Unfortunately, this is not the only hockey association neglecting their goalies.

What would happen if a coach simply dropped the pucks on the ice at practice and just worked with the goalies?  15 – 18 hockey players just skating around with pucks at a $1000 per season.  No passing drills, skating drills, breakouts, defensive and offensive zone positions being taught at all.  Every now and then, the coach would yell at the players to skate.  How developed would these players be at the end of the year?  Better yet, how many parents would be at the board meetings complaining?  Yet, this is to be expected if your child is a goalie. 

Instead of the coach yelling at you to skate, he yells ”Cover the puck!” Or, the other brilliant variation, “Cover that puck!”  Coaches are not to blame.  In fact, most coaches do not know how to coach goalies.  Most of the coaches were players, not goalies.  Joe Bertanga, a writer for USA Hockey and a former goalie, understands this situation better than most.  “One of the biggest problems in the development of goalies is how they are used at practice.  Or, in some cases, not used.” (my emphasis)  If you are a goalie parent, you know this statement is true.  So, share this great article titled “Guidelines for Goalies at practice” in the USA Hockey August 2008 magazine with your coach. 

My son was fortunate.  His first coach understood he didn’t know how to coach goalies.  He went to the board and said the association needs to hire a goalie coach.  A  small association (120 skaters and registration fee’s $300) understood the importance of goalie instruction.  And that is how Kevin and I got to know each other.  He was hired as the goalie coach. 

Another small association realized the importance of goalie training and hired CreaseWarriors for their goalies this year.  These goalies will get 14 weeks of 1 hour training.  Their registration fee is around $500.  Each of these associations had a grand total of 8 goalies.  The hockey association with $1000 fee’s will have about 65 goalies in the association.  You do the math and see which association really cares about their goalies. 

Oh, did I forget to mention the large association is going to post a picture for the “Goalie of the Week?”  Supposedly having your picture shown at the rink will generate more interest and retain their goalies.  I have a brilliant idea to generate interest and retain goalies: Train them to succeed!  Give them the training to have the confidence between the pipes not an 8″x10″ glossy.  You can still do the picture but show the goalies and their parents you are committed to see them improve.  Not just take their money.

There are options for hockey associations where I live.  Besides CreaseWarriors, I know of 3 other full time goalie training businesses.  Most of these will travel and help train goalies or they will come in and train your coaches.  If this is not an option, try to find someone in the association with Major Juniors or College goaltending experience.  Just pay them!  Why you ask?  By paying money, the association would strongly advise goalies to attend and hold coaches accountable.  I don’t suggest using the father or mother who played goalie in high school.  They tend to favor their child and the other goalies will notice.  Also, they are volunteers and after the first night the numbers will dramatically decrease.  Lastly, what training did they get when they were goaltenders?  Do you really want bad habits given to the goalies in your association just to save a few dollars?

If your association does not have goaltender training, I would ask why not.  I would be at the next board meeting asking why.  Goalies have the hardest position on the team and they should be given proper training.  I can tell you goalies want proper training.  They want to excel at their position but are frustrated at the lack of training.  At $1000, I would be frustrated as a parent. 

But then again, at what price do goalies get training?

Rod Serling

Picture this, you a die hard Blackhawk’s fan having been removed from society for just one year.  You were in the Peace Corp or went on a mission trip.  Your journey took you to Brazil or Kenya.  You get the picture.  You fly into O’Hare airport on August 1, 2008.  After hours of reacquainting with family and friends, you want to sit back and relax.  You decide to read the Chicago Tribune.  What you didn’t imagine, did.

Headline, “Scotty Bowman has joined the Chicago Blackhawk’s as a senior advisor for hockey operations.“  You pause for a moment, try to refocus your eyes as your brain is trying to comprehend what it just read.  You wonder, is it really Scotty Bowman, the winning-est NHL coach of all time and 11 time Stanley Cup winner, from the Detroit Red Wings?  You murmur why would he want to leave Detroit for Chicago?  And then you read a statement by him that says, “The Hawks with the team they have…” Team?  What team do they have?  Hmm…..

