Pointers for the stretch-run ...

Hi gang,

I can't believe it's already the last day of February ... Man, the season is just flying by. Still, I wanted to get my monthly column from the New England Hockey Journal posted before March arrives, so here goes. A few critical pointers for goalies, coaches, and parents to keep in mind as the season begins to focus on the playoffs ...

ON SKATING, REBOUNDS, AND TEMPERS ...

February is the month where coaches and players (but coaches specifically) start looking to round their teams into playoff form. And, as most any coach will tell you, a goaltender can make or break a team's fortunes in the post-season. Just this past month, Sports Illustrated's Michael Farber exhumed one of the great adages regarding netminders: "Goaltending is 75 percent of your hockey team, unless you don't have it. Then it's 100 percent."

So, in that vein, I felt it was really important to touch on a few topics that coaches (and parents) ought to keep in mind during the stretch run. Some may sound familiar to my regular readers, but they bear repeating.

Skating

"When do I get to stop some shots?"

I've lost count of how many times I've heard this from young goalies. I don't blame them. Stopping shots is what we're all about, and the reason most kids take up the "tools of ignorance" in the first place. You never want to discourage that attitude.

Plus, skating drills are hard work, and they're potentially boring (although there is some room for creativity). Since most younger kids have the attention span of a hyperactive flea, keeping them engaged, without the added incentive of stopping some shots, can be tricky.

On the other hand, no one picks up a guitar and starts playing like Eric Clapton in the first sitting. Or dances like Fred Astaire (or even Beyonce) without putting in the requisite practice. In fact, the greats ones – musicians, dancers, hockey players – keep practicing, all the time. Expertise, or even competence, isn't something that is simply attained, but constantly nurtured and refined. It's the coach's job to teach goalies that their performance is inextricably tied to their skating ability. Here's why:

The first rule of goaltending is getting to the right place at the right time, in the right stance. The game is played at such a fast pace that, if you can't skate, you'll always be chasing the play. That's losing hockey.

For most positional players, the turning point in their development comes when they can skate and stickhandle at the same time. It is the proverbial "walking and chewing gum" moment. And it's easier said than done. The same holds for goaltenders. Until a goalie can get to the right spot without thinking "how" he's going to get there, he's going to be too slow.

Skating is the position's foundation. Unless a goaltender has a sturdy foundation, the rest of his game quickly falls apart. Coaches should make sure that their young netminders work on their goalie-specific skating technique before every practice.

This doesn't mean the skating drills that everyone else is doing. The old maxim "a goalie has to be one of the best skaters on the team" is true, but it's a very different type of skating. Coaches owe it to their team to understand those differences, and learn how to run a few basic goalie-specific skating drills (if you need some ideas, send me an email).

Rebounds

Shooting drills should be designed to allow the goalies to follow the rebound. Every. Single. Time. I'm constantly amazed to see high-end "elite" teams relentlessly running Old School shooting drills – a full-length dash followed by an uncontested shot – where the goalies are literally getting drilled. I call it my "One in 20 Rule." If you've got 20 kids lined up on the boards, for every shot that each kid takes, the goalie sees 20. At the end of "warm-ups," the poor kid has seen enough rubber to start a tire factory.

This makes no sense. Actually, it's borderline abusive. First, you risk frying the very player who you're counting on to come up big between the pipes. Chances are, they're not warmed up – they're worn down.

Second, players (goalie and shooter alike) don't learn to instinctively follow their rebounds. This has to be second nature, both if you want your team to score, and if you want your goaltender to keep the puck out of the net (this doesn't mean just looking at the rebound, but following it). In the shooting drills I run within a team setting, I always stress getting after the rebounds, for every player.

I'm often dumbfounded, when I come into a new coaching situation, by how some players need to actually be told to go for the rebound. That's a sign of myopic coaching. The mindset to get after rebounds is not a light switch that can be flicked on before a game; it has to be ingrained.

Some coaches avoid emphasizing rebounds because it means the second kid in line actually has to look and make sure the first kid has finished. Coaches see this as inefficient. I see it as discipline (another hallmark of good teams). If you insist on running the "One in 20" drill, get a shooter tutor, and let your goalies work on their skating.

Temper, temper

Teams can be fragile organisms. They consist of 12 to 18 individuals that form a bond over the course of the season, and nothing tests the strength of that bond like playoff hockey. Arguably, the single most important link in that chain is your goalie's demeanor.

If the youngster throws a tantrum every time a puck gets by him (or her), your team is going to get nervous. And nervous hockey players make more mistakes. Which leads to more goals. See where I'm going with this?

