InGoal Radio Episode 300 with Marc-Andre Fleury

Intro

Confetti and balloons everywhere. I don't know who's gotta clean this up. What a party. We are rocking it. They look at that, though, over there.

Is is is that Eric Comrie? Valiquette? I I saw Valiquette earlier. This is an unbelievable celebration that we've got going. The the 300th Episode of InGoal Radio Podcast, and we got everybody together.

Bill Ranford. Hey, Billie. Billie, just recording right now. It's it's alright. I'll catch up with you in a second.

Welcome, guys, and congratulations to Kevin Woodley and David Hutchison.

And Daren Millard.

Come on. Wouldn't be here without you.

From the beginning, my friend, when we decided to launch this podcast, would not be without you where it is now 300 episodes. This is pretty exciting stuff. We we made it.

Six years. Six years.

Can I retire now?

No. No. Because there's a chance because Lou's flight got delayed. He's not gonna be here for, sounds like, forty five minutes, and he may need a ride from the airport. And you did the interview with Roberto Luongo.

So I I told him that you you were on standby to pick him up.

First one ever in the car with Lou. That was that was we've had him on twice, which means we have the record for Roberto Luongo on podcasts.

One of my favorite episodes was Kazmier. Remember that?

Kaskasuo.

Sure do.

That was early. That was early days.

Was in yeah.

He was in Toronto, and and now I follow him all the time on social media. Really cool. There's there's been a few along the way. So and we also gotta thank our our partners over at The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com. They have been with us in lockstep from the earliest goings.

Absolutely. Our gear segments every week, them as the sponsor of our podcast. During some lean years where you couldn't go into a store to get equipment, stuck with us through that. It's been, it's been quite the adventure. So thanks to Chad Purdy and the crew, Cam over at the Hockey Shop for being a part of the journey.

They they've changed locations. Like, moved into a new building since we've been doing this.

They had a fire, moved stores, moved back, and now moved to it all during their sponsorship of the InGoal Radio Podcast. All those things have happened while they were sponsors of this podcast.

And there's so much

Daren's changed locations too.

Oh, yeah.

Where were you for episode one?

Yeah. I I I've won a Stanley Cup since since we did this.

There you go.

Not a big deal.

My desk used to be over there on that side of the room.

No. It's it's it's been amazing. Part of me thinks 300 is lower than I I thought we would be over the the number of years, eight years that we've been doing this. And don't don't what? Six?

No. It's more than six. I've been in Vegas for six.

No. See, here's here's where you guys forget.

Way back when?

The pandemic slowed things down, including regular episodes of the podcast. We didn't go weekly for a while. We had a little few breaks in there. Much like the NHL, we had to hit pause a couple of times. But we are still here.

300 you know what? 300 is a massive number in the NHL for goalies. I know a lot of guys have that as a career goal for wins. Like, 300 is a really big deal. Just like playing 500 games for goal in the NHL is sort of the equivalent of a thousand for a player from a milestone perspective.

Three hundred's a big number, and we're there.

Do you guys have a favorite episode?

Yes.

Okay. Let's get into it in just a little bit because I'm curious to see

Oh, I thought you were gonna.

No. No. No. No. It's a tease.

Because I do. I I have one of those episodes where that's just stuck with me over the years. Actually, two. One that put a guy on my radar, and now he's a star in the National Hockey League, another one that just offered a lesson. But let's let's tell everybody about what's going on with the goalie school guide as we celebrate advancements and content out of InGoal Mag.

Daren, it's been an incredible ride. It's not surprisingly the number one visited page on ingoalmag.com in the last couple of months is the guide to goalie schools and coaches. It comes in two forms. It's the magazine style flipbook where you can get in there and get some great original articles like an interview with Marc-Andre Fleury. You can get a sample of ProReads with a a Joseph Woll one, the video right there embedded into the magazine.

And if you feel like searching and getting into the nitty gritty of each school, there's the online directory as well. So you can go in there and say, find me a goalie school in Toronto, and it'll give you the listings of the coaches that work with us. More than a 160 schools represented in each format. It's just been a great way. We wanted to have a service where parents or goaltenders could find the next coach they wanna work with, inspired by some of the great stories on the podcast, like one of my favorite episodes where we learned about Thatcher Demko visiting different coaches as he played around North America in various youth tournaments.

Well, if you happen to wanna follow that kind of a model, just head over to ingoalmag.com and you can type in where you're going for your next tournament and find a local coach and maybe reach out and get a lesson. Just a great resource. Glad we could bring it to you. If you're a coach and you're not in there yet, hit us up. Coaches@InGoalMag.com.

And if you're a parent or a goalie, head over there, check it out, ask some questions of the schools that are in there.

And I should add, as we celebrate the return of our goalie school guide after a ten year hiatus, the cover story is one Marc-Andre Fleury. We're well into episode 300, and we've forgotten to remind that Marc-Andre Fleury is our guest today. Future first ballot hall of famer Marc-Andre Fleury is our guest for episode 300. Hey. Hey.

I've been in journalism a long time. Nobody knows how to bury a lead like I do.

That's also on the show description. It's one thing I've learned about podcasts. You you you can kind of meander through that a little bit because there's the headline, and then there's the opening of the actual podcast.

See there, Hutch? This is why he's the pro. Not to mention we've been teasing Flower as our featured guest for episode 300 for about five episodes now.

It's at at least five episodes going back a long way. Hey. Jeremy Swayman just walked in. That is really cool.

Hey, Sway.

This this thing is awesome. I I I love this. Yep. Tickets over there or take all the food you want, Jeremy. And, again, if you got time, if you got a chance, stop by, but we're just gonna get through the the Gear Segment right now.

We are talking about the Warrior Chesty as we're on a Warrior run.

We are on a Warrior run because there's a whole bunch of new equipment from Warrior. New stick coming in the near future. We showed you the pants, tons of gear. It's that time of year where it all comes in at the hockey shop and the hockeyshop.com. All the new models, there's been a few in store already that we've already discussed, but EFlex seven is coming.

The new Bauer Vapor line is coming, and that means two things. One, great reviews of the new content each week here on the Gear Segment as part of the podcast and over on our YouTube channel. Be sure to go check it out there, but also sales on the past editions of the equipment. Last week, we did the Warrior Pants, told you all about the surprising, dare I say shocking, move away from the flat front of the traditional or what had been the past couple generations of Warrior pants while those flat front ones are now on sale. Anytime we roll out new gear, you can count on the old stuff being on sale at the hockey shop and the hockeyshop.com.

So as we continue through with that this week with the Warrior Ritual X5 chest protector lines, make sure you check out the hockeyshop.com. If the past generation happen to be your favorite, you can stock up on that. They've got sales going on coming through Easter, tons of sales on past merchandises. They make room. They may have 30,000 square feet of space at the new Hockey Shop location, but it's still not enough for all the gear on the wall.

So they gotta make room for the new stuff by getting rid of the old, and that can be a great opportunity for you to save money on new equipment this offseason.

Rob Tallis said that after we're done with the party and the celebration, he does wanna go over to the Hockey Shop just to check it out because he's heard so much about everything on the podcast. So keep that in mind before everybody scatters at the end of the night that that that Tally needs a lift over there. Alright?

Hey. Tally's from the area. I remember taking part in an alumni escape with the with the Surrey Eagles, which is just down the road and seeing his picture on the wall, so he would be very familiar with the guys over at the Hockey Shop.

Gear

The Warrior Chesty in the Gear Segment brought to you by the Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, the hockeyshop.com. Here is Cam and Woody.

Welcome back to the Hockey Shop Source for Sports. I'm InGoal Utopia once again with my friend, Cam Matwiv.

You have friends. I at Look at

that. Was an emotional moment for me.

I know. It's good. I don't know whether

I was choked up over admitting I had a friend or you were one of them. The Ritual RX five. We got new.

Yes.

It's that time of year.

Yes.

New stuff.

Yes. A warrior. Yes.

I noticed that you held on to the higher end one and you gave me the second price point. I'm not I'm assuming that's a judgment of my

high end friend over here.

It's okay. Liabilities. But let's walk me through what's new, different. I mean, I'm seeing things that jump out right away that we've seen on other, but I'm gonna let you take the floor cam.

Jump out, but also camoed out with that camo kinda style colorway. So bit of a departure from Warrior's previous with black and yellow. Now black, gray, green. Okay. More of that hidden kind of style look.

