Podcast Segment for Goalie Parents – Episode 275

Stop It Goaltending U, the app. I'm trying to save you here. Brings us our parent segment. This is the carry on from our conversation last week, Hutch. Stop It Goaltending U, the app, a great resource for all goaltenders.

Well, it's a great resource for all goaltenders. It's also as as Hutch gets into, you know, how to help your kid with stats and managing that part of the game, there's also a resource you can tap into at Stop It Goaltending U, the app, under the services section to get game reports and game video reviews. So if you wanna get somebody else taking a look at your kid's game, you can do that through Stop It Goaltending U, the app. You would record and then upload your game film into your own dedicated Google Drive folder. A Stop It coach will watch the film and create a game report using the Stop It Goaltending game day app tracking software.

You can see how you perform relative to you hear me talk about expected goals and expected save percentage all the time. How many grade a's did you face? How truly hard was that game environment? And then that coach will do a voice over of your footage, breaking it down clip by clip with advice and tips, things you did well, things you could maybe do differently, steps you can take to become a better goaltender. That's all available under the services section of the app at Stop It Goaltending U, the app.

There is a fee. It's not included in the app. You can do try it for one game, eight game, 24, have your whole season reviewed, but you can try it on a short term basis to see whether you like it. Make sure you check it out at Stop It Goaltending U, the app. And, of course, as we have for several months now, every time you get a subscription, everyone who subscribes to the Stop It Goaltending U app gets a subscription to InGoal Magazine, the premium product at ingoalmag.com, and all the NHL content that we bring you on a weekly basis, including game reviews with NHL goalies.

That's pretty cool. Be able to get reports like that.

I actually I actually have to pay people not to watch my footage.

What do you think? I've submitted my video, what do you think of this? Tennis. Pickle ball. Hutch, what do we got what what do we got on the heels of last week?

Well, I think our friends at Stop It must have been listening last week because we talked about how save percentage is just not really a great metric to be working with. So many parents out there talking about counting shots and finding save percentages for the kids. Last week, we talked about why I don't think that's a great measure. And more importantly, what I talked about was that what are you even going to do with that number? If you're an eight fifty or a nine fifty, that doesn't instruct how you're gonna practice next week and how you're gonna become a better goaltender.

I think our friends at Stop It were listening because they sent us in this information about the video coaching program and the game day app. We're gonna talk a little bit more about game day, and we're gonna talk a little bit more about maybe some alternatives for stats if you really do wanna take them. We're gonna do that next week. This week, I wanted to get in on the heels of save percentage and say, what do I talk to a kid about after a game if I don't tell them what their save percentage was? What do I talk to my own kid about?

The answer today is nothing because he's got a great goaltending coach over in Vancouver. But when he was younger, what do I talk to, the goalies that I coach after a game? How do I address things? I think we want to first say, as I've done many times before, you know your goalie better than I do. And it actually is really important to understand your goaltender to have a relationship with them because the conversation will be directed a little bit based on what they need as a goaltender.

Are they a kid who's struggling with confidence? Are they feeling discouraged? Are they overconfident? Are they one who tends to blame others when things aren't going very well? Having that context of who they are and even how they respond to feedback is is really, really important before you carry on with one of these conversations.

It's not there's no sort of checklist of here's how you talk to a goaltender about a game. So understand them. Have a relationship and you can direct that conversation based on it. That said, the first thing I'll just say is let's put the the goals aside, whether it was a good game or a great game. I know those things matter to you, but let's put those aside for a little while and just say, what did you think?

How did it go? Was it a tough game for you? Was it an easier game for you? How do you think you played? Some general thoughts.

And any parent out there will tell you as they're listening to me, I ask my kid how school went today and they said, I don't know. It was okay. And they'll have nothing to say. And as you first have these conversations with your child, asking them how the game went, you'll probably get similar responses. But if you press on, if you go through some of these other things that I'm gonna talk about here, eventually, I think those initial conversations will become more engaged.

And I do think because your kid loves goaltending, they're passionate about it, it's gonna be a little bit easier than getting an answer about what they did in history class today because they love what they're talking about. That said, I think getting that framework for it is really important because we've said before, we want them to be their own best goalie coach. So just get a feel for that. And it it also takes away that context of the score. Let's just talk about the game in general.