I've seen too many talented goaltenders let their teams down because they can't get their act together from the neck up. If a goalie melts down, either in practice or a game, it should be addressed immediately and firmly (though quietly in the first few instances). I like my goalies to be competitive, but never want them to confuse competitive fire with being undisciplined.

Instead, they have to learn to channel that energy in a positive manner. Even if they are absolutely raging inside, they must present a calm, confident appearance. That, like almost anything else regarding the position, takes practice (which is why tantrums should never be tolerated, even at practice).

Both parents and coaches need to be cognizant of this tendency. I once had a young student – now a starter for a D-1 program – tell me, after getting completely flustered and quit during one drill, "I don't do that in a game, coach." I had my doubts. Further, even if he didn't, he's already sowed similar seeds of doubt in the minds of his teammates. If teammates think their netminder is a hothead, they're going to be worried about whether that player can keep it together during a high-stakes game.

Again, doubt is a genuine threat to team chemistry. Nip it in the bud early, while helping your goalie to develop that strong outward persona. Your team will be better, and more competitive, for it.

FINIS

It's not my fault!

"How that puck get in the net?" -Patrick Roy

Hey gang,

Happy New Year, everyone. Since we're in the season of well-intentioned resolutions, I decided to focus on one of the key elements of an elite goaltender: Ownership. These days, seems everyone in society (especially greasy lawyers soliciting credit card "victims" and tax cheats) wants to tell you that "it's not your fault." Taking responsibility is getting more and more rare. But that's exactly what you need to do if you want to be a top-flight goalie. Here's my latest column for the New England Hockey Journal. Let me know what you think.

NOT MY FAULT!

Taking responsibility is a big part of a goalie's job

A few weeks back, I was prepping for a Sunday micro-ice coaching session when one 10-year-old netminder popped out of the dressing room, raring to go. Since we had time to spare, I asked him if he'd played any games that weekend.

"Yep, two," he said.

"How did they go?"

"Not so good. We lost both our games."

"How'd you play?" I asked, knowing wins and losses don't always tell the whole story.

"Well, my defense … "

The poor kid never got another word out. "Whoa, whoa," I interrupted. "That's the wrong answer. A good goalie never blames his defense. I asked you how you played, not the rest of the team."

The youngster just stared back at me, wide-eyed. I understand that my young understudy was only 10, but I also saw it as a perfect teaching moment. Hockey players, and especially goaltenders, are never too young to start learning the indispensable tenets of the game. Chief among hockey's bedrock principles is you need to look in the mirror before pointing fingers. If you're a goalie, that means assuming responsibility for keeping the puck out of the net. Full responsibility. Every … single … time.

That's not always easy. Positional players can shrug off mistakes, because they have the goalie to fall back on. The goalie bears the brunt of those blunders, because when the puck winds up in the net, the goalie is usually the last player it goes past. If it's a weak goal, the talk between the players – sometimes whispers, sometimes nothing quite so subtle – starts. It happens all the time, and it drives me nuts. The "blame game" is a popular pastime in far too many locker rooms.

Worse, coaches and parents occasionally do the same thing, sometimes almost without realizing it. There are two important factors in play here. First, coaches (and parents) should never lay fault for an entire game on the goalie – or anyone else, for that matter – in front of other players, particularly at the youth level (this dynamic does change somewhat at the high school and elite levels, but that's a topic for another column).

That type of criticism can crush a kid. ESPN anchor John Buccigross once wrote that the single most important attribute for a hockey player is confidence. That goes double for goaltenders. But confidence needs to be cultivated. Remember, the goalie doesn't have the same safety net as other players. And as any tightrope walker will tell you, performing without a safety net is a whole lot more nerve-wracking.

Badgering a goaltender for a bad goal isn't going to instill confidence. In fact, it will do just the opposite. A much better approach is to take a quick note of the mistakes that happen – was the goalie off angle, or did the goalie fail to cover a rebound – and then create a practice plan that addresses those shortcomings.

Second, coaches can't lose sight of the big picture. They need to understand the breakdowns in the offensive- and defensive-zone play that resulted in goals, or goal-scoring opportunities, and to assess responsibility correctly and fairly. I've watched more videotape than I care to think about, and believe me, the "fault" for a goal isn't always the final shot, or even the final pass. Listen to any quality hockey color analyst (NESN's Andy Brickley is terrific, as is Eddie Olczyk of Versus/NBC), and you'll typically get a thorough account of how a goal-scoring chance developed. More often than not, it's a mistake that happened two, three, or even four touches before the actual shot on net.

