InGoal Radio Episode 317 with Cody Porter

Intro

Crank it up. Really on the home stretch of the summer skates. Everybody getting ready to report to junior training camps. And the European side, they're already into the preseason. There's a lot going on in the goalie world. Daren Millard along with David Hutchison, Kevin Woodley. It's InGoal Radio Podcast. Got a great one coming forward today, for you. And, one of the things that I'm excited about is just the the little pops of new gear that we're seeing.

Different styles, different sets, approaches, some switches, but this is the sort of Christmas Eve of a goaltending.

All the new stuff from 2026, you're gonna start to see new looks, new gear. It's that time of year. You'll see guys trying different things. Some people make too much of it. They'll end up back in what they were before.

It's just that time of year when that tends to happen. So it's exciting. It's a little I don't wanna say less exciting for us, but usually, we've actually seen all the gear behind the scenes and been sworn to secrecy. So it's kinda like, oh, look. That finally became public.

I wonder if that was supposed to happen. So for us, it's more viewing it from that side.

Hutch, do you ever look at something and go, oh, that's okay, and then get floored by how well it goes over? Or the flip side, you're so excited about something and then they're sight, that that kinda

Honestly, almost a 100% of the time. I have I must just have terrible taste in what a goalie pad should look like. We've been very fortunate over the years to have gear companies share their designs sometimes more than a year in advance. Just hey, what do you think? How's this one going to resonate?

Or which of these designs you think might be the most interesting? And almost every time the one that I look at and think it's not very nice ends up coming out and it looks fantastic and it goes over very well. So yeah, I just have a really bad track record with design which is unfortunate. I think we're not the target audience buddy. I guess that's it, isn't it?

But but I actually mean I think it looks good in the end anyway when it comes out. I just can't really because quite often what we see is a very flat drawing or sometimes even black and white for just sort of shapes and colorways and things. So yeah. Good thing I'm not in the pad design business.

And we all wanna be.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I I mean, I colored sheets of paper with goalie pads on them for days, weeks, certainly not just hours.

And now you could do basically it's it's like a blank canvas for you. Some of the stuff you wouldn't even it's it's art more than it is a goalie pad.

Oh, 100%. 100%. And you should get brain freeze going through the customizer with so many options there. I I've never had to choose a complete set myself, like, with the all out design or digiprint or whatever, but I can imagine how challenging that would be. I tend to just leave that to Woody when we're lucky enough to have something.

Yeah. And that's why our gear always gets ordered later than it should be and it's always a rush for the companies to get it to us because Woody gets vapor lock too. Like, the brain just, like, I have no idea. Like, it used to be one thing when it was certain. You just pick the colorway and you're going through the customize, and there's only so much you can do.

And we tend to lean towards our our InGoal colors of blue as our primary, so multiple shades of it. But now with all out, with the CCM all out orders, and as Hutch mentioned, DigiPrint, it's, like, limitless. You can do anything. And oftentimes, I don't even know where to start.

And then you get halfway through and you're like, oh, let me start again. Let me let me give it another shot. Or what is f and g on the on the customizer? I gotta I gotta tweak that. It's fun even just to go play with it and and save it at the end.

10 later, you go back and you might have an entirely different look when it comes to some of these customizers.

And that's the problem. We get to the end and you're like, know what? I'm just gonna sit on this till tomorrow. I'll come back and see. And then you come back tomorrow and you're like, no.

No. No. I'm gonna start from scratch. And then, you know, pretty soon tomorrow's three or four weeks later, and I still haven't ordered the gear for the following season. So and and I can I can there's people over at CCM right now that as they listen to this are just nodding along?

Yep. Idiot.

Not How do you design those arms of yours then, Woody?

Much like when CCM has a graphic artist to to help, my tattoo artist comes up with these designs. I am not a visual person. I lean on others.

So is it easier doing the digi print than it is the customizer with a just selecting your colors? Is is that more straightforward? No way.

No. Well, I mean, they have I mean, they have great They

have all the options.

Yeah. They I mean, they have great people to help you, like but at the end of the day, like, that limitlessness can you just don't know where to go. And I don't think visually. So something in my mind and actually, Hutch, make give give me cracks here about my sleeves on my tattoos on my on my arms. Like, what I picture in my mind when you take it to an artist, they're like, no. Like, that doesn't work, buddy. Like, I don't know what what kind of fantasy world you're living in, but either a, we can't execute that or it's gonna look like hot garbage on your arms. Same with the pads.

So fortunately, they have actual graphic artists to help you be like, I understand what you're doing here, but it just won't work. Let's try this. And so they guide you along. But even knowing where to start, like, you're like, let's do something retro. And there are so many different ways you can go.

So it's a fun process, but for those of us that are, know, graphically designed challenged, it can be a tough one.

I think the retro look in a way is a bailout look. When you're trying to come up with something and you go through like 15 different approaches, nothing works and then you go, you know what? I'm gonna go back to what I loved when I was growing up, and that ends up being something that pops for you.

So that's what you've seen. That's your

e sevens that we have.

You've seen our e flex sevens then. Thanks, Daren. Appreciate that.

No. Like, in a in a good way. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I I bailed out in a good way. Thanks, Daren. Appreciate that, buddy.

Look at Daren back pedals with the best I

didn't know that that's what you guys did. I'm just saying that's where I would be with it. Put in some a

roles. True, Daren.

It's true. But I gotta say that this this year's was inspired. I just loved it. It was it was actually Hutch's son's playing partner at the start of last year with the Giants, Burke Hood, who was drafted, I think, by the New York Islanders this year. It it was just a super clean retro graphic that we really loved.

And the idea of being able to take the knee rolls, which are printed on, and they look realistic. Like, they do. Like, people think you're wearing a vintage set. But being able to take the knee rolls and have the top and InGoal logo and the bottom knee roll, the CCM logo, like, incorporate the design a little bit and incorporate our logo. It was and the execution by CCM was so good.

So, yeah, you know, you it was a bailout, Daren, for sure, but I think it came off quite nicely.

Sometimes you need it. Get going down the hill too fast or you're not going fast enough. Are we friends again? Can we be friends again? Can we start over?

That's how you that's that's how you end up with with really messy tattoo sleeves on your arms. You start with one thing and and then try and cover it up with something else. It's called the cover up. There's no way to cover up Pat.

Got Cody Porter coming up, in the NHL Century in a feature interview, Visual Edge ProReads, Charlie Lindgren standing by. Stop It Goaltending U the app parent segment. We'll just look ahead to the start of the season from a parental perspective and the Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, the hockeyshop.com, which presents InGoal Radio, the podcast gear segment. We're gonna get into it in Brian's.

Second price point from Brian's. But before we get to that, let's talk about some of the latest offerings from the hockey shop because it may be back to hockey, and there is the back to hockey sale on at the hockey shop, so discounts on on previous lines. But they've also still got new gear coming in. The CCM Vizion stick that is v I zed I o n, Vision spelled with a zed. They're taking pre orders right now.

Zed, not z. It is preorder time. So even here in August, as everybody gets ready to go back to hockey, back to school, there is new gear still arriving at The Hockey Shop Source for Sports, and that's what makes it our favorite place to shop. There's always the latest and the greatest, but also great sales on previous lines. So you get the bus best of both worlds right now at The Hockey Shop Source for Sports or thehockeyshop.com.

Make sure you check out the sales or any of the new gear coming in, and their expert staff can help you decide what gear is best for your game or to throw it to the parent segment, what's best for your child's game. And that's often not the top of the line gear. They'll give you honest answers from their staff who know the position, play the position to help save you money where applicable. So make sure you give them a call. Check them out.

Hockey Shop Source for Sports, thehockeyshop.com.

