Podcast Segment for Goalie Parents – Episode 269

Stop It Goaltending U presenting our parent segment as we get into taking things that the players do and using them yourself. Do you have to do that? We'll get into the, nuts and bolts of it with, Hutch in just a little bit, but, Stop It Goaltending U continues to, really educate us.

Well, I mean, the app, we've talked about it. You've heard us talk about Stop It Goaltending U, the app. And, of course, we like to think that it's not the best part of it, but it's a pretty darn good part is that when you buy a subscription to the app, you also get a subscription to InGoalmag premium. So the best of both worlds, regular articles every week, new material on how to become a better goaltender. And I loved what they had up recently.

The daily primers, which are just our short one minute, maybe a little longer videos, so you don't have to be in there for hours at a time. Just little tips to help you along the way, and they try and make them sort of themes that fit the season. And, of course, we were talking a lot last week about tryouts and, you know, how to be a good teammate. And sure enough, all of the daily primers were five different tips, one each day last week on how to be a good teammate. There was also some great old school saves they went over and a complete twenty minute breakdown, which is a great sort of style in the juxtaposition or study in the juxtaposition of styles between Sergei Bobrovsky and Stuart Skinner from game seven of the Stanley Cup final.

Just a complete video breakdown. It's a great thing. Just one of the many tools that they have at Stop It Goaltending U, the app. And like I said, when you buy a subscription at Stop It Goaltending U, the app, you also get full access to InGoal Magazine premium to get all their great content, whether it's daily quick hits or the big deep dives, and you get all of our content as well. There's no better way to get better as a goaltender than the combination of Stop It Goaltending U, the app, and InGoalmag.

Like riding a freshly treated surfboard, we slide over to Hutch.

Alright, boys. I noticed, a question pop up this week where a parent said, quote, I noticed a lot of kids are waxing their sticks. Do I need to wax my u eleven goalie stick now? So that was what prompted me to think about this week's session, guys. And we're gonna be fairly quick, but I wanted to address both the question of waxing a stick, but I also wanted to go a little bit deeper than that as I like to do.

First on the waxing of a stick. Look, it's a it's a personal thing. I remember at the youngest ages in the game, it was actually particularly popular in my son's teams that there would be kids with all sorts of different scents of wax in the room And they're all putting layer after layer after layer, collecting these things. You know, I used to think that every teenage hockey player smells like axe body spray, guys. I think every kid before they become teenagers has the scent of stick wax on them.

I don't know if it's still the same, but it sure was when my son was there. Now the reasoning for why to do it, some people think it's the way that the wax grips the puck on your stick. It's probably of little consequence to a nine or 10 year old goaltender. I know some definitely do it because it prevents the buildup of snow on the blade of your stick, which, can definitely affect your puck handling at any age. I I I do think it's a little bit less, at the higher levels of the game.

Woody and I were chatting about that and I can't think of a lot of NHL goalies that do it. Not many have mentioned it when they're doing stick taping sessions for us for example. But of course, at the higher levels of the game, you've got the ice getting scraped frequently and you've got the extra floods and all sorts of things happening. So so maybe, but probably also depends on the building you're in, the climate and so on. Have had some parents say that they feel if you wax the stick, the tape job will last a little bit longer and although tape isn't particularly expensive, it just saves the trouble.

So that's a short explanation for why some people do it because I know we have some parents who are actually new to being goalie parents this season are listening to us and reading InGoal now. So for those folks, that was a bit of an explanation to that. But as with everything, look, it's up to you, feel free to experiment. Stick wax is pretty cheap and if you need a small gift for a goalie for whatever reason, it's a it's a nice easy way to go. But I did wanna, as I always do guys, touch on one little other part to this And that was the the way the question was phrased.

Do I have to wax my U11 goalie stick now? Now look, not to attach too much to the phrasing, but I think my answer is you don't need to do anything. We've spoken about this before, but we're trying to prepare our kids for both higher levels in the game and for life beyond the game. And while it might not be as convenient to do it this way for mom and dad, do try and have your kids doing as much as they can in their preparation to play, taping their sticks, which they can

do a lot younger than age nine. And yes, it will probably cost you a few rolls of tape along the way, but kids can learn the skill quite young. They can take pride in it. They can experiment. And without doubt, a nine year old can rub wax on their tape if that's what they're choosing to do.

Even though it'll take a little teaching time, it's one less thing for a busy parent to worry about. It's hard enough being a hockey parent without adding chores to your list. And if your kid doesn't wanna wax their stick or even tape it or whatever, they're gonna be fine. Let them just go out and play. It's all good.

Beyond teaching independence, taping the stick is an important ritual guys for players at a lot of levels of the game. You know, as you get higher up, you'll see those kids standing on the bench all retaping their stick as preparation for going on the ice. And, as much as I cringe when I see a perfectly good tape job being pulled off so a kid can re retape it before a game, Not really needed from a technical perspective, I don't think. But it can sort of be like a meditative ritual for a lot of players just to help them relax and focus on the game. And why not, if your kid is ready for that, let them learn to do that.