Kind of falling a little bit in line with some of their player gear that has has that same kind of color pattern and palette. But let's go over what's new. So Warrior Features. I want features. Yeah.

Features. Well, first of all, Warrior has dropped the line for senior from four chests down to two. So you have the RTL, which is the top end elite level price point, and then the pro, which is the mid level price point. Oh, are we? Yes.

We've had we're we've been back to this. We've talked about this before.

I'm not gonna rant on this this time, but We we have covered it. The assumption would be that pro is highest end, but, okay, pro is second place. Other companies have done it. Yes. Y'all drive me

mad with this,

just so you know.

K. So back to the RTL. So, basically, Warrior's boiled down the chest protector line to be able to kinda create and amalgamate, you know, all of their different units into one. So before we had pro and pro plus, for example, pro being a little bit more tapered fit with the pro plus being a little bit more based off of coverage. So now you see kind of both of those things sandwiched into one chest protector.

Okay. So overall features. Yeah. And one thing that I noticed like right away off this unit is just the overall level of like, it feels like a top quality pro unit. I think it's the best way to describe it.

There's a little bit of weight to it, but I it's not one of those things that I'd be like, oh, this feels heavy by any means.

Well, and

if you hold Substantial. Substantial.

If you hold it out here versus when it's fitting around your body, you're

gonna And actually notice hanging off your shoulders.

Yeah, exactly.

So we could start right away with the topic of protection. So difference between RTL and Pro. RTL is gonna feature their Hyper Comp material. So their carbon enhanced impact. What do see?

Whereabouts? All over. Okay. Good way to feel it too as well. So you can feel it even underneath the arm floaters here.

See it in the arm floaters.

So it's not necessarily visible

too. Yeah.

You I mean Yeah.

There's a little bit of visual call out there.

Exactly. Exactly. And that's where you start to see some of those differences kind of between the two. Right? Okay.

So moving on in terms of the adjustability aspect side, which is something that's definitely worth super, super high landing. It's always been a very key feature of Warrior Chest. However, one thing that we really like and call for is that ease of arm adjustability right out of the box. This just be something that you would find on the intermediate level chest protectors, the ability to pull that arm up easily, nice wide patch of high quality Velcro, be able to adjust that arm on the fly, save when we're fitting you in store and or if you order one online and wanna dial in your arm fit. Very, very easy to do, very easy to adjust.

Great system now featured on both of the senior units as well trickling all the way down through the intermediate and junior as well.

Look. I made mine shorter really quickly, so it's kinda like you when the check comes. Little tiny arms.

I don't wanna have to pay the bill. That's your job. Okay.

So coverage as well. Now we're talking about some of the coverage style of the chest protector. Warrior put a nice big block that is removable. Okay.

So anyway we see this in the second price point as well.

Yes. Be able to puff up those shoulders if you wish, or if you want them a little bit more tapered, you take that block out and then pull it tight up against. They'll give you that kind of rounded fit overall.

What do they call that? I know we already call the the the cuff on the glove the cheater, but that baby's I like that. Listen.

If you're looking for a little bit of extra height by the other shoulders, definitely something you can find in this unit.

I'll take every little bit of coverage I can get. Thank you very much. I like that.

Warrior has also paid a lot of attention to the reverse VH position in particular and added a lot of extra protection and coverage at the back of your arm to be able to make sure that you're covered in those areas as well when you're in that style position. Nice extension of that overall bicep pad basically to have it wraparound closer to the back of your arm to the tricep, a nice back tricep pad. It's thicker in the RTL versus the Pro, but it's still there. So again, you're getting a lot of that feature. So a

lot of the features carry over to the second price point. Just not in maybe in the same level of materials.

Same level of material and same level of substantialness, we call it as well.

Same level of substantialness. Look at you inventing new phrases.

Hey, it's what we're here about. Nice hard plastic elbow caps. Again, giving you that protection. So you did come down. I mean, these are great.

Some guy comes through your

crease. Yeah. We'll call we'll use that. We'll go with that. Elbows up.

So moving on to the back of the chest. Again, we see Warrior's familiar adjustability. No plastic buckles on the side. They serve with that same Velcro system that we've seen before along with removable belly extenders to again help you dial in your specific fit. In my opinion, this chest will do tuck and untuck.

Oh,

make sure you check out our old video on tuck or untuck in those preferences.

Yes. Yes. One last thing to really call out to as well. I really actually like these here. We can't use the word cheater again.

What are we what are we gonna call it?

Oh, that's actually a pretty thick Yeah. Piece of hard high density foam there.

So as you gotta go seal up

Just a little extra rigidity to make sure that puck don't squeeze

catch there. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. I gotta say this is a pretty good review. Nothing squeaked through you on this one.

No. And almost Oh, one more. Forgot. Oh, it almost did. But, again, if you wish to pull the suspenders over top of your shoulder floaters

Once again, we've got an entire video on that.

You do have that option to be able to lock it down.

Simple, effective. Okay. We talked about pro level and pro on the name. Once again, a personal pet peeve. Let's talk about price. Highest, Dan?

$800. Ish.

40 ish. Canadian folks. So if you're watching this from The United States, this product will ship across the border, and our dollar's not worth quite as much as yours, so it's a lot cheaper.

You have options. So tight line, like it a lot. Definitely something worth checking out this year if you're after a brand new chest protector.

Perfect. Warrior, Ritual, RX5, RTL, and Pro. See, I got that right.

Whatever your ritual is, check out this one.

Questions about fit? Where do they get you?

(604) 589-8299. You almost forgot that, didn't you? Or 1-800-567-7790.

Nicely done, Cameron.

Or thehockeyshop.com.

So, you know, the pants, the the flat front pants, if if you're looking for pants right now, would you go down that path? Did you love them that much? Like, the the past generation, the most previous generation of pants from Warrior?

It's a good question, Daren. I haven't been in them in a while, but I did like them when I had them. And so if I was I I I think I told this last week when we did the pants, as opposed to the chesty this week that it reminded me of when they changed the rules on wedges for golf. Right? Like, they changed the groove so you couldn't have as much spin on it.

You're darn Skippy. I went out and bought what a whole bunch a whole second set of wedges with the old cheater groove so I could have more

spin around the paint. Like, did did you actually use those wedges or did they just sit in your garage?

No. No. 100% I used them because eventually wedges wedges are like goal sticks, Daren. Eventually, they wear out. So you gotta have a practice wedge and a game wedge.

Do you practice? Or is it just your warm up wedge?

Wait. Is it my warm up wedge? I don't quite have a warm up wedge, but there was a time when I played enough golf and when I was when you were thinking about things like spinning grooves where you would for sure take the old ones to the range and have the fresh grooves in the bag when you played around. I come by my I I come by my warm up stick very naturally.

I I can attest that this is all very real. I have watched the sweet swing of Kevin Woodley so many times. I haven't seen a sweeter swing since Jim's

I knew the Furyk line

was smooth. It's like, he is not exaggerating everything Kevin talks about with golf, he can deliver.

He sucks at golf, by the way. Kevin sucks at golf. I will say that. But there was a time pre kids where he used to manage to play enough damn rounds of golf to get into the sort of just above single digit area, just around a 10. That's as good as I can get.

Now I suck, but that doesn't mean I suck at goaltending too, and I still have a warm up stick.

I've come around to your warm up stick. I I have come around to that. Absolutely. But you're not good enough to to be having multiple wedges and and warm up wedges.

I'm not good enough to have a warm up stick, Daren, but it doesn't stop me from doing it.

Cost effective. That makes sense. If if I'm a parent, I'm having my kids have practice sticks and game sticks. It's just that's the reality of it. They're they're not $30 sticks anymore

or They're. Close back. So definitely not.

Parent segment right there. Cut. Print. Thank you very much. Stop It Goaltending U the app.

And if you gotta tape them up or put a stick protector on the the shaft the shaft protector, all I'm in favor of that in for for practice sticks.

We actually

should use those old you should use those old road hockey ones. Remember the goalie part was just plastic and then it attached to a an old shaft of a wooden stick? Yeah. You're never gonna break that thing when you're practicing with the Knights.

The listen. I can attest though to Darren's point, Hutch, when we were at Hockey Alberta this weekend for their U15 elite camp as part of our new partnership with Hockey Alberta, I noticed a number of kids that in the on ice sessions with some pretty good shooters because coldly coaches can rip it. A number of kids had sticks that clearly had been repaired, in and around the some are on the shaft, but even on the paddle, a number of them, you sort of saw that blacked out. And I don't should've asked them for more details on the type of repair they were doing, but clearly not bringing out the freshest twigs for the practice style session.