Yet, over and over, I hear coaches focusing on that final instant, and placing the blame squarely on the goaltender. Just a few weeks ago, one coach was telling me how his goaltenders were clearly his team's wink link. So I took a quick peek at the standings for his league, and noticed his squad was tied for dead last in scoring. Obviously, goaltending wasn't his only issue.

Of course, I'm not blind, either. I've coached some teams with pretty suspect goaltending. Interestingly enough, the kids often have a better read on just how good, or bad, their goaltenders are. I've seen defenders raise their games in order to keep shots to a minimum, knowing that's their best chance to win. But I've never allowed kids to point fingers.

Instead, coaches must foster cooperation. The bottom line is that this is a team game, and there's no place on a hockey team for prima donnas, whether at forward, on defense, or in goal. These players are like acid, burning through the tightly knit fabric that is so necessary for team success. They might be talented, or they might just think they're talented. If that player plays defense or offense, their commentary regarding the goaltending (legitimate or otherwise) can be a poison. Likewise, the goalie who thinks a goal is always somebody else's fault is also a huge liability. No matter how talented the players are, they're rarely worth the aggravation.

There are, I'll admit, exceptions. My favorite whiner of all time was Patrick Roy. There's no debating Roy's ability and his resume. The guy is a first-ballot NHL Hall of Famer. In my book, he's also a first-ballot inductee to the Whiner Hall of Shame. My most enduring memories of Roy are of Saint Patrick, slumped on the ice with the red light glaring behind him, raising his gloves and eyeballing his defenders as if to announce to anyone watching: "That goal wasn't my fault."

Roy got away with his on-ice antics for one simple reason. He was a tremendous goaltender, probably one of the Top Ten of all time (my own Fab Four includes Glenn Hall, Vladislav Tretiak, Tony Esposito, and Dominik Hasek, in no particular order). Roy was also a "me first" guy of the first order. Unless young goaltenders can play at Roy's level, they shouldn't even think about showing up their teammates. (Roy was still a jerk, but it's hard to argue with his accomplishments. Still, there's a "right way" to win and a "wrong way.")

What's more, it rarely happens in reverse. Think about it – When was the last time you saw a player publicly berate his or her goaltender? It almost never happens. Now, in private, and behind the goalie's back, is another matter entirely. This is when parents and coaches play a critical role in making sure goaltenders aren't singled out. Teams win together, and lose together.

All that said, goalies can't forget that they are the proverbial last line of defense. It's their job to make up for mistakes by other players, and to make sure they stop the puck. And part of the job description is "ownership." The sooner a goalie realizes and accepts this basic truth, the better. The goalie is the safety net. End of story.

For coaches and parents, it's essential to develop that mindset right from the get-go. Excuses are like a virus – give them a warm, welcoming environment, and they'll spread like wildfire. Soon, you'll have a full-blown epidemic on your hands.

Furthermore, excuses can become a crutch, replacing hard work and the drive to improve. Without that drive, a young goalie is going to start giving up more goals, and will need to find even more excuses. That's not a formula for success.

FINIS

Riding the pine ...

One of the, um, joys of coaching youth hockey is dealing with parents who have very, well, different ideas regarding what youth sports are all about. Here's my latest column for the New England Hockey Journal. Let me know what you think ...

RIDING THE PINE …

Aside from team placement, there's probably no thornier topic in youth hockey than playing time. And, like most issues regarding hockey, sports, and life in general, it's typically easy to identify – "My kid's not getting enough ice time!" – but more difficult to address. That's because it can be a very complex issue.

This is especially true for goaltenders, for one reason. There's only one goal to protect, and goalies, traditionally, don't come off the ice. If a youngster is the only goalie on a team, he/she plays the entire game, every game (which isn't always a good thing either, as some shell-shocked 'keepers have discovered). If you have two or three goalies, the situation becomes exponentially more complicated. Here are some thoughts on how to handle it, as a coach and as a parent.

There are "age-appropriate" guidelines for distributing playing time. Assume a team has two goaltenders. For Atoms and Mites, I recommend that each play half the game, alternating starters. Younger goalies can get tired or bored. When their minds start to wander, pucks get behind them. Asking them to only play half the game (with the natural break between periods) gives them a chance to stay mentally fresh.

Things start to change at the Squirt level, and accelerate at Pee Wees. These youngsters are older, stronger, and better prepared to focus from start to finish. That ability to concentrate – keeping your head in the game – is just as important as good technique, but must be developed. Many Pee Wee teams with two goalies continue to have the goalies play half of each game. I'm not a proponent of this approach, especially as kids enter middle school.

