Camps help solve the auto-body shop approach to coaching

Stop It's Steve Silverthorn with a young netminder.

Hi gang,

There's nothing like watching college playoff hockey to reinforce not only how important the position of goaltender is to a championship team (check out UMass Lowell's Connor Hellebuyck posting back-to-back shutouts to capture the Hockey East tournament), but also the importance of good goalie coaching and training.

One of my ongoing crusades is to educate "regular" coaches on the importance of "goalie-friendly" drills. This doesn't mean "easy" drills ... it means drills designed to help your goaltender improve, while avoiding developing bad habits. Despite how obvious that sounds, it's quite remarkable how often coaches can't "see" the downsides to endless shooting drills. But that crusade is a work in progress. In the meantime, the best option I can suggest to make sure your young netminders develop good habits and proper techniques is to have them attend a good goalie camp. Here are some thoughts on the topic, which originally ran in the New England Hockey Journal ...

##

Goalie camps can help solve the auto-body shop approach to coaching

One of the great frustrations that hockey coaches have is when their goalies make the same mistake, time and time again. I appreciate that. In fact, I often tell my students, "You just got beat to the same spot three straight times. You've got to try to figure it out."

The difference is that I have higher expectations of adult coaches than I do of a 12-year-old goalie. Yet it's often the coaches who can't "figure it out." They keep running practices the same way, day after day after day, and somehow expect the goalie to miraculously make the necessary changes to avoid old mistakes, or break bad habits. Here's one of my favorite examples.

In practice, Coach Stan wants continuous action. He yells "Play it, play it," every time the goalie has a chance to cover the puck. The kid is actually being told to bat the puck away, instead of getting the whistle. So in a game, that's what he does, because that's what he's always been told to do, despite the fact that Coach Stan is screaming from the bench, "We need a whistle! Cover the puck!"

What Coach Stan doesn't realize is that covering rebounds, and getting a whistle, is a learned skill. It doesn't just "happen." Most kids will instinctively poke a puck away, instead of covering it up. And when you poke the puck away, it's live. And that means you're not getting the whistle you desperately need.

Here's another. Coach Stan is muttering about how his goalies aren't following shots, and are losing sight of the rebounds. But in practice, Coach Stan has 15 kids lined up, firing pucks at his goalies in rapid-fire succession. So his young goalies don't dare follow each shot, because they know another shot is coming from the next kid (who, in all likelihood, isn't even looking to see if the goalie is ready or not).

Now, does Coach Stan make that connection, and change his practices to reflect "real game" scenarios? Rarely, from what I've seen over the years. Instead, they think the goalies need some sort of special tutoring, and that's when they hire us, the professionals.

I call this the "auto body shop" school of goalie coaching. When you get into a fender-bender, that's the place you look to, right? You bring your prized set of wheels down to the auto body shop, leave it for a few days, and they deliver it back to you, good as new. Essentially, far too many coaches do the same thing with their goalies.

Let's take the analogy a step further. If you're constantly visiting the auto body shop because you're constantly getting into accidents, then you might need to change your driving habits. It's one thing to have your vehicle fixed, it's another to make sure it stays fixed. But young goalies often fall back into bad habits in regular practices because the drills aren't designed for them. The problem is that their coaches don't reinforce any of the lessons taught in private clinics (the auto body shop), because they have no idea what's being taught.

What's the solution? Start by taking ownership. The goalie is part of your team, and you owe in to the goalies, and the team as a whole, to familiarize yourself with the position. The best place to do that is taking in a goalie camp, and the best time to do that is the off-season. Grab an extra jacket, a spot in the stands, and bring a notebook. Consider it a free education.

Look for camps that have a long track record, a solid reputation (ask around), and a dedicated curriculum that starts on a solid foundation. Skating is absolutely essential, and better camps incorporate skating and proper technique during warm-ups. Follow closely, and realize just how different goalie-specific skating technique is compared to positional players, and how different the skating drills are.

Next, keep a close eye on the shooting drills. Try to avoid the "big picture," since most goalie camps will look like a six-ring circus when you first walk in, with two dozen or more goalies and multiple stations running simultaneously. For the uninitiated, it can look like mayhem. It's not. Or at least it's "controlled" mayhem. So rather than trying to understand the entire scene, focus on each individual station.

Notice how each station has a specific purpose. Good camps break down the position, and the game, in order to build the goalie. You should see separate drills that concentrate on different technical aspects, such as steering (with the stick blade, not the paddle), smothers (or body saves), glove and blocker, stickhandling (a vastly under-rated skill), crease movement and angle play, behind-the-net play, rebounds, desperation saves, and even "battle" stations where we can judge how competitive each youngster is.

