InGoal Radio Episode 260 with Charlie Lindgren of the Washington Capitals

Intro

We're in that wild space right now. When you're listening to this, it's probably after TendyFest. But in actuality, in real time, we're on the eve of one of the greatest celebrations of goaltending. It's InGoal Radio, the podcast presented by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com, Daren Millard, alongside Kevin Woodley and David Hutchison who are together in anticipation of TendyFest. I'd I'd say, like, how was it?

But, really, it hasn't happened yet, but people are gonna be listening to this. You know what mean? We're in that wild sort of phenomenon.

People are gonna be listening to this after TendyFest, and just know that it was fantastic because it's fantastic every year. The guys at the Hockey Shop Source for Sports do a great job putting it on. They might also be listening to this, Daren, after they hand out the Stanley Cup, but it hasn't happened yet as we record. So we are in a weird space today.

I just think Bill Ranford's demonstration at, TendyFest was unbelievable though, didn't you? Just a real great opportunity for people to

learn from a four time Stanley Cup winner. And the best part is we were on hand. We'll be on hand in the future, but we're on hand by the time you listen to this time is a flat circle here on the InGoal Radio Podcast to record it all so we can bring it to you at ingoalmag.com. I look behind the scenes at how Bill Ranford and the LA Kings have developed and teach net play and how to manage plays behind the net differently than a lot of other organizations and goalie coaches in a way that can help you save a little stress off your hips. Daren, you're gonna love this one.

Am I wrong? Has net play received more attention in these Stanley Cup playoffs than it has in the past? It feels like it, mainly because RVH has has received its criticisms, but it there's been different elements to the game where it's not just, hey, stay on your feet or, hey, you gotta be square. There's been elements of of net play that has really progressed. I think awareness of it.

I think the non goaltending media have also become aware of something that we've been talking about for years. So it's reached sort of the more public consciousness than than it had in years past.

Well, yeah. And and having a guy like Henrik Lundqvist talking about it on the TNT broadcast, you know, that brings it to the more mainstream spotlight. You know what the irony here is? There's a reason it's so important because so much of the game is on plays that force you into and out of your post or on so many teams are trying to work it down low behind the net, pop passes, low high plays, lateral from behind the net. And interestingly enough, our featured guest this week, Charlie Lindgren of the Washington Capitals, talks about his net play as one of the areas that's improved the most.

And you're gonna see it. You're gonna hear about it in the podcast, but you're gonna see it a bunch in his ProReads at ingoalmag.com where we, of course, for those that maybe even living under a rock and you don't follow along, but over at ingoalmag.com every week, we sit down with an NHL goalie, and we review saves and video, and they walk us through what they're looking for and why they do things a certain way, sort of help kids learn and and goalies of every age learn how to read the game at the highest level. And you're gonna see a lot of talk about net play and post play from Charlie Lindgren and some of the improvements that he's made in that regard. And also, future guest on the podcast, but we've already had him at ingoalmag.com in the ProReads segment. Alex Lyon of the Detroit Red Wings, another guy who talked a lot about different ways to play off your post.

So, yeah, I think the reason we hear so much about it, like like Hutch said, it's become something the general public is more aware of and segments like the one Lundqvist did certainly increase that even more. But at the end of the day, it's also there's a reason goalies work on it so much because it is such a big part of today's game in terms of how teams try and attack.

Get back to the Stanley Cup final and Sergei Bobrovsky in just a second, but the parent segment is going to focus on vision training brought to you by Stop It Goaltending U, the app, and the Gear Segment, really centered around the Warrior G7 pro line. That's brought to you by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley and the feature interview, NHL Sense Arena, talking to Charlie Lindgren. And Charlie wants to get to where Sergei Bobrovsky and Stuart Skinner are right now. And, when you when you look at Bobrovsky, has this just I don't know what to say. It's been expected, but he's a two time Vezina Trophy winner.

Like, Is he playing better now than he even did in those Vezina trophy seasons?

That's actually a good question. He hasn't up until the cup final, they haven't leaned on him the way the Columbus Blue Jackets used to lean on him when he won those two Vezina trophies. Like, they weren't as good a team, and so they required him to be excellent. Florida is clearly a great team, and they're a great defensive team. And, like, to me, he's been good up until the cup final.

He's been incredible since the cup final started statistically as well. When I look at the numbers at clear side analytics through the first three rounds total, he was five and a half goals saved above expected. In the first three games of the cup final alone, he's 5.34. He has been unbelievable against the Edmonton Oilers in the cup final. But even within that, when you watch how Florida defends, they don't give up the types of chances that would expose him more than the ones they do.

Like, give up chances that play they're high danger. They're great quality chances, and he's been exceptional against them. Think of the breakaways. Everything's down low and thin tight. Open looks from the top of the dots, areas where he has been exploited statistically, even at times in these playoffs, they're just not giving those up.

And he at the end of the day, he's been remarkable, but the team he's got in front of them, him in Florida, is night and day better than what he had in front of him in Columbus. So he doesn't need to be at that level, and he didn't need to be until the cup final. And now that they're there, he's sort of back at that level in the cup final. So I don't wanna be like, oh, his playoffs are vintage Bob, Vezina trophy winning Bob. His cup final has been Vezina vintage Vezina trophy winning Bob.

He didn't have to be vintage in the first three rounds, but I don't think he was outplayed in the first three rounds. He wasn't as busy, but he made like, the the save the backhanded save against Tampa Bay is a great illustration of timing, and Bruce Cassidy in Vegas talks about all the time. The right save at the right time, and and it can go a long way. I just don't feel like he's taken a back seat to any of the other three guys

he's like. He's been good, and he's had those big moments. Right? You give him an opportunity to make a momentum changing save, and he's delivered. Like, there's a little bit of it's not quite the same as, like, oh, when the game gets to six six, then he shuts the door.

But there's some grand fear elements to how he's playing. Like, you don't need him. You don't need him. And then all of sudden, there's a bang bang, great great a chance. And he again, momentum changing saves.

He's made a ton of them in the playoffs. So please don't take what I said about the first three rounds as disparaging. He's still above expected. Like, he's still outperforming the environment, and he's doing more than enough to win. And to your point about outplaying the guy at the other end, you know, maybe up until the Shesterkin c series.

Like, Shesterkin was really good too in that series. The Panthers were were just better. But he's been, like, especially again, especially since the cup final. Like, he's just been, that's the guy in the cup final that you won. And and after last year, not being able to be that guy after having such a good good playoffs against Vegas, not being able to deliver at that level, like, is an exclamation point on a career that, you know, you're gonna hear a lot about this.

You have heard a lot about it. We've talked about it. I I think regardless of this run, he's a hall of famer. Just because of where he is with the two Vezinas and the fact that he's gonna be over 400 wins real soon. Like, he's a guy that when you look at the work he's done physically to stay in on top of his game and improve as he's aged, like, 500 wins if he stays on a good team is not out of the question.

He could end up being in the top three all time, top four.

And he's not a young kid. It it kinda surprised me when when I looked at his age, and we're we're mid thirties here. And Bobrovsky is at the the pinnacle of his game.

Well, you know what? There's a great story about that. I guess we didn't we didn't tease this in the last podcast.

Because it's gone up

fairly recently. Ingoalmag.com. Cat Silverman, who used to work for us a lot more regular than she does now. She's she's not as active in the goalie space now, but she does do some fantasy hockey work online and podcast. Wrote a story four years ago.

I believe she met the trainer, Hanu Nyquist and Sammy. I'm not gonna try and say his last name because I'll butcher it. Just go see it at ingoalmag.com. I don't wanna be the Don Cherry of our podcast.

Smith. Smith. I Sammy Smith. That's what it is.

Yeah. The first ever finished Sami Smith. But met them at the the GGR, the the global goaltending retreat that Justin Goldman puts on through the Goalie Guild and learned about the changes that they had made to his training. And this was, remember back in 2016, he had one Vezina, not the second Vezina, the top the talk was, could this guy stay healthy? Like, it was three groin injuries in the same year.

There were lower body injuries every season, multiple. And so he met Nyquist while spending his off seasons training at Red Bull Salzburg in Austria. And Nyquist had met Sammy who had started to get into the goalie space after having a career in martial arts, and it was trying to learn ways that he could apply the disciplines he'd learned to goaltending. And they really changed the way Bob trained. And so it's interesting, like, yeah, he's doing it at 35, but it's not a coincidence.

If you go back to 2016, you look at the injury history before then. And since then, from 2016 till now, the second Vezina trophy, the time with the Florida panthers, even if the first few years with Florida wasn't great from a performance standpoint, again, because they weren't as good a team, his health has been steady throughout. And that's why I think he is a guy that could keep playing for a number of years. So if you haven't already, make sure you go check out that story. We republished it on the news site.

Again, it was full credit to Cat Silverman for her work on it. It's a great piece and it gives you a glimpse into exactly how Bob is doing what he's doing and looking as powerful and agile and explosive as he is at age 35.

And you guys noticed the uniqueness of his toe ties. So that's something that you have to talk to him about the next time you see Bob is how he does the toe ties.