Older goalies play the entire game for a number of well-grounded reasons. Foremost, goalies are at their best when they're in a rhythm. That's their comfort zone. Plus, substituting a second goalie halfway through the game puts that child, and the team, at a distinct disadvantage, since they're coming off the bench cold (the worst-case scenario is the second-half goalie gives up a soft goal or two, and suddenly feels the weight of the team on his shoulders).

Again, the only time I vary from this stance is if a team is only playing one game on a weekend; then it's only fair to give both kids a chance to play. Ideally, if you have two goalies, your team will play two games each weekend, and they can each play a full game. The other goalie – and I've found this to be surprisingly controversial – ought to suit up as a backup.

Why? Because at this critical age, young netminders should learn all the responsibilities of the position, not just the fun stuff (i.e. making saves). This speaks to the "team" element of hockey. Taking a turn on the bench is the goaltender's lot. I realize it's another trip for the parents, but as goalies move up the ladder, it becomes more commonplace for one child to play the entire game.

However, the "back-up" goalie is still a vital part of the team. Having two goalies also gives the coach options if the starting goalie gets hurt, or the team is getting pummeled that day, and the starter needs a break. This stuff happens.

Here's another example. In one program I know of, there are three goalies for two Pee Wee teams. When the coach put out a note suggesting that one child play a full game, and another child dress as a backup, he got three distinctly different replies. One family said "Absolutely," adding their son was a part of the team whether he was playing that day or not. Another family didn't respond at all, and haven't made their son available for any back-up duty. The third responded, but disagreed with the coach's thinking.

Essentially, Dad No. 3 said if the kid shows up, he/she should play. He added that watching from the bench in a cold rink wasn't "going to endear the game to an 11-year-old." While I understand the sentiment, Dad No. 3 should rethink his priorities. First, the game doesn't need to "endear" itself to anyone. If watching from the bench discourages a child from playing, then he's in the wrong sport to begin with. Or the wrong position.

Plus, parents should understand that other kids notice the commitment a backup makes by showing up, even if he/she isn't playing. That endears the child to his/her teammates. Further, the back-up goalie can learn a lot about the position by observing from the bench, listening to the coaches, and cheering on teammates.

At the Pee Wee level, kids are transitioning into a different realm of sports, where the better kids play more. There's competition between teams, and within teams. Allowing a child to sit home and not make an effort because they don't expect to play makes a mockery of what sports, and teamwork, are supposed to be about.

Finally, at the Bantam, Middle School, and High School, the rules change again. Now, it can be pretty cutthroat. While sports are always about building character, and teaching life lessons, there's a lot more emphasis on winning. Coaches at this level will put the players on the ice that they feel give their team the best chance to do that.

Sports have now become a meritocracy. I've listened to many parents complain that their child is buried on the bench because the coach is playing favorites, or doesn't like their child. That doesn't pass the giggle test. Ninety percent of the coaches I've met aren't looking to win popularity contests. They want to win games.

Now, what makes things dicey in this day-and-age of high school user fees is this question: "Why am I paying if my kid isn't playing?" Remember, all a user fee does is promise a child the "opportunity" to make the team, to earn a spot in the playing rotation. There are no other guarantees. Period. Sports aren't like band or chorus. There are a finite number of spots on the ice. If you're a goaltender, there's only one. That's a harsh reality. But better goalies rise to the challenge of competing for that spot.

Do coaches screw up sometimes, and neglect to find playing time for the loyal foot soldier (say, when playing a weaker team, or when the score is lopsided)? Sadly, yes. But they're not so much blind to the kids on the bench as they're myopic with regards to the kids on the field. They develop tunnel vision.

So do some parents. The worst thing a parent can do in this instance is enable a child when he/she starts making excuses (or, as often happens in youth hockey these days, find another program). There's much to be said for sticking with a tough situation, and bringing your best effort – your "A" game – every time you suit up. Trust me, those kids always manage to get enough ice time.

FINIS

Back to basics ...

I'm not sure exactly what Lorne Chabot is doing here, but the man won the Stanley Cup and Vezina Trophy, and is enshrined in the Hall of Fame, so who am I to judge?

Happy Black Friday, gang,

Hope you're all recovering from your Thanksgiving holiday feasts. With everyone's waistbands stretched just a little tighter today, I thought it was the perfect time to post my November column of The Goalie Guru from the New England Hockey Journal. Let me know what you think ...

BACK TO BASICS ...