Well, I've gone to a warm up stick and practice stick. I use stuff that I don't mind breaking there, and then I save my good ones for my high level Saturday morning at 07:00, and then the Sunday morning with the LVPD.

Morning skates. You know you're in the big time when you get morning ice.

Parent Playbook

I know. It's it's awesome. It's awesome too. The Gear Segment dealing with the Warrior Chesty and Warrior, so that got us onto that subject. Stop It Goaltending U the app, presents our parent segment, and we've joked around about a couple of different ways to go with this because we've already offered some advice.

But the direction, because it's episode number 300, is a little more reflective today on the Stop It Goaltending U the app parent segment as Stop It Goaltending U has come on board during the course of this journey to 300.

Yeah. They're one of our newer sponsors as we got going, and they've been a great I shouldn't even say sponsor because it's more of a partnership. Because every time you buy a subscription to the Stop It Goaltending U, the app, you get their great content and our great content from InGoal Premium. You get a full membership to InGoal premium as well as new weekly content from the Stop It Goaltending U app and their twenty five years of goalie coaching experience. You get daily primer.

So think of it as a Monday to Friday, one minute every day, just things to get you thinking about goaltending in different ways. This week's are takeaways from the NCAA frozen four tournament. Obviously, Brian Daccord, the founder of Stop It Goal Tending, and a big part of this Stop It Goaltending U, the app, was there. His team, Boston University, made it to the Frozen Four finals. So five different takeaways.

There's also a five minute video if you wanna deep dive a little more into box control as part of their goalie one zero one series. That's new this week. A full goalie IQ breakdown, including footage comparing the styles and sorry, and tactical preferences of Jake Oettinger and Mackenzie Blackwood as they meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, And a drill of the week, new two player behind the net with pass out options. They walk you through a new drill each week. They've added that in the past couple of weeks.

So lots of content all available on the Stop It Goaltending U, the app. And, of course, as we said, in addition to their content, you get our content, a membership to InGoal Premium comes with your membership to Stop It Goaltending U.

And the parent segment has been an add along the way.

Yeah. We added it on 56 episodes ago. I was really hoping when I went and looked that up, Daren, that it would be a nice round 50 that came along with episode 300, but not so exciting.

What were you doing for the first two hundred and forty six?

Just riding your coattails, and then I thought maybe I should contribute something. So I came up with my own segment and a way that I could get the word in first before Woody got chance. But he always jumps in there. Look. His finger's up to talk already.

Here we go. This is like me bringing the beer to my beer league team. There's no way they can get rid of me as a goalie if I bring the beer. That's this is Hutch and the parents segment.

I am the beverage boy for the InGoal Radio Podcast. I love it. I by the way, I have to collect your dues from both of you or you're not gonna be able to skate next week.

Talus has got it. Talus the Tally's

got mine. Okay. Thanks, Tally. Tally, get it to me after, will you, buddy? Nope.

Here we go. 56th Edition, Sergei Zubov's old number 56 it is this week. I just want to reflect, guys. I was thinking a little bit about what's happened over the last 300 episodes. Not so much just the parent segment, but what were some good episodes of the 300 that resonated with me for when when parents, I meet them in the rink and they say, oh, you know, what what's been an interesting conversation you've had on the show?

And as a parent, I always think about all sorts of different episodes and you guys both know that I've got a terrible memory, but the fact that these ones resonate with me maybe means means something. But you probably have some of your own that have popped up over the years, guys. One of the ones that I still tell people about is way back in Episode 3, and that was Thatcher Demko when he was talking with Kevin about all the routines that he had as a college goalie and the amount of time he had to invest in getting ready for every game and a realization when he got to the pros that he just couldn't do it all. And I found that for parents a fascinating episode both because you heard about all those different routines, but also that you learned that we need to be a little sane in what it is that we do. And every goalie tries to do so much.

And as parents, we try to give our kids every opportunity we possibly can. And in trying to be really good to them, sometimes maybe we give them too much to worry about, too much to think about. And of course, he also talked about, as I mentioned earlier, traveling around the country and working with other coaches. So shout out to the directory if you'd like to do that. I also just wanna mention Episode 167 with Strauss Mann was one of the first ones that I fired off to my son to listen to in recent years.

And he talked about the same sort of thing, all the different resources, all the different ways he wanted to learn. But he again mentioned, sometimes you need to pair it back. You just take need to realize you can't do it all. So those are two great ones I thought, guys. Of course, we can't forget Brian Daccord.

He is the goalie parent. He's sort of the head of the union of goalie parents. He's been in several episodes. The one that he was in where I interviewed him, we really got to riff a lot on being a goalie parent. Brian, of course, as you know, he's been an NHL scout.

He's been an NHL goalie coach, a director of goaltending. But now he's the parent of an NHL goalie, Joey, in Seattle, and he literally wrote the book, How to Be a Goalie Parent. So goalie parents, go check that out. With this episode, I usually provide notes with the parents segment in the episode notes, but I will also include links to all of these ones that I'm reflecting on and anything else that the guys come up with in a second. The other one I I was thinking about was the q and a we did with Ian Clark at TendyFest a couple of years ago.

You can listen to it in podcast form, but you can also see the video of that q and a over at ingoalmag.com. I thought it was fantastic because Ian just tells it like it is. He tells you what they're really looking for in professional goaltenders, and then he asks excuse me. And then he answers questions from some kids and from some parents. I think it's a really good one to sort of anchor your your view as a as a goalie parent.

And you may not agree with everything InGoal to say, but it really gets you reflecting. In a similar vein, Woody and I were lucky enough to sit down with Bill Ranford. Billy, thank you very much. In his kitchen, definitely a highlight memory episode for me, but we got to direct some very specific goalie parent questions to him there. And then he came out to TendyFest last year and did a q and a.

Again, taking questions from from kids, taking questions from parents. It's a must listen. It's a must watch as well. Video over at ingoalmag.com. I think that's a great one for parents as well.

And then lastly, I just gave myself come up with five. Definitely not least, and there are definitely others, was the episodes that Adam Francillia has been in on. He is, as you know, one of the top trainers in the game off ice for goaltenders, guys like Connor Hellebuyck, and he's part of the Alpha Sports Agency. He was also on with agent Ray Petkau of Alpha Sports on one of the episodes, and Ray's been on the parent segment too. I just think they give you great background about the game away from the ice, both training, maybe in a way that not every trainer out there does in a very specific goalie way.

And, of course, Ray answered a lot of great questions about agents for kids, and that's a common one that comes up with goalie parents all the time. So those were five episodes that I think parents might want to go back to, guys. Five things that have stood out for me over the last 300. Does anybody have anything like to to add to that list? Parents, you can send me a note, parents@InGoalmag.com.

Tell me which episodes you think are must listens for parents. But Woody and Daren, any stand out for you?

I love hearing from the listeners. The the parents or the goaltenders, your yourself. It's awesome. I was grabbing a coffee at City National Arena the other day before I went upstairs to do the my radio show. Just happened to be at the counter with a with the goalie parent, and and he was talking about the the challenges of finding good coaching and the journey and how much his son loves it.

And I said, well, have you have you ever been turned on to the the InGoal? And he was new to it, so I spelled it out for him. We we found the website. I said, ProReads is awesome, and the podcast will give him all kinds of insight. It's something that you guys can do together, and I hear that so much from people.

So keep those responses coming, what you like, what you'd like to hear more of, and just if there's anything that we can help you in this journey of Goaltending. That's kinda cool. Woody, what stand out to you from episode standpoint or viewpoint?

I think I got three. So I know this is going to absolutely shock both of you.

I bet he goes five.

I have two fewer than Hutch. Well.

We'll see. But you'll speak two minutes longer than Hutch.

Ouch. Ouch. Okay. Now I gotta sorry. I'm

just You got more to say than I do, Woody.

Give me a minute. I just gotta scratch out some of the notes I made so I can keep it tight. Definitely the first one, Daren. You mentioned Luongo in the car, and what a great experience that was. And not knowing at the time even after our second one, but up until very recently, we were the only podcast that Roberto Luongo had ever done.

