
But I feel like now there's kind of only been one path laid out for getting to professional to a professional level because now everybody who goes CHL is now just going to work their way through and go NCAA.
NCAA vs CHL: Impact on Canadian Hockey
00:40:54
Speaker
And there's very few, at least on the Canadian side, the American side is going to be a little different. I think i think they're still going to, like these American schools are still going to try and grow homegrown talent and take junior players from the States.
00:41:08
Speaker
But I think Canadians that don't play major junior are now going to be in a tough spot to go the NCAA route. Now that being said, it might open an opportunity where the CIS, so you sport the university level in Canada, you know, is maybe looked at a little bit more.
00:41:29
Speaker
Cause I don't think people give you sport the credit it deserves for the level of play that it is. And a lot of guys kind of get forgotten about there. And to me, it's like, you know, maybe now this is a shot for some of these guys that go the U sport route to get a bit of a look. Um, just because there's going to be some talent there that.
00:41:55
Speaker
didn't go the quote unquote traditional path of the CHL and then the NCAA. Um, but I do think junior hockey in Canada is going to be hurting, which sucks. Um, and yeah, I dunno, it's, it's a weird situation. It's, it's uncharted territory for me right now. It's going on. Cause when I played, it was very cut and dry. You kind of had.
00:42:23
Speaker
your one route in minor hockey and then it was basically two routes from there. You could either go major junior if you were good enough at a young enough age or if you're kind of a more later bloomer, you could kind of go junior A and then potentially NCAA and go that route. So, which I think for goalies,
00:42:42
Speaker
was good because to me, my experience, a lot of the goalies that are good enough at 16 or 17 to go major junior, you know, can kind of peter out a little bit. And some of those guys that, you know, marinate a little bit and juniors in the NCAA kind of come out, um, developed and ready to go for, for pro, but.
00:43:08
Speaker
That's just my opinion on it. It's a bit of a mess. Yeah, it it definitely, definitely is. I mean, again, like. You're knocking on Tier two Junior A leagues, and that's kind of where my birthright is, I guess, but you're right. um The way that I look at it. Again, kind of with a little bit of ignorance.
00:43:32
Speaker
um I say it's a kind of a good thing. And I say that again, because I'm all for fair play. I'm all for maximizing, for lack of a better term, the talent pool. Because I've seen it. I've seen instances where there are a lot of.
00:43:53
Speaker
great players both skaters and goalies who get snubbed out by getting the traditional route because of either internal politics or they get beat out by another player who is who is better than them but can play at the same level Um, but I think even cause like, again, like my coaching career, I don't think I've ever once coach for a traditional team on my own. I've coached for like, I've done a couple of things for like my brother's hockey teams in minor hockey and here at Edmonton, but a lot of.
00:44:36
Speaker
My credentials are a lot of kind of where my stuff is, um comes from like the Spring Hockey League, comes from the Outlaw the Outlaw Tier 2, Junior A, GMHL, West League, RIP, and then the traditional um Junior B League in that regard.
00:45:00
Speaker
as As the saying always goes, all roads lead to beer league, but now the road has expanded and now there are a whole bunch of other detours that can happen, which eventually will still lead to the same spot at one point or another.
00:45:16
Speaker
but I'm interested to see where it goes and just kind of see where the, where it was, how much talent gets brought forward, gets brought moving forward. Um, I think it helps in the same breath because again, with Canada hurting with, um, again, i'm trying to compete with the USA's, what is it, uh,
00:45:45
Speaker
The national development. Oh yeah. Uh, it's yeah. 50 by 30. So they want 50 or 51 by 30. They want 51% of the minutes played in the PWHL and NHL to be American.
00:45:59
Speaker
right um so by thirty Yes. So with so with that, I think it expands the for lack of a better term market for Canadian players and I'm looking specifically at goalies.