Goaltending is pretty simple: Get to the right spot, at the right time, in the right position, and you'll make the save more often than not. However, getting to that spot, in the correct stance, can be surprisingly difficult. That's goes double for youngsters new to the position, or new to goalie skates and all that bulky equipment.

Don't think so? Try this little experiment (like I did). Have your youth hockey coaches get together for a goalie-coaching clinic with an experienced goaltending coach. Have the goalie coach demonstrate a very simple goalie-specific skating sequence, including shuffles and drop-steps (we won't even get into stuff like butterfly slides or pushes). Then make the coaches to do the drills.

Nine times out of 10 (if not more), regular hockey players will struggle with these maneuvers. Even guys who are been really good players. I've seen it firsthand, over and over. Why? Because goalie-specific skating is so much different than anything a position player ever has to perform. That point rarely hits home unless you make the coaches do it themselves, so they can see for themselves. And I've got to admit, it's hilarious to watch (most wind up looking like the legendary Lorne Chabot, shown in the accompanying photo -- no disrespect to Mr. Chabot, of course).

Now, the idea isn't to embarrass anyone. Good coaches know that. But it's much like the great lesson my brother Sean taught me a few years back, when I told him my daughters were starting to play lacrosse. "The first thing you have to do is get yourself a girl's lacrosse stick," said Sean, who has coached a number of girls select teams in New Hampshire. "That way, you get to see for yourself how much harder it is, and how frustrating it can be."

Sean was spot on. The idea of having every youth hockey coach at least go through the motions of a goalie-skating drill will help nurture an understanding, to clearly demonstrate that goalies have a much different role, and a much different skill set that comes into play on the ice. Plus, if you have a coach who can get pretty good at it, you'll have someone on staff who can help develop better goalies, and probably save your program a bunch of coin (on full-time goalie instruction) in the process. Goalie coaches will always be an asset, due to the intricacies of the position, but having a volunteer coach who can at least make sure the goalies are doing their warm-up skates properly is a big plus.

So, now that many leagues are already past the parity round and into full swing, I'd like to offer a quick primer, featuring several essential particulars that EVERY hockey coach ought to know about goaltenders. If you're going to have high expectations of your young netminder, then you ought o expect the same of yourself. Let's start with the basics:

Stance. You want your young goalies to look balanced, with a nice bend in their knees, chest up, gloves in front, and stick on the ice, about 10-12 inches away from their toes. Imagine a spotlight in the middle of the goalie's chest. If that spotlight is shining straight down into the ice, there's a good chance he's bending too much at the waist, with straight legs, and is off balance, with nose over toes. That spotlight should be shining out at the puck. Get them to bend their knees! Also, beware of the catch glove that's either scratching the back to the goalie's knee (too low), or ear (too high). You want to see the gloves a few inches in front of the body, so the goalie can comfortably see them in his peripheral vision.

Angles. This is another simple, yet critical, concept. Unless the puck is behind the goal line or at a really sharp angle (say, by the corner), you want to be able to draw a straight line through the puck, the goalie's chest, and the center of the net (not the back of the net, but that plane between the two posts). If they set up on the shooter, the shooter is going to have a ton of net to hit. Remind your goalie that it's the puck that he has to stop, not the shooter.

Skating. This involves movement, stopping, and setting up for the shot. (shuffle, drop-step, butterfly slide, butterfly push). The eyes naturally follow the puck. A good goalie follows his eyes with his hands, and then the rest of his body. Try to make sure your goalie can move while staying compact, if his stance, without opening up too many holes. For example, when a goalie shuffles across the crease, his skates should remain parallel, both pointing at the puck. Too many youngsters open up, like a T-glide, and that's just too slow when the puck is in tight. It also opens holes in his stance. Stopping on a dime is just has important, because if a goalie isn't "set" for the shot, they typically wind up on all fours, or on their backside.

Recovery (correctly). Perhaps the most under-appreciated, but most vital, skill a goalie has to master. Experienced goalies recover so quickly they make it seem effortless. Young goalies can look like they're either nailed to the ice, or flopping around like a beached whale (how often have you head a coach yell "Get up!"). Give your goalies adequate time to recover properly after each shot (unless it's a battle drill, where desperation saves are required). Have them concentrate on good technique; the speed will come as they mature. The rule of thumb? Goaltending is rear-wheel drive. Make sure your goalies recover using the backside leg, so they can drive toward the puck.

Following the rebound. This is another critical component of good goaltending. Most goalies can catch pucks because it's become second nature. Following the rebound has to be done just as quickly. This can only be done through repetition. If you don't allow your goalies time to recover toward the rebound, or don't require them to do it, then it won't become habit, and it won't happen in a game.