He had a no podcast policy, and we were the first two that he ever did. And the first one was in the car that day and the looks we got driving back into the city to drop him off at the Panthers hotel, pulling up to intersections, and having people next to us look over and see Roberto Luongo holding a microphone as we had back and forth. I will never forget that. But also because Sonya DiBiase was a part of Episode 1. And the experience, yeah, that she shared from that interview, from her time breaking into giving us a look behind the scenes on the equipment industry.

It was a fascinating interview. Remember talking about going to automotive shows to look for new materials that they might be able to use in pads? Her time working with Brian Heaton and then into CCM. Sonya DiBiase has been one of our biggest supporters in the early years when she was still with CCM and, you know, just sort of almost took us by the hand and brought us into the industry side, sort of welcomed us in, taught us lessons along the way about how to behave, how to sort of navigate that side of things. And then in that interview, you know, which was years later after sort of meeting her, but when we got her on the podcast, really showed the world just what a, you know, what a pioneering part of the of the equipment industry she had been.

So I loved that one for both of those. My other two favorites, we spent close to an hour with Henrik Lundqvist after his final season. And Henrik was a guy who every time he came into town with the Rangers was very willing to talk goaltending. For all the demands on his time as a superstar in the league, he always found time for us at InGoal. Carey Price was very much like that as well even though we didn't really have him on the podcast for different articles over the years answering q and a questions.

When we used to do q and a format, we'd solicit questions from readers ahead of a Carey appearance, and he always gave us time. Lundqvist giving us an hour is one of my favorite interviews, and I've heard that from a lot of other people. And now last but certainly not least, as a matter of fact, I'd probably put it number one on the list. I you know, and interestingly enough, all Hall of Famers. So maybe a little biased towards the Hall of Famers.

But it was the fact the three of us got to do the interview together. Martin Brodeur at the 2019 NHL draft, Hutch, Daren, and myself in a hotel room ahead of the draft. Not a hotel room, a hotel lobby lounge area with the microphones going close to an hour of incredible stories about the position and his passion for it with Martin Brodeur. That was definitely one of my favorite episodes.

There's a lobby bar, but it was early in the morning, so the bar wasn't open. But we're I was very comfortable in that lobby bar. I forgot about that one. It's funny. I didn't I haven't heard from Marty, but, you know, who did just walk in was Jonas Enroth.

And I didn't think Jonas was gonna be able to make it. So that's cool. We have to make sure that we get a picture with with Jonas before we're done here today because that's that's wild. I just seeing all these people here today is is outstanding. Jeremy Swayman is the guy, and he's he's here.

And I've told him this before. I didn't know Jeremy Swayman before the appearance on InGoal Radio, the podcast.

When he was with the University of Maine.

Yes. And that was Episode 67. And got to know him a little bit and just followed his career, and now he is who he is. So I I tell him all the time, I knew you when. And then he tells me, he's like, yeah, but you didn't know me until then.

So we have a good back and forth on on that. And Eric Comrie, he's been on a couple of times, and Comms is so great. His personality is so much fun. But Eric telling us about going to public skates or stick and puck and working on crease movements, that just that gave me such latitude to explore my game and not feel self conscious about looking for extra ice. And it was it was motivating but liberating at the same time.

I love that. And don't forget Eric Comrie's somewhat famous playing partner with the Winnipeg jets. I don't know if you've heard of him. Connor Hellebuyck, another guy who went to stick and puck public skates in gear to get ready for his first tryouts in the North American Hockey League. So long before he became who he is.

I think that's a great lesson from both of them. And and you're right, Daren. Permission. Right? Like, permissions from the best in the game to not feel silly, to go out to those environments and work on your skating.

Because what have we heard throughout 300 episodes? If you can't move, you can't play in the NHL today. And if you can't get ice with a crease and shooters and a goalie coach, it doesn't mean you can't get ice. So I think that's a great one to add to the list, Daren.

Episode 179 was the first appearance for Eric Comrie, and he's also been on, just a couple months ago on February.

I was only bringing up parent specific episodes, things I thought the parents might wanna listen to. But since you have all gone into different territory, I need to throw in another Hall of Famer way back in episode 29. I've said it before. My favorite interview was sitting with the great Glenn Hall in his living room. Unfortunately, Glenn couldn't make it to the party today.

He's back home at the farm in Stony Plains.

Who's painting the barn?

Had privilege yeah. But I had privilege of visiting him along with my son Matthew and and Eli Wilson who kindly set up the the discussion. We brought Glenn a case of beer quite literally and he said, are we just gonna sit here and look at those or are we gonna open them up? And so I got the chance to sit and have a beer with one of the greatest. If you are new to the game of hockey, go look up Glenn Hall. Go listen to that episode.

He played over 500 consecutive games without taking a night off, most of them without a mask, and he's got quite the sense of humor as well.

Sorry.

How about an how about another one that you guys did without me in Hall of famer? Bernie Parent.

Miller, we're good. Ryan, I'm I'm good. Just Miller's holding up a glass wondering if I needed a refill. Sorry. What were you saying about Bernie?

Another hall of famer. You guys did an interview without me, but, like, we've I forgot about all these hall of famers we have.

It was fun.

Great selfies that I took where I wasn't gonna get take the selfie, and I did at the NHL awards in 2017. I was backstage, and I was hosting the expansion draft for the Vegas Golden Knights. Oddly enough, end up in Vegas, so working for them. And Bernie came up to me. I've told this story.

Came up, and he had his script in his hand because he was presenting the Vezina that night. And he said, they want me to say crap. I I can't go out there and say crap. I looked at him, no, it's craps. They it's a gambling term.

Oh, that's what they want you to say. It's like, so I should say crap? Like, well, there's it's plural, the s. So he walks away. I'm like, hold up, Bernie. Come back. And I took a selfie with him, and it's on my wall of fame. And I've got one of a replica of one of his masks in my office. Crap. I can't say crap.

I love it.

Good burning brunt impression. But maybe

still haven't taken him up on that invitation to go fishing. Fishing.

Fishing. We we we

need to make the trip out there. Maybe we can have a future episode from the boat almost as good as Woody's episode from the car.

Well, Miller's trying to get me out surfing. So I would rather do that than than the fishing, but I'll I'll go along for both.

That's what happens when

you go with you, but he's scared of the sea turtles.

That's what happens when you finish your career in Anaheim after twenty some odd years in the league. You become a surfer.

That dude's he stayed in shape. I I tell my said, I can't hang out with you because he's just in such Ryan Miller's still in such good shape.

And one of my favorite parts of his podcast interview was talking about how at the end of each season, he would spend time trying to sort of get his body back into human shape because goalie shape and the form and the and the posture that he had to hold throughout the season was so much different than what we use in everyday life. So, there are so many lessons throughout all these podcast interviews. There's a reason that I don't know if I have permission to say which team, but there is a team whose development director on the goaltending side tells his prospects to listen to every single episode because they will come away with something that will help them from these interviews.

Is that the same team that doesn't want their NHL goalies to do ProReads so they won't give away all their secrets?

Nope. Because we've had their goalies on ProReads.

That's true. That's true.

Are you guys gonna share any of the, like, actual names here?

In the green room afterwards, Daren.

Oh, okay. Well, we're kind of in the green room right now because that's a great party over there. You could probably hear the noise. Every now and then, the the the slider door opens and you hear the rumbling out there because Ferguson was just Dylan Ferguson for those that that don't know. Ferguson was just laughing about his time overseas, and you could tell because he he was I I could see what he was motioning, and I know the story.

So Ferguson, he's he's off on his own. The guy loves to tell a story.

And I think we're gonna have to have a cleanup in that room too. I just heard Craig Anderson do a pad stack. Might have knocked over have knocked over somebody's drink.

Oh, but how about Pete Fry leading everybody over there and eating raw liver? I couldn't believe people show up for our party and be doing that with Pete.

Yeah. I'm hoping to get out of the party. I'm hoping to get out of the party before he breaks out the firewalk.

Fry and I walked in together, and I haven't seen him since by by my own volition. I I wasn't going near that. I said, I'll see he goes, oh, let's catch up. I'm like, oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. No. I'm not going going near that.

Vizual Edge, been a great partner with us, talking about ProReads.

And this week's guest on ProReads presented by Vizual Edge is another favorite of the InGoal podcast audience as well as over at ProReads has been since his early days with the Ottawa Senators now at the Seattle Kraken, Joey Daccord. You heard us talk about his dad, Brian, and the role he's played in the development of InGoal as a as a as an entity over the years, sharing his opinions and insights into the position. Well, Joey does the same in this week's video session. Great look at managing high tips both positionally and in terms of your movement pattern using a lateral release to navigate a shot sort of a slap pass from the top of the ice with a high tip option. Daren, let me ask you this.