Watch how good camps make the goaltenders follow every rebound. Every. Single. Time. OK, not every time (there are drills where we introduce multiple pucks, but for a specific reason). But almost always. This has to become almost instinctual. I often find myself yelling "Follow it!" or "Cover it!", explaining to my goalies afterward that that voice eventually has to come from between their own ears.

We want out goalies to train their bodies to follow their eyes, and their eyes need to be primarily focused on the puck before, during, and after the shot. One puck, as former UNH star and NHL goalie coach Cap Raeder likes to say. Stop It Goaltending's Brian Daccord calls this "visual attachment," and it's critical.

Next, good camps have good shooters. Truth is, the better the shooters, the better the camp. I don't mean guys who can snipe top-shelf all day. I'm talking about shooters, regardless of age, who don't have their own agenda, who can follow directions, and who can put the puck where the coaches want it in order to maximize instruction.

Especially with younger campers, we want our goalies to know where the puck is coming, so they can execute the proper save technique, and develop the requisite muscle memory to perform the same save in a "reaction" mode. With older goalies, I'll incorporate what I call the "70 percent rule," where shooters are only required to hit a predetermined spot 70 percent of of the time. That keeps goalies on their toes, and prevents them from playing "to the drill."

These drills will actually help the shooters as well, since they reinforce a level of discipline into their game (something most coaches are looking for in their players) while they learn the shots that goalies have the most trouble with (which is why the player who masters the backhand is so dangerous).

Finally, make sure the kids, and the coaches, are having a good time. Better camps are able to find that all-important balance between hard work and having fun. The two concepts aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, if a coach can keep the mood light, while asking the goalies to give everything they have, you have the best of both worlds.

That's just what you want in your regular practices. Drills that benefit every player, including the goaltenders, which will benefit the team as a whole. So take in a goalie camp, take good notes, learn a little more about the position, and incorporate those drills into your team's practices next fall. It's a true win/win scenario.

FINIS

Goalies, parents, coaches and the concept of "team"

A loser's salute.

Hi gang,

Well, I managed to let the month of February slip by without a single post. My bad. That's what happens when both cars need major repairs, and a faulty pressure release valve on the hot-water heater floods the basement. Fun, fun, fun. But, since there's no crying in hockey (or home and car ownership, for that matter), it's time to move on.

The story featured in this column is now a year old, but I just had a parent remind me that he watches the accompanying video often, if only to remind himself to maintain perspective when it comes to youth and high school hockey, and his own two children (both goaltenders). This particular column, which originally ran in the New England Hockey Journal, also gave me a chance to call on several outstanding goalie coaches, including Brian Daccord, Joe Bertagna, and Darren Hersh, to get their thoughts on what I felt was an act of supreme selfishness. Let me know what you think ...

##

Goalies, parents, coaches and the concept of "team"

So what are we to make of Austin Krause?

Don't know the name? Good for you. I'm hesitant to even dignify Krause's name with any additional mention, but it's next to impossible to tell this story without identifying the culprit. Just Google "Austin Krause," along with "goalie" and Farmington," and you'll find tales of how young Mr. Krause, a senior at Farmington High School in Minnesota, managed to disgrace himself while becoming something of an Internet sensation.

Here's the short version of Krause's tale. A disgruntled senior who started nine of Farmington's 23 games, Krause was upset about being demoted to backup to – gasp! – a sophomore. A Tweet from Austin obviously proves he knows better than his coaches: "They played this sophomore goalie for the starter, he was terrible, I would try and talk to the coaches about this and tell them I want playing time but they never really listen to me or gave me a chance to show them that I'm a better goalie."

Krause's numbers were decent (492 minutes, 5-4-1, 2.80 GAA, .877 save percentage), but they weren't as good as the sophomore starting ahead of him (548 minutes, 2.42 GAA, .901 save percentage). But instead of working his tail off, and proving he deserved to start, Krause apparently sat and stewed, and carefully plotted revenge.

On Senior Night, with the sophomore goalie out with an injury, Krause got the start against Chaska High. With three minutes left, and Farmington nursing a 2-1 lead, Krause calmly fielded a dump in, intentionally swept the puck into his own net, removed his blocker and flashed his middle finger toward his coaching staff, then ostensibly saluted his own team, and skated off the ice (with the help of friends, who obviously were waiting to open the door). Chaska, went on to win the game, 3-2.