Last, some random early-season equipment suggestions for first-time goaltenders:

Leg pad straps. Some kids have their pads strapped on like corsets. That's often the result of a well-intentioned parent who simply doesn't know how to put the pads on. Do yourself a favor. Get involved, and have the sales rep at your local hockey shop show you the correct way to strap on pads. Then teach your kids to do it themselves. If the pads are a newer model, they have to be loose enough to rotate when the child drops into the butterfly. The idea is to land on the knee stacks on the inside of the pads, not the face of the pad. That's why those stacks are called "landing gear."

Knee pads. Get some. These will protect your goalie's lower thigh, below their pants.

Boot straps. If the straps that go underneath the skate are too long, cut them back. Excess strap can only result in one thing, and that's tripping up your goalie (for old goalies like me, that's a torn ACL just waiting to happen).

Catch glove. Break it in. Do this while sitting in front of the tube, watching the Bruins, opening and closing, opening and closing. There's no easy way to do this, but if you don't, you won't catch pucks.

Paddle length. Goalie sticks come in different sizes because goalies come in different sizes. Get a stick that allows you goalie to hold it with his pointer finger on the top part of the paddle while in a comfortable stance, blade on the ice. Paddles that are too short or too long will throw your goalie out of balance.

FINIS

Hey! You hoser ...

I admit it ... growing up, hockey wasn't my first love. Nope. When sports first piqued my interest -- and I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 at the time -- I fell for baseball. In a big way. I couldn't get enough of the game, playing every chance I got. And when it rained, or it was late at night, or there weren't any other kids around (a rarity in my northern New Jersey town), I would bury myself in books about the game. Which led my mom to bark one of her most memorable lines (for me, anyway), when I was struggling with math in grade school: "I don't understand how you can remember Carl Yastremski's batting average for the past 10 years, but you can't figure out a simple math problem."

It helped that my Grandpere -- my maternal grandfather, and a native of Quebec -- was a big baseball fan too. He was the primary reason that my brothers and I, growing up in Yankees country, became diehard Red Sox fans. For that alone, I'm forever grateful.

But Grandpere was no mere spectator. He loved playing, and some of my fondest memories of my childhood are going out back, when my grandparents were visiting from New Hampshire, and playing catch with Granpere until I felt like my arm would fall off. And he was no young man at that time. Today, in my 50s, I have a much greater appreciation for how tough some of those patch and catch sessions must have been on him (especially when he played catcher, as I was perfecting my Juan Marichal high leg kick delivery).

A little bit later, maybe 4th grade or so, Grandpere introduced my siblings and I to another grand sport: hockey. About the same time, we started playing soccer too, spurred on by Grandpere's oldest son, my Uncle Art (who was quite a baseball player in his day). Slowly, baseball's special place in my heart got crowded out, as I became enamored with these new sports.

Still, I've always maintained a fondness for the Grand Old Game. Not necessarily the professional version (I was one of the fans who never forgave baseball for the 1994 players' strike that resulted in the World Series being cancelled. I always thought the game was greater than petty squabbling, even if those squabbles involved millions of dollars). Today's Major League game -- even my beloved Sox -- holds little  for me, with overpaid players bouncing from one team to the next, often mailing it in after hitting their big pay day (Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia being one of the shining exceptions). Even the regular-season games last forever, and the World Series games start so late, I'm typically sound asleep by the fourth inning.

But I still love the sport. And that's one of the reasons this hilarious video -- "Clark the Canadian Goalie" -- never gets old for me. In one short, sweet video clip, it captures so much about what I still love, about both sports. "Bo, Dieon, Clark ... He really could be one of the great two-way players!" Too funny ... Check it out.

FINIS

One puck ...

Cap Raeder (left) during his WHA glory days.

'Morning, gang,

With the hockey season in full swing (it is, after all, early October, for crying out loud), I wanted to address to role of goalies in your typical youth hockey practice. The old saw is that the goaltender "is the most important position on the ice." But you'd never know it watching just about any practice session from high school (and some colleges) down to Atoms. During these sessions, goalies are more likely to resemble cannon fodder, taking shot after shot after shot until they're ready to drop.

So this past summer, I asked long-time coach Cap Raeder, who I first watched play between the pipes at the University of New Hampshire in the mid-1970s (the accompanying photo is from Raeder's professional playing days with the New England Whalers of the short-lived World Hockey Association), what he thought of the barrage of shots that a practice goalie has to fend off. The spin-off of that conversation was this Goalie Guru column for the New England Hockey Journal. The column mentions two goalie-specific shooting drills, but there are dozens that both goalies and position players can benefit from. For details, drop me a line.