Where are you centering yourself relative to that tip option if you have to move to a side?

More to the to the middle of that shot. That's where

I look at it. There you go. And and so Joey talks about staying behind the pass sort of behind the stick, not getting ahead of where that blade is, staying behind it on purpose. Really? And how that because it normally gets tipped back into him.

And so that's part of the discussion that Joey Daccord has in this week's ProReads. And, of course, you've got the video overlaid over top of it, a really good explanation from Joey on why he tries to stay behind the tip point on those types of slap passes across the middle and why he uses a lateral release, which is kinda like a shuffle rather than a t push. You're shuffling into that side of your movement, holding the lead edge, like holding some blade in the lead edge to control the movement so you don't over slide. Joey walks through the details of both of those in our latest ProReads presented by Vizual Edge. ProReads, as as many know, where there's 300 of them online right now from InGoal much like the podcast.

We have a lot of video featuring NHL goalies all online at ingoalmag.com. It's all about showing goalies of every age how to read the game. Vizual Edge is all about helping goalies see the ice so they can see the game better. Whether it's tracking pucks into you or being able to scan the zone quickly and effectively, convergence with pucks coming at you, divergence with the ability to scan, just two of the many visual sort of visual acuity, visual training things that Vizual Edge helps you develop and improve. We heard Cam Talbot last week in his ProReads talk about finding pucks quicker and more effectively when he comes through screens and moving screens, all thanks to his work with Vizual Edge and, of course, InGoal premium subscribers, we've got a discount code for everyone, but InGoal premium subscribers get an additional $5 off each month on their subscription to Vizual Edge.

So make sure you check it out at ingoalmag.com. We've got links in each ProReads to help you get a discount on helping you see the game better with our partners at Vizual Edge.

Sami Joe Small and I, two Manitobans, we were talking about things that that you always hate. And but like ten minutes before we came on the air, we were we were over chatting, and we both said when somebody goes to tip it and they miss, and you're playing the tip, and they it misses and it goes straight through, and you feel shame, and, you know, the coach is gonna be mad at you. And Small's was like, it's it's a good goal. You're you're doing everything right, and it it goes in. So that's why I tend to air over on the the tip puck side and not counting on them to make contact with the redirection.

Well, I just tend to err no matter what I do.

But but I I love that that Sami was was on the same page when we were chatting, and that came out just organically. And now you're

you're think I I think that applies great, but probably more to tips right in front of you as opposed to a high tip with a lateral movement. Right? This is more like a slap pass in this week's ProReads. And that's just what this is all about. There are so many different situations, so many different ways to play them.

When we were in Alberta last week for the in Calgary for the Hockey Alberta camp, I had a parent come up to me, and I'm I am absolutely kicking myself. It was in the midst of a busy day. And for the life of me, I cannot remember this gentleman's name. I feel like it was Charles or his son was Charles, and now I'm just absolutely screwing it up. But my point is he came up to me and talked about the kids all got a subscription as part of our new partnership to ProReads.

And so one of the first things we did was introduce them to what it was like, and they hadn't seen these videos, Daren, yet. And so I showed them some examples, including how to manage screens, a little bit of blind plug with Joey Daccord we talked about. There was just a handful of ProReads that we went through. And these kids, a lot of them that didn't know about InGoalmag, didn't know about ProReads. I guess they went running to their parents afterwards like, we have to get this.

We have to get access to this video. And the beauty was is the parent said, yeah. You do. Thanks to Hockey Alberta and our new partnership, you automatically get a subscription to InGoal Magazine if you're in their elite program. So that was kind of a cool moment, but he also shared how much they listen listen to this podcast, and how much it's helped both the parent and the goalie on the development side as they go through this journey together.

So, massive thank you for taking the time to flag me down in the hallway and share that story. Despite my inability to properly recall the names involved. I assure you it's just because there have been too many pucks on the head, and that was a busy day. But the story and the sharing of it was sincerely appreciated, and I think there's a great lesson in there. I we always assume that everybody knows what ProReads is all about.

But if you don't and you haven't got a glimpse of actually sitting in on NHL video sessions with NHL goalies as they walk through their process, there is so much value in it. Make sure you check it out at ingoalmag.com. As Hutch said, there's a free free sample available right now if you check out the Joseph Wall one that is in the goalie school guide. You can see exactly what it's all about for free in our goalie school guide right now at ingoalmag.com. There's some great takeaways in that one and so many more over the years.

Turco loves free stuff. He'll get all over. That guy's getting a chance to hang out with him today is just it never it never gets old. Nobody does impressions of goaltenders better than Turks. Like, he's just awesome at it.

He he can get dialed in and give you everything, and we'll see if we can do it do it some without the equipment on. But even with the equipment on, he's great, so we're not gonna have him throw on the gear right now.

And the best party of inviting Marty Turco to, you know, a 300 episode celebration party is that he brings his KingsVille Canadian beer with him.

Yep. Yeah. Good point. And, we get to make fun of announcers too because he he he loves making fun of announcers. That

Well, most of them are goalies, so that's

Yeah. That works. One one of them wasn't, but the guy's between the benches. He he has some fun with with that side of it. Our NHL Sense Arena feature interview.

It's the 300 episode party, the extravaganza that we're having here at InGoal Radio headquarters. And today, it just is is fitting with the celebration of Marc-Andre Fleury.

Yeah. Let's celebrate 300 episodes by celebrating one of the great careers of the game. Top of the list, top three, games played, wins. What a career. Three Stanley Cups.

I got to be a part small part on the media side of a bunch of it. I remember talking to Marc-Andre Fleury in his first year in the league. It was a game in Vancouver and was his last game before he went back from the Penguins on loan to the World Junior Team for Canada. And one of his last stops in the National Hockey League during the regular season was here in Vancouver as well. And between those two, we had an opportunity to catch up and spend a little time with, reflect on his career, and the lessons along the way.

Because if there is one thing that holds true about the greats that make it to the Hall of Fame is a willingness to constantly evolve. They know what their foundation is, but they're not so stuck in their ways. They recognize that they have to keep learning, and Fleury is one of those guys, and he shared a lot of those lessons in this interview.

Oh. Oh. Guys. Guys, just wait. Hey.

Hey, Dac. I just gotta go do this. You're about to go to the interview. Sorry, guys. Let's not forget that this week's feature interview is brought to you by our friends at NHL Sense Arena.

And, Daren, you were talking earlier about when you can't get ice, there's still ways that you can practice. Well, NHL Sense Arena, obviously, fantastic way to do that. And just in time for the playoffs, guys, they have dropped an exciting new game mode. It's really cool. They've got three on three hockey on a full sized rink.

That means you can now compete for the Stanley Cup right from your living room, and you can play the game as a goalie, but you can also switch just by the click of a button to being a player as well and get out there and score goals. It's all possible in this new mode. And, you know, we often talk on here guys about how goalie should experience being a forward or a defenseman. This new mode makes it super easy to switch and and try both. So we encourage everybody to get out there and join one of the 16 Stanley Cup playoff teams, play your way through the best of seven series progressing round by round in sync with the real playoffs.

You hoist the cup if you make it all the way. They're playing full three period games. You can choose between three, five, and ten minute long periods. Like I said before, you can play as a forward or as a goalie and you can switch at the press of a button. And in the controller only mode, you don't even need a stick mount.

So if you're a goalie and you haven't invested in that stick mount to be a player in Sense Arena, you can still do it with your meta controllers and just get going. So head over to sensearena.com today. Check out what they're doing, what they've changed, what they've added, and then go use that code IGM 50 at checkout and get yourself a subscription to NHL Sense Arena.

You know, it's fun. Reimer was asking me if we had a headset here, and and I said no.

Oh, no. I've got mine. It's just over the case here. Let's get them set up. Yeah.

For sure.

He he

was asking about it. So Okay.

As as

Feature Interview - Marc-Andre Fleury

we catch up with Marc-Andre Fleury, Hutch will take over with James Reimer. It's InGoal Radio, the podcast, the NHL Sense Arena feature interview with a future Hall of Famer. I look at the

career, and there's so many accolades. You've obviously passed a couple of big names this year, second on wins list, second on games played. You're right behind Lou. Shut outs. Any of those as you hit these milestones, are there any do you think about them at all now?

Do you think you'll look back and think of one more than the others?