Gear

They have too much fun over there. Like, every time, something pops up on my social feed, they're having a blast. They're they're doing something unique, and I think, jeez, I'd like to work there. Is that what every day is like over there?

Every time we're there, they're running around filming things. So pretty much, I think so. You should get a job there, Daren. They'd love to help

love that. That would be amazing.

Well, we're we're going back next week to film some more segments of the Cam. And I don't know that it's like, this is the time of year where it's maybe a little less fun and a little more stressful because he was like, oh, really this week? It's it's easily their busiest time of the year as all the kids and parents head to the store to get geared up for next year's season, it can get crazy in there. So a little patience if you are checking in with them. They might be running around in a very busy section for the next couple of weeks.

Alright. Set up what we're gonna talk about today and listen to in your conversation with Cam.

Well, I mean, speaking of second price points and not necessarily always needing the most expensive gear depending on what levels you're playing at, we're gonna check-in on the second price point from Brian's. We've been doing that. This is the time of year where you're quite often just going in and buying off the rack as opposed to custom ordering. Because, obviously, if you custom order now, you're not getting it by this by the start of the season. So, you know, along the lines of things where, hey.

Do I need the top of the line, or can I go with the second? This is the second price point from Brian's. Cam breaks it down for us this week on the gear segment. Brian's optic x four primo, NHL, level sliding, or a second price point pad? Sicker knees there?

What else is new in this second price point offering from Brian's? We'll get into it with Cam here at The Hockey Shop Source for Sports and Goal Utopia with another new offering a little bit below the pro. But they don't I mean Yeah. Everybody else. We'll just stick with second price point.

But they don't about that. They don't actually call this pro, do they?

No. Just Optic X4.

Bing. Win for brands. Automatically, my favorite second price point just because they don't call it pro.

Just kidding to everyone who does. Welcome to the Optic X4 leg pad. So new for this year. First of all, graphic. I know I chose an all white pad because that's all I've got it currently at the moment.

However, I actually really, really like the graphic of this pad and we showed it off with the actual optic four.

Good for you for wearing all white then.

Yes. Classic. Right? Hey. All white goes with everything.

It's fine. Big things that kinda jump out. Hey. I like that graphic, but the profile of the pad. So for the first time, that optic series mid range price point now matches the profile and some of the stiffness profile of what we would find in that pro top end price point.

Which is? So Stiffer. Stiffer and more of what we'll call that zed shape kinda style. So much more aggressive curvature and the break at the knee, for example. No real break at the knee, but there still is some flex to the pad itself.

Boot, nice and soft. So still get that mobility there. Moving on to the back of the pad. Before we go, I

I did mention it. This isn't first for the second price point, but I would like to call it out. Primo is not only a high wear material, that's how they sort of discovered it as a high wear material. Yes. But it slides like a hot dang, and so the fact that they've included them a second price point in that sort of stiffer profile to help you slide, I think, is a real bonus.

Yeah. So, I mean, calling out that landing surface as well. They've stiffened up the foams on that inside channel as well. Feel that's good

for you. Yeah.

Almost So that is gonna help to improve the slidability of the pad but also long term longevity of your pad as well.

Durability. Durability. We like them both and they're both available in the optic x four so I had to call that

out sorry to interrupt. No worries. Thicker knee stack that we saw in the iconic x pad carries over. Now added to the optic series. The Optic X3 did not have this.

Optic X4 now does. Speaking of durability, nylon through here

tends to be a little

higher wear as well. But also better for overall rotation of your pad in combination with because that doesn't catch on anything. Exactly. Exactly. So let's open up the pad a little bit more, have a look at the strapping.

So a nice feature that we see added is lace tabs for their version of the upper control strap and or a k a Progressive strap. Yes. So so it's available after marking. Can be ordered from Brian's. No problem.

A nice additional feature there, that wasn't, you know, something we could get in the past. Okay. Smart strap. Makes its return. Nice and easy strapping system.

Easy adjustable. That's a big call out.

Pillow. Cat pillow. You can take it out and have a little nappy nap.

Now it that's this day. This is a wholesome moment brought to you by the guys at the Hockey Shop here. Okay. Cat pillow back in. Obviously, removable.

Outer calf strap does adjust. Can close off that overall calf a little bit more.

So Cam Cam, what's this? That is You don't see that very often anymore. Their smart boot,

which they still have on here. Stock. Yes. Easily removable if you choose not to go with it. Yeah.

Again, of almost like that seat belt material. Yep. Just held in by pockets, can be pulled out, easy to take out.

Yep. So rather again, like, we've seen other brands bring back the tabs for a bootstrap. What I what I to me with the benefit of a bootstrap, especially if you've a young growing goalie, if you tend to size up a little bit in the early stages, like you wanna leave room for some growth, the bootstrap can help sort of hold that pad down when it may be a little

too. Walk a fine line between Yes.

And then grow into it a little bit. Correct. That's that's one of the areas that I think it's it's beneficial and with Brian's, you don't have to go out and buy it. Yes. Smart toe.

Like it. Adjustability, you can adjust this tab to give you a little bit different range in terms of you know it's the equivalent of doing knots when you adjust that tab. Still elasticity which you know know gives you more give than you would like off the post but it's a good setup.

Exactly and if you choose to swap it out easy removal. Alright. Blocker. Blocker. The blocker.

And now we'll go to the glove. We'll save the glove for last.

So X4 blocker. Very mobile, very open at the actual cup piece itself. I do find that my hand position is mounted up a little bit higher, say even versus give you a little more reach down low. Exactly. But I really have good balance and mobility out of this for a mid level blocker.

Tight ish fitting palm not the tightest More one we pillows. Stealing the thunder today. He's falling asleep again folks. Oh stay Velcro, there we go. Is there two pillows?

Two removable pill oh, I'm gonna have

the best nap ever. At some point, you know, I'll be able to let you know that also there's a removable sidewall pillow as well. Two removable pillows. Give me the pillows. So if you were to take that off, the one thing I do notice though, it would aid in the mobility of the blocker on the side.

Can really feel like it's a side butt that is gonna bend in as well. You can potentially You

finally have shoulders for the first

A little bit of coverage. Alright.

Love. I'm all about the removable pillows. Okay. Gloves. Look at that.

No pillows. X4. So what kind of a break are we looking at here, Cam? So this is closer to a May ish style little break. So they again don't follow the same nomenclature between their gloves, but it's getting closer to that index finger to the base of your thumb style closure.

Big open presentation,

nice and steep from the thumb here, so a lot of pucks funnel to the pocket. I will say the off the rack closure on this one, she's a little funky. There might be a little break in period here to sort of get everything closing in straight lines. Know just honestly folks right like it matters these that little sort of reverse almost like a reverse five eighty closure there but with a little work and a little break in you'll get this closing in a much straighter line but a nice big open presentation opens and closes quite easily out of the box we just need to do a little break in work on that pocket.

Yes so available intermediate junior price points colors if you wanna talk more about it, give me a call. (604) 589-8299 or 1-800-567-7790, or you can check them out at the hockeyshop.com. Brians off

the X4.

Second price point, lots of pro features. Give them a call if you want to find out more or if you just want to have them pull out the pillows and have a nap.

Ever told you you guys have great chemistry, Woody?

Well, I appreciate that. We've been we've been told to mellow out the chemistry at at times in the past. You know, I've I've been a little critical of Cam in in some episodes, a little harsh with poor Cam in some episodes. But the truth is, we we kid and we tease because we love. He's a great guy who knows his job really well.

And oh my god, his head's gonna be huge if he hears this. I better just back off right now.

I think it's Cam's wife's burner account that keeps criticizing you.

Was I was more meaning chemistry as in, like, every now and then, there's a big blow up in the lab.

That's Abbott and Costello type chemistry? Like

like, sometimes there's there's an explosion in there, and it's not pretty. That's what I was meaning about great chemistry.