And that idea of was it a tough game or an easy game? I think framing it is is important as well. So that again, getting away from the stats. Let's just evaluate what were you facing tonight and then how did you respond to it? And then I try and push a little deeper and get in a little bit more specific.

What went well for you tonight? Tell me some things that you think you did really well. And I'm hoping over time that general question can lead to some good feedback from them. But you might need to dig a little bit deeper. And one question I often ask is, what are you proud of tonight?

Again, focusing on the positive, tell me something you're really proud of that happened in the game. And at first, even later, you're probably gonna get the kind of answers that you might expect. Oh, that glove save was awesome. When I stopped that breakaway, it was great. The paddle save.

They'll come up with some highlight saves that their team might be cheering about, their coach might be cheering about, we at home would cheer about and absolutely celebrate those things. Those are why we play the game. We love those highlights. And it's it is all about having fun, but then push a little further. What are you proud of that happened today that anybody else in the rink might have missed except a goalie coach?

What happened on the ice that other people might not notice you'd like them to notice? And some examples of those things could be going back to what happened in practice this week. Were you working with your coach on containing saves with your body, those gut trap saves? And maybe you noticed one during a game and you can say to your kid, hey, I noticed on that power play, there was a screenshot and you contained the puck with your body really well. I saw you'd been doing it in practice.

Good job. That's fantastic. And maybe you noticed that they were shifting slightly into pucks instead of full on sliding out of control and getting out of their out of their crease. Maybe you noticed that their depth selection was really good. Perhaps in one situation, they knew there were no options and they took a little bit more depth.

Perhaps on a power play where there were many options, they played a little bit deeper because they've been working on that in practice this week. And I know some of you are probably thinking as I say that, I'm not a goalie coach. I can't find these things. But that leads some of the conversation you have during the week. If you know nothing about goaltending, when your kid comes home from practice, say, what did you learn today?

Teach me. Help me learn how to be a goaltender. And that will help them process what they've been doing. And I think even reinforce what they were doing on the ice in practice that week. I think some of these conversations are a little bit like doing homework.

You get the lesson in school, but then when you go home and you review it, that's when the lesson really takes hold for you. So having your kid teach you what they're learning, just in a small way, will help you notice things in their game and it will help them reinforce what it is that they're learning. So sometimes you noticing these things for them helps them start to find these subtle things in in their game. But I think it really is important that we're celebrating the things that they're doing really well. Then you can ask, is there anything you'd like to work on next game?

What came out of the game today that you think you'd like to work on? And again, you hope maybe this comes from some of the things they've been doing in practice, some of the things they've been learning from a goalie coach. But maybe they'll say, I struggled handling the puck today. Or I gave out a few too many rebounds or I wasn't catching pucks cleanly. Some of the things that maybe they'd like to do, this gives them some guidance in practice.

And again, even if they don't have a goalie coach guys in their practices regularly, by reflecting on the game, some of the things that were tough for them, that gives them at least a mindset when they go into practice on their own for some of these drills so they know that they can improve on things a little bit. I struggled a little bit with screenshots today. I was struggling to find the puck. Well, maybe they can think about that a little bit more during practice. All of those things, I think, give some structure to the game, some structure to what they're doing, and puts all the goals aside.

Because look, goals go in sometimes for no fault of your kid. They hit two bums and a stick and then they go in the net behind them. Those don't mean you had a good game or a bad game and they give you nothing to work on in practice next week. And then finally, the goals themselves. Brian Daccord did a great article for us where he talked about coaching your kid in the car afterwards.

It's a bit of a controversial topic in hockey. Too many parents telling their kids how to play when they have a coach. But but Brian said to us, a goalie can go. They can play their game. They can come off the ice, they can get changed, they can leave the rink, hop into your car, and nobody, not even a coach, may have said a word to them that day.

And as a parent, you might be the only chance they have to process that game. And so Brian himself believes that actually going over the goals is important as sort of a cleanse. You can get through them and put them aside and then say that they're done. I know we talk in games about you wanna forget them and put them in the past and you do during the game, but but a lot of guys still wanna go over the goals. I never really brought them up with my kid, but if he brought them up with me, we would have a conversation about them.