It's a good question. I can say I go every day thinking about, like, oh, I gotta play one more game and I'm catching up on the second guy or another win that I can get there. Right? I think it's just the process, you know, try to one day at a time, one game at a time and, you know, come into this season a new I could maybe pass Luuk for the most game, and that's something I thought would be cool. Right?

Like, to, be be able to stick around for so long and, do what you love for so long, you know, and have that many games. Yeah. I think that's that's pretty cool.

It's funny because when I've talked to him about it, there's one guy that he doesn't mind passing him. It's you.

Oh, really? That's Yeah. Very kind. Very kind of him. It means a lot too because I I love I love Luuk.

You know? I love watching him play. And growing up, we weren't too far apart in age. You know? But I some play from his, you know, junior career and on.

Right? So got to see him on the ice a lot to play against him. So it always means a lot.

How have you managed the emotions of the big moments in the big games this season? Like, the Montreal one, obviously, every the spotlight was there. I'm just thinking, are there lessons, like, in terms of how you handle that that you could we could maybe pass along for younger goalies? Because they're obviously not as big a moment for them. Yeah.

But, know, how how do you as a goalie not get caught up in those things?

Yeah. Sometimes you would think after more than a thousand games played, you don't stress or have butterflies too much, but I still do. Right? Especially those nights, I'm in Pittsburgh, I'm Montreal, I thought it was so I wanna do so well, right, for my family, for my friends, fans, right, and for my team, obviously. But to get a little more nervous, a little more butterflies.

But I feel with time I've learned that it's not a bad thing, you know, to to to be nervous about butterflies. It's it's normal. And for me, one thing that helps sometimes is just deep breath, you know, having a couple of deep breaths in the hole, did a little bit blow out stone and then thinking about just simple place. And for me, I've been like, I would tell myself if they're coming, you know, I just have my hands in front, be set, be square and just think about that. Right?

So, so you don't think about every other million things that can be in the end.

Is that something that you developed over time? Like, I mean, nowadays, will learn breath work. Yeah. You'll see guys some right up to the NHL write little things on their stick, little three words, you know, breathe, have fun. Uh-huh.

Positioning hands, things like that. Have those come naturally for you over time? Or

No, didn't. I think I've learned the hard way a bit, you know, among those years, but I've used a sports psychologist in Montreal for a few summers and that really helped me, you know, talking about the stress moments and all that and what to do to help. Right? And he's the one who taught me about maybe breathing the keywords and just to be in the moment of the game, in the present.

Being able to relax like that and using a sports psychologist, like, did it take you a while to sort of be comfortable? Like, you've you've like, I mean, when you broke in, that might not have been something that was common. You think it's more common now? Yeah. Do you remember roughly when that, for you,

that Yeah. Think was like '10, '11, '12, something like that.

Like we've seen that change. It's a good thing, though.

Yeah. Yeah. And at first I wasn't inclined to go. I was like, I'm not crazy. Like, I've done this a long time.

I'll figure it out. Know, I don't need somebody to tell me what to do. Right? On the ice, like, I can figure it out. And it wasn't happening every night.

It wasn't happening all the time. Right? So, but at some point it did. And it was Ray Shiro, my gym in Pittsburgh that told me you should, try it, you know, go see him. And I thank him for that, you know, and, Wayne Alamo was the man I met in Montreal and he was helped me out with it.

Is it part of it just being yourself too? Like, you talked about the nerves. Rather than hiding from them, embracing them, I I've had other guys, we had Eric Comrie recently, and he's a very outgoing personality. And for large portions of his career, he felt like he needed to suppress that Uh-huh. Rather than just be himself on a game day. Right? You had to be that ultra focused guy. Did it take you a while to get comfortable with, Hey, like, this is okay?

After that, I've always been a pretty I always have loved playing the game. I always had a lot of fun. I've had times maybe in the slumps or bad moments, right? That's like, I don't know if coaches maybe want me to be a more quiet or more when I was younger, right? And stuff that.

And I try I try to be more serious. I try to be more quiet and stuff, but it's just it's not me. I wasn't comfortable, you know? And it happens. Some nights I'll be quiet, right?

Like some, I don't know, sometimes you're sick, sometimes you got stuff going on, right? Or you just don't feel like jumping around. Like, that happens. Right? But I think most of the games, I would say, like, I I love playing, and, and that's when I play the best.

You know, when I'm smiling, when I'm fun, and I'm more relaxed, more loose, my hands are going. Right? So, that's what works for me.

We've talked about the having fun part and how important that is to you in the past.

Yeah.

And then I think it became a focus point for people, but there's a competitive side there too. It's important not to lose sight of that as well as being able to balance those two things.

Yeah. For sure. I don't smell when I get scored on. That's for sure. You know?

And, especially that last game, I think I gave up five, six, six, and smashed my you know, it's you still smash the sticks in because you're so angry, inside. What's important I always go in the game trying to win, and that's what I want. That's why it's fun. That's what it's fun. Right?

And when I don't, I'm pissed off. Usually, I try to give myself the night, you know, and the next day comes to the rink and try to be in a good mood, try to be good for teammates, you know, and, do it all over again.

I wanna go take you back a little bit. I've never asked you this question, but how did it start? How'd you become a goalie? A goalie? All the years I've I've asked you I was worried about how many all these questions I've asked you in the past, like, one year here, one year there.

I've never asked you that question.

I think I started playing, like, in a real league maybe six, and then by seven, it's me and another kid who would switch every game, playing defense, playing goalie. Yeah. And then for a couple of years, and that was goalie always full time.

What'd you love about it? Like, do you remember?

Yeah. I just, love the gear, and that was one thing I always loved. Still have six? I still do. Still love it.

Well, I think diving around, making saves, just not having to change. Just play when you play the whole game, that was pretty cool. But just diving around, I always thought it was so much, fun. Who's your guy?

Like, as you're diving around, who were you, whether it was street hockey or or out on the rink?

I'll say street hockey. I was a forward most of the time.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. I always did. But Patrick Roy, Marty Brodeur, both of them, love Idolize, right? I mean, being a Montreal fan, Patty was He was so good and won some cups, and I love his competitor and his competitive nature. And the butterfly was kind of picking up at that time too, he was good at it.

I was starting to learn it. So that was a good model to watch and learn from. And on the other hand, I think Marty, always thought maybe his unpredictability, right? With the pole jack, the two pads stacked, one knee down, he could see him smile in his face, his mask, you know. I went to a game one time in Montreal when I was younger and he played Montreal and obviously Jersey played Montreal, but he chucked a puck to a kid, you know, and I thought, this is so cool, you know, and I always do now because of him, right?

Just saying that. And yeah, they were both obviously very two of the best goalies ever.

Not bad guys to have as influences. What about coaching? You mentioned the butterfly was starting. Like, you've had so many, like, foot like, right up to Freddie now, different voices over the years. When did it start for you?

And when you look at yourself then and now, what are some of the biggest differences? Because the game has changed, as has yours, and yet there's probably some things that haven't.

Yeah, Man, that's a good question. I feel like very fortunate. I've got to meet and play with, obviously, lovely, goalie coaches, that have helped me different ways along along my career at younger age and stuff. There's a guy back home, Stefan Menard. We started I was pretty young, maybe eight, seven, seven or eight.

Just once in a while ago, practice with him. There's always a lot of shots. Always like work hard, you know, I think it brought that work ethic to me, which was good. And I don't know. I I don't name it.

There's so many you don't want to miss. Yeah. We we don't want to put you in that Yeah.

Sorry. But so many. And I'm very thankful that I've crossed paths with all of them. Like I said, most of them have taught me something and I learned something. Even goalies, I feel like you play with.

Like you watch them play and you talk in between periods and stuff. And sometimes you model, you know, you play with them. Right? And I think one thing that's important is to be able to adapt. For me, I think it was to change.

The game has changed so much since I started, right? Start playing on the post stand up and then was the one knee down, and then it was the reverse VH, and then the overlap. You know what mean? Like and I use them all still. Right?

So I

I remember you telling me, think was it Kevin Lakenin in it?

Yes.

Yeah. Like and I love the fact that here you are at that point in your career, and you're still learning new things from teammates.

Yeah. Husso and Jimmy Waite, the Goalie coach. Right? Yep. Who who work on it and, you know, you gotta practice a bunch to make it normal in the game so you don't overthink it.

Right? And and that was that was great to learn. And I think Gus is such a good model for post plays. Like, his

The Swedes in the post?