Well, that's what it looks like after every time we leave. It looks like there's been an explosion because there's, like, five or six segments worth of gear scattered all over and poor Cam has to clean it up while we try and pack up all the audio and video and lighting equipment and get out of there before the store opens.

You gotta do like a a pan over from where Woody and Cam are sitting and then give us a look at the pile of equipment that you guys have just run through or you're running through. Give us some perspective on it.

Little bit of BTS action this week.

I love that.

Let's see what we can do for you. And maybe You'll have to text me early. Text me early on Monday.

Alright. And and maybe we can get what do you give Cam a little PDA. Just just just a little warming up some some bonding. Make sure everybody

If I put on if I put on a big enough chest protector and make him wear one too, we might get a hug in.

Parent Playbook

That would be fun. That's the break in of the of the upper body. Can can you guys give each other a good hug? That's fine. Stop It Goaltending U the app parent segment brought to you by Stop It Goaltending U the app.

It's fun. It's gonna be great what Hutch has in for us today. But first, a little bit of a mention and a message from Stop It Goal Tending.

Well, we talk about Stop It Goaltending U the app and how they bring you new content every week. This week, there's a there's a pep segment with video of Sergei Bobrovsky. There's a breakdown of styles, comparison David Rittich and Jordan Binnington and watching through a game of some of their tendencies. But my favorite this week is when we talk about a lot, the quick primers. Quick one minute hits every day.

And this week's primers from the past week are about taking inventory of what you did this summer. And it's great advice because it's all geared towards what you're gonna do next summer. So look back and reflect. In fact, maybe write it down and with your Stop It Goal Tending U app subscription, you get access to the Stop It Goal Tending journal. So write it down, what you did this summer that you liked, what worked, what didn't, and why so that when it comes time to next summer in April or May, you've got less guesswork about how you're gonna approach the off season because you'll be able to reflect and see what worked, what you liked, and bring that into how you set up the following summer.

So a great sort of journaling piece of advice. There's five different ones Monday through Friday that you can go back and look through at the Stop It Goaltending U app to help reflect on what you did this summer and set you up for a better off season next year. That's just the type of advice you get every week on the Stop It Goaltending U app. And, of course, with every subscription to Stop It Goaltending U, the app, you get a subscription to InGoal Magazine premium combining the best of both worlds, instruction from Brian Daccord and his crew at Stop It, Instruction and advice from us and all the NHL goalies and goalie coaches that contributed in Goal Magazine. Make sure you check it out on the App Store.

Stop It Goaltending U the app. Hutch.

Last week, Kevin and I said something about, oh, schools will be back soon. And I immediately felt bad because I think a lot of our friends in The United States have gone back to school. Yes. Today, you mentioned junior hockey camps would be coming soon. The QMJHL, the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League is playing exhibition games already.

Hockey is back. We might not be far behind in Canada in terms of school and a lot of these other junior leagues are definitely just around the corner. Some associations I know are holding their, tryouts already. We've even got a billet returning to our house today. So it is hockey season, boys.

And one of the most popular articles that we've done on the site is for parents, and it is always 10 ways to have your best season ever as a goalie parent. I revisit it every year around this time, and I thought I'd revisit it again. I've updated it slightly. We're gonna start with five, and then next week, we'll bring in another five, a chance in between. Anybody who's listening and would like to chime in with some of their own ideas, I would love to hear from you.

cheer for the other goalie on your team even in tryouts. You want your child to have their best year because of how they play, not because somebody else struggles. Having a playing partner they like and respect with a healthy and fun competitive relationship, it makes for a great season.

Whether you head over to the site and drop it at the bottom of the article or send me a note parents@InGoalMag.com as always. And, let's just get going in no particular order. The first, cheer for the other goalie on your team even in tryouts. You want your child to have their best year because of how they play, not because somebody else struggles. Having a playing partner they like and respect with a healthy and fun competitive relationship, it makes for a great season.

And it's a lot better to take a positive attitude in every day rather than just sitting grumpy in the stands hoping for bad things happen so your kid will look good. It's tryout time now and the same goes for those. I don't know what it's like where everybody else is, around here, the rink is always eerily quiet during scrimmages at tryout time. Well, we always cheered and we cheered for all the goalies on the ice. You want your kid to earn their spot, not back into it.

You wanna be the leader in creating a positive environment. We around here have come to believe in karma or, the hockey gods as some people like to call it. So I try not to even think bad thoughts about the other goalies. Number two, don't make excuses this year when talking with your child or others. It is a team game.

We win as a team. We lose as a team. It is not okay to say to your kid, if only your defense had covered that guy or if only the forwards had back checked. The bottom line is our job is to be here when our team makes mistakes. If they were perfect, you wouldn't be facing any shots.

Flip it around. Do you wanna hear parents in the stands saying if only the goalie had stopped that shot? And it's only normal for wanting to support your kid after a tough game, and it's absolutely okay to put the game into context. That was a tough game. You had more grade a chances than ever or more grade a chances than the guy at the other end, whatever it might be.

But that's way different than saying your defense sucked tonight. There are better ways after a tough game of helping your child, and we'll have that in a second coming up. On a related note, we're also not fans of saying you're the only reason your team won today. That's something a lot of parents do say to their kids. Somebody scored if you won.

Somebody back checked. Somebody cleared a rebound. Tell your kid they had a fantastic game and they were a big part of that win, but but let's keep the team concept here. Number three, this is a big one for not just goalie parents, all hockey parents, and that's don't waste time comparing your child to anybody else. It's one that we all do at very least in our thoughts, but that comparison only leads to frustration eventually.

Remember, your child is on their own path. It's the reality of development and it's important to understand and acknowledge that. You'll hear it in our feature interview today actually, something pretty interesting about that. Hockey is hard enough without feeling you've got to, meet somebody else's timeline. Do you think it's a problem?

Your kid isn't seen as the best at age 10 or 11? Well, we've had NHL goalies on this show that didn't really start until they were 11 or 12 years old. Whether their partner's having a better season or the kid down the road is playing for maybe an apparently better team or league, it just doesn't matter. If your 14 year old is playing at a lower level than a 13 year old, you know, it doesn't matter. I acknowledge it's hard.

It's only natural to want more. And yes, kids who seem, quote, better at whatever age do seem to get more opportunities. But hang in there. You have your own path. Make the most of whatever situation you're in and become the best you can.

You might be a late developer and pass those kids in a few years. You might not. It doesn't matter. Focus on today. Enjoy the game.

Good things will happen and you'll have a great season. After all, the point of this whole thing is just to have fun, build friendships, and learn and develop as a person. And the same goes for those of you out there who are ahead. Doesn't matter. Be proud of your accomplishments.

Absolutely. But you still need to keep working hard and keep having fun. Be yourself. Be your own goalie. Number four, find something good each game to celebrate parents.

Like golf where one good shot keeps us coming back, one good save or one good play does a world of good for a goalie. I've told this one before. I watched a friend's son get absolutely torched for about a dozen at a very young age, and he came off the ice with a big smile on his face. And the first thing he said was, did you see that glove save? That's a fantastic attitude I think we can all learn from.

If you're more experienced, you can try something I've always done with my son and other goalies I've coached right up to junior. Find one thing they did that we were working on in practice or that your son or daughter was working on in practice and celebrate it. Any parent can do this. Just have a conversation with them and ask them what they've been working on and what they'd like you to spot during a game. It might even be something that ended in a goal like beating a pass on their feet with speed where others might slide or maybe staying on a pass with their eyes or looking off the puck, another foreshadow today's feature interview when there isn't another threat.

I tell them that was the highlight of the night for me. They begin to take pride in those small details. And believe me, what you praise gets repeated as you model focusing on the process and not on the results. Number five, last one for this week. Bit of a bugbear for a lot of goalies.

