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| All for one, and one for all. |
During the summer months, I spend so much time at goalie camps that it's easy to forget that these netminders are only one part of a multi-faceted team. An important part, but a part just the same. Which is why it's so crucial that goalies embrace the concept of teamwork, and their role as a key cog in that organization. It's never about "me" ... It's about "us." Here are some thoughts on the topic, originally printed in the New England Hockey Journal and the New York Hockey Journal. Let me know what you think ...
Why coaches must
preach "team" for everyone, including goaltenders
This past summer, my eldest daughter
(not a hockey player) and I had an animated discussion about team
sports. Her swim team was having an end-of-the-season pizza party,
and she wanted to invite a friend who wasn't on the team.
"No way," I told her, just
that bluntly.
"Why, Dad?" she replied
(repeatedly). "It's no big deal."
"I disagree, honey. It is a
big deal," I countered. "This is an event for you and your
teammates. It's not about hanging out with your other friends. This
is about all the kids on the swim team. Your team."
I've been involved with team sports for
so long that I consider these basic tenets to be absolute truths. But
things are different today. I've seen family gatherings where parents
allow their kids to bring a friend, instead of encouraging them to
play with their cousins or – God forbid – interact with the
adults. To me, that's just bizarre.
To make a hockey comparison, a team is
a collection of the individuals in the locker room. Really good teams
nourish that environment, building a true "team" where
players care for and rely on each other. Critical to that development
is including the goaltenders.
All too often, hockey goaltenders are
separated, both consciously and subconsciously, from their team.
That's never a good thing. The reality is that the position is
already set apart by it's very nature. We stand in one place, for the
entire game, while the action swirls from end-to-end, and the players
change up as often as my wife changes her mind about what color to
paint the house. When a goal gets scored, everyone else heads to the
bench, but the goalie is left alone to dig the puck out of the net.
That's no fun (speaking from experience).
Remember, youngsters aren't drawn to
the position because they're loners. More often than not, they're
attracted by the unique responsibilities that come with playing goal.
For me, I always loved the idea of being a difference maker, and
being the one player that, if I was really on my game, could prevent
an entire team from winning (which didn't happen as often as I would
have liked, but that's another story). The point is, despite loving
the actual position, I was disappointed by just how rare it was to
feel like the goalies were actually being incorporated into the
team.
Frustratingly, you see this in many,
many aspects of the sport, both in practice and in games. For
example, I've lost count of the number of times I've seen a coach
pull the team together during a drill, but leave the goalie standing
in the net 30, 40 feet away. That doesn't make any sense to me, but I
suspect that the coach isn't even thinking of it in terms of an
insult. It's just an error of omission, but one that gets compounded
each time it's repeated. Eventually, the goalie loses interest.
Now, this is important, because it's
not a part of the game we, as goalie coaches, can teach effectively
during our goalie clinics or mini-ice sessions. Those are primarily
reserved for the art of stopping the puck (though we do discuss
team-oriented topics like reading the play, or being a good passer).
Team practices are the best environment to bring goaltenders on board
with everyone else. Still, even in the team practice setting, I've
been told by coaches "Just work with the goalies," as if
it's such a specialty that the rest of the team couldn't possibly
benefit from what I'm teaching (here's a hint … goalie coaches know
a few things about how to put the puck in the net!).
So, while I'm telling the young
netminder to take charge, instructing teammates about where to be and
who to cover, the same young netminder is left out of the discussion
by his or her coaches. The result is often a goaltender who isn't on
the same page as his or her teammates. In a sport as fast and
mercurial as hockey, that can only lead to trouble.
In other words, Quistgard is asking coaches to "explain to the goalies what their responsibilities are." And those responsibilities go far beyond the classic, short-sighted edict of "just stop the puck."
Ultimately, coaches should want a
goaltender who thinks like them, or at the very least can bring their
game plan to the ice. As Quistgard says, we see the entire ice, much
like a point guard in basketball, a catcher in baseball, or a
quarterback in football. I tell my youngsters that the position
brings with it natural leadership responsibilities. And leaders can't
be passive.
For the majority of the game, goalies
are in the calm eye of the hurricane. Positional players are actually
in the hurricane, chasing the puck or the play over the entire
200-by-85 expanse of ice. Goalies, though, know the play is coming to
them. That makes us invaluable teammates. It's never too early to
start learning what the coach expects of not only you, but all the
players, at every position. At the younger levels, keep it really
simple. If there's a loose puck, tie it up and get a whistle. If your
defenseman is chasing a puck behind the net let him know if he has
time to make a play (either skating the puck or making a break out
pass), or if he has a forechecker in hot pursuit.
As goalies climb the ladder of youth
hockey through high school and even college, their responsibilities
grow, from verbal commands to puck-handling duties, and I plan to
detail those in later columns. In short, though, they are more
involved. The point today is that goalies should never think of
themselves as a castaway on an island. They are part of a team, and
being a good teammate means more than simply stopping the puck.
Coaches, you need to realize that too.
I was lucky in high school. After practices, my coach would drive me
to my part-time job at Osco Drug, and we'd talk about various aspects
about the game, and the team. It gave me a chance to prove that I
knew what was going on. And to his credit, my coach listened. Neither
of us had all the answers (we were, in fact, not a very good team), but at least the two of us were on the
same page. And that can only be a good things for a hockey team.
FINIS
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