287 Parents: A great off ice training tool that will make you a better goaltender – and might just prevent a few head shots

Slide over to the Stop It Goaltending U, the app parent segment with David Hutchison, the latest from Stop It Goaltending U.

Well, the best from Stop It Goaltending U, in my opinion, and I'm biased here, is the fact that when you get to the app, you also get a subscription to InGoal Magazine. So you put together all the power of the new material that we deliver on a weekly basis, the ProReads, the chance to sit down and watch videos with NHL goalies with over twenty five years of expertise from the Stop It Goaltending U people. Brian Daccord with daily primers, five every week one minute lessons to help you become a better goaltender. Nice quick hits. This week, I really this is a good one.

How we carry ourselves as goaltenders. How we present ourselves. How we carry ourselves in the crease. There's some important lessons here. Frankly, there's some lessons here that there's some NHL goalies that need to learn in terms of how they carry themselves and how it impacts how their teammates think of them.

I've heard some stories about that lately, some really valuable lessons there. There's a five minute goalie clip and then a twenty minute each week breakdown. This week, it's Goalie IQ. They break down video of Askarov, Yaroslav Askarov, we hope to have a as a featured guest here in the near future, and Thatcher Demko at the other end of the ice. So they broke down a game between those two of late and sort of watched how they handled different situations.

It's a great learning tool where at ProReads At InGoal, we have the goalies talk about their save selections. They watch it from a coach's eye above and make notes and compare so you can sort of learn how these goalies manage the game and and sort of compare notes and maybe try some of those things themselves. So between us at InGoal and the folks over at Stop It Goaltending and their twenty five years of expertise, there is no shortage of great tips and advice that you get out of a subscription from Stop It Goaltending U, the app.

Hutch? The floor is yours.

Thank you. Before I get going with this week's parent segment, guys, I do want to thank everybody who reached out this week via parents at ingoalmag.com. It was probably the busiest week on there. After I shared my experience last week as a goalie parent about our son being traded, a lot of people reached out. The concern and support from the InGoal community for us as a family and for Maddie in particular really was heartwarming. Let me let everybody know that he's doing great. He's loving the incredible hockey culture in Saskatchewan, where he's found a fantastic team in the Moose Jaw Warriors. He's got supportive coaches and a billet family that, already makes it feel like home for him.

In fact, I think I told you guys earlier this week he had a day off and he achieved his lifelong dream. He went and spent over two hours in minus 21 degree weather on the backyard rink. So couldn't be happier for him. Thanks to everybody who was worried. This week, I'm working on a new segment, but we're not ready to unveil it yet.

Not a new segment, a new new edition of the parent segment. Tentatively, I have it titled the top five annoyances for goalie parents. You know, things like the referee not blowing the whistle fast enough or threatening young goalies with a penalty if they cover the puck at the wrong time. Those sort of things that annoy you as a goalie parent. If any of you have ideas of things that annoy you want me to add into that list, please send them to me.

Again, parents@InGoalmag.com, and we'll get them in, next week or when we come up with that final list. One annoyance that I'm sure is gonna make everybody's list is headshots. And, of course, we all hate them, but you know me, looking for the bright side, I also figured they find they can give us a bit of a teaching opportunity. So that got me thinking this week and it reminded me of something that we have seen New York Rangers American League goaltender Dylan Garand do. He used to finish every warm up guys by asking the shooters to fire pucks directly at his head.

You may have seen it in the article that we published on InGoal quite some time ago when Dylan had played in the world juniors, and we'll put a link in the show notes so people can see the video and I might even put it up on social this week. Every time Dylan's on the ice, he finishes his warm ups pointing at his own head to tell the shooter what to do. And it is so funny when there's a new shooter on the ice who looks around in confusion, wondering if Dylan is really asking what he seems to be. Spoiler alert, he absolutely is. And he wants that shooter to rip the pocket his head.

And that's to create the certain amount of control with his hands, a little bit of hand speed. No. It's not really because he wants to stop himself from getting hit in the head, but maybe it's a bit of a help. Now, like many parents, when our kid was younger, we invested in the best helmet that we could afford when he started taking those high headshots. That often said, I would joke with my son, guys, and I'd say, why didn't you just catch it?

Of course, as long as he wasn't hurt. So how can a young goalie learn a skill to make that catch even if it's not all about saving ourselves from headshots? And the answer, learn to catch with a baseball glove. Woody, I might need your help on this one this week. Baseball players are incredible athletes just like Kevin Woodley.

And, their catching skills do translate directly to being on the ice. And they don't start at shortstop in a goalie stance, although I'd love to see Woody play shortstop in case he actually does. When they're catching a ball, they focus and they bring it into the middle of their body. Woody, this like I said, this is your area of expertise, but playing catch, a lot of balls come straight at your head, do they not?

They do. Yeah. Yes. You're you're you're digging into the the deep recesses in my brain because it's been a long time since I've had a catch. But, yes, certainly, you're they're aiming at your chest and they might miss a few a few There

you go. Chances are that's where Woody's concussions all began was actually as a baseball player and not as a hockey player. I don't remember. Playing catch with a ball glove, of course, is not about stopping headshots. I don't think we're gonna solve that problem for you here.

But it it did The thinking about it did give me the idea that using a baseball glove is something we should reinforce, for people because it helps you become a better athlete, helps you control the play on the ice. The more pucks you can stop with your glove, the more rebounds you control, the more play you've, controlled. In our podcast with LA Kings, goaltending director, Bill Ranford, you might remember, he mentioned that not enough kids know how to catch pucks well. And he even said that with their NHL goaltenders, they'll bring in baseball gloves in development camp and help them learn how to catch. So don't just have your goaltender bouncing a ball off the walls by themselves.

Grab a pair of ball gloves, head outside, unless you're in Moose Jaw this week, and play catch with them. Not only are you gonna have fun and help them become a better goalie, but you're actually gonna be spending some quality time with your kid out there having fun. On so many hockey road trips over the years, guys, we brought ball gloves with us. It's a it's a great way to pass the time and when life throws you a curveball, like having to wait hours for the next available ferry home, your kid learns to take it all in stride and rather than being frustrated, they enjoy the time hanging out with you and playing catch. So that's all for this week.

Get some ball gloves, start working with them. Don't forget to send in your top annoyances as a goalie parent so that I can add them into that segment when we get to it.