Don't say great game when it wasn't. We know you only wanna help parents, but most goalies know when it wasn't a great game and they hate hearing it. So try these instead. I love you. I'm proud of you.

I love to watch you play. Sorry it was a tough game, but really proud of the effort you made today. Just give them a hug. Now on the other hand, sometimes you've got an uber competitive child who's gonna think they had a bad game when really they didn't. We're gonna have a little bit more to follow-up on that one next week because I think we need to adjust address that as well.

So that's five guys. There's gonna be at least five more next week. I hope there's a few more that people send me. What's on your to do list this year, parents, for having your best season ever? Maybe we can call them new seasons resolutions.

parents@ingoalmag.com.

Your mention of how quiet the rink is during tryouts.

Mhmm.

I never thought of it, but that's true.

It's it's uncomfortable. Like, what's wrong with cheering during a tryout?

Because people are afraid to be perceived as cheering against somebody. That's that's how I read it.

Yeah. I mean, everybody's nervous in tryouts and the whole thing is really uncomfortable. You know, the best year ever for that was COVID. No parents. No parents in the rink.

So yeah. Anyway, look, try and have some fun with it. Try and cheer a little bit. Why not? And like I said, for the other goalie too, we've seen it before and we love it when we see two goalies cheering for each other even at the opposite end end of the ice.

It's a fraternity. We gotta we gotta support each other.

Clap your stick for us.

Even the parents. Even the parents.

Clap your stick when the other goalie makes a save? It's great.

Yeah. Absolutely. And you can do that as parents. Like, I find the other parents quite often that my kid's playing against even at the level he's at now and have a quick conversation and, yeah, we're all in the same game here.

Bugs me during men's league skates if I make a save and the other goalie doesn't tap a stick for me. I get angry.

There you go.

Because I I I all tap my stick for anything that the other guy does even if I missed the net. Hey. At the angle on it, it was good. And then I'll make a good save and the guy doesn't tap a stick. I'm like, I'm gonna go down and blast you.

I used to do that in beer I in beer league too. I used to tap my stick for the other guy in beer. Absolutely. When you see a good save, 100%. The problem is then I get tired at the end of the game, and I'm too tired to tap my stick and they think you you don't love their saves anymore.

Then you get

worried if the guy's really good, then you get worried about your game stick breaking.

Yeah. There's that too, Daren.

Good stuff. We're looking forward to part two of that in the Stop It Goaltending U the app parent segment. On to Vizual Edge ProReads, and we're back to a familiar face.

Well, speaking of speaking of, league. How about two on o?

Yes. Wasn't it? Hey. That's exactly what it was. Beer league 2 on 0.

All all roads lead to two on o's. There's a way to play them. Charlie Lindgren with a break great breakdown this week. Starts as a two on one, but, there might be a lesson about sliding defensemen in here too because it quickly becomes a two on o, and Charlie had some great advice. And I think when you watch this ProReads, you'll hear him talk about it.

But when you watch the video that he's breaking it down as he breaks it down, as we do every week in our ProReads feature brought to you by Vizual Edge, look at the patience. Look at the stance. Look at the footwork. Look at how close things are in, and he is not committed. He has not widened out.

He has given himself an ability to react both in in terms of making a save or making a push. We'll let you watch ProReads to figure out which one is required and the cues that told him how to handle it from a depth stance perspective. That's all part of this week's ProReads at ingoalmag.com. And, of course, ProReads is brought to you every week by Vizual Edge. ProReads is all about having NHL goalies share how they see the game to help you become a better goalie looking for the cues and clues that allow them to succeed at the highest level.

Vizual Edge is about helping you see the puck and the game better. It's an online vision and cognitive training tool designed to help your eyes as well as help your brain. Vision, things like tracking pucks in, which is convergence, being able to quickly zoom out and scan the zone, which is divergence, can all be trained in terms of the visual tools and Visual Edge will do an assessment online and then build a training plan dedicated to you. Just two of the five different aspects of vision that they train. It will also help you get your mind warm.

Jordan Binnington, four nations gold medal winner, used it every day as a warm up mechanism for both his eyes and his mind, uses it in the NHL, used it at the four nations. It's a great tool to help you get ready to play. Make sure you check out in our ProReads each week, a discount special to InGoal Magazine subscribers to save a bunch on Vizual Edge. And if you're not a subscriber, just use the code InGoal to save, and not quite as much, but still have good savings on Vizual Edge.

Mention of the Four Nations Tournament, the orientation camps taking place in the next ten days. Team Canada, team USA for the Milan Olympics, and team Canada inviting three goaltender, same three guys that participated on team Canada in in February. And team USA expanded its group, Joey Daccord. Now is Joey Daccord not a free agent internationally?

Not anymore because he went to the World Championship. Won a world

championship this year. Locks him down for Team USA.

Alright. And and good for him. You know, long time, you know, Joey's been a big supporter of ours over the years, been really generous with his time, whether it's ProReads or podcast, and good for him. A guy who kinda much like our our future guest this week, like a bit of a late bloomer. Right?

Like, in college, not getting scouted early on, talked about not having offers from prep schools or or the top prep schools when he was coming up in Boston. So, and here he is on the shortlist amongst the four goaltenders at the Olympic orientation camp. Now I can ask you, Daren, to to flip the script here. Why wouldn't you? They're not going on the ice.

It's more of a conceptual, like, systems discussion and, I I guess, team building for both these camps. But as I understand it, they're not going on yet. Why wouldn't you invite more than just the three you had last year of your Canada?

Yeah. Both nations. Open it up to five. Your your depth chart

there. Well, there's there's I think the Americans invited 44, so four goaltenders. You've basically got one extra goalie, but double the size of the roster.

Yeah. I thought they would be have one extra goalie. Five goaltenders. And and just for experience. Maybe it's a younger guy, but, I mean, the Americans didn't invite Lane Hudson as a defenseman, which blew my mind.

So we can we can talk all day long about those that were even on the bubble for orientation camp, but I thought it was a really strong message from Hockey Canada or Team Canada to stick with the three players that went to the four nations and not grow beyond that. That these are our guys, and we're gonna stay focused on that. Mackenzie Blackwood. I I I really thought that Mackenzie Blackwood

I guess so. I guess so. I I just to me, it's like, hey. Like, not even not even from the standpoint of second guessing or saying we're opening it up or, you know, as a criticism in any way, shape, or form to the three that were there last year, but injuries happen. They happen in this position more than any other.

And if this camp actually has real value, if it actually has substantive value in terms of understanding what you're planning on doing and making sure that everybody's on the same page, wouldn't you want a couple more options in case of injury?

What if the Hockey Canada brass had just decided these are our guys, this is who we're going with, and Woody, your point is quite correct that injuries happen, but maybe they don't wanna have to draw that line and upset somebody who isn't amongst that number five or six or four, I guess, this case. It's probably better just to leave everybody at home rather than having to make a decision between the guys that they have to choose from. Might just be keeping the peace.

Well, okay. So for on the American

side Hutch on that.

Okay. So on the American side, like, think of the guys that didn't get invited and think of how deep their talent pool is. I mean, Dustin Wolf, Thatcher Demko, like, I don't I haven't heard much. Stolarz? Yo.

Yeah. Absolutely. Joseph Woll. I had both of them made beliefs goaltenders. Like, there are so many good options for the Americans, and they made a conscious decision.

Maybe maybe that's a reward. Maybe it's, hey. Joey Daccord went to the world championships with us, and so he's a part of this. So we probably in the media, and I'm guilty, obviously, in this discussion of doing so, make too much of these decisions, but I just thought it was interesting to juxtapose them. And if the camp actually has real value, as it seems to in terms of all the extra forwards being invited, all the extra defensemen.