Well, we've got the articles on the stick, and we've got some videos, by the way. The article by Cat includes some videos, and we've got some videos of him working with Robbie Tallas on some of the movement patterns and the control focus and the things he does. But I did notice the other night, yeah, like, most goalies, and we've talked about lace length and all those kind of things about making sure, like, we don't want elastic, frankly, between the bottom of the pad and the and the bottom of the skate. We think that should be a fixed substance. Bauer's got a new system that does it.

Knots in skate laces. But even when you get those knots, I think most of us go to the offset. Like, there's most pads have inside. An offset. Yeah.

Yeah. To the inside. And Bob's gone, like, to the most non offset holes in his pad, which I guess are pretty much just center of the pad. And so it's interesting to see because he's still got a long lace. It allows him to get to the ice, but there's no sloppiness at all.

The reason it's long is because he's he's tied it into the bottom of the pad at sort of the most middle point rather than offsetting it like a lot of goalies today do. So you're right. I I it is a question I wanna ask. Probably helps him centered a little bit more, like a it's a question that we need to ask him. So just, know

I don't know why he does it. I I've thought about it since you pointed it out to to us in our chat, and I'm quite frankly befuddled by it. So I'm I'm really I'd love to know the the information on that.

We will get to the bottom of this. Although, it will probably take to next year.

The wheels turning about how the the torque on the pad is gonna be different depending on where they're attached to it. So I'm I'm curious to hear what the answer is gonna be for sure.

Because it's on the outside of the pad, the toe tie area, but it's a longer gap. Why not go shorter gap and do it to the inside? That's my

question. The longer gap gives you more margin for error sliding into the post. Although, in theory, if the skates on the ice, it's pulled tighter, but we're gonna have to get that answer. I think there's so many different personal preferences. By having it in the middle, it requires a longer gap just to get to the ice, and maybe that helps him with this post integration.

But a lot of goalies go both ways, longer toe tie and offset to create more of a even more of a gap between the two. But the way he moves off his post and in and off his post and the way he has ever since he was in Columbus, whatever he's doing works because that's we talked about post play. That's definitely one of the strengths of Bob's game.

This has dominated my focus so much that I thought, am I gonna have to call Pete Fry and and try to get my mind re centered? Because it's just it's taken away my my attention from from the game. I'm just watching his his toe tie. So if you guys can give Pete a call and just tell him, I need him on retainer.

Well, we actually saw him, on the weekend when we were at TendyFest. Or is that we're going to see him at TendyFest. We're still in that little time warp. Our our good friend, Pete Fry, is always at TendyFest and is always, let's just say Pete is an awesome guy at interacting with the crowd. He grabs every person that comes by and his new best friends taking photos with everybody.

And I'm sure that, he's the same this year. Definitely a great guy to talk to, Daren. One thing is if you do decide that you're gonna come to one of Pete's many seminars this summer, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, cohosted by us, and, also a virtual seminar. You anybody anywhere can join in on the seminar in Vancouver. If you attend one of those seminars, live, not the virtual one, you will get an InGoal membership to go with it, which is really cool.

Pete really believes in InGoal and thinks that all his students should be reading it, and so he's giving a membership to everybody who comes to his in person seminars.

It's like a gift baggie.

And if you're gonna attend the virtual seminar, there's a discount for InGoal members as well. So there's incentive for you to to sign up and and get the discount on the virtual one. And just just so you know, if you are currently an InGoal member and you wanna come to one of Pete's seminars, you'll still get that gift. It'll just extend your membership another year.

And if you want a taste of why Daren thinks whenever he needs advice on the mental game, he should reach out to Pete. We've got that up at ingoalmag.com for our premium members right now. We do indeed. Confidence anchors. We talked to Cayden Primeau earlier this year about his work with Pete Fry and how important it's been.

One of the things that struck me about that conversation is that it's just like you're skating. It's just like your vision. We're gonna have Josh Tucker in the parent segment this week. You gotta work on it on a regular basis. We take care of our bodies.

We take care of our equipment. We take care of our game on a regular basis. Mindset stuff shouldn't just come in when Daren can't get his brain off of Bob's toe ties. He's out there guys coming down the wing and all wing, and all he's thinking about is Bob's toe ties.

Toe ties.

It can't just be in a crisis. It's when you work on these skills the same way you do your skating or your body to make it a daily practice, that's when you really see the benefit. And so confidence anchors a way to manufacture confidence for yourself, a way to sort of make yourself confident. Hey. We can all get confident if we have a couple great games or make a bunch of big saves.

It's how do we create confidence when we haven't had that opportunity to make those saves? How can we feel confident? And Pete's got some great ways, that I know Cayden Primeau has used. He's he's a part of the article and uses an example. We've talked with Dylan Ferguson about it.

He's over in the KHL right now, and it's all there in that article at ingoalmag.com right now. So you can check it out and get a taste of sort of what they do at the seminar and how you can improve your mental game by working with Pete.

And not be thinking about Bob's toe ties the whole time, because I'm sure that that that would be distracting for anybody, not just me. Right? 100%. Yeah. That's what I thought.

The Gear Segment presented by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com, coming up, just a tip on Charlie Lindgren, and give us a heads up, a little tease here on the NHL Sense Arena feature interview. Just to give you an idea of what's coming.

Oh, you you better get a piece of paper and a pen or a pencil because as Charlie starts talking about the foot that he always stops with as he moves around the crease, you're probably gonna wanna diagram it to try and understand what he's talking about because I think it's a bit of a mind bender that needs an example, and we will have a visual example coming down the pipe because I know Woody's done some film work that will allow us to share it. But it's a it's a bit of a mind bender. I think people are gonna enjoy it.

And I think we should stress not always. It's just specific situations. So, yeah. Stopping on a different foot. That's we'll get into that with Charlie.

One of many things. Hold yourself to it. Hold yourself

back He to he wants to go.

Yeah. He does.

And and and I'm right there going, I need to know need to know more. I need to know more. Let's get into our Gear Segment presented by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley. The Warrior G7 pro. What do we got coming here?

Gear

Well, got coming a little bit of a a rant by me. There's no point in repeating my rant. I'll just let it stand with Cam. Let's just say that it is the Warrior G7 Pro, but it is not their top of the line pad and glove. I'll let you sorta you know, we'll get Cam to explain why and how that makes sense to anyone.

They're not the only company to do it, but I is confused.

Welcome back to The Hockey Shop Source for Sports. I'm InGoal Utopia with my friend Cam. And we've got Cam, what the why don't we have the Warrior gear out again? We've already done the new Warrior gear.

Yeah. But we got cool stuff. We're show off the cool things.

What are the cool things?

So It is pretty stylish. Exclusive. Source. Hockey Shop exclusive.

Source. Okay. Now I understand why you dragged me back in for another Warrior shoot. Okay.

Well and and we've had some more questions to go over some quick differences. So what we have is the G7 pro series. So that's their mid price point year. K. We have two exclusive colorways that we see here.

We have our tan and black colorway, and then we also have our solid navy colour.

I'm digging the navy colorway. This is exclusive to you?

Yes. Wow. With some minor spec changes. You you tell me, can I custom order this for myself? Yes.

But it would have to be into the RTL, and then you can do whatever you want.

So RTL, what?

So RTL, upper price point.

RTL stands for Ritual? Yes. Okay.

G seven pro, mid price point.

Yes. Hold on. We gotta call another time out.

Are you telling me that the pro is a second price point? Yes. Manufacturers. I know Warrior isn't the only one, but if you call it pro, I think high end. Why are you making it the second price point?

We can talk about this later. Maybe you have marketing people.

You pay them a lot of money.

So now that we've hijacked this into a PSA announcement confused.

I am, however, confused easily. So, okay, Cam, you can go. So which one is this? This is the G7 Pro. So this is this this is

the G7 Pro. It's the second price point.

Second price point.

This is the G7 RTL.

No. Pro? Holy crap. He's confused, ladies and gentlemen.

You just confused me. You don't even know what you're talking about. I guess you're lying.

No. I told you. For the millionth time, it's been the g seven pro. Cut. No.

No. Keep going.

This is this is the confusion that these manufacturers create. Let's have them pull their heads out of their posteriors and make it easier to understand what the different lines are. Cam, explain it.

So back again. I need more coffee. 100% g seven pro second price point. Again, two exclusive colorways, tan black, white navy. Few minor spec changes between This is both G7 pro.

I thought one

of these sets was RTL. It's my fault. I'm confused.

He's a little thick in the head. Coffee. Cool feature in the senior gloves, double t in this stock G7 glove. Usually, you would find it in the 7.1, which is a different angle. We have it in the seven with a double t.

A nice cool custom feature that we've been brought down. Between that, blocker is still the same thing. We still have our, again, exclusive colorways that you see here. It is Kevin has it in junior and

it's Junior little kid sizes for my hand.

Senior, intermediate, junior, all available in pads, glove blocker. So the exclusive colorways go all the way down to junior. Correct. Intermediate and junior are both single t for the gloves. Just quick note that way.