Your brother in-law walks by and you ask him about the Blackhawk’s.  The next hour long conversation was more than you expected.  The enthusiasm in his voive and his body language catches you off guard.  He tells you that the Blackhawk’s made quite a splash in the free agent signing by acquiring Brian Campbell who was the third leading scorer for defensemen last year and was coveted by a lot of teams.  Also, signing with the Blackhawk’s was goaltender Cristobal Huet.  You ask, what happened to Nikolai Khabibulin?  He tells you that “Khabi” is playing like the “Bulin Wall” again.  You begin feeling pretty good about the goaltending this year.  Next he tells you, the “Rookie of the Year” was won by Blackhawk Patrick Kane for the first time since goalie Ed Belfour in 1990-91.  He also edged out fellow line mate Jonathan Toews for the award and in doing so created a buzz in Chicago.  The last thing he talks about is Martin Havlat and what if he could stay healthy.  All this news has created a sensory overload.  You inform your brother in-law you need to rest.

Later that evening you awake and decide to watch some television.  While channel surfing, you stop on WGN-TV.  A commercial for the Chicago Blackhawks airs.  You see that 20 games will be broadcast on WGN-TV for the first time since 1975 and that for the first time in history, all 82 games will be broadcast either by cable or free television in the Chicago area.  And then Blackhawks Chairman W. Rockwell “Rocky” Wirtz says, “Our fans want to be able to follow our team on a consistent basis from opening night through the playoffs.  That’s why we are taking this step forward. Bringing Chicago Blackhawks hockey to our fans on both cable and free television will help us to continue the momentum and enthusiasm we have established this year. The combination of Comcast SportsNet and WGN-TV will give the Blackhawks two vehicles to expose both our young players and our seasoned veterans.”  The organization wants to please the fans after all these years.  The excitement of waiting years to watch a home game on television is overwhelming.  You start to hyper-ventilate.  It takes you awhile and a paper bag to calm down.  After all these years of imagining what if, that day has finally arrived.

Scott

For example, by the end of the week they were critiquing themselves before we could say anything in the video sessions.   Or, we would say their name and they would comment back, “I see the mistake.”  Their bodies were leaning forward in the chair trying to absorb the video.  Their intensity was like the footage in the movie “Miracle” when Herb Brooks is showing film about the Russian hockey team.  In the beginning they were joking, but then they wanted to learn.  It was an incredible transformation over the week.

Dry land training the most popular event at camp?!  To be honest, I never pictured dry land being this popular at camp. After two hours of hard on-ice work, the goalies would head outside to jog, run ladder drills, and have hand-eye coordination competitions (The losers would have to do push-ups or sit-ups).  Everyday when the goalies got dressed, all they would talk about was dry land.  There would be the inevitable questions like “What are we going to do?” or “Are we going to do that drill again.”  Or, the parents or the goalies’ siblings would comment about dry land training at home.  It got to the point that they would get upset if dry land was cut short for video sessions.  They started showing up early and getting dressed quickly just so they could have a full dry land session.  The part that stuck out the most to me was the last night of camp when we finished the award ceremony 5 minutes early.  Do you think they were running to get their hockey gear and leave?  No, they wanted to head outside for 5 more minutes of dry land training.   Dedicated goalies – their teams will reap the rewards from their goalies hard work.

I will give you one example of a seemingly little thing from this past week.  The first two days of camp there was one goalie who was always the last to get on the ice.  His mother asked me about game preparation.   I explained the routine my son has and how early we get to the rink.  He has had this routine since he was 8 years old and each year he wants to get to the rink earlier and earlier.  After that conversation, for the next three days her son was either first or second to the rink.  He was dressed and ready to skate ten minutes early.  He was extremely focused.  He would diligently work with a bungee ball right next to my son perfecting their hand-eye coordination.  This young man was awarded “Most Improved” for the week.  On the final day of camp, he won the skills competition.  His expression – priceless!  Upon receiving his award, he commented that he wished camp was a few days longer.  I will see this goalie in a couple of weeks when fall AAA hockey starts again and look forward to seeing his progression.