I guess to Daren's point, by not inviting Hudson, you create questions and controversy. Maybe that happens if you invite some and not others, but Celebrini and Barnard are there, and they weren't on the four nations team.

The historic result of Team USA behind Joey Decourt merited that invite from the World Hockey Championship and winning that epic gold medal.

Fair. Fair.

I like that we got into this.

Hey. You think Thatcher Demko coming second in the Vezina trophy voting a year ago was maybe earned it too, but it's it's sort of true. I mean, it's very much the Hockey Canada way, isn't it? Once you're in the system, somebody has to really knock you off or you're staying in the system. And in in the sense, they're rewarding Joey for a job well done at the world championship.

When you think of Joey Daccord, what's the first part of his game that jumps to mind? Because I have something and I'm curious if it's the same thing with you guys. Woody?

Honestly, it's probably not gonna be the same because it isn't something physical on the ice. It's it's it's the word curiosity. I think he's a and I and maybe that's not even the right word. I just think he's a curious mind. He's a he's a student of the position.

Maybe that's a better phrase. And so he's always looking for new ways to get better. He just released a YouTube video. Actually, we retweeted it right before we came on air looking at some of the physical training that he talked to us last summer on the podcast about. Remember you guys talked when he was talking to us about sort of this restorative different style of training, he released a YouTube video on it.

To me, it's just another example of him going out and finding more different new things to get that extra one or 2% every year, whether it's it's NHL Sense Arena and the way he uses that. Like, I just to me, he's a no stone unturned guy. And I know that's not something on the ice, Daren, but it's the first thing that jumps out to me is why he continues to get better as the years go on, is he's always looking for ways to get better. He's not resting on his laurels at any point.

Anything for you, Hutch?

Yeah. Two things. Personality rings a bell in the sense that, he just comes across as this eternally positive person who, if he ends up in a situation where he's on the outside looking in, I think he brings real value. Do you call him a glue guy in the room in a sense? He certainly seems like that sort of a positive personality.

But it just in terms of watching him play, I love watching Joey Daccord puck handle. And that was something that Jordan Binnington really brought to team Canada, and maybe he gets the opportunity to bring that too.

I was gonna say skating. So puck handling kinda goes with that.

They go together.

His skating is beautiful. Mhmm. He makes it look effortless, which we all know. It's it's a really hard thing.

It's nice.

But he can he can not only sort of make, things happen while stick handling with his feet, but he gets there so perfectly behind the net. Like, it it just everybody else is busting their hump to get stop that rim. He's down there waiting for it, which is, really impressive. What do you can you skate like that? Agreed.

Well, no. I can't. But there's a good lesson there, Daren, I think, how we all talk about puck handling and that it's more than just your ability to move it. It's the ability to get there and stop it first and foremost. It's a great it's a great call out by you.

Take takes away a lot of the heat from yourself. You don't have to rush it nearly as much if you're there in time and by yourself half second more.

Oh, and you see so many young goalies when they go to play the puck, it's almost like they adjust their speed so they can arrive just in time with the puck. Like, how about get your butts out there, give yourself time to look up ice and that's something that good skating ability can let you do.

Well, and or even just stopping it. Like, just, you know, as much as we look at puck handling, I mean, most of most puck handling is like, most times, it's a leave. Yeah. But if you get out there early early and set it up and allow your defenseman to skate on it versus not getting there at all, in my number of times, I look at a hard rim, and I'm like, he could have gotten that and stopped that. And it's the difference between an extended time in the zone because the other team sets up a forecheck or your defenseman coming back and collecting it off a good leave and helping you break out of the zone.

Like, that's a massive part of the game. Know, when we talk about puck handling goalies, to me, stopping the puck behind the net is a big part of that, and there's a huge difference between guys that do and don't.

Great conversation coming up in our NHL Sense Arena feature interview. But before we slide over to Cody Porter, what's happening with NHL Sense Arena, Hutch?

Well, Daren, I mentioned new seasons resolutions a few minutes ago, and here's one worth adding to your list. Work NHL Sense Arena into your training this season. It is the ever evolving virtual reality platform built for goaltenders. Just last week, they added, as we told you, NCAA shooters, to the system. They've already got n NHL and PWHL shooters in there, and they just keep adding more and more.

They roll out new training plans all the time. They host regular competitions. And, of course, there's the NHL Sense Arena Goalie Advancement Program, a structured three part program that will guide you through development in three crucial areas, reading the release, mastering your angles, and dealing with traffic. You can see very detailed reviews of the first two of those up on InGoal, and you'll be seeing the third in not too long down the road. And while we can't share the details yet, Daren, we just heard about a big new feature coming that I'm sure you're gonna love in NHL Sense Arena.

With NHL Sense Arena, you get realistic training year round wherever you are. Even Kevin Woodley in Hawaii could be training with it this afternoon. So check it out at sensearena.com and use the code I g m 50 to save even more.

And maybe it have to be a photo of Woody in his headset with palm trees in the background coming soon. I would love that.

There's just something about palm trees, isn't there?

Oh. Palm trees in the ocean in the background, nothing better.

That sound

Well, maybe there may maybe there is. NHL Sense Arena headset on.

We got palm trees here. I can get a photo of my headset and a palm tree. We wanna see it.

I I wanna see your palm trees

in in Vancouver They're not much taller than me, but we have them.

So, Hutch, it's see, I have to share this now because obviously we've established that I'm I'm not at home. But we went to on a hike yesterday to see a waterfall. And I had an InGoal merch on, because of course I did. Attaboy. I I tip you know, I'm all about the branding.

You know, I typically look like an InGoal logo threw up on me when I go out the door. So the lady says, oh, you're a hockey guy, she starts asking questions about where I'm from. And she says, to your point about palm trees and Nanaimo, she says, I think it was her sister or sister-in-law lives on Vancouver Island. And she says, it's the most beautiful island in the world, to which I just kinda look

at As them you're standing in Hawaii?

I'm we're on the big island of Hawaii and I'm like, I'm thinking maybe this might be nicer as we're about to walk through a waterfall and we've

we just saw dolphins and the night before we were on a volcano rim, like and we kinda had a chuckle over what qualifies. So so to your point, two of the nicest islands in the world, absolutely. And then I'm a qualify, show us your palm trees.

Well, as a goaltender, we've all been left on an island. Not nearly as beautiful, but but this is a nice little respite from that as we, talk about Vancouver Island and, the challenges. Hope got everybody safe there, with what's happened, this summer, with the various, different tests that mother nature tossed at us and, Woody over on on Vancouver or the, the Big Island in Hawaii. And, you had a chance to talk to Cody Porter. Give us an idea of his story, and then we'll get into the discussion, which really is interesting.

It's one of those ones that we can all use as an education of the journey that some of these professional athletes take.

Feature Interview - Cody Porter

Yeah. You know, this is probably not a household name for a lot of our listeners. Right? Like, not a lot not a lot

of them unless you've on social media. He's got a great presence on social media. But this is a young man who we've known since junior. Been around some of the coaches we've worked with. Just, like I said, known him since he was a teenager and watched him go through probably one of the most winding paths that we've seen both in junior and and through professional hockey.

A lot of different challenges along the way, some personal, some professional, but has never given up and has never stopped believing in the talent. And along the way, he has had some fantastic experiences both culturally, playing in all kinds of different countries in Europe. We're talking like Finland, Sweden, Germany, Czechia, Kazakhstan. Like, he has seen it all. But also working with a variety of different goaltending coaches.

Again, Finnish, Swedish, Czechia, Kazakhstan, German, although one though in Germany, it was a Finnish goalie coach as you're about to hear. Caught up with Cody. He trains back in the summers. Poland. I forgot Poland.