But now moving to the pads because we've had this question a couple times. What's the difference between this and that RTL? So the upper price point The one that we did already. Pro price point, the customizable price point. What is the difference, Cam?

So what is the difference? We're gonna talk about it more.

It's not customizable.

It's not customizable, and it doesn't have that same hypercomp core that we find in the RTL. So it's flexier. So there is a bit more flex profile, and we've already talked about this is the wrong way to show flex in a pad.

Yes. We have. We do it anyway.

But as a visual, it definitely works out. So you still have a nice soft boot, but, again, the upper portion of the pad is quite a bit softer than what you would find in that RTL pad. So if

you are looking for both g seven Pro. G seven Pro.

Price point. Second price RTL, folks. We did a review on that.

You can go check that out

on YouTube or Instagram, wherever we

post all our videos. I think I'm starting to understand. Are you?

No. I mean, let's be honest. Maybe not. But

If look on the back of the pad, you still will find that same style of strapping setup. We still got that giant removable cap pillow, which is quite nice. Nice and contoured. A nice feature, again, with that darker series of pads that we don't see that white exposed foam. They've darkened it out for us.

So to complete the kind of look of the overall pad itself, again, very slick options

available. Exclusive.

Source exclusive. Hockey Shop. Checks out 604-589-8299, 1-800-567-7790 or check it out at the hockeyshop.com. And which price point is available custom?

The RTL top price point is custom.

This And is this is?

This is the G7 pro second price point not available in custom. Correct. I am not a smart man, but thanks to Cam, I now understand the differences between the two different versions

of the Warrior Pad. And I gotta say, maybe instead of just yelling about the fact they named the second price point Pro, the second price point is kinda hot, especially with these custom options. So, Cam, thank you for making me go over the Warrior line again. Check it out. I feel smarter. I feel smarter. Good. I did my deed for the day.

I did my deed for the day.

I see why you would be a little bit wobbly on that and offering up that rant.

I mean, G7 pro and ritual is their top line, and Ritual is always sort of you know, that's been the brand of their of, you know, the ritual line. So I do get it. It just and, again, it's not a warrior rant. Bauer does the same thing. When I see pro, think top of the line.

And I get what they're trying to do. They're trying to say that our second price point has pro features. And that's fair. Because as we saw in that overview, it does. And by the way, the exclusive custom colors, if you're just listening to this on the podcast, make sure you go watch it on YouTube because the exclusive custom colors, exclusive of the Hockey Shop that Cam has on that Warrior g seven pro, they pop.

Like, they look nice. We actually have some listeners that saw it on social media and called right away and made sure their that the goalie in their life had a set of those instantly and is already talking about all the other kids and parents raving about how good it looks. So good job by Cam and Warrior in picking some colors, some unique, some exclusive color ways that they really do stand out. You can only get those at the hockey shop and the hockeyshop.com. Just remember, it's the pro.

It's the pro. And one thing I will add on, you touched on the YouTube channel. InGoal's YouTube channel is fantastic for these gear segments. We we listen to them, and we get in a base idea, and they're they're great on their own, but it goes up such another level bit that visual element. And, I'm a subscriber.

Love watching what you guys do over at InGoal on the YouTube channel.

And every now and then, there's a little bit of goofiness between Woody and Cam that only shows up on the YouTube channel because it just wouldn't make sense in the audio track only. So if you like to see see these two boys, the little banter between them, it's a it's a good place to do it.

Does that include the one of me dancing with the Bauer stick last week?

That also would not work very well on this channel. Maybe I should just splice in Woody singing right now.

No. I don't I don't I don't don't think so.

I'm sexy. I don't know. I

Think it did. Not with the captions. Not with the captions. The captions were a little off on that one. We decided to pull it.

That was only for the InGoal After Dark OnlyFans.

I'm sexy.

Don't We just pulled the version with the bad captions. The good captions are up.

My my my kids told me that we should leave the bad captions on and I would be famous for it. But let's just say that the caption people couldn't keep up with the word stick.

Okay. So this is only in the YouTube shorts. So go check the shorts and Replace the

word stick with something else and wonder what happened.

But he was gonna let them figure it out for themselves. But Woody just there you go.

That is the prettiest stick I've ever seen.

It is the prettiest

Gorgeous. Stick.

Sexy. Yeah. Hot. I'm sexy. Sweet. Know it.

Parent Playbook

Very good. Let's slide over to the parent segment brought to you by Stop It Goaltending U, the app. Vision training. And this is an an area that you talk about working on your confidence. Vision training goes beyond just tracking pucks.

Right?

But before we get to that, let me just tell you a little bit about Stop It Goaltending U, the app. We've we've kinda teased you with all the different things that are on there. Let me give you a taste of what's up there this week. They got a new goalie tip with Youngstown Youngstown Phantoms goalie in Saint Lawrence commit call and win on how to play two on ones. So he'll

walk you through that. Is is the the various people that do the tips that that you're not even aware of. And then you get to know them and get to know these these random sorry. I'm sorry for jumping on.

No. And and I think what you're gonna see over the years is that a lot of these kids end up becoming names that you do know.

Yes. A just like a lot

of it was amazing being at the USA Hockey Symposium, the Goalie Symposium, and how many of the coaches that were there presenting that were working with NHL and American League teams and franchises also came up through Stop It Goaltending even before they had the app. So some of these names that are on Stop It Goaltending U the app, I guarantee you, you're gonna see some of them in the future in the show and at higher levels. And you're be like, oh, I remember learning how to play a two on one from a young Colin win, and now he's playing at higher levels. They've also got a new goalie one zero one this past week called the blind bat drill, which is a great way for goalies to work on spatial awareness. Speaking of vision and and vision training, that's on the Stop It Goaltending U app.

And all their summer drills they're doing with goalies are gonna be available under the app drills under drills on the app. First to two sets of drills are already up. So that's just a little taste of what they do on the Stop It Goaltending U app. There's new content pretty much daily. You can dive in and go way down the rabbit hole and get better as a goaltender, or you can just take it in little doses every day.

And I guarantee you either way, you will be better for it.

It's one of the best things to come into my life from a goaltending point of view. What they've what they've done over at Stop It Goal

Tender Media. You get a free subscription to InGoal Magazine, ingoalmag.com, premium membership when you subscribe to Stop It Goaltending U, the app. There's

no reason not to have a membership to InGoal Magazine. There's so many different routes and avenues to it.

There isn't. That's a good point by you. Okay. So vision training. Josh Tucker. You're gonna hear Charlie Lindgren in the feature interview talk about Josh Tucker and his work with him.

So we figured we would tease Josh Tucker is gonna be on the podcast next week from our time in Minnesota. Let's tie it all together by having Josh Tucker answer, what's the first thing I should do as a parent for my young goalie when I wanna focus on improving their vision and doing sports vision training? What's the first thing I gotta do? Josh will tell us.

Get an eye exam now.

Now, folk. You heard that now part, right? That was important, now get an eye exam.

Now I wanna distinguish, you know, school screenings, they'll catch big outliers, you know, team wellness checks. But, I mean, I know I know optometrists who are hired to screen NFL teams. They get sixty seconds a guy. It's not enough time to look at everything. Right?

Where get an optometric eye exam, insurance could should cover it, it should take about twenty minutes. I have had so many people over my years of doing this, you know, for one anecdote, I went to a high high end goalie camp where these are some of the best teenage goalies in the country. I surveyed of 40 of them. I said, not counting school screenings, not counting wellness checks. How many of you have actually been to an eye doctor to get your eyes checked?

Sixteen out of forty raised their hands. Less than half of the highest projected performers. You know? So from the neck down, they've all logged thousands of hours training the rest of their body. They didn't even do the step one most basic thing.

And now and then as the years go by, I I run into these people, coaches, players that they come up to me. Just recently was another one. I was at a camp, this kid came in. He said, hey. You know, I met you two years ago at so and so camp.

And I remembered him, and he said, I went right to the eye doctor when I got back, and I needed contacts. And I said, what do you think? You know, how is it since you wear him? He goes, it's so much better. And it just, you know, I mean, it's so no matter where I speak or present, I start I like to start with that.

So I appreciate you asking, and that's something, you know, telling the world to go do that, that that has no bearing on my business. It's just the right thing to do. It's just, you know, find out. It it would be a huge bummer that your career comes to an end and you find out after you could have just put something in your eye and been better, Just instantly better. So that's step one.

Okay. So go see an optometrist now. Okay. Now that said, like, beyond that too, like, there are other examples that you could give me, like, where and I think, like, there's probably parents listening, they're like, oh, my kid can see fine. He doesn't know he doesn't need glasses, doesn't need to go see the eye doctor.

You've seen it over the years where the parents shocked to find out a kid, whether it's the optometrist or some of the work you do at how the eyes aren't working, or like a kid is having to compensate for a vision problem. And in their eyes though, they don't know there's a problem because that's their normal.

Yes.

They just assume maybe share an example. Because I think there's parents that are like, oh, my kid's fine. Yeah. And you just don't know because they don't say anything to you because they're assuming you're going through the same thing. That's their normal.