00:46:15
Speaker
to kind of, and I think that in a way kind of counteracts what the USA is doing is a great, absolutely is not. And we've touched on that in one of the archived episodes, excuse me. um But again, I think in the I look at it from again, with ignorance, um if I were playing in today's game,
00:46:40
Speaker
and Seeing all these options. It does make me a little bit more excited rather than going the traditional route that was laid out when I played getting to see all these options of Outlaw leagues and just kind of the the different possible options that could potentially land a a pro hockey career or a or a major junior career again, it's it's all of this right now is still in its infancy stage, for lack of a better term, so it'll be interesting to see where this is at five, five to seven years from now. And with the NCAA opening of stores, yes, it does run the risk now of a lot of the Canadian major junior players with great talent to go that route. But I think, again, it it it forces the the current standing
00:47:35
Speaker
programs that that we have out there to find a way to retain these guys however they however they can do so. On top of again, if we look back at just kind of like the minor hockey league type sign of things, it forces now the the traditional route to do whatever they can to compete with the with the non-traditional route recently in ontario they have expanded them or they think they just got rid of the borders entirely when it came to minor hockey so if you were living in durham let's say you could go play for i know i'm just gonna say oakville because that's a town that i know um
00:48:18
Speaker
But the the point, but that's but that's the point that i'm that I'm trying to make, right? And so now it forces these minor hockey programs to say, well, hey, if we want to keep the guys that we have, we have to start offering more whatever that however whatever that looks like. Incentive training, however that goes to say, like hey, we want to keep these guys in our in our organization.
00:48:43
Speaker
what are we going to offer that that may be the other maybe that maybe the other program doesn't, right? And again, like you said, that's where Hockey Canada has kind of dropped the ball because they've gotten, they've been so set in what they were doing, thinking, oh, we're not going to, there's no competition with us. we're the We're the national body and everybody who comes through us is, we're only going to take the people essentially. That's what they said.
Rise of Unsanctioned Leagues
00:49:08
Speaker
They're only going to take the people that we like. and and move them forward. Now you've got leagues like the JPHL, HSL, PHL, anything, HL. That has said, no, we're going to come in here and now. We're going to take your guys that you like and you're going to have to basically fight us in order to keep them. Yeah, which on one hand kind of sucks because I think
00:49:37
Speaker
It's really added to the cost of hockey, which is already yeah up, which is a barrier to entry that sucks. The one thing I will say though, about the NCAA thing is.
00:49:51
Speaker
I do you think that the one good thing is it offers an opportunity for some of these younger kids who might not be ready to make that jump, to have a couple more years to marinate at a level that's still highly regarded by the pros. Whereas before, again, just going back to the U-Sport thing, unfortunately,
00:50:15
Speaker
that league didn't get as many looks. Um, and so now these guys that might not be ready at 19 or 20 to make that jump now kind of have a couple more years to to do that, not at a pro level. Um, but yeah, I mean,
00:50:36
Speaker
There's so many ways to go about it now here in Canada. I just get a little worried that some kids are gonna get lost. And the other thing too is, and I don't know what the minor hockey streams like as much, I'll find out over the next couple of years as our kids get into it, but
00:51:04
Speaker
I, I know politics has always existed. I know the pressure on kids has always existed, but I feel like it's amplified now, especially with these unsanctioned leagues, at least where we are. Like it's, it's ridiculous. The things that people expect out of the goalies that we work with at 10 years old, like These kids at 10 that we are working with in these unsanctioned leagues are better than I was at 15. And yet they're still like, I'm still getting calls about, Oh,
00:51:45
Speaker
we need you to come do this or I need to talk to you about this because our goalies are getting you know they're losing games for us and they're dropping too early and they're not standing up they're you know whatever like and it's like dude they're 10 they're 11 they're 12 ah Of course, they're getting beat. They're not supposed to be having a 920 save percentage. It's perfectly normal for them to have an 870 save percentage. That's probably your league average. It's perfectly normal that out of the five goals they let in in a game, that three of them probably aren't great. It's a process. We're not going to go out for a session.
00:52:32
Speaker
and make them better. And I just feel like, I don't know, um like with some of this stuff, it almost seems like people are now like, cause some of these leagues have paid coaches at 10, which on one hand can be beneficial, but on the other hand now, you know, you've got guys who think that they're kind of coaching to save their job as opposed to coaching to develop kind of thing. Right. and Yeah.