And it's just a quick check. I I think it was, Mitch Korn who would talk to his goaltenders and have checklist, didn't he, Kevin, about here's one you should have had, here's one you could have had, and here's one you had no chance of getting. And I I think with your kids, that's not a bad framework to go through. There's almost always a way we could imagine that we might have made a save, But, I think putting some aside is, look, you just had no chance and that's okay. That happens.

Here's one. Maybe you could have done something and worked on a little bit. But processing them and then leaving them in the past, I think is is really important. And then just the last thing I'll say, and I agreed completely with Brian in his article on this one, was once the conversation about the game is over, it's over. Put it away.

We're not going to revisit it at dinner. We're not going to bring it up again tomorrow. I think again about teaching that right mindset, We're just saying the conversation has happened. We've processed the game. We've diagnosed what we're going to do in practice this week.

And then we just put it away. And then let's move on and and have some good family time and let's just enjoy each other for everything else that we do. So that's my general process when I'm talking to, to my son or to a goaltender that I work with. I think it's important that we get lessons out of our games so that we can become better. If they have a goalie coach who does this all with them, by all means, leave it to that goalie coach.

But if you're the only one as a parent, that can talk to them or you're a goalie coach looking for things to say to your goalies, those are a few ideas. I think what, what Stop It is doing guys with their video reports on games and going through the stats with goalies, Awesome program. If you want to bring in that reinforcement to support you as a as a parent, getting them to help your goalie, great program to have. But if you're on your own and you want to help help them out, those are a few thoughts. By all means, people, let me know what you think.

Do you agree with me? Do you disagree? Do you have some other things that you say to your goaltender? Parents at ingoalmag.com.

Couple of things, just wanna play off of, there's options there, Hutch, and that's great to have for the parent to have flexibility in dealing with your child. And the other one is just be conscious of reading the room and and where things are that particular day. It doesn't doesn't have to be tried and true that you've you stick to the same formula every day and being able to just play off of your child's mood or situation.

100%. I think that's sort of what I was saying in the beginning when I said you need to know your kid the best. You need to have that relationship. But I think, Daren, you made a really good point there. Read the room because it may have changed one day to the next.

Do you need to be a little bit more positive? Do you need to really focus on a few things that went well? If they did have a tough game, there's gonna be some days they just don't even wanna talk about it and maybe they'll wanna come back to it later. Understand your child and let them process it the best way that you and they know. Woody?

It's well said. I'll go to the Mitch Korn thing. I think it was evaluating goals. Could have stopped, should have stopped. And then I can't remember if it's no chance, but basically analyzing them in those three categories.

And and again, I do think though there is value in being able to look at what those attributes, you know, what attributes go into a would've and a could've or or should've.

Sounds like somebody needs to interview Mitch and do an article soon, Kevin.

Yeah. Because it because it, like, it changes. Right? Like, that's the thing. Like, he's got all those years of knowing what that looks like, and we don't as goalie parents, and that changes obviously you know, we we understand analytics now if a puck goes across the crease, and it's a one timer.

I think intuitively as goaltenders, we know that that's a harder save to make, but, you know, that's where the Stop It app and the work they does sort of helps quantify that a little bit. Right? Because what we have as parents for example, what I have is a guy who watches the NHL all the time watching kids hockey. My evaluation process is much different in terms of what I think a should have looks like at the different levels. So there's there's value in sort of bringing in that outside voice if you're unsure.

And like I said, the beauty of it, not to turn this into a pitch is you can just try it. You don't have to go all in and buy it for a full season. You can just try a one game. And that'll actually give you a sense a little bit of how your evaluation might differ from an independent third party as well. It might provide a little perspective as a parent when we get into those conversations about how you perceive something and how what reality looks like for that age group.

Yeah. Teaching tool for the parent and the and the education side of it.

It's huge. I found, again, not to get too far ahead into next week where we're talking about it a little bit more, but I found the first few games I actually use Stop It's GameDay app incredibly educational for me. Even though I can watch a game and I understand intuitively a lot of this stuff, as soon as you start categorizing every single shot, things really jump out at you. And they also make you think, okay, Stop It says this one was really, really hard. I'm not sure it necessarily was in this case.

You you you end up evaluating the individual selection as well on your own. It's it's a fascinating process.