That's what they've grown up with.

Right. Right. Yeah. So so how how children perceive the world through their own eyes, that's the only way they've ever seen it. They don't know don't have anything with which to compare it.

So I say, let's say you just grew up in a house, you never left the house, and you had an old, you know, tube television. And you're like, yeah, TV's great. And then finally, you go to a friend's house and he's got 4K HD, and you're like, what? I didn't know it could look like this. So when we find I mean, we've had, and we're not just talking minor things.

I had a 10 year old come in. We I had a 10 year old come in, and within 90 seconds, I knew he was seeing double. And started asking him, you know, would you do you ever see two of the same thing? He goes, oh, yeah. All the time.

And his dad just just floor hit his jaw at the ground, and he just didn't know. And when we have those moments in here, it's it's verbatim. It's the same words in the same order. The parents say, my child never complained about anything, so we didn't think anything was wrong, which I totally understand. But the thing is, kids won't complain or know that something's wrong because they don't know the alternative or how much better it could be.

And so that's why I just say, you know, now a standard eye exam is not going to check all the things that we delve into in our work, but it's really important. It's a starting point. And if you skip it and, you know, you might go in and you're better than twenty twenty, great. But, you know, if you need corrective lenses, get them. Get them.

And so that's why I just say, you know, now a standard eye exam is not going to check all the things that we delve into in our work, but it's really important. It's a starting point. And if you skip it and, you know, you might go in and you're better than twenty twenty, great. But, you know, if you need corrective lenses, get them. Get them.

Just do it. And it's just such a simple quick thing. And, again, going back to the not just the player, but the parents, man. You're you know, one one weekend trip to a tournament is days and hours in this, and it's just, this is a quick visit and, you know, just get the information.

It's fascinating. So just to for people who aren't aware of Josh's background.

True Focus Vision is his company. And it's funny, I see he he's you'll recognize the logo. It's an eyeball with two flexing arms on either side, just like the bicep flex, little Arnold Schwarzenegger with an eyeball in the middle. And I see that logo all the time in National Hockey League locker rooms. Matter of fact, I saw it with Jake Oettinger this year when the Dallas Stars came to town.

There's the bag with all the training tools and all the tips and all the different things that you can do with Josh to train your eyes. We're gonna get into it way more with him next week when he's a featured guest on the podcast. But there is so much you can do to make sure your your vision is operating. And as Josh just said, before you get to any of those steps, the first thing you gotta do is go see an optometrist and just get your eyes tested. So good advice for him.

But then as you move forward is we're gonna hear Charlie talk about there's a lot more you can do so you can see and track pucks better better than you do right now. As a matter of fact, Hutch probably remembers me asking remember we had a conversation about goalies seeing the puck all the way in?

Yes.

And you found it a little odd that I assumed they didn't all the way? Mhmm.

As Woody

can't. Woody can't.

You mentioned that in today's interview, I think.

So we did the test and Woody's eyes diverge exceptionally. Well, not exceptionally, but in a in a in higher level. So I can see the zone really great. But then we did convergence, so how your eyes come together. And I didn't fail.

I probably failed. I was bad. And so that explains why my assumption that goalies don't actually see it all the way in because I can't. Because my eyes don't come together. They lose it at a certain space.

And so it makes sense. It all adds up to me, and now Josh is gonna help me train it so I can.

So is that puck tracking? Is that what we're talking about?

I mean, convergence, I guess. Puck tracking is such an overused term, like, are different aspects of it.

The lines get blurred here to blow Yeah.

So that is following a puck coming at you all the way in. To be able to sort of have the eyes come together as it gets closer to you, your eyes have to both of them to see it, they have to converge. And my convergence scores were terrible, which explains why I know where it's going, but I don't see it get to the final spot. So if there's a tip right in front of me quite often, I'm like, I or like, I mean, like, right in front of me, I don't see that, and I can't figure out what hap like, I often ask to ask the shooters, hey. Did you get a piece of that?

Because I don't actually see it. And the testing sort of proved it.

Are we do we have an age here that we should be pursuing this this avenue, Hutch? Where are you on that?

Well, I think in terms of Josh's suggestion today, I don't think it's ever too young to be getting your eyes tested and and making sure that you've got proper eye health.

And and as he said in that thing, like, Daren, the number of times that the parents have no clue that their kid has problems seeing because they don't know that's just their normal. They don't know that anybody else so unless there's signs with with reading or struggles in school and quite often that that's his Yep. Yeah. It's quite often tied into it.

Those are his favorite stories. Like, this guy's changed lives with some of the stuff he does. Like, forget the goaltending stuff. He's changed lives with some of the impacts he's had on young kids in terms of being able to correct some of the eye issues that prevent them from doing, you know, things like reading. And you know how that can go.

Like, if you're in school and you can't read, like, you're pretty you're pretty quickly labeled with other problems or other deficiencies. So and the number of times, as Josh said, he sat there with a parent and the kids got a major deficiency and never said a word to the parent because, of course, the kid doesn't know. Know. That's his normal. He doesn't know that everyone else is you know, if if you grew up seeing black and white, you don't know that everyone else sees color because you've never seen it.

You assume everyone else is the same. So I I would suggest that I don't want us to put an age on it, but, you know, it's it's probably never too early.

Yeah. This isn't something that you're getting around to when you get to a higher level of hockey. It's it's life.

No. It's it's eye health. Right?

So Yeah. And and yet, he runs into a lot of kids at higher levels of hockey that turn out to have issues that are addressed with optometrists before they even need the sports vision stuff.

Well, we know of other NHL goalie coaches who as the first thing they do with new new goalies in the organization is take them to have the

right So because they can get to that level and not know they have a deficiency.

I've I've got the bad goalie parent story here on this one, guys. I I took Matthew to have his eyes assessed when he was quite young and there was a part of me that wanted him to do poorly on the tests because I figured he's a pretty good goalie right now. If he's doing poorly on these tests, there's something we can do to help him get even better. If he's if he's already got good eyes, there's nothing else we can do. So that's that was my bad goalie parent.

That's crazy hockey parent.

Yep. That was that was crazy.

See, for me, it's not bad goalie parent. I just realized why I'm or why I'm a bad goalie. It all makes sense now. I can't see.

K. The eye chart the eye chart that that we all look at, is is there one letter that's that gives you guys an issue? With me, it's always the the y. I I can never I'm always guessing. Is it is it a v?

Is it a is it a y? It it confuses me. I an f f.

It's probably me. You know, with me, it's probably an o because it looks like a puck, and clearly, I can't see a puck, especially when it's coming at me. So for all those years that my beer leaguers have been asking me, my teammates have been like, are you blind? I'm like, yeah. When the puck gets close enough, I might as well be.

Yes. How do you not stop that? Yeah.

There's reason. Can't see it. I can't see it, guys. That's the thing. Just another excuse ready to go for Woody. Hey. One of

the things I've really enjoyed about starting these parents, segments, guys, is the parent communication. And I've started to get notes fairly regularly from parents. Parents at ingoalmag.com is how you can get ahold of us about this segment. And one just came to mind this week that I really enjoyed. There were several this week about the segment last week on why we let our kids play goal.

And Jason O'Daniel, shout out to Jason, sent me a note, and he lengthy note about why he has his kid play goal. But one of the ones I just wanted to mention was he began by saying, of course, I let, in quotes, my son, play goal largely because he wanted to and he enjoyed it, something we mentioned first off last week. And then he said, I quote, encourage him to play a net though, and then list all all the great reasons about how it helps you mentally and how challenging it is as a position. And and I those two words stood out to me, guys. I don't think Jason intended it.

I know he didn't because we had some follow-up chats, but I I definitely like the wording encourage far more than let. There's a negative connotation to I let my kid play goal. But it actually was intentional when I used that word last week because we were directing those things towards a parent who doesn't want their kid to play goal. So I am saying here's why you should let them play goal. But maybe I should have phrased it even more positively and said, we should be encouraging all kids to play goal to at least get a an opportunity, something we talked about last week.

So keep them coming. If you have any thoughts on the on the show, folks, if you have any thoughts on the parent segment, if you have any questions that you'd like us to answer, please send me a note. Parents@InGoalmag.com.

I like the way you did the movie trailer voice.

Do you want do you want that back?

I I enjoyed that.

Parents@InGoalmag.com.

Coming next to a theater near you.

I'm I'm trying to apply for a a second job here. Maybe if Will Arnett isn't getting used for all those commercials, I can hop in with my deep theater voice.

This is so good.

Former goaltender himself, Will Arnett.

That's right. We should get him on.

That would be fantastic.

Him and Keanu Reeves. There's a duo. And Steve Carroll.

Right.

And Steve Carroll. That's right. All the smart ones are goalies. All the good ones are goalies.

Makes total sense. Right?

Oh, yeah.

Feature Interview - Charlie Lindgren

Analysts are goalies? Yep. NHL Sense Arena brings us our feature interview. Charlie Lindgren is the conversation with today and looking forward to that with the South Paw. A lot of South paw back in the National Hockey League, but NHL Sense Arena continues to make strides.