00:52:57
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, there's pros to how things have changed. There's cons to it.
Research: Informed Hockey Decisions
00:53:03
Speaker
Just do your research. Like Connor said, figure out the best way for your situation to go. And I still am a firm believer that if you put in the work and develop what you need to develop both on and off the ice,
00:53:26
Speaker
If you're a good person, and you're outspoken, you're personable, you get to know people you go out of your way to kind of, you know, I guess be a good person like just That'll go a long way. And yes, unfortunately, some people, even though they should be at certain levels, aren't going to make it. and It's just the reality and it sucks, but more often than not, those people get rewarded. So wherever you end up, whatever route you go, put in the work, be a good person.
00:54:09
Speaker
And a lot of times good things will come back to you. So I don't know. I don't know if I have much more to say about it. yeah well it's i mean we can you again We can have a whole nother pod episode on that.
00:54:25
Speaker
um But no, again, this it was it's it's an interesting dynamic and it's interesting just to kind of just spectate what we're seeing happening in the change of hockey culture here in Canada right now.
00:54:40
Speaker
um And again, you're right as well. There are pros and cons to to it. um Me being a glass half full type guy, I try to look at the more positives than I do negatives. But again, it's the negatives that you that you kind of have to focus on as well. but A smart hockey player or family or agent or whoever you call will do the research, will not be afraid to ask the tough questions and make that decision and whether it's the right fit for them. And I think now and we where things are at and this will kind of be my last point here.
00:55:25
Speaker
Where things were out right now with the amount of options that we have the onus is on the family to the family I say as a broad term To kind of make that decision to kind of Do what they think is gonna be best for them even if it doesn't work out We've talked about it in previous podcasts before even if even if you're in a situation right now That may not be favorable if you put yourself in that situation. You got to kind of make your bed and lie in it Right. So again, do your research, take the time with it. Um, Google's a beautiful thing. It really is. And, uh, um, you'll kind of make your path moving forward again, like the, with the Pete Fry episode that we had, however, long ago now, where it was kind of like your, your, your goalie map. I think he called it.
00:56:16
Speaker
um Just kind of where about the career Yeah, exactly kind of where where it is it that that you want to be Whatever that may look like um So and I and like and I think that I think that's a great way of going about it it can you can't really you can rely on the organization whoever you're with to provide you the the resources to to get better and but it's up to you at the end of the day to put yourself in the situation where you want to be. The organization will play ah play a bit of a hand in that, but it is still up to the athlete to get from point A to point B, essentially. So that'll that'll kind of be my last thought thought there. it'll be um It'll be interesting to kind of watch that as we go.
00:57:06
Speaker
and kind of maybe revisit this in ah in ah in in a couple of years and kind of see whether our opinions have changed or not. Yeah, well, I do think Hockey Canada, as it is right now, is not going to be the same 10 years from now, if it still even exists. But yeah, if you guys do have any questions or need some clarification or whatever,
00:57:36
Speaker
you can reach out to us and we will do our best to help out or to try and find somebody who can help out. um Cause I mean, that's kind of why we started all of this was the lack of support that goalies get. Um, that was kind of the philosophy behind starting the DIY goalie was to try and make a step to help. So if you guys have any questions, you can reach out to info at the DIY goalie or goalies, sorry, info at the DIY goalie.com.
00:58:12
Speaker
or goalies at truenorthgoldtending dot.com. And we will do our best to kind of, you know, get some input for you, um kind of work off of our experience too. Cause like it's, it is new to us as well. Like the landscape's changed so much that we're trying to navigate it as well on our end. um And then like I said, I mean, our five year old just started playing hockey this year, so I'll get,
00:58:41
Speaker
right in the thick of it over the next, you know, 15 years as our youngest one works as his way up to our two year old. ah So, um, yeah, you guys can reach out to us. We'll do our best to help out where we can or point you in a direction towards somebody who might be able to. Um, but yeah, just,
00:59:02
Speaker
Do your best for your own situation and you know, nobody's going to look out for you guys as much as you guys are going to look out for you guys. So keep that in mind and do the right things, but do it for yourself. Yeah. And I'll leave it at that. Yeah. Sounds good. And I think, yeah, we'll, uh, we'll cap it off there. So.