I truly believe you start a hockey team from the goalie and work out.  Too many coaches work the opposite way.  Hopefully, the coaches see their dedication and hard work.  If the goalie is the hardest working person on the team then it should trickle down to all the players.  All these little things are not little at all!

“COMMON MEN GO NOWHERE.
YOU HAVE TO BE UNCOMMON.”  Again…    Herb Brooks

Oh by the way, we have two cats. 

 What does this have to do with hockey?  I will show you.  You see, the Abominable is my ten year old goalie son, Colin, and I am Daffy.  That is correct, I am the one that puts his foot in his bill (I mean mouth).  

When the playoffs started this year Colin asked me, “Who would win the Stanley Cup this year?”  I gave this a lot of thought (one second) and said, “the Ducks.”  He thought about my response for a couple of seconds and then proceeded to bombarded me with questions.  I should have seen the set up, but nooooo!  I gave (what I thought were) intelligent answers to each question.

Question #1- Who do you think will win between the Wild and the Avalanche?  I predicted the Wild.  My biggest mistake, you see Colin is a huge Avalanche fan.  I explained goaltending would be the reason and Backstrom was a better goaltender than Theodore (foot has left the floor).

Right away came question #2- You don’t think Theodore is a good goalie?  I explained Theodore is okay, but not as solid as Backstrom.  Just for the record -Theodore stats .940 save % and a 2.00 goals against, Backstrom stats .888 save % and a 2.83 goals against for the series (foot is at waist level).

 #3. Why do you think the Ducks will win?  My answers were: they are stronger, physical, defensive and have a strong goaltender in Giguere.  All good points.  Or so I thought (foot- shoulder level).

Immediately was the question “So, you don’t think Dallas is a good team?”  I thought about this one for a couple of seconds (showing some wisdom, but obviously not enough).  I gave my reasons why the Ducks were better and gave a few more reasons:  Dallas over the last 10 games was 3-5-2.  The Ducks were 8-2-0.  Dallas had not won a playoff series in five years.  Dallas goaltender, Turco, is a good regular season goaltender, but can’t handle playoff pressure.  I won’t go into the painful detail how Turco was better than Giguere (foot completely inserted in mouth).

Every answer I gave responded in another question – I won’t tell who I predicted in the Eastern conference(Montreal).  The Abominable picked Pittsburgh.  Montreal is in a fight with Boston, and Pittsburgh swept Ottawa.  The image of Daffy is really in full focus now.  I can state that every day during these playoffs, my son asks, “Who won last night?”  I give him the scores and he proceeds to let out a one arm pump “yes” and gives me that cheesy smile.  Has it been painful? Oh yeah!  Does he remind me of my picks?  Every chance he gets and he loves every minute of it.  Have I learned anything?  Yes, that behind every Abominable lies a ten year old goalie setting up his dad to be Daffy.  And that is why I am minding my own crease… 

Crazy!  What is he thinking?  Are you sure?  What will you do?  These were just a few of the phrases we heard from some of our family and many of our friends. Then, there was the other perspective from acquaintances, some family and really close friends.  Their comments were go for it! sounds like a great idea! and good luck. So, what did we do? Did we quit? Did I return to the comfort of my familiar boat (my old job)? No! With the winds blowing hard and the waves crashing all around, we just kept on walking.

Two months later, our website is up and running (built by me - what an adventure & even more blogging material).  ”CreaseWarriors” is an LLC, camp dates are set, coaching staff assembled and numerous little things completed. It is amazing how fast the time has passed.  Each day new opportunities seem to arise, and our vision just keeps growing. Is it exciting? Yes!!

During the past two months, did I question my decision? You bet!! Could I have started the business and kept working?  Absolutely!!  But as my wife said to me recently, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”  So here I am trusting God and minding my own crease…