They sure do. And what an incredible off ice training tool for all goaltenders is Sense Arena. And I'm thinking at this time of year when all goalies are now really starting to look for what can I do this summer to help me for the season coming up? How can I be ready for September? What we often do in goalie schools is go from station to station working on a series of skills.

At the beginning of a practice, it might be focused on using our hands well. In another part of the practice, we might be focusing on a two on one. How are we going to deal with somebody on the on the backside? How are we going to deal with a screen? How are we gonna deal with different setups in in in different situations on the ice?

And then when you leave the ice at your goalie school, you're probably gonna do some things off ice to work on those eye hand skills that that come up with Josh Tucker. And maybe work on those skills so that you can be a better athlete when you get back onto the ice. Well, guess what? All those things you're doing in goalie school and absolutely attend one of those great goalie schools so that you can learn those skills on the ice, You can reinforce every one of those things you're doing at goalie school with NHL Sense Arena. It's such a great tool that you can use at home to reinforce everything that you've been doing on the ice.

So whether you have a goalie school coming up and you wanna build those skills by working on some of those great Sense Arena drills, or maybe you've already been to one and you wanna do a little bit of homework, Can you recreate some of the drills that you were doing on the ice in your goalie school this summer?

One of the most important things

as a student is to review your notes so that you reinforce all the learning and it doesn't just disappear. NHL Sense Arena lets you do that. You don't need another goalie coach to set it up for you. You can do it yourself. So enough said, you everybody knows I think that NHL Sense Arena is an indispensable training tool.

Head to the Meta Quest store and give it a try this summer.

Charlie Lindgren, you caught up with him after the USA Hockey Goalie Symposium.

Yeah. Heck of a summer he's had already. And so first off, a massive thank you. Not only for his time on this podcast, but as we said earlier, he already has done close to an hour of ProReads with us. So in addition to the forty plus minutes we spend talking, we then do a lot of video review.

The first one of those is already live at ingoalmag.com. As much as we usually run the podcast first, I couldn't wait. His insights were too good. You really get a glimpse in those ProReads into some of the developments and why he's so good at his game, especially I think Hutch really jumped out to me in that first one. Scanning the zone, looking off the puck, how often he does it.

When I was reviewing the video before sitting down with him, it it jumped out to me in all the scenarios. So I tried to find a few where, you know, he could walk you through the when. Like, when do I look off the puck? When do I know to take that glance? And so just one of many things he's gonna get into in that and one of many things he gets into in this podcast with us.

Sorta, we pick up where we left off when he spent that year in Saint Louis and a lot of the changes he made to his game. Well, with the blues for one season and how they've sort of translated to the opportunity he's gotten and taken full advantage with the Washington Capitals.

Charlie Lindgren, the feature interview brought to you by NHL Sense Arena and InGoal Radio, the podcast.

Really excited to welcome back to the program second time guest, Charlie Lindgren. Charlie, the last time we caught up with you was just coming off that first one season with the Saint Louis Blues. A lot of changes in your game, a lot of confidence built during that season. Thanks to those changes. Here we are a couple years later, two years in with Washington, earned the job as a starter for for a good chunk of the season with the capitals.

Just catch us up on how things are going, but also just I'm curious how much, like, how much has changed in those two years in your game, and how much of is just you continuing to build on, you know, a lot of the evolution you took while you were with Saint Louis?

Yeah. I mean, I think, there's been, it's been kind of like a progression, I feel like. I think that, you know, when I got to St Louis, I started to add some more, foundational pieces to my game. And then in Wash, it's just kind of building upon that. And, obviously, you know, Scottie Murray.

Scottie Murray is a fantastic goalie coach, and so work closely with him and just you know, it's just a constant it's a constant process. And, thankfully, I enjoy that process. I like getting better, and I like working on my game. There's always something to work on. No, it's been WASH has been unbelievable.

It's been, you know, two years now and, just really, really I I've really enjoyed my time there.

Okay. So let's let's just rewind. For those that may not remember, I would highly suggest going back and listening to the first time we had Charlie on the podcast, but just to catch people up because it felt like the changes in St Louis, as much as you had built a really good foundation, in Montreal and obviously working with Dave Rogalski for all those years in Minnesota, I remember going through the specific nature of them, a little narrowing, a little less sliding, a little more shifting. Just catch our up our audience on a couple of those details and why they worked for you. Because I do think we've seen in the past couple of years a lot of goalies talk about narrowing that stance and what it does for their game in an increasingly East West attack league.

Yeah. I mean, I feel like for a long time, I've just kinda the way I play, I feel like I was just kinda, like, athlete in my way through, through hockey games, and, you know, a lot of that, is great. Like, I feel like one of the benefits I have is I got a lot of tools in my toolbox, and I can make saves, in a lot of different ways. But, yeah, I think when I got to St. Louis and not taking anything away from, you know, my coaches in Montreal who, you know, very, very high, and Marco Marciano, and, Steph White was great.

And, you know, I worked with Roagie for, oh, man, probably fifteen years now, and he's been, you know, he's been incredible. And when I got to Saint Louis, there was I think, what Dave Alexander did a really good job of was just putting, putting more, like, foundation and structure into my game. And, like you said, I mean, it's definitely narrowing the stance was a was a big thing. And and with that, like, movement became a lot more, solid. I felt stronger on my edges.

And then, you know, the the biggest thing was just, a lot of stuff off the rush. You know, I I became I started to have more structure on my skating and even just what skate to stop on, and I became someone that's a big believer in stopping on that inside leg. I just think it creates more squareness on the puck and, more flow. And so, you know, there's a that was a big piece. And I think, you know, before St Louis, I think, you know, my game was maybe a little bit more chaotic where I was getting outside the post and and moving around maybe a little bit too much.

And, you know, Stewie, who is the goalie coach in Springfield, he was another guy that, helped me out so much. And, just, you know, playing with more structure, playing inside my post a little bit more, and, you know, it's it's really benefited me.

You talked about the rush. I mean, used to remember you sort of, like, widening and gliding was was the way I remember you playing the rush. It feels like it's a lot more feet under you now.

Definitely. Definitely more feet under me now. You know, flow has been a big thing. I think, you know, having that little backwards momentum and, you know, when there is a pass off a rush, like, you know, obviously helps you get over there. And, yeah.

I mean, I think before, like and and there's nothing wrong with it. I think every rush that I had maybe before St Louis, maybe I'd be stopping on the inside inside leg. Maybe I'd be stopping on the outside leg. And I think, you know, the it just it created different, you know, different ways to to make a save. And I think, you know, that was okay, but I think, you know, having the structure and foundation where it's like, okay.

If I see the puck coming over the red line, you know, I know what what I'm gonna stop. I know what leg I'm gonna stop with. I know, you know, how I should set my body up, and it just became more of a piece that was foundational now, and I think it, it's it's helped tremendously.

Okay. Now there's gonna be a lot of people that say, what the hell is he talking about stopping on his inside foot? And so, you know, frankly, because this is goalies listening. Right? It's funny because I was just at the USA Hockey National Goal Tenning Symposium when we had a situation where there was a goalie sort of coming across and losing his backside, and then it was like a pass across and then a play down the wing.

And it was Brian Eklund who works with the New Jersey Devils that was talking about stopping on that inside edge after he came across to sort of set that squareness. And he talked the same thing, cutting the ice in half. People hear it, and they're confused by it. Can you explain, like, what you mean a little bit by stopping on the inside edge so a young kid or a teenager or junior goalie that's hearing it can sort of put that picture in his mind? Yeah.

I mean, it's a tough one too. Put it's a big ask by me. Sorry.

Yeah. I mean, I think, when you stop on that inside edge, you know, you're you're gonna be squared up more. Like, I think when you stop on that outside edge, you're gonna be, a little bit more flat. With the inside edge, you're you're squared up to that shooter. And then, ideally, you're gonna probably want a little bit of momentum coming backwards, and then just just small shuffles staying with that shooter as he comes down the the wing or the wall or whatever it may be.

And and I think with that, it just creates better squareness. And then you know, because before with when I would stop on the outside leg, it and if it was say it was a two on one, they're just naturally, for me, would be a lot of cheating, because I would I was flatter. And so then you're not you're not being honest with the shooter, and you're you're already kind of predicting backdoor. And, so, you know, that that's probably the best way I can explain it, but just it it just has made sense for me.

No. And it may make sense. So if you're making a push, say, right to left on a on a long lateral off a rush and you stop on that inside edge, like, quite often goalies leave that backside behind and they never get it around to square. So by stopping on that inside edge, you're basically ensuring that that backside edge comes along and squares up on that on that where that puck lands.

A 100%. A 100%. And and, you know, like, it's not every coach is gonna agree with that, and that's that's the beauty of the position where, you know, some goalies are gonna find a a benefit and stop it on that outside leg. And, it's it's just something that, you know, every goal is gonna be different, and something's gonna feel good for one goal and maybe not good for another. And, just for me, it's something that's that it's just something that's worked.