00:59:28
Speaker
Thank you very much for watching. If you are watching over on the YouTube side of things at the DIY goalie channel, um if you are new to watching our videos, make sure you guys give us a like and a subscribe. um It's completely free. It takes no more than 10 seconds to to hit those both buttons and go at it from there. If you are listening on you a happy dance.
00:59:53
Speaker
okay you know what I was totally like going to do this like perfectly professionally and then now just went down now just went down the rabbit hole anyways uh if you are listening on any podcast platforms I heart spotify Apple podcast first off Thank you very much for listening If you are a returning listener if this just so happens to be the very first podcast that you're listening for the first time of ours Welcome to the family and make sure you hit that follow button Because we upload every try to upload every Tuesday as long as Nathan can get his social medias under control um if ah
01:00:34
Speaker
go check out our ah Go check out our website www.TheDIYGoalie.com. We have a lot of interesting blogs and articles and drills and all that stuff. We do offer like a goal tending breakdown kind of thing, as well as we have a whole bunch of merch all over on in our store there as well. um I think my my favorite right now is I don't talk to myself. My posts are listening. That's one of my favorite graphics that we have.
01:01:01
Speaker
um it's But yeah, no, go go check us out the DIY goalie dot com. And that's kind of that's kind of where you get to all your fixes. there That's where we also get. That's also where we put up our drills. I think we have to update our drill bank on there. I think we've been talking about it for a while, but we do have to do have to upload or update that rather. But yeah, I have a busy offseason ahead of me. Yes. he Yes. Nathan does. I'll probably I will help him out. Trust me, he won't do it alone.
01:01:31
Speaker
um And yeah, but if you are happen if you do happen to come travel to the Edmonton area here in Canada, ah go check us out. Like on Nathan's sweatshirt there. True North Gold Tending, that is our in-house gold tending company that Nathan runs. And I just so happen to be on staff. um We have a lot of great stuff happening over there right now. We do offer, or we do have our camps.
01:01:59
Speaker
Uh, for this upcoming summer live, uh, we have one for July. What is it? July 29th to 31st. Yeah. So three July 29 to 30. Yeah. July 29 to the 31st. And then our week long camp, which is August 11th to the 15th. Right. Nailed it. Nailed it. Exactly. I know what I'm doing. Uh, but yeah, so we do have those summer camps readily available right now. I believe booking has been actually pretty solid.
01:02:29
Speaker
Right. Yeah. We've got, we're almost a quarter of the way booked on the week long one. Okay. Yeah. All right. Sweet. Right on. Well, that is exciting, but yeah, so lots of spots available still. So go check us out www.truenotagolattending.com.
01:02:45
Speaker
We do also offer our offering right now some facility sessions. ah We do offer um facility sessions all, not all day, every day, but basically basically all day, every day. um So if you are in the Edmonton area and you want to come train on the synthetic ice with us, kind of more of a one-on-one or two-on-one or three-on-one kind of ah personalized session area, again, you can go check us out at truenorthgoldtending.com.
01:03:11
Speaker
There and I'll check out all of the other fun stuff that we have In terms of in terms of sessions and pricing wise we do also have like a first time goalie um Offer that we still have running at the moment. So go check that out as well Beyond that though, ah go check out our social medias for the DIY goalie. Everything is just listed as the DIY goalie. ah Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, which surprisingly hasn't been banned. um And then for True North Goaltenings, it's the same deal. It's it's all True North Goaltening on your favorite social media platforms. Aside from Instagram, because we like to be different, you can follow us there at YEGolleyCoach.com. calm. Nathan, am I missing anything? No, but just not the dot com. It's just why G goalie coach. Oh, well, Instagram. but i almost know I almost got it. I almost got it. Anyways, it's been a fun one. Hopefully everybody took something away from this. I think this was a really good detailed episode. So I'm quite happy with that. Without it turned out today. Yeah, I thought so, too. Perfect. Make some saves, goalies. We'll see you next time. Take care.