Oh my god. Like, so smooth, so easy, always on. You know? Like, it's just I'm, like, battling to get there and across. I don't know.

It makes it look easy for sure.

Is that the biggest change?

Like, when if you were to look back and reflect on mean, I remember talking to you coming through with Pittsburgh as a teenager in that first year. If you were to look back on style wise, is it the post work that you think has changed the most? Like, do you think a stance? Any other thing that would jump out?

I think the poles. Yeah, it's been it's been worked on a lot. I think the hands still, like just having your most guys now, see they always have their hands in front, right? Like cutting angles and stuff. I feel like before you play your hands a little behind them and roll them.

Right? Yeah. I think gloves stays are better back here maybe a bit. Right?

But A little flashier?

A little flashier. It's always more but, like, I think more effective, I think, up in front.

So is that something you think this changed and evolved for you? Hands out front? You you mentioned it as one of your triggers.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I think that's something I because I'm I've learned having my hands back a bit, like blocking and stuff. Right?

So I don't know. I'm trying to still trying to get in my head to get my hands up in front and stuff.

Okay. So what what what's the same? What what has remained in your game since then?

Since then.

I I'm gonna throw one at you. Maybe it's a lost start. Like, like, has the poke check always been there, or is that you developed that over time?

No. I love always loved it. I don't know why. It started pretty young and, you know, talking about OHL, it's like, Hasek was amazing with that. And Roman Cechmanek.

I don't know. There's, like, so many guys that I feel like used them before.

But it feels like it's bit of a lost art now.

Yeah. It is. And it's kinda sad. I think it's it's so fun and love catching guys, you know, with their heads down or coming across sliding and, you know, it's it's it's fun to watch, and it's fun as a goalie when you make those saves too, I think. Yeah.

And I was just gonna say unpredictability. That's as unpredictable as it gets. Yeah. What about the way things have changed in front of you, the way teams are attacking? I mean, you've seen the game change so much.

What's the biggest thing in the last couple of years, and how have you had to adjust?

I think in the in my career, maybe the one thing is obviously the the speed the speed of the game. All everyone is contributing to the pace of the game is fast. You know, the how quick the guys are moving and the plays they make. I think the shots are different too from what my start was, like, wood sticks, right, or two piece sticks. And couple guys on teams had heavy shots, but I feel now, like, all four lines, all 60, everybody shoots the puck quick, hard, cheat, you know, whoever they they want.

I think in the in my career, maybe the one thing is obviously the the speed the speed of the game. All everyone is contributing to the pace of the game is fast. You know, the how quick the guys are moving and the plays they make. I think the shots are different too from what my start was, like, wood sticks, right, or two piece sticks. And couple guys on teams had heavy shots, but I feel now, like, all four lines, all 60, everybody shoots the puck quick, hard, cheat, you know, whoever they they want.

I think they're gotten better shooters. So I think that was the biggest difference. I think I don't know stats wise, but I think bar plays are are different too. The way that they they try to use the background more, use the seam pass more. As of before, think it was more simple.

Just shot from a point, screen tips, crashing it. You know? So I think there's more East West base in general in that game. Yeah.

Have you had to adjust, like, even in the last couple of years? Like, as the plays get so East West, does has your depth and the way you think about depth had to have to change?

Yeah. Yeah. I think I always been a goalie that challenged a lot. And that that was hard on me. I think because I, you know, getting got coming out on the guy with the puck.

Right? But then they would pass it across, and it was such a long distance to to cover. So I think being comfortable and being in the blue or on top of the blue. Right? And it's something I had to try to change and move on.

Evolutions like that at this stage of your career, do you just go out and do it in practice? Or, like, do you work on video? Like, what's the process like? Is there something maybe a young goalie could take away from the process you go through when you're making those kind of changes?

You know, throughout my career, there's been a lot different style tendencies, different goalie coach, different ideas. And I I give a try to everything. I try everything that that they tell me or suggest to me and see if I like it. You know? If I do, then I'll put in my game.

You know, throughout my career, there's been a lot different style tendencies, different goalie coach, different ideas. And I I give a try to everything. I try everything that that they tell me or suggest to me and see if I like it. You know? If I do, then I'll put in my game. If not, then I I I just tell them, like, sorry. It doesn't work for me. Right? But I think you gotta be willing to or open minded to to change and to adapt to a new, situation.

Reading the game. That's such a big part of it. Anticipation, knowing what's coming.

Yeah.

You've played obviously for so long. It's probably all innate. But how did you develop it early on? Like, this is just from experience or, again, like, we hear a lot about kids, that move so well, but maybe don't connect the dots and the patterns. Yeah.

If you had advice to a young kid on how to learn that aspect, how would you do it?

That's a tough one, honestly.

I think I'm Well, because at your stage, it's just natural. Right?

I think you'd read it now. I feel like the more hockey I play, the more games, the more pucks I saw, right, the more comfortable, like, I got, you know, with reading eye the eyes, the shoulders, the blades, you know, like, how they move around. But so that gives you little hints for for shot for those shots. Right? But I don't know.

I think it's just experience. Maybe you keep playing, playing as much as you can, see and the teams tend to see a bit with video. I think that helps a bit.

I was just gonna say, you still watch? Do you still watch hockey as well?

Yeah. I love hockey. I'm a big fan. You know? So I I love watching the highlights in the morning, see what kind of goals are being scored or love watching goalies and all the big saves they make.

Right? I think it's always fun too. Yeah, love love watching.

Is there anybody you like like, if if you had your choice to Saturday night and you're not playing, is there anybody you love to watch? Yeah. Well, no. A goalie. Is there a goalie that you love to watch these days?

Yeah. Yeah.

It's probably changed over the years.

It has, but I think the last few years, I'm a big fan of Vasilevskiy, because obviously, it's very good, but it's also fun to watch. You know? It's still so powerful, flexible. It makes those, you know, crazy save once a while, and also it's entertaining to watch and and

fun fun to go. Okay. We've seen you thank your posts over the years.

Yeah.

I've never asked you where that started. Yeah.

When I was a kid, read in the newspaper, Patrick Roy would talk to his posts. I don't know if he actually did or if he actually, did it on the ice or I don't know. So since I'm a kid, pretty much always say a little thank you, you know, when they when they make a save.

Is it in French or English?

I usually do both. Just just make sure I cover I don't know. Don't don't offend them the net. You know? They don't always come.

So You never know. Bilingual goalie post.

Yeah. Absolutely.

We've talked about gear over the years, and we we

You love it?

That the old and the new. How you blend in it? Like yeah. I've still got leather straps. You might be one of the last guys. You and Helly.

Yeah. I I I don't know.

I have a tough time changing. I've tried new pads, new skates, stuff, the old skates too. But, I don't know. For the other stuff, I just like the the style. It's always been the look I had.

Right? And, you know, now they say that you can save some weight too, right, with, like, Velcro straps and stuff. But I always thought if my straps are too heavy for me, I should stop playing probably. You know what mean? It doesn't weigh that much.

It does take a little longer to put on, though. Yeah. Like, have you ever thought about how many hours have probably gone into those leather straps?

Oh, man. A few times. No. I I haven't. I haven't.

I tried to make it as quick as possible when I get dressed. Just get done with it.

Okay. So you're one of the last guys still wearing these skates with cowlings. We took we we hinted at it after we turned the camera off the other day or we stopped recording the other day, but stopping with your heels.

Yeah.

Like, you actually use the heel of your skate. And so when you tried to change into the modern one piece, there just wasn't as much steel back there?

That's what it felt like. And like I said before, I'm I'm I don't know. I have a hard time changing Right. Stuff, but, like, that was one thing that bugged me. I thought the skates were comfortable and all that, but it's just yeah.

I use my heels once in while, like, especially when you're split apart, I guess, or turning or whatever. But yeah. So I like my old ones where the it still comes back a little more. I can grab some headshot.

Okay. So last one, walk me through your game day. Like, if some some young goalie out there wants to know how Marc-Andre Fleury gets prepared for a game, maybe even just once you get back to the rink. Like, what what kind of things you do to get ready?

Yeah. First, I should say just find what's right for you. You know, don't look as I do it that's right for somebody else, right?

Has yours changed and evolved over the years?

Not much, man. It's always very similar. Usually, I get out breakfast, know, you a couple of eggs or whatever. Always have good breakfast, but then usually go out for a skate. Love skating most as I can in the morning.