Okay. And I had to ask because as literally at the symposium, I could see, like, there were a lot of goalie coaches that were watching and hearing it and not, you know, it it requires a little explanation. So you Mhmm. There's a great example. Now you get to Washington.

You've got a new voice, a new coach in Scott Murray. When you go through this process of explaining, because maybe he does it differently, maybe he, you know, would normally preach something differently. How do you build that relationship and that understanding of sort of what your, you know, your foundation is and maybe add some pieces from him and, like, how's that give and take? Because you're a new goalie in a new system. Everybody wants to please, but you have to trust your foundation too.

You've been through it before. You know, new coaches sometimes wanna make changes. How do you find that balance between trying things and not losing yourself?

the best goalie coaches listen to their goalies, and they don't try to change their goalies.

Yeah. I mean, I think first off, the the best goalie coaches listen to their goalies, and they don't try to change their goalies. And when I signed with with Washington, Dave Alexander sent me a text and just said, hey. You're gonna you're gonna love Scottie Murray. He's he's the best in the business.

And that gave me a lot of, you know, that that obviously made me feel good that I was gonna go to a team where, you know, the goalie coaches, you know, he's got a great reputation. And so when I got to Wash, you know, Scottie Murray, you know, just pumping his tires a little bit. I mean, he's just, he's so diligent in his work, and he's he just he cares so much. And, so when I got to Wash, he was very open, into what I was essentially saying, hey. This has been amazing for my game.

Tell him why, you know, and he's all in. I mean, he's he's just gonna try to help me, become better and better. And, you know, there's some pieces that, in my first year in Wash, like, we've tried to you know, tracking my first year was was a big part of it. That was something that I felt like that first year in wash from beginning of the season to end of the season. My my tracking got way better, and I credit a lot of that to to Scottie Murray.

But but, yeah, he's been I mean and Scottie reaches out to Davey. You know, what's what's Charlie like? You know, what kind of goal is he? What makes him tick? What's, you know, what's made him successful?

What what's something that he can work on? So he picks brains of other other goalie coaches. He's did you know, he's he's got a great reputation or or a great relationship with Dave Rogalski. And so, you know, it's been it's been amazing working with him, and, you know, I can't, I can't say enough good things about him because he's only tried to elevate my game, and he hasn't he hasn't tried to change my game at all.

I love it. And not surprised at all because we've had Scotty on the podcast before and done some video work with him. Mhmm. You say tracking. And so we we hear that phrase a lot.

You know, I know Scotty's dug into the biomechanics of movement and things like that a little more than maybe some other coaches. When you say that word, what does it mean to you? Because, I mean, I guess at its simplest level, it could be just look at the puck.

Mhmm.

But in conversations with Scottie, there's there's deeper meanings.

Yeah. I think it's the way you the way you see the puck. And, again, tracking was something that, you know, working with Josh Tucker, you know, I got the foundation of it pretty pretty well. But I think for me, it was having my forehead more down on the puck. I think I was a little bit, upright a lot of times when I was, seeing a puck come in, and, you know, we talked about what Scottie Murray was was the horizon.

So, I mean, when you're looking at the when you're looking at the puck, you know, the the top of the top of your, eye level, you know, top of your cage, essentially, I mean, I ideally, I don't wanna see anything necessarily above the puck when I when it comes to looking at it. And for me, that's just something that, again, I think just the way I see the puck now, it's it's helped a ton and, you know, because tracking, obviously, is it's such an important part and, you know, obviously, there's there's people now that are that are teaching it and and doing a good job at at teaching it. But, it was just again, it's I the the biggest thing I biggest quality I have is I just have a a willingness to listen and learn and, you know, having good goalie coaches around me have certainly helped me out. And, you know, tracking for me and Scott, yeah, it was a it was a big piece in year one.

Now Josh Josh Tucker, obviously, the vision, true focus vision. I got to see him when I was in Minnesota as well and saw your picture up on the wall among many. So that's sort of training the eyes. I'm just curious when you talk about sort of adjusting how you look at the puck, and I'm guessing you're talking off the release, or is that in movement as well?

Yeah. It's really with it's it's with movement. It's with, the release. It's just a lot of it, it just comes down to head position, and and I feel better. I feel like I see the puck better when my forehead is is down on the puck.

It just feels like I have a better, I'm just better, you know, my my reading of of the release and actually seeing the puck. I just think it's only benefited from, you know, forehead down. And it's, yeah, it's just been something that's been really good for good for me and good for my game.

And so listening to you, I'm guessing you've had experience wearing the track optic goggles then too.

Are those the ones that take away the, which ones are those exactly? Are those the ones that take away the the visions on the periphery? Or

And the bottom.

And the bottom. So I I think with Scottie, I I actually have I've won those a few times, and that's something that, you know, we'll, we'll get out there for movement before practice, and he'll have pucks laid out. And it's just I'm moving around the crease, and I'm making sure that my my head's down on that puck. And, you know, the the goggles have been the the glass or goggles, whatever you wanna call them, they've been you know, I think there's definitely a benefit to wearing them.

That work with Josh, walk me through that a little bit. Like I said, I got to visit it. It was so funny because he put me through the divergent convergence test for the first time, and it was a little bit eye opening, if you'll pardon the pun, because Mhmm. I'm not a guy who ever felt like I saw pucks all the way in, and sure enough, my convergent scores sucked. What Mhmm.

How'd you get involved with him? Where do you see the benefits? And and walk me through that sort of the first part of it, like the the testing, and then you get into the eye hand training.

Yeah. I mean, I've known Josh since I was probably 10 years old at, he was one of the the goalie coaches at Stavers Goal Crease, and he's someone that, you know, from a young age, I just I've always gravitated towards Josh Tucker just because he's he's first out such a a quality human being, and then he's I think he's really good at teaching the game. And, I went through the vision training when I was probably, like I must have been, like, 16 at the time. So I was I was young. But, you know, going through all the the different the reading and the, the wheel, you know, all that stuff, You know, it was it was all things that I think I went through it at a really good age.

You know? I was going through it when I was in high school, and, again, I think it's something that just, it just helped elevate my game because it's, you know, it's your eyes. And for a goalie, you know, your eyes are eyes are pretty important. And then, did you get into the, the the board with the or you the reaction board?

We're we're like, for throwing balls off it? That the the angled one?

The the light up board.

Oh, the DynaBoard. Yeah. Where, like, where it's in front of you and you're acting?

Yeah.

Yeah. I know what they are. I've seen it. I didn't do it because I didn't wanna embarrass myself.

Yeah. Well, that's, you know and that's that's a lot of fun. I mean, that's something they can get, competitive with. And then, you know, working with Josh the last few years in the summer, you know, we've worked on a lot of, like, hand eye juggling and, reaction reactionary ball stuff, even will hop in the net. And he has those boards set up, you're, you know, reading balls off the the board coming into the net.

You know? So there's different ways of, you know, you're you're trying to translate off ice onto you know, into on ice. And, Josh just has such a great mind for, you know, he's always I think he's always just brainstorming different ways to to to make things click, and I think he does a really good job. And he's, he's fun to work with. And, you know, knowing him for twenty years, I mean, he's been a big, big part of he's had a big part in my career for sure.

So in the summer, you mix up sort of like like you said, you're you're you've done the testing. Now you know how to keep the eyes strong. I mean Mhmm. I remember Braden Holtby telling me. Right?

Like, my eyes are like a muscle, and they might be the important most important muscle. So Yeah. Which ties into Josh's little eyeball muscle flexing.

Oh, yeah. It's a it's a nice nice little logo.

Well and I and then I spot the kit all the time in NHL rinks. I walked it, and there's Jake with the little Josh's little bag and the flexing eyeball in his in his locker. But you also get in the summers training, are you like, I've seen it where you're wearing a mask. You're in a net. Like, you're Yep.

Really are taking the ball, and and his boards allow it to come up at you like a puck would as opposed to straight at you. You really are sort of integrating very obvious and tangible aspects of the position into the eye hand training.

You you are. And then he's got, you know, huge of those those flash glasses, the the blue and red ones that, take away your your vision.

The strobes? Do you do you use those in season at all? Or

I don't use those in season, but, you know, in the summer, I'll use them with Josh, and it it really is incredible, when you throw those those things on, and you're trying to make saves, and then you take those off and just seeing how the ball I mean, everything just slows down. It's it's really, it's really incredible. I know.

Fleury uses it before games. Like, do you see that as an expanding trend? It's almost like it gets so hard that when you take them off, it looks easy. Like, training the warm up.

Exactly. Exactly. And, honestly, to be to be honest with you, it's something I I probably should integrate into my my pregame routine because you do see such a you do see such a difference in the way you you see the the object coming towards you. So I see a great benefit in that.

What does your pregame routine look like? Like, do you know? Because that's the other part too. We could add all these elements, but I've talked to guys over the years, Thatcher Demko in particular. By the time he got out of college and into pro, his pregame routine was exhausting him, so he had to scale it back.

Is that something you've gone through at any point in your career?

Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, when I'm when I'm backing up, I'm a guy that I like to hop in the hop in the circle and play some sewer with the guys, and then, I'll get into my dynamic warm up. And then, when I'm playing a game, I usually, I'll go hop on the table with the trainer for a bit after meetings, and then I'll go out and and do my dynamic warm up after that. And then I do, let me think. I do I think I do, like, four, like, visual ball exercise with a lacrosse ball, and just me and a me and a wall and lacrosse ball and just, you know, again, just warming up the nothing crazy.

What I I like to throw the ball down at the wall, so it's up like it's a like it's an actual shot, and just kinda alternating each hand. And, so I do maybe four different exercises with lacrosse ball, and then I, you know, go and get ready. So my my warm up, takes probably, I don't know, fifteen minutes, fifteen, twenty minutes total. I mean, not a it's not a long time, and I think, you know, like what you were saying about Demco, I mean, I think it's really easy to because there's so many things that you can do. It's so easy to say, okay, I'm going to want 45, I'm going do this, this, this, this, this.

For me, that wouldn't be good because I think mentally it would just fry me. So I keep it pretty simple and, I've been doing the same dynamic warm up and ball exercises for I mean, since college, really.

Now speaking of the mental game, with an increased role I mean, you've had it at other levels, but with an increased role in the National Hockey League, the the spotlight gets brighter. You're coming off your first National Hockey League playoff run. How do you handle those big moments? Are there tips along the way, things you could pass along to kids? Like, do you still get nervous at all, and how do you handle those moments?

Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, the nerves and and butterflies, butterflies, I I mean, mean, I think those are all very normal and natural. I think as I've gotten older here and as I've gotten more experienced, I think they're maybe not to the level that they were when I was when I was younger. And I think a lot of that comes from, like I said, age, experience, you know, belief and and confidence in yourself. And, but, yeah, I mean, I think there's, you know, like, the the playoffs this year.

I mean, I think, of course, you know, are you going into Madison Square Garden on game one of of your Stanley Cup playoff you know, my Stanley Cup playoff debut. I mean, yeah, there was nerves there, but I think, you know, with me, I think that the bigger the the game, I I think just the more excited I get. And, you know, I think when I feel those butterflies or I feel those nerves, it just it it makes me more excited because it it means that the game the game means something to me. Like, it's, I'm excited to go play. You know?

And and so I think a lot of times, like, I'll get, you know, I'll I'll get nervous before the game. And then once the, like, the anthem happens and once once the puck drops, I think a lot of that just just goes away for me. And I think, again, it's it's, I I have a lot of belief in in myself and a lot of belief in my teammates. And, but but, yeah, I mean, the the workload this year was was different than you know, it's it's been a while since I played 50 games, but for me, it's you know, the National Hockey League, it's it's every day is a I I truly look at every day as a blessing, and and every time I get the chance to to get in the in the crease, I just find it to be another amazing opportunity. And so, you know, I I still love playing.

I'm 30 years old, and it's been, it's been such a unbelievable career. I mean, it's been, you know, there's been so many ups and so many downs. And so if I can give any words of wisdom to a to a young kid, it's you know, even the the trying times, the hard times, I mean, at the end of the day, you're gonna look back on those moments, and you're gonna, you know, you're gonna come out the other side of it. And, you know, you're gonna look back on those times and be like, you know what? I'm just tougher because of that.

And, there's been a moment a lot of moments like that for me, but, I wouldn't change it for the world.

I love it. Great advice. Like, that nerves are natural and that

For sure.

If you if you run from them or or get worried about them, all you're doing is adding stress.

Yeah.

What about Yeah. What about staying in the moment in a game? Like, I mean, nobody can focus 100% for the two and a half hours that it takes to play a National Hockey League game? How are there what are the things you do to sort of allow yourself to relax but then zoom in when you need to? Are there different techniques you learn that way along along this path?

I think for me in game, you know, the the mental component is I mean, it's the most important part of of a goaltenders life, career. There's just there's so much that goes into it. And the more present and the more focused you can be in the moment, the better off you're gonna be.

Yeah. So, I mean, I think for me in game, you know, the the mental component is I mean, it's the most important part of of a goaltenders life, career. There's just there's so much that goes into it. And the more present and the more focused you can be in the moment, the better off you're gonna be. You know, when you start thinking about distractions or things that are happening outside of what's going on right during the game, you you know, you're gonna start putting yourself in some pretty tough situations because, especially the the higher you get in levels, the more important each detail matters.

And so for me, I've been doing a lot of the same things since, a lot of the same things I've been doing since juniors. You know, TV timeouts are a time where you can kinda take a couple deep breaths. And, for me, I don't a lot of guys go to the bench. I I just, I hang out in my in my zone, and I'll I'll do a little skating, like, just around the dots. Then I get back in the crease and do, the same stretches or same movements that I've been doing now for for a few years.

And then for me, it's just, it's just ways to to keep me present, keep me in the moment. I found that in junior hockey, the the first game of the year, I was, because in high school, there's no TV timeouts or anything. So the first game of the year in junior my junior hockey career in Sioux Falls, we were playing maybe playing Muskegon, and so there's a TV time out, and I went to the bench. I started yucking it up with some of the guys, let's just say that the game didn't go too well. So ever since then, I've always been someone I just like to stay in my own little bubble.

It doesn't mean that, you know, in the locker room, not talking to my teammates or before the game. I'm I'm just by myself. Like, I'm I'm still talking to my teammates. Relaxed, but, I'm very much, just focused on kind of myself and what I need to do. And, I just find that it puts me in in the best situation possible.

And so, I haven't gotten to the bench like a lot of guys do. I mean, majority, I'd say 90% of NHL goalies go to the bench and grab water and and talk talk to their goalie partner or whatever. I just I don't do it. I just kinda stay in my own little bubble.

I like it. Not quite. Devon Levi, finding a spot to meditate in the corner, but, again, just sort of your own way to sort of maintain a focus while also relaxing.

No doubt. And I I found that, like, breathing has been, you know, it's played an important part too. I I think that, you know, sometimes the game can get a little hectic or or maybe a lot in a bad goal or maybe you're just feeling off to start the game, you know, journal whistle. You know, take that time to to kinda relax yourself a little bit. Take a few I find taking a few deep breaths, it settles everything down.

It slows everything down, and, you know, I I'm a big believer in in breathing.

Have you well, do you have you done, like, specific breath work stuff? Like, do you have different patterns depending on how you feel? I know some guys that go as far as when they're feeling like they need to hype themselves up, they'll do one. When they need to calm themselves down down, they'll do a different one, or you just or just sort of basics?

Yeah. I mean, for me, it's it's more so basics. I mean, I've I've heard of, like, the the different seconds where you breathe, you know, like, I don't know if it's, a three, five. I forgot what it is. Different patterns.

Me, it's just a deep breathing. In through the nose slow and then out through the mouth. Really, for me, I just need four or five of those, I already feel a lot more relaxed and a lot more focused on the present. Yeah, just another little tidbit that I've learned throughout my twenty year journey in goaltending.

We think of breathing oftentimes associated with things like yoga. Is that part of your mobility routine? Well, I'm guessing at this level, you're probably stretching and doing mobility work that's similar regardless.

Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, we've we've been fortunate now in Minnesota. There's a a lady here by the name of Grace. She's a mobility coach.

Grace Grace Withoon. I I forgot that you worked with her. Jake. And, yeah, she is amazing, and we've been blessed. She shared a few things with us over the years. She seems fantastic.

How long have you worked with her?

Yeah. So Jake Oettinger is the one that kinda, put me under her, and she's last summer was the first year that I worked there, and, I started to work with her. It was I'd see her, like, once or twice a week. And so it's not necessarily yoga, but it's just a different way of of stretching and and moving your body. And like last summer, I had a really tough time.

One of my hips was really bugging me, and, I found that when I was seeing her that a lot of that pain was starting to alleviate. And, you know, now my my hips are in a really good spot. And so once I get skating this summer, I'll start, I'll start seeing her again, but, she's starting to see a lot of Minnesota. And, again, it's another component where it's like, you know, for goaltending, it just makes sense. It's a mobility coach.

It's gonna help you. You know? Even I saw her 10 times last summer, I I know firsthand my flexibility got way better. And as a goalie, I mean, single every single inch matters. You know, every bit of, you know, you need every bit of your body to to be stretched out at different times, and so she's been she's been awesome.

And that's the one thing about Minnesota is we got so many really good resources here. You know, it really is a blessing to to be here in the summer.

I was gonna say not just Minnesota goalies. I know Devon Levi's been down there as well this year and, you know, like, that word is spreading amongst the best of the best in the National Hockey League. So it's always nice when new resources and and new people that are passionate about the position creep up or get come into our lives here at InGoal and and in the league. Last one, Summer, you mentioned it. Great resources in Minnesota.

Do you have a chance? Like, what does it look like when do you get back on the ice? How much do you wanna give yourself a break? And, you know, how does Rogi help with that?

Yeah. So I think, I mean, for me, it was this summer's been a little different with, you know, our season ended, then I was off for three weeks, didn't skate. I did one workout, and then I went over and played in played in Worlds. So that was that was wild. You know, I was a little, you know, I guess, maybe hesitant to I didn't know how my body was gonna feel after three weeks of not doing anything and then going over and playing, you know, high competitive hockey, but everything worked out great.