In the in in the midst, he started after starting in the SPHL minor pro in North America during the pandemic, he went over to Poland. And so all of these different experiences, he talks about the different voices, the different lessons along the way. He comes back and trains every summer in Vancouver. So this was just something that was overdue, a chance to catch up to him. He was at Connor Ingram's goalie camp when I ran into him.

And then the next time when he invited me out to talk to him after practice, like, hey, come meet me at at the local rink here, and we'll have a chat for the for the podcast, which I was all over. I I go to the rink, and he's still on the ice as I get there, and it's some guy named Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini amongst a group that also included Kent Johnson and a handful of other NHLers. Luukkonen from the Buffalo Sabres all shooting on him. So it was really interesting to sort of see him in that environment, see him holding his own against some of the best in the world and some really tough drills, and then have this conversation about the path he's on, the evolution he's undergone. There is incredible advice.

So again, he may not be a household name to you, but he has gone through pretty much every experience you can as a minor pro and junior goaltender. And there are lessons along the way that he shares in this interview that I guarantee you will resonate and have value no matter where you are on your own journey, whether it's as a beer leaguer or an aspiring young goaltender or a parent of an aspiring young goaltender that hopes to follow in these paths, whether it's junior or into pro. There's a ton here. I hope you enjoy it.

Enjoy getting to know Cody Porter on the NHL Sense Arena feature interview on InGoal Radio Podcast.

Really excited to welcome to the InGoal Radio Podcast, first time guest, but a young man that I've had the pleasure of knowing for a number of years here in, my hometown Vancouver area, Cody Porter, who has been playing professionally overseas now for five years. I thought it'd be a good chance to catch up with you. I mean, we've known each other since you were in the WHL. You've gone through this experience. You've played minor pro in North America.

You go overseas. You played in Liga in Finland. You played in some smaller stops along the way. Thought it'd be great to catch up with you about your experiences. But also, like, for goalies that are, like, not every path leads directly to the NHL.

Not every path leads directly to pro in North America. You've had some really unique experiences. So first off, good to see you. Catch us up a little bit on where you're at this year, this summer heading into next year.

Yeah. Kevin, thanks so much for having me on. It's, yeah, it's been a while since, we first chatted. That would have been when I was, I think, 17 playing for the Vancouver Giants. So it's it's been a while, but it's awesome to have to be here and to have me on.

And, yeah, I just just finished up a good training session. Yeah. Just just a couple

couple of names that people might recognize in that training session. Bedard, Celebrini. It's a that's a tough one to be a goalie in.

Yeah. It's fun. It's there's a lot of skill out there. So it's it's awesome to be out with those guys a few times a week, and it definitely sets, sets you up well for the upcoming season.

Okay. So I wanna ask you a little bit about that actually because we I just watched it. Give a little credit, Cavill hockey, incredible amount of skill out there. A lot of small area game stuff as a goaltender. Now, obviously, little goalies aren't getting on the ice with Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini and Kienan Johnson and and Arshdeep Bains like you just did.

But how do you approach that? Because there was a whole bunch out there that is not necessarily goalie friendly. So how do you find moments in skates like that? How do you approach it mentally so that you're getting better in a situation that's not about you?

Yeah. That's a great question because it can be sometimes you go into the the skate a little bit with the wrong mindset. You're worried about, you know, am I making saves or goals going in and the big key for me is picking three things that I want to work on in the practice and really nailing those down and for me out here it's been play reading because obviously things are happening really fast. Setting my feet, know that's a big key because if you can be set and square as a as a bigger guy, you're going to make a lot of saves and just overall rebound control and tracking. Kind of putting all those things together and those have been the keys and not worrying too much about uncontrollables because there is going to be some some plays that happen where you're just kind of scratching your head.

Yeah. That's a great question because it can be sometimes you go into the the skate a little bit with the wrong mindset. You're worried about, you know, am I making saves or goals going in and the big key for me is picking three things that I want to work on in the practice and really nailing those down and for me out here it's been play reading because obviously things are happening really fast. Setting my feet, know that's a big key because if you can be set and square as a as a bigger guy, you're going to make a lot of saves and just overall rebound control and tracking. Kind of putting all those things together and those have been the keys and not worrying too much about uncontrollables because there is going to be some some plays that happen where you're just kind of scratching your head.

But it's also too, it's a great cardio because you're getting a lot of shots and there's some days out there where we're getting, I think it's like 200 plus shots. So it's, it's been really fun and that's, you know, so true taking it with the right mindset and I think as well for younger goalies too because a lot of like, I remember when I was, you know, 12 years old going to hockey camps, you do some drills where it's not very goalie friendly and you're like, you know, what am I doing out here? But you can always find something to, to work on and improve on and, know, focus on the controllables.

Okay. So those three things today, do those change for you? Does it depend like, might you set them as different goals at a different skate or is that just where you're at in your summer or is that something that's evolved over the years?

More where I'm at in the summer. Okay. Early early on in the summer, it was more just focusing on skating and, tracking angles and it slightly evolves throughout. Now I'm trying to work on reading just because we're getting later in the off season here and I wanna get pretty much in game shape. So getting those reads is really important, especially when we're doing five on five or five on four, you can kinda simulate a power play and off looking the backside.

So it's been good.

Learning to read the play, learning to get better in how do do it? Like like because I gotta be honest with you, the speed with which they were playing out there, I probably would have needed to record everything and play it back at one quarter speed to have a chance to anticipate anything out there. But what's the focus when we say reading the play is such a catchall, but what for you is the focus on how to get better at what are you looking for?

Well, I think one of the consistent things, and I'm sure you guys have seen it on your ProReads with everybody who's who's come on, is just finding the next most dangerous threat, really off looking and figuring out, okay, if there's a player in the corner, is he really that big of a threat or is a guy that's right in the slot the bigger threat? And you know, if let's say a player has the puck coming off of the weak side half wall, but there's a player in the slot, I'm gonna back my, you know, inside skate off and try to make sure that if he passes, can get set and and give myself a good chance to make the safe.

Okay. So just, I mean, similar to what you would in a game. Like, it's funny. I see, like, half ice small area games and I I didn't even think from, I always think of bigger pictures and bigger ice when I think of play reading, but you're out there working on those kind of things, flattening out, making sure you're set for the next opportunity.

Yeah. And especially with these skates, so much of it is high danger that you're not getting many shots from area 3 and area 2, which, you know, would be nice maybe for as a feel good drill. But the reality is where they're shooting from in these skates is most of where goals go in in a game. So it's, it's great to hammer those home.

Okay. So the area three and area two. So, obviously, you're using some zone mapping. There might be some young goalies here in that for the first time. Walk me through if you're okay sharing it, how you map out a zone and how you think about those things.

Yeah. So for me, like, one is like in the slot. So we're mapping it from basically the trapezoid line up to the face off dot, up to the high, like high part of the circle across. So it's basically inner slot hash marks and then area two would be like top of the circle, a ring and then area three would be the half wall up to the blue lines. Okay.

Around there.

Okay. And what what's behind the net?

Just be like a, like, tracking zone.

Okay.

We just kinda, like, scan. Scan the next most

dangerous So when it's back there, that's where you're looking for the other Okay. Is that something you've developed over the years? And and, like, when you say area one, two, three, are you thinking in terms of, like, for some guys that perimeter zone and they have different names for it will be like, hey, I'm in a narrow stance. I'm up right here. Hey, it hits this zone.

I'm in a mid stance. It's in here. I'm obviously in safe preparation. Like, do you get that specific or is it a little more of these are guidelines and everything is feel from there?

Yeah, they're guidelines. I mean, I've been really fortunate to work with a lot of really good goalie coaches in a lot of different countries. So it's a little bit dependent upon the league. Like it's, like for example, a league like Finland Liiga, is one of the top leagues in Europe. There's so much lateral so you're basically playing off the post on everything.