Crazy, right? Not surprisingly, Krause was called into the principal's office and handed a 10-day suspension. Me? I would have forced him to come to school wearing a Chaska sweater and dunce cap, but that would probably violate the poor kid's civil liberties. And if the school system paid for even a dime of the kid's equipment, I'd withhold his diploma until every cent was repaid.

Even more shocking is the number of people who have come to Krause's defense, seeing something oddly noble in his actions. Take Fox 9 producer Doug Erlien, who wrote: "For those of us who had a problem with their high school coach at some point, what Krause did took courage. In no way am I trying to make him a hero here, but Krause took the 'stand in line and be a good soldier,' turned it around and shoved it right back in the face of the entire hockey world, including his team. Good team guy? Not a chance, but a part of me on the inside is standing and applauding and saying ‘'good for you kid, good for you.'"

It gets better. Erlien replied to comments that it was likely, in this day and age, that a prospective employers might search Krause's name, see the story, and immediately round-file his application. "If I were starting a company I'd want more guys like Krause working for me and I'd hire him in a minute. We need more passionate people who aren't afraid to put themselves out there and stand up for what they believe in popular or not."

Good luck with that, Doug. I can just see the first time Krause disagrees with his boss, loses his cool (because, of course, he's always right), and then makes a public display to embarrass not only himself and his company, but all of his company's clients. Yeah, just the guy I'd want on my staff.

There is something very, very rotten at the core of this story. And it starts and ends with Krause. He's a senior in high school, which means he's either 17 or 18. My girls, both teenagers, have known the difference between right and wrong since they were five, so I'm not going to let an 18-year-old off the hook. On the other hand, he's probably been coddled and told how great he is for a long, long time, and that definitely creates a sense of entitlement. I don't pretend to know all the particulars of Krause's home life, but the fact that his father has been banned from youth hockey games for a year speaks volumes.

"I know a coach who likes to say, 'Kids usually don't grow up to be like the neighbor's parents,'" said Joe Bertagna, former Boston Bruins and USA Olympic goaltending coach who runs Bertagna Goaltending. "What this kid did is wrong in so many ways, and I have to believe he has parents at home who have made him feel like a victim all year."

Exactly, said Brian Robinson, a managing director with Stop It Goaltending. "The kid started nine games out of 23 total, and he says the coach never gave him his chance? I can't stand what is happening to this new era of children who are so babied and pampered and given every single thing they want without ever being told no or being properly disciplined when they are in the wrong. I bet this kids parents gave him a pat on the back when he got out of that rink."

We, as goalie coaches, see this type of parental interference all the time. Sometimes they're right. Coaches do mess up, or play favorites. But how you deal with that hardship defines who you are.

"I think we can all agree we understand the kid's frustration as most of us have been involved in a similar situation in one form or another," said Sean Moloney, author of "Modern Goaltending, Modern Game." "His (desire) in this situation is clear, and understandable. This leaves us with the action. Which no matter how many ways I look at it is deplorable, petty, childish, selfish, and unforgivable."

In reality, some kids are never taught to deal with competition. "One of our issues is that kids play their birth year," said Brian Daccord, owner of Stop It Goaltending and a former Bruins goalie coach. "The whole team moves up each year. Therefore they do not have to compete for their spot like they did when levels consisted of two birth years. They get to high school they go from one birth year to four, with no experience or appreciation for competing to make a team. The old system was the way to go."

At the risk of painting with too broad a brush, it is a problem that's becoming all-too pervasive. "The pure selfishness in youth team sports today should not surprise us when we see this event take place," said Darren Hersh of The Goalie Academy. "I hear parents of players telling kids not to pass to teammates, but to keep the puck and to do it themselves. I've seen goalie partners cheer when their goalie teammate gets scored on."

"The selfishness that it takes, which is also encouraged and fueled by parents, seems to be at an all time high," said Hersh. "Not saying that deep down we all have felt jealousy, anger, and envy for our goalie competitors from time to time, but I've seen these emotions perfectly controlled and never revealed. To express those emotions by putting the puck in your own team's net only to make your own extremely selfish feelings known to the entire hockey world is beyond reprehensible.

"What is really disheartening, as a coach of youth hockey, is that the very important lessons that team sports like hockey can teach kids are the very lessons and values that a select group of parents do not know, understand, live, nor teach. Coaches today have to teach these values to both the kids AND to the parents, which is an exhausting undertaking to say the least."

Perhaps the greatest irony is that Krause wore No. 1. It's abundantly clear that Krause only care about one person, himself. His actions proved he was less than a back-up – he's a quitter.

FINIS