And that was a unbelievable experience. And I came back here this I got back last week from Europe, and I got right back in the gym. I think, for me, I usually after the season, I like taking I like staying away from the gym for, like, three, four weeks. And so I felt like I already had got my break with that three weeks before Worlds. So I'm already, started to work out and and, hit the gym.

And then skating, I'll probably start skating here mid to late June. I'll start hopping on the ice like once a week. Then Rogi starts up right after the July 4, where we'll skate two times a week. So in July, I'll skate two times a week with Rogi. Then August beginning of August, it'll be two two to three times a week with Rogi.

And then kinda as the the summer progresses, when we get into mid to late August, I'll start hopping on the ice you know, three, four times a week. We got we got my agent camp, with the octagon in in late August, early September that I skate out. We get a lot of good pros that that go to that skate. But it's just a it's a progression of, you know and I I think it's it's really been a benefit for me too where it's, you know, you kinda progress your way through, the weeks of the summer, starting with one to two skates, then you kinda work your way up. And as you get closer to training, you can't ever skate more and more.

So, you know, and for me, I you know, a lot of guys like staying off the ice until, you know, mid to late July. A lot of guys that I've talked to, for me, when I take that much time off, when I take two months off of playing goaltending, it's not good. Takes me takes me a few practices to, you know, I feel like a a score level goalie again sometimes with the way I'm seeing the puck and, you know, even the three weeks off before Worlds, like, my first two skates over there in Europe, you know, just it's amazing. You take three weeks off, and it feels like it's been forever since you put the pads on. So I don't like that feeling too much.

I I I I don't blame you. Trust me. As you get older, it feels even worse the longer you've

been off. Yeah. I don't wanna hear that.

Well, you got a long way to go before you're old. Does he mean my friend? Hey. Listen. Really, really, really enjoyed this.

Thank you so much for coming back on the InGoal Radio Podcast. I think all the talk about the work with Josh Tucker makes this an even we've got we've got Rogi on the pod. We got Josh on the pod. I think we're gonna start with you, and then we're gonna introduce them. So all these names that you've been talking about, we'll let them get to know them as well in the subsequent episodes here.

So thanks. Thanks so much, Charlie. Really appreciate this, especially coming off such a busy stretch.

Absolutely. Love being on.

That was fun. I enjoyed that day. Is there any part of your conversation with Charlie with the mic off the air that you that you didn't know before in a sense of was was revealing?

I think there's a lot in the ProReads. Like, there's some great little little takeaways there. You heard him talk and Hutch tease it earlier in the segment before the interview about stopping on the inside foot. And I do think that that stopping on the inside foot in those specific situations is a tool that goalie coaches use sometimes to make sure guys square up. Because when we make big lateral pushes, like a lot of goalies have a tendency to leave the backside edge behind.

Like, you know, you sort of get into that t push and you get over that front leg and you leave the back leg behind him. Stopping on the inside edge sort of is a way of forcing you to make sure you don't, just make sure it's caught up and it gets you sort of I don't even wanna say square. It's almost like over square and a guy coming down the wing off a strong lateral push. But Scott Murray, who we've had on the website, he did a six part series on sort of the new modern definition of tracking. He would try and get you to initiate some of that rotation early before you push so that when you get there, you're already set in square.

And so I did ask Charlie a little bit about blending those two things, and his answer was basically that improving the rotation and the mechanics of his movement starting with, you know, sort of a tracking mindset into movement that builds that early rotation that allows you to get there without that back leg trailing behind with your angle already pre built. He still stops on the inside foot and combining those two is even better. And so it it was an interesting sort of part of the conversation that wasn't recorded because it was more me curious and I didn't wanna put him on the spot. But there's an area where something that started maybe to correct an inefficiency since becoming more efficient, he still use it and and still combines the two. So I thought that was fascinating, and you'll see some of that as we get into it further and further along in his ProReads at InGoalmag dot com.

I think stopping on the inside foot is such a valuable tool and just happens subconsciously and makes you square or maybe slightly over, but easily. I'd rather overdo it a lot a little bit than than be flatter. So it's it's been something that came through this podcast and has been really helpful for a number of different areas watching, especially kids, be able to do that because they end up so flat along the goal line. It's a it's a really it's a beneficial tool.

Well, we've seen flat like, talk about themes in the playoffs, Daren. A lot of you talked about post play and net play being a big theme in the playoffs. Doing a lot of the sort of pre scout work for nhl.com and then seeing guys have certain tendencies targeted. Goalies that retreat flat or come across flat, that is definitely one of the things that opposing goalie coaches look for and look to go to school on. Because, of course, if you're not square, if you are flat, you inevitably are giving up net on the far side.

And chances are when when we're not scored, that's when pucks most often hit us and go through us. And so those are definitely tendencies that other goalie coaches look to take advantage of if you haven't corrected them in your game yourself.

Great summer ahead on InGoal Radio, the podcast presented by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley. What else do you have in the hopper?

Well, we we teased all the stuff coming out of Minnesota, and we've still got that coming. But we added another name to the list, and it was sort of indirectly. Our guest last week, Phil O'Sair, helping us out there. Alex Lyon of the Detroit Red Wings will also be a guest on the InGoal Radio Podcast. And much like Charlie, who he grew up playing against, and they have a they have a they have a history sort of together and a relationship there.

If you look at their career trajectories, there's a lot of similarities. But you talk about fascinating. We've already again put one of his ProReads up at ingoalmag.com for a premium membership because he was so compelling. I didn't wanna wait. We'll have more ProReads as the summer goes on as well as an extensive podcast interview.

Alex truly is a student of the position and a guy who really thinks the game, and I absolutely, like, just loved my time with him both on the podcast and on the ProReads. Can't wait to share all of that with our audience. Like I said, both here and at ingoalmag.com. Some great takeaways and advice.

And, going back to the Sergei Bobrovsky toe ties, maybe, Alex, might have a an inside angle on that.

Well, I I think I might have to now text him or I'm gonna have to go back because for sure, in one of the ProReads and as part of our conversations, having looser toe ties, and I feel like his might even be looser than Bob's, something he gets into how it helps him seal the five hole and get better rotation in his like, have his pads sort of wider butterfly. His pads present wider, and there's a lot of saves he makes that he credits to it, and it's from having a loose toe tie. And I'm top of my head, I can't remember, Daren, if that's a thing he got from Bob, but we definitely got into it. It's something that'll be a part of both the podcast and the ProReads coming up. Like I said, it was a fantastic conversation.

Alex, much like Chuck, like, they really think the game. Right? Like, really think about all elements of the game and it shines through in that conversation. And we got Josh Tucker next week, but we'll mix Alex in as well amongst all those guys we got. And and girls, Alex Cavallini as well from the USA Goaltending National Symposium, USA Hockey.

There's just so much great content coming. We added Alex to the mix, so I had to make sure I tease that one because it is good stuff.

Outro

And Pete Fry is always rolling around here somewhere, and please make sure you he knows. Like, I I once again, I brought up the Bobrovsky toe tie, and it's it leads us paths down different areas, so I love it. But, I gotta find a way to get beyond this.

There'll be more content at ingoalmag.com from Pete.

There's, I think, three or four more articles coming up in the next little while in addition to the one that, Woody mentioned before. Lots of great stuff from Pete. Remember, if you, head over to ingoalmag.com now, you can actually find a post on the front page about Pete's, series of summer seminars. And, if you're an InGoal member, you'll get the link for the virtual seminar where you'll get a $25 discount as a result of your membership. And if you join one of the live events and come see us in person, you'll get an InGoal membership out of it as well.

Love the seminars online. I sit back, I put my headphones in, and I just go into the world of Pete. The Zen of Pete.

The Zen of Pete. I like that.

We'll make t shirts up. Tell Pete, we'll split the profits fifty fifty. Thanks, guys. Enjoy. I don't know whether we're we're gonna get one more game or two more games, but it's kinda one of those moments where I'm like, boy, when the season's almost over.

It's kinda kinda sad.

Well, like I said, it might be over by the time people hear this, or it might just be over by the time we talk next. Either way, it's ending soon. I'm hoping for a few more games, though.

AHL could go longer than the NHL. That's because they're serious, just, in the initial stages. Thanks, guys. Thanks to, obviously, our great guest today, Cam, talking about, what was happening with the situation with the Warrior G7 Pro, our feature interview with Charlie Lindgren, not Lindbergh. Lindgren.

He wasn't wasn't flying across the the ocean.

This is what happens when you start thinking about Bob's toe ties.

I know. I'm I'm distracted. And they the vision journey. I'm gonna just go ahead and Pete's gonna

give you some work to do.

Yeah. Concentration grids. We'll get you back on track.

Oh, those I like those things. I like those. Those those get I get consumed by those things. Competitive. Thanks, guys.

We'll talk to you next week on InGoal Radio, the podcast presented by the Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley. Thehockeyshop.com.