Now, I'm not saying that a nine year old needs to retape their stick before every game, far from it. But you also don't want to be that mom or dad standing outside the dressing room taping your kid's stick. Let them have a little bit of space, give them a chance to experiment and learn and I promise far more important than just having the perfect job for the next game is the personal growth for your young goalie. Even all psychologists there. Well, I tend to do that.

I tend to think of things a little bit deeper. These are the things that jump out at me. I mean, I I can still remember at age 11 seeing a mother standing outside, the dressing room taping her son's stick because he was a little too scatterbrained to do that and hadn't done it yet. And I'm just thinking, why are you doing this? Just if he has to go out and play without one for a game, without a tape job, he can do that.

Or if he really wants it, he can do it himself too. I know, you know, we're all so focused on making sure our kids have the best experience that day and the best game that day and it all feels like every game is the most important thing ever. But I think if we step back and use a little perspective, I think we're gonna help our kids learn some things that, are better in the long run.

I like the personality part of it too.

Oh, yeah.

You can put a little bit of yourself as as a encourage your son or daughter to make this stick taping approach theirs. 100%.

You know, there's we weren't we just talking about not being able to have much personality? You can sort of quietly have your own personality on the stick. It's sad that that's where we wanna express our personality, but maybe it's true.

Well, hey. Listen. We get to express our personality more than anyone with the masks True. In some way. But I do think of, as you say that, Linus Ullmark.

Right? Like, researching, coming up his stick. We've got it on ingoalmag.com. We've got articles about this where Linus explains, like, he has he takes a puck, and he shades certain areas of the white tape. In part, there's a performance benefit to part of it.

Part of it was just to make sure he had something that was his, that he owned. I he told me he was looking at old, you know, like, tape jobs of, like, Belfour and Roy and Hasek and trying to make sure that nobody had ever done it before. Right? So there is an opportunity to both become, someone who takes responsibility for preparing your equipment, which matters, but also show a little bit of that personality, develop a little bit of that personality. And if I did not realize that they made like, I think back in the day, they used to use surf wax, which I

have plenty of here. But I didn't know there were different you know, like, for surf wax, they all smell different, but you're basically choosing wax based on the hardness and and the temperature of the water and things like that. It sounds like like flavors. Like, I think I might be and I might be trying this. So guys, like, come into the crease and aren't like, what what's that smell?

It'd be like, oh, what's that smell? Little more positive experience than just the stinky gear. And I wanna know, what's the benefit besides you you hinted earlier before we started talking. Did I hear something? Like, if you put enough of this on there, can I Michigan this thing?

Yeah. You totally can. I've seen kids put so much wax on their on their stick. Like, we're talking, you know, a noticeable increase in volume of the stick that the puck will actually defy gravity and you can hold it upside down and it's not gonna fall. That's not how a Michigan is done.

And if you know how to use your stick properly, you can pick it up without the crazy wax on it. But, yes, I've seen lots of young kids enjoy doing that too.

So Woody This maybe you This is gonna be a party trick.

Yeah. Woody will do the auto Michigan in the middle of a game. It's just like, I I don't care. It's against me, but it's a great highlight, so I'm doing it.

Well, I'll just like Woody. I'll just go behind the net and, like, some guys charging down. It'll be kind I'll just, like, pop it like I'm gonna do a Michigan. I'm like, what the hell is this guy doing? Just lift the stick up above the air and fling it.

Lacrosse style.

Like a fly fishing rod out of the zone and everybody be like, woah.

Was a little worried though, Woody, hearing you talk about surfing and the different conditions and temperatures and so on because I can now imagine you taking a barometer to the hockey rink and trying to figure out the exact humidity in which wax you need to apply your stick for that day because because you would do that. Which

which box of mister Zogg sex wax does Woody break out at the rink?

Got the feature interview coming up, but how do you guys tape your stick? What's your strategy? Do you tape the heel? Do you just do the middle of the stick? Do you go all the way to the toe and there's no blade showing?

So I I used to always do it based on our experience when we were younger, Daren and if you didn't protect that stick properly, a little water would get into the heel, then the heel would start Split it up. So I would have extra strips covering the bottom there. That's not really an issue anymore. But for that reason I was always taping all the way around the heel and all the way up to the toe to try and protect and make that stick last forever. My parents weren't buying me half a dozen or a dozen sticks a year like we we need to these days for a lot of kids.

I'm I go from heel to toe just because that's how Carey taught us. And if you haven't already, Carey Price has a great video up at InGoal where we walk through how he taped his stick. We've got that with a bunch of different guys. Don't go all the way to the back of the heel. Probably start, like, a third of the way down the stick, but then do overlap at the toe and then cut it with scissors just because it looks nice and pretty.

I'm a little OCD, and I gotta say I've gone Devon Levi. It was a little bit of urgency. I had not had an opportunity to tape my newest stick before I went to the rink, but I went full Devon Levi on the, handle at the end of the shaft the last time I played, and it is a it is a lifesaver in terms of being able to put on a nice knob at the end of the stick in a very short order.