Want to play “with ice water in your veins?” Have a mental plan!
‘Tenders Tips #3
Some of the best goalies are said to play with “ice water in their veins” meaning they are cool under pressure and nothing rattles them. You can be this way too – all you need to do is start with a mental plan.
What’s a mental plan? For elite athletes in some sports it’s a detailed understanding of how they will approach every aspect of a big competition and various possible situations. I’m going to suggest that you take a tip from these athletes – but begin with a simple approach. Like all skills in your game you need to improve gradually over time – small improvements can get you a very long way if you stick to it.
Begin by making a plan for how you will react in one situation that you don’t perform well in during your next game. One common situation of course is getting scored on. The cool cat in net acts like nothing happened and the next goal may never come. A more common reaction from amateurs is to swear, or slam a stick, or shake their head like the goal wasn’t their fault or never should have happened. The cool goalie gives his team confidence. The angry goalie can suck the life out of a team – and more importantly himself.
The old adage “practice makes perfect” applies to your mental state. So have a plan before the game for what you will do if you are scored on – then enact that plan. Make it as much of a ritual as a golfers pre-shot routine that never varies. Holding your head high, grabbing a drink and shouting some encouragement to your team, for example, might be hard when you are feeling angry – but before long that ritual will become habit and you will look like a confident, cool goalie who inspires his team.
You can build on that over time so that all those situations that might rattle other goalies become second nature for you to deal with. Before long you’ll look – and feel – like you are one of the few guys who is so cool that he looks like he has ice water in his veins!
photo thanks to Håkan Dahlström
Related posts:
5 Great Hockey Biographies and a Tip for the Goalies | The Hockey Writers Said,
May 11, 2009 @ 1:48 AM
[...] A great goalie goes into a game with a solid plan, so says David Hutchison of InGoalMag. Some of the best goalies are said to play with “ice water in their veins” meaning they are cool under pressure and nothing rattles them. You can be this way too – all you need to do is start with a mental plan. read more… [...]
Bruce Valley Said,
May 15, 2009 @ 1:36 PM
As a netminder for over sixty years, and still playing weekly against skilled players one-third or one-half my age, I must agree that an overall plan of action is a key element of success for goalies in a game or series. But, of equal and perhaps greater importance, in my view, are supreme patience during play and an impassioned dedication to seeing the puck at all times. Letting the opposition commit and possibly make the initial mistake and total focus on the rubber are the winning goaltender’s sina qua non. Bruce Valley, Author, SEAHAWK : Confessions of an Old Hockey Goalie (www.ryeseahawks.com)
David T Said,
October 15, 2009 @ 2:34 PM
I played net for years growing up and must admit that every goal against drove me crazy. I would still be seething after a game and in some cases we had won the game. I never thought much about it until I seen my daughter play over the past few years — when she is “on” nothing and no goal against rattles her — when she is “off” you can see the steam coming from her ears. Watching minor girls hockey can really open your eyes — everything seems to be magnified. Maybe it’s a full circle — minor hockey should watch the pros and the pros might want to watch the minors.