One of our biggest requests from parents and goalie alike is to help create a Pre-Game ritual. Every goalie has a unique “ritual” that they feel prepares them for their best performance. It is typically repeated in the same order and almost practiced and perfected over time. On Monday, we will help goalies create the base of their pre-game ritual. We will study the ritual of Braden Holtby and then practice the ritual ourselves, together. Each goalie will leave with a base to practice and perfect.
Many times, while we train at the rink we try to get our goalies to REMOVE their auditory and ENGAGE their visual. We all know though, that our auditory skills are used during the hockey game. There are times when you can’t see and must react off of noise, sounds, or commands from your teammates. Tuesday, we will focus on auditory commands. How quickly can you react? How precisely can you recover? Does noise distract you? Can you hear the sound the whistle and follow the command given?
You often hear a goalie on a good night say, the puck looked like a beach ball. For whatever reason during that game the goalie had a great visual on the puck. We often work on-ice at seeing the puck, moving around players to get a visual. Tracking the puck from different angles and reacting. Remove the auditory that we practiced on Tuesday and move into visual. We will work on eye dominance and tracking. If you can see it sooner, you can react faster and make the save.
Throughout these past weeks, goalies and parents have written asking, what can we do? How can we continue working on skills without ice? Many of the tasks you perform on-ice can be replicated into an off-ice workout. We work on muscle memory. If your body remembers how to do certain tasks, you’ll perform those tasks without thinking. We can replicate that off-ice. Puck handling will be another aspect of our physical workout. Learn how to practice your skills, street hockey style.
Recently, I started working on focus training with my pro and college goalies. Dealing with low shot games, and long periods of inactivity….then boom! There is a breakaway. How do you prepare yourself for these moments? While there are things that you don’t want to do on a game day, because it can be mentally taxing, there are things that you can add to your weekly routine that can be a great addition to your routine. Train your brain to focus when the play is all at the other end of the ice. Train your brain to remain focused in the chaos of a 5:3 in zone. Create calm, create focus, achieve results.