You're never really challenging much on the like when there's perimeter stuff. So it kind of simplifies everything to okay what are we doing and also what the team's philosophy is because some teams are going to play things a little bit different. Are you playing, you know, zone defense, man defense? It kind of changes with the situation. So it's just a general guideline, you know, I think at the end of the day when you're in the game, don't want to be thinking too much.

You just want to, you know, read and react to play and this summer and practices is the time to really get comfortable with it.

Okay. So I wanna get into some of the different influences because like you said, you've had a lot of good goalie coaches over the years, including some you come back to in the off seasons in the summer. But also within that, especially when you were in North America, you you had to move around a lot because you were looking for a place to play. Yep. So you're getting different voices, sometimes no voice.

You probably don't have much help in terms of goalie coaching, but this is a challenge for this time of year for kids. You've been through it. You go from a summer coach that you trust to all of a new team and a new coach and a new voice. You need to impress that guy. He decides whether you play, you wanna learn new things, but you also have to stay true to your game.

Finding that balance with new voices. How do you do it as a goalie?

Yeah. You gotta trust your foundation. Foundation. You You know, you got gotta to trust trust what you have confidence in. What are your strong suits and everyone's going to be different.

Every goalie is going to be better at some things than somebody else. You have to really find what works for you and then kind of figure out what's, you know, what can be added and what can be taken away. You know, I've been really fortunate to have a lot of good goalie coaches, you know, from the time I was growing up, obviously Sean Murray was a big influence in my, both playing career, but also in my life. And, you know, in the Western Hockey League, was fortunate to have some good goaltending coaches. Eli Wilson was, really big for me in Vancouver, basically changed my style.

I think I went there at 16 when I was like about to turn 17 and I played a very athletic style and, you know, was kind of trying to play that Jonathan Quick style and during that whole season he basically changed it and calmed it down and that was a big, big change for me and, you know, in Calgary I was fortunate to work with Jason LaBarbera and Darcy Wakaluk, so both good coaches there and, and, yeah, like you had said, like in my early twenties, I didn't really have that coaching with the teams I had been on in North America. The minor pro teams, you don't have a goalie coach, even a lot of teams in the east coast league level, they don't have goalie coaches. So

which is a major, major oversight in my mind.

Yeah. And it's unfortunate but, you know, that was kind of for me something that I had to at the time I was on the phone basically two, three times a week with Sean and we were kind of mapping out, okay, like what do you think about this? And we basically had to do it virtual because there was no goalie coach there and then when I first went to Europe which was just you know during COVID to get an opportunity to play because the team I had signed with in the East Coast League for that season they weren't playing because I think only like 12 teams ended up playing. Yeah. So I ended up going over to Poland and there was a goalie coach part time but he didn't speak any English.

I didn't really get to know him at all, like he wasn't really a full time guy so I didn't really get anything there but just kind of figuring it out and it's a big transition when you go North America to Europe if you've never been before and then you add in during COVID, everything's shut down, no fans in the building. So it was a big

Everything's different. You got a cultural adjustment. You got a game style, a play style that's totally different as a goaltender. You got a rink. I'm not sure about I'm not sure about Poland.

Depends where you are, but different size rinks as well. What was that like? What's the hardest part of all those things? Yeah.

It was probably the toughest for the hockey standpoint, it was probably the toughest transition just because I had never played over there before, so everything was different. And I was only over there for two and a half months because during COVID there were different style contracts and I only played eight games and I think three of the games I played actually I was sick. Had COVID near the end there so it not the most fun time but it was a great learning experience and it set me up really well for when I ended up going to Finland. But it was good to go through it even though it maybe wasn't, you know, a success standpoint didn't go perfectly, it was good. I got lots of shots, I was on a younger team and it was it was fine.

It was it was cool to see.

Okay. So when you talk about learning what your foundations are and being able to sort of self coach and get some outside help, like having to go talk to your old goalie coach and and sort of almost like you're working with somebody, but he's not there with you. You also have to be your own goalie coach. What, like, what are your foundations? What what are the important parts?

Not that other goalies are gonna hear you and say, yeah, that's my foundation. I want that to be but what elements of play do you think people should always have an awareness of? Like, is it positional? Is it my bio like mechanical? Like tactical?

Technical? Like, what parts should it be like, hey, this is my staple. This is my anchor. This is how I play.

Yeah. I think for me, my like, from my standpoint, my strength is skating. Like, I've always been somebody that I'm a I'm a really strong skater and it makes it a little bit easier because no matter the speed, can always, you know, be at ahead of the play and, you know, for everyone, it's gonna be a little bit different. I think that we're in an era right now where a lot of goalies are very strong technically, growing up.

Yep.

the tactical part of the game comes when you're a little bit older. That's the play reading we just talked about. Yeah, the play reading and for me, I didn't figure it out till I was 25.

And the tactical part of the game comes when you're a little bit older. That's the play reading we just talked about. Yeah, the play reading and for me, I didn't figure it out till I was 25. Like reading the play, it was, know, when I was in the Western Hockey League, felt I had good technique, but my play reading, it was just a little bit late. And as I've gotten a little bit older, I feel like I've developed at a little bit later of a pace, which, you know we talk about late bloomers and it was the same thing for me growing up as a kid.

I never played AAA hockey till I was 15. My first year Bantam I was on a tier 2A3 team, know same thing, worked hard and was able to play in the BC Hockey League at 16 and then played three years in the Western Hockey League with Vancouver and Calgary and not going through the draft. I kind of look at it the same thing in pro that I really like where my game is headed, I feel like I'm improving every year and, you know, I feel like I'm getting better every year where maybe some guys get better when they're a little bit younger. So again, it's a little bit different for everybody.

Okay. So when you you talk about your skating, when it's a strength, do you have to, at an earlier age, almost reel it in? Like like, as much as you want it to be a foundational part and being a good skater is important, can it get you into trouble where it's like, hey, I can take more ice here because I can get back, but maybe taking more ice isn't always the best idea.

Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, really up until I was playing for Vancouver, that was the first time that I had to learn to play within the paint. Right. Cause I was all over the place and it's, you know, it's tough to make a backdoor save when you're three feet out of the paint.

It's a long way to

that backdoor. It's long way to the backdoor. So unless you've got a $8,000,000 defenseman that you trust, you know, it's it's tough. So, yeah, reeling it in is is huge and you see it with a lot of young guys that are good skaters. They're they tend to be a little bit out of position, but, yeah, I agree with you.

So and then when you get these small area games, Bedard, Celebrini, like, everything is on and off the stick quickly. Is it almost like an inside out approach? Like, you're sort of angle over depth is a philosophy for a lot of people, but, like, it's almost to a to the nth degree. Like, you can't get caught outside of your paint in a in a game like that.

No. You don't have time. Right. You're you're basically just trying to get the 80%, you know, cover 80% of the net and from there, you're gonna be able to react and and block and and use your size. And that's been something that, was a big big conversation point when I was in Finland was, you know, figuring out a way to to take 80% of the the coverage.

So walk me through some of the other conversations in Finland. Coaching influences, I mean, you talk about, like, as a country, a place where they develop goaltenders on the regular, they become known for it. There are certain things we tend to think of hands and active hands when we think of finished goal. What was your experiences like from both a coaching and influence standpoint? How did your game evolve while you were there?

Because it was two full seasons.

Two full seasons. Yep. I I went over there my first year. I signed in Mestis with a team called IPK and, a goalie coach there named Jani Borg. He gave an opportunity to me and, it was really eye opening experience to go over there.

Every kid has a goalie coach from the time they're 13. It doesn't matter if you're watching, you know, U 14 practice, there's a goalie coach there every day. I feel like there's more of a priority on it.