Just loosen up the hips, you know, the loosen up the gear a bit. Right? Like, it feels feels good. See a few pucks, you know, and then if you wanna go back to hotel, get some lunch, some pasta, a little soup, something like that. And usually try to get an nap, like an hour and a half, nap at least and or somewhere along there and then get up, get a little oatmeal, get a little tea, and, on my way to the rink.

What about the eyes, up? We've talked about the strobe glasses before. What do you do pregame? Yeah. Juggling, anything like that? I suck at juggling.

Gus is awesome. We've had a guy come into a room and and work with us and stuff. I I'm not learning to juggle at 40. It's who it is. I'm throwing ball in the wall, you know, and catching it there.

But, yeah, I do, some some stuff. Usually, I put the the glasses that

The strobe glasses.

Strobe. Yeah. Yeah. So with my trainer, he would throw me some balls, and I have my glove on and catch some balls, you know, glove locker and stuff. So I think that helps.

And, usually, I like to do a little eye, like, warm up in the locker room. Just very close figure eight or turn your head looking straight.

You know? So just getting your, like, their muscle like anything. Think Braden Holtby once gave me the line. Eyes are a muscle. I gotta warm them up like everything else.

Yeah. I I think so. I just feel like after he feels more clear, more sharp a bit. You know? And, yeah, that's all I'm gonna do.

Okay. Last one.

Yep.

What is next? Have you thought of that? Have for for a long time, and I'm still clueless. I don't know, man. It's

Have for for a long time, and I'm still clueless. I don't know, man. It's

Just to enjoy some more time with the family?

Yeah. I think that's my number one priority. Be be home more. You know, I'll be there for the birthday, for Halloween, or the school play. Right?

I wanna I wanna be there for the that kind of stuff, not miss miss out as much. And see what the wife wanna do too, you is just put a lot aside to to support me and support my the the kids and family, you know, while I'm I'm playing hockey. Right? So it's it's only fair to see what what she wants to do. And but love hockey.

You know? I I thought you can stick around and do something.

I think the game would be the game's better with Marc-Andre Fleury in it. So thank you for all the time over the years and for taking the time to do this.

Yeah. Thank you. Always been a pleasure. See you in Ben and spend a little time together.

Outro

That that had to be cool for you, Woody.

Yeah. I mean, this whole job is cool.

Just say yes.

Right? Like, this whole job is cool.

Just say yes.

My job is I I play in the toy story of journalism. Right? And I get to talk about something I'm passionate about with some of the best who have ever played it. Right? We just ran down my favorites earlier, you know, Luukkonen, Lundqvist, Brodeur, and now Marc-Andre Fleury, who is for certain as soon as he's eligible, first ballot Hall of Famer, do not pass go, do not collect $200, you are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

So a chance to sort of spend some time with him during his last two visits to Vancouver. I actually made the drive down to Seattle to get more time with him after one of their practices. And this is the difficult thing, and there's a lesson here. Even though he wasn't playing at either of those stops, finding time with him was not easy. Because even on a game day, at this stage of his career, when Filip Gustavsson was starting, Flowers still stayed out there for, like, an extra half an hour, not just to be a target and to be a great teammate for the shooters who were healthy scratches that night, but working on his game with Freddie Chabot as part of that.

And so to see that dedication as it winds down after all he's accomplished, to hear him talk about learning new things, my favorite was Kevin Lankinen and teaching him an overlap when he was in Chicago after he had three Stanley Cups and a Vezina trophy. Learning from the guys he played with no matter how much experience, like, you'd think they'd be looking for notes from him, but he was still willing to try new things from them. So many lessons from, and I'm glad we had a chance to catch up with him in at towards the end of his last season in a remarkable NHL career.

Staying out at the end of practice. I wonder if there's a little just soaking it all in part of that.

Maybe. But honestly, I mean, the only thing that was soaked was him afterwards and and and me just from watching it. Right? Like, Like, just the work ethic. And and, again, I've said this story before too.

Henrik Lundqvist coming in on the second end of a back to back for the New York Rangers late in his career. Me going to the rink expecting that nobody would be there. There being a handful of skaters and Henrik Lundqvist, not just going through his full routine, but absolutely competing on every puck and every drill. There are lessons there, and I think you get to that point in your career and you get to a career that lasts this long because of that passion for the position and willingness and desire to constantly work at it. So maybe, Daren, maybe there was a little bit of that, but all I saw was full gas, no breaks work ethic as as as late as the last few weeks of the season out of Marc-Andre Fleury.

I suspect that's as much a love for the game as a willingness to work hard. So many people think that you just have to grind, grind, grind, and have this ability to overcome that thing that keeps most of us back. And I think in the case of guys like Fleury and Lundqvist and so many others who make it there, it's not that they have that discipline to work harder than everybody else's, that they love the game so much that they inevitably work harder than everybody else. Now you can layer in some great discipline too on top of that. I have no doubt.

But let's not forget, one of the greatest things that he has taught all of us is that you can go out there and have fun and compete.

Last goalie in the NHL to play last puck even when he was starting. Yeah. We've had stories about it before. We talked with him about it in that interview you just heard as well as over the years. Having fun was core to his career and the longevity of it.

And there was early lessons from his dad about that when he went away to junior. Are you having fun? As long as you're still having fun, stick with it. And they stuck with him throughout.

2018, that was the first Episode. That's crazy.

It was. I was looking it up while we were talking to

I I knew you would try and catch me on something.

I couldn't find it. I actually found an old email between the three of us setting up Episode zero.

Our testing. Remember we

did that little we did that little we published it, but we did a little sample one just between the three of us that we called episode zero.

In in looking over the episodes from the past, we used to do some some listener questions early on. Kinda got away from that. Maybe bring that back

along the way. For our featured guests, you mean, or for us?

Well, no. For us. People if people got questions, and we bounce back and forth. We you guys are great with responding to them in individually, but maybe bringing some of those questions on air with us and responding.

I I remember in the early days, it and one of the reasons maybe we got away from it is we tried to target those listener questions and set up answers from other people in the game. So I can remember having a conversation with Eli Wilson. I remember Maria Mountain coming on to answer some of those listener questions. And we probably got away from it just because we have so many things going on and it's such a challenge. But, Daren, I think you're quite right.

It's something we need to do. So hit us up. Podcast at ingoalmag.com.

What was the best part of that?

Daren just wanted the deep voice.

Deep voice. Okay. They're they're eating all the food. I hate to wrap it up.

All the retired guys.

I know. Exactly. They're all over there. You can you can it's like a party. Everybody ends up in the kitchen. Everybody's over by the by the food.

Love to to go over and and chat with a little bit because I I do wanna chat with Turco. And remember, Talus needs a ride over

To the Hockey Shop.

The Hockey Shop. To the Hockey Cam. Cam. He hasn't been to the new location. That's what he was talking about.

Yeah. Cam should be able to help him out.

Well, sure. And and Cam just keeps walking, like, by the the slider door, like, as if

We're gonna invite him in?

Call him in. Yeah. It's so funny. He he's I bet you he's walked by 12 times.

He's the he's the e-bug of the InGoal Radio Podcast.

Yeah. Cam, like look if you stand looking at that door for five minutes, you you'll see him even just glance over like, hey, you guys you guys need hey, you get enough airtime.

You brought up a good point though. 300 episodes, we've never had an e bug come in. We've flown with just two of us for a whole bunch of episodes, but have we ever had one of us unavailable and brought an e-bug in? And I I don't mean interviewing an NHL e-bug because because we had Justin Goldman on the show before and he's been an e-bug. Just need That's somebody to sit in one these right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So maybe maybe one day we need to call the e-bug and get that guy running down the street in Surrey, BC to Kevin's house with his equipment bag over his shoulder.

Well, after this, we'll have lots of volunteers because people would be wanting to come to the 400 episode party Oh. With this kind of Huge. Showing. Awesome. Hey.

Congratulations, you guys, and thank you to the listeners as well. Without this, it's it's nothing, And I mean that sincerely. It's not just a podcast that's talking about something that we love. Your interaction and your stories about the journey along the way and what you learn from us and how we learn from you, it really is interactive and and it one makes one of the great things about about doing this. You guys are awesome too.

Woody? Hutch?

Love you. A loss.

Love love you too, brother.

I'm going to get food. Talk to you next week. Episode 301 on InGoal Radio Podcast presented by the Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley and thehockeyshop.com. Cam, you're done.