Pro Drills with San Jose Sharks

When San Jose Sharks goalie coach Thomas Speer started drawing a series of parallel lines on the ice ahead of his sessions with both the junior and pro goalies at the NET360 Goalie Camp in Kelowna, we knew from past experiences we were in for something new.

Turns out, it was both new and old, or at least a little old school.

Speer walked his pupils through a series of skating and edge work drills as part of warm-ups, using the lines in place of sticks they sometimes lay on the ice as guidelines in the NHL.

“This is a [Evgeni] Nabokov special,” Speer said of the long-time former Sharks goalie who now works as the organization’s director of goaltending and still helps coach. “Nabby taught me this one. I used to chirp it at the beginning of the year, but now I’m practically Russian.”

The work was familiar to James Reimer, who worked with Speer in San Jose last season, and Kappo Kahkonen, who was also there and remains with the Sharks this season. Goalies started by stepping over one line, then shuffling to the next one and stepping over it.