316 Parents: More from the Mailbag

But, first, we're gonna slide over and talk to the parents for a second, Woody. The parents segment always presented by Stop It Goaltending U, the app.

Yeah. They've got, as usual, the five things, five daily primers this week. And this week, I mean, how to get more ice time? Who doesn't want more ice time? That sounds like good advice to me.

So Monday through Friday, you can walk through, watch quick one minute videos, quick tips on how to get more ice time this season. They got a great goalie clip on Filip Gustavsson, and something new this week that I love, they've done drill of the week goalie clip. They walk you through a drill, and then they walk you through plays featuring the goalie of the week, Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild, making saves that are directly related to the patterns established in the drill of the week. So always great content coming from our friends over at Stop It Goal Tending U on Stop It Goaltending U, the app. And a reminder, if you buy a subscription to Stop It Goaltending U, the app, not only do you get all that content, all that expertise led by Brian Daccord in his twenty five plus years in the game as a goalie, as a goalie coach, as a goalie scout, as a director of goaltending at the National Hockey League, but you also get a subscription to InGoal Magazine, InGoal Premium, and all our great content included.

It's the best of both worlds, and you get it when you buy a subscription to Stop It Goaltending U, the app.

Following up on last week's discussion of gloves and when you need to get a new one, a reminder. We were talking about a junior goalie who was getting stingers and a parent who wondered if that glove maybe was done. It had a lifespan. Is it time to get a new one? And while we know that that certainly happens, we pointed out that as you move up, the shots are harder, and and it will be time to go to an intermediate glove eventually.

But I mentioned off the top that we love to hear from readers. And Christian Stickney wrote to us and said a lot of things that were great to hear, but one of the points he wanted to make about this segment was that if you do catch it in the palm, it always hurts. Well, couple of things I just wanted to respond to. I I shared with Christian directly, but it sounded like something good to bring up for everybody this week. Well, I don't completely agree that every time you get hit in the palm, it's, it's gonna hurt.

I've definitely checked with a number of other goalies to make sure I'm not imagining things, but the point does stand. And I did make it a while ago about some other gear, Woody. I remember, I think it might have been a chesty where I said, you don't have to go out and buy gear every single time something hurts because sometimes it just finds a place and it does hurt and and that's okay. You you move on. Goalies are tough.

We're good. But Christian also made the point that you do need to learn how to catch well. You've gotta catch it in the pocket if you want it not to hurt. And he accepted that he is not perfect with that and went out and bought a padded glove and he even gave a shout out to Cam, which I thought that was great. But, I think that point that it's not always about getting a new glove because it's hurting.

It's about learning the skill of catching the puck well. And I just wanted to give some reinforcement now about that because it's the end of the summer. You've still got time. We're all sort of as parents, think, this time of year, you get a little bit frantic. There's only a couple weeks left in the summer.

Gotta get that last bit of fun in with our kids and make sure we get that family time and school's gonna start soon. We don't wanna miss out. So why don't you go get a baseball glove or two and hang up with your kid and go play catch? I've said this before, but I'm just gonna say it again because it relates to to the note we got. It's not the same thing to just go bounce a ball off a wall with your bare hands, a tennis ball, whatever.

You've gotta learn to catch a puck in the pocket and with a baseball glove, you'll learn to catch it in the pocket as well. And mom and dad, you can go throw with your kid, get a couple of gloves even if you feel nervous about it. Maybe you didn't grow up throwing a baseball around, and you're thinking you might embarrass yourself. Awesome. Great thing to do is to go out and show your kids you're willing to take a risk to embarrass yourself so that maybe they'll feel comfortable doing that at some point as well.

So grab a baseball glove, get out in the backyard, have a chat, turn the TV off. Good family time at this time of year is really important, and maybe those stingers won't hurt as much as a result. K. I had another parent write in asking, because their kid was going into his CHL draft this season and wanted some advice. We have gone over some of that before.

We did have Connor Hellebuyck's agent, Ray Petkau, on here couple of times. Once as a feature guest, once as a parent segment guest at least. I will link to them in this segment when we do it. And I just wanted to share what I had responded to this note with. You probably don't need an agent or an adviser, at least until you've been drafted and it's time to look at that contract.

Things have changed in the CHL quite a bit recently because of the whole NCAA changes. And you probably need somebody with expertise to help you review that contract if it does come time to sign one in the CHL. But until you're picked or unless you're a high pick guaranteed of being picked, you probably don't need that agent just yet. Now to be fair, parts of this I don't have as much experience with, especially with the changing landscape. And if you feel better having somebody represent you and your family, they might help you get a few extra junior opportunities than you might have had as you on your own and that might help your child a little bit.

I think that they're capable of opening the door for some kids who are sort of on the bubble. But those top end kids, they're gonna find their way anyway. Those kids who aren't necessarily gonna get drafted and they're just playing and having fun. Let's not overburden ourselves with with that. If price is an issue for you though, you can get to as many junior camps as possible.

Talk to your kid's goalie coach who hopefully has some connection with with junior teams and just go out there and get some experience. But at the end of the day, you've gotta just go play. Go play. Go have fun. You don't necessarily have to be chasing down an academy or an expensive triple a team.

It's very possible to make it without going those routes. And, you know, we chose to keep our kid at home as we've told you before and things worked out for him. You've gotta make the right family choice for yourself. Also, just don't freak out about the CHL draft. It's not the be all and the end all.

The best example probably recently, Kevin, is Josh Ravensbergen. Right? He was a first round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks. He was not drafted into the Western Hockey League. In fact, he didn't play the top level of hockey in BC before he made the Western Hockey League.

And, he played sort of what a lot of people would consider to be a double a level, and I believe your recent guest Harrison Meneghin also hadn't been taken in the Western League Draft. We've had lots of people like that. So by all means, go enjoy the season, but don't freak out. Go play. Go enjoy the game.

It's okay. There are options. You gotta do what's right for you and your family. And not a full bet here, Woody, but I did wanna give a shout out to the parent on Facebook who was responding to the question about how to break in a chesty. And the answer was this.

Have him sit in the bathroom with the shower super hot to create steam, maybe fifteen or thirty minutes, then have him go vacuum. Gotta kill two birds with one stone. I thought that was a good sense of humor. So thank you very much to that parent for sharing that with everybody who really made the point. You just gotta get out on the ice.

Sweat a little bit. It's gonna break it in. But I do think it does make that point. It's the back to hockey sale at the Hockey Shop right now. Go get your gear sooner rather than later so that you do have time to break it in, Woody.

And I've got one more little parent thing, but I'm gonna save it until the end of the NHL Sense Arena feature interview.