I really like the approach, think that Finland as a country does things the right way. In what way? Every kid has a goalie coach from the time they're 13. It doesn't matter if you're watching, you know, U 14 practice, there's a goalie coach there every day. I feel like there's more of a priority on it.

You know, I've watched practices of teams in fourth and fifth leagues over there and they have a goalie coach and that's something that they're a little bit further ahead with.

But just Meanwhile, we talked about the ECHL where a lot of NHL prospects end up and they're still no goalie coach for a lot of although we're getting there.

Getting there. Yeah. So it's a little bit behind here for sure. But yeah, just just the same thing, like simplifying everything was the big key. Playing a simple game, it's pretty fast hockey over there, it's one of the faster countries in terms of the speed.

Smaller league too or smaller rink too, right?

Smaller rinks, yeah. So they're playing on the hybrid size. So yeah, my first kind of run through I would say with IPK was good, it was definitely a learning experience. I feel like I improved a lot during the six months or so that I was there. Then I finished that year in, in Liiga with SaiPa.

And that was an awesome experience because it was something that you know it's one of the top leagues in Europe and I didn't really get an opportunity to play very much. Came in three times off the bench and it wasn't what I thought was going to happen when I went there but I really just soaked it in and tried to learn from it and take the experience that I learned and really work over the summer, train harder off the ice, train hard on the ice and it translated into going back there for a second year and really feeling dominant about where my game was at and then I went to Hokki, had a good goalie coach there named, Juha Soronen, he was really good for me also, kind of helped take my game to the next level and

What kind of things?

Just just tracking, that was the big key. He's really big on like tunnel tracking, getting over the puck. Okay. And tracking down on the puck. And, that was that was really big.

I've never heard the phrase tunnel tracking.

Yeah. It's I think, Brian Daccord teaches it as well. But you're basically just trying to get over top of the puck and track it down rather than sideways. So that was something that we worked on quite a bit and things went really well there. I was really happy with it and it translated into a few call ups with some Liiga teams.

I was fortunate to get in with Tappara who think they were the top teams.

Yeah, that's like a famous team. It's a really big deal.

Yeah, so it was cool to be there and get to go there and not really know what the plan was because they didn't really have goalies. One of their goalies was injured and another guy was out with something else. I kind of just went there and was like, alright, this is a great opportunity. Didn't know if I was going to be there for a week or a month or the whole season, just tried to take it as it was and it was fun. I got to play there and, play against a good team and, played well and, also too their goalie coach there is like he's so good.

Ackie is, like one of the best goalie coaches in Finland. Ackie? I think.

Okay. I was trying to think. So what did you learn? What did you learn that? Like, because you're in there, you're in and out.

They're not going to change your game. That's part of being a good goalie coach in

the short term. It's it's tough when you only have a week, week or ten days with a guy, but basically just keeping everything simple. The biggest thing I had to work on was when the puck's in the corner, they're cycling so quickly out that you have to really be, you know, not behind the play when he's in the corner

and that's where the scans

That's where the scanning really came in. So It's

funny because you said you're 27 now, you said you didn't learn it till 25. That's where you're starting to look off

the top where I was starting to learn it and and I felt like that whole season went really well. Like, there wasn't really much adversity that year. Played really well in rookie, went to Tappara, only played one game when I was there but played well.

Played well, yeah.

Then went to Assat and felt good there.

Played well.

Yeah, played four games, there three of them were I think above 92 and then one game wasn't wasn't so, know same thing there, good goalie coach, Jarkko is a good goalie coach, he's been in Liga for I think fifteen years and you know he coached guys like Antti Raanta and those goalies so he's, he was good as well and just getting a lot of different voices. You know, I've always been somebody who, you know, I want to find a place where I can settle in and play for multiple years. Like I'm not a huge fan of the moving around but

Yeah, you've had to do it a fair bit.

I have, yeah and a lot of people ask about that, know, they say, hey, like, why are you moving around so much? Is there problems in the in the room? Do you not like the team? And it's it's never been that. It's always been, you know, I think the North American mindset is you're always trying to find a place where you have an opportunity to play and, show what you can do and that's what I've always tried to do.

So anytime I got a chance to go to Liga, it it was a great opportunity to to play at one of the highest levels.

Yeah. And you when you talked about know, different voices, can you give me an example from from from him? The lie the last, like, one thing that you took are you trying to take something away from each one? Each goalie coach?

Little bit. Yeah. I mean, like in Finland, everyone's so big on the hands. You know, they call it the Finnish hands.

And I

feel like I improved my so much when I was there.

What kind of things did you do? Like, what kind of things were different? Because it's it's not like we're trying not to use our hands here or anywhere else that you've worked, but what kind of things did they do that place that focus that allowed you to feel like that?

A little bit more reactionary drills.

Like Okay.

You really every day was like must have been like 40 or 50 pucks glove and then forty, fifty pucks blocker before the practice even started.

K.

And it just makes you feel a little bit less blocky. K. And I think there is a time to be like a blocking more blocking style.

There are parts of the ice where you just gotta get in the way.

Yeah. And then there's also times where you can, you know, catch the puck. And I feel like that's something that they're really big on. Yeah. Is, you know, when you start becoming a little bit more reactive, your eyes are more engaged, your head's more engaged, you're tracking the puck better, and then everything feels easier.

Everything slows down.

When you talk about forty, fifty pucks each side, is this just warm up stuff? Or is it a little more Just warm up stuff. So they're just just building that routine of building Yeah. Comfortable

Okay. Just building the routine. And and for me, I loved Finland. Like it's, you know, I spent two years there. It's somewhere that I I'd love to go back to.

Right. You know, I think it's probably been the most enjoyable country I've been in in terms of, like, just got to know so many people there and it's it's really felt like a second home. I'm also a big fan of the goalie coaches there.

You after that, since then, you you you went to Allsvenskan Yep. And spent some time in Czechia the year after. So walk me through, you know, how that went down. Yeah. Swedish coaching, different styles than the Finnish.

The rinks are bigger.

Sweden. Changes everything.

The rinks are bigger.

I've had a lot of goalies tell me, like, plays in the corner or on the wall, you got time for a cup of coffee before it comes to the net.

It's different. Sweden was a interesting experience. It's always like been somewhere else Fenske and SHL. It's always been a league that I've wanted to play in. And that year I ended up kind of being at home a little bit later, you know, trying to find the right opportunity and, finally got an opportunity to sign in in Allsvenskan and went over there was really excited.

Got there early November and then basically right after I got there, my, my long time goalie coach and one of my best friends, Sean Murray passed away. So it was really tough, going there and then, you know, basically that happening right away, being with a new team. It was one of

the hardest The other side of the world.

Yeah. One of the hardest things I've ever tried to, you know, play through. So that was really tough. And then on top of it, about, I think it was the day day before my, my first game over there, I took a one timer off my glove and broke my finger. So that was also tough.

Yeah. So I was like, I didn't really know what to do. I was like, should I play through it? Should I wait? And at that point it was already November and, I I think I only ended up getting four games over there, but you know, played with the the broken hand on the on the glove side which I didn't It's

not very pleasant.

No, it's not and I didn't realize how big of a difference it makes like you're basically useless playing the puck, you it's harder to cover the puck, you you just you feel a little more hesitant in practice. Yeah. And then on top of it, you know, going through the thing with with Sean, it was just tough like the whole the whole year was was tough and it was too bad because I felt like after my second year in Finland, was a really dominant season, I was ready to kind of take that next step. Yeah. And because of everything that happened, I kind of needed to take a step back and, you know, kind of reel myself and get back on the horse if you'd say.

Yeah. And, yeah, so in Sweden, I mean, the goalie coaching was good. It was, it's a different