ONE PUCK

The key to good goalie drills is keeping things realistic

Robert "Cap" Raeder has been around the block. The former University of New Hampshire All-American goaltender (1972-75) from Needham, MA, followed his Wildcat playing days with a five-year professional career, which included a stint with the original New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association. He's been an assistant coach and head coach at the collegiate level (notably Clarkson, 1985-89) and an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, and Tampa Bay Lightning.

So, it's safe to say, Raeder has just about seen it all on an ice sheet. And when it comes to practice plans for goaltenders, he can boil it down to a simple, over-riding philosophy: One puck.

"That's all you need," said Raeder. "And that's how many they play the game with."

Obviously, Raeder is speaking figuratively, but his point is clear, and important. Hockey coaches need to let go of their outdated love affair with having dozens of pucks in play during any one drill (if the drill includes goaltenders). This is especially true during shooting drills, which many youth hockey coaches like to use as part of their warm-up regimen. Somewhere along the line, the idea of goalies seeing a gazillion shots got ingrained in the game's coaching psyche. If 15 shots are good, 50 must be better, right?

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Think of it in terms of simple math. If you have 20 kids lined up on the boards, racing off on a breakaway or a give-and-go shooting drill, the goalie is going to see 20 shots for each kid. If every kid takes five shots (not many, if you ask them), the goalie sees 100 pucks. And that's before the practice is 15 minutes deep.

Here's another favorite – the time-honored 3-shot drill, when three kids supposedly loop around three different cones (at varying distances from the goal) to take three quick shots. That looks great on paper, but it falls apart pretty quickly on the ice. Faster kids catch slower kids and shoot simultaneously, often without even looking up. The result is a goalie who, at best, doesn't know which shot to focus on, and, at worst, risks getting injured by the shot he's not watching.

Again, these drills simply don't reflect hockey the way the game is played. They do have some predictable results, few of which are positive.

Rapid-fire shooting drills are a sure-fire way to produce a shell-shocked netminder. And even if your goalie doesn't develop the yips, he or she is almost certain to develop bad habits. Here's why: Shooting drills like this are exhausting, which translates to young goalies standing like statues in the middle of their crease. They stop moving. They stop telescoping to challenge the shooter, and stop recoiling properly to play the deke. They don't drop on low shots, because dropping into the butterfly means having to get back up again (I challenge almost any youth hockey coach to do that 100 times in less than 10 minutes). And they completely stop thinking about rebounds, because all they're worried about is the next shot (and the next one).

So, in a game, these same goalies aren't as quick to look for a rebound, or follow it, because it hasn't become habitual. They're more likely to stay deep in the net, because that's what they've become accustomed to. They're as likely to recover on the wrong leg as the correct one because, in practice, they consistently rely on their stronger leg. And if they become puck shy from all the rubber they see in practice, that problem becomes magnified in a game, when the pressure is on.

Now, I understand the benefit for the kids taking a ton of shots. That repetition builds critical muscle memory. But they don't need a living, breathing target. Get a shooter tutor. They're cheap, and easy to install. Even better, they don't lie. Instead of a puck slipping through an exhausted Squirt goalie (who then has to watch the ensuing celebration), kids will find that weak shots get stopped. The same way they get snuffed out in a game, when they're facing a goalie who hasn't been run into the ground.

The key is having coaches develop an eye, and some empathy, really, for when a goalie gets tired. You can't just ask them – most youngsters would rather get grounded for a month than admit they're tired. But watch their body language. The legs are usually the first to go, and it's usually pretty obvious. Tired kids simply stop skating.

Even better, think outside the box when it comes to shooting drills. As Raeder says, emphasize drills that focus on one puck at a time, giving the goalies time to follow rebounds, and recover correctly. Here are two favorites that I borrowed from Brian Daccord while working at his Stop It Goaltending camps this past summer.

Two-net drill (any place on the ice along the boards). Set two nets roughly 12 feet apart, facing each other, with a goalie in each. A single player starts between the goalies. Coach (or another player) tosses puck in, and the "player in the middle" can shoot on either goalie. Rebounds are fair game, but bank shots off the boards aren't allowed. If the puck goes in, gets covered up, or goes out of play, coach yells "new puck!" First goalie to give up two goals loses (with a time max of 20-30 seconds). Then players rotate.

High-low drill (using the full offensive zone, or one third of a full sheet). The goalie is in the net, which is set up in the crease. The coach has the pucks at one face-off dot, and the players line up behind the opposite face-off dot. There are two orange cones on the edge of that second face-off circle, about 4 feet to either side of the inside hash marks. The goalie starts by facing the players at one corner of the crease, and initiates the drill by drop-stepping across the crease toward the coach. The coach sends a pass between the cones to the opposite face-off dot, with goalie following the puck. The player receiving the pass must either drive below the lower cone (an in-tight play), or high above the higher cone and across the high slot for a shot. At game speed. The goalie reacts accordingly, protecting the short side on the low drive, and stepping to the top of the crease on the high move. Rebounds are live, and goalies should be encouraged to follow all rebounds, even those that go out of play (Tip: If the player drives high on his backhand, encourage a backhand shot).

These are just for starters. I can't see any reason why coaches wouldn't want to embrace these types of drills, because they're remarkably beneficial to position players as well. They are battle drills, requiring quick hands, quick feet, and quick decision-making. Every one gets a great workout, while developing essential skills. And since the coaches control feeding the pucks, they control the tempo of the drill. Which is a win-win for everyone, including the goaltenders.

FINIS

Welcome home ... !!!

Hi gang,

By and large, Boston sports fans enjoy the reputation of being among the most passionate and most knowledgeable sports fans on the planet. It's a well-deserved reputation for most diehard Hub fans (not those bandwagon-jumping, Johnny-come-lately pink hats that show up every time one of our teams goes deep into the playoffs!). That hard-core fan status was never more evident than one day this past August, during my coaching sessions with Stop It Goaltending at Merrimack College.

Again this summer, I had the chance to work with Cory Schneider, the Marblehead native and former Phillips Andover/Boston College goaltender who now plies his trade for the Vancouver Canucks. Schneider has worked closely over the yeas with Brian Daccord, who owns Stop it Goaltending. This spring, he got some quality minutes during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and acquitted himself well, especially in the finals against the hometown Boston Bruins. No surprise there.

Schneider was and is a tremendous young goaltender, a guy who has continually honed his game throughout his amateur and now professional career. He's patient, which you need to be when playing behind a $6-million goalie like Roberto Luongo. He's also a genuinely good guy -- dedicated, articulate, humble, hard-working, and good-natured. That last trait came in handy one day this summer, during one of our camp's normal end-of-practice "game time" sessions.

Schneider was working out with our older college goalies, sharpening his game after a brief respite that followed a long, long season (making it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals meant Schneider's season lasted well into June). During these afternoon sessions, our Stop It counselors (who are campers themselves, typically older high school or college-age guys) would bring a number of the younger campers to watch the "big boys" play. I love this concept, because it gives these youngsters -- even the most cocky of the bunch -- a chance to see how much better they could be, if they keep at it.

On this particular afternoon, the counselor shepherding the kids was a young guy buy the name of David Cunningham, who played at Belmont Hill and was angling toward a possible Division 1 scholarship. Cunningham is an Arlington kid, competitive as all get out, but with a mischievous sense of humor. As we wrapped up our drills on the ice, Cunningham positioned his fuzzy-cheeked charges in a corner of the Merrimack College stands by one net. Which happened to be the net that Schneider occupied.

Our "game time" is a chance for our shooters -- mostly D-1 guys and young pros -- to stretch their legs a bit after each session. It usually features four nets and four goalies in the offensive zone, and three or four shooters firing at any net, needing to score four goals in 40 seconds to win each "game." If the goalies allow fewer than four goals, they win. Depending on how much time we have left, we usually try to squeeze in a 7-game series.

So for the first game on this particular day, we asked four goalies to jump in the nets. Schneider, showing one of the reasons why he's so good, jumps right up and takes a net by the corner. Next to all the young kids. And how do they show their love for the local guy? By chanting. But not the chant you might expect. The kids in the stands, maybe a couple dozen of them, start serenading Schneider with the classic Boston Garden mantra, "Let's go, Bruins! Let's go, Bruins!"

I started laughing so hard, I just about fell over. In fact, everyone began  howling. When I looked at Schneider, I could see Cory was rolling his eyes, getting a good laugh as well. Schneider might be the local guy, but these kids weren't going to let him forget where their true allegiances were.

To cap it off, the goalies won the "game," shutting down the shooters. As he left his goal, Schneider tapped the glass, letting the kids know that the Bruins might have won the war last spring, but he just won this little skirmish. And they could expect to hear more from him in the years ahead. It was a perfect hockey moment, equal parts competitive and jovial. Just a wonderful snapshot from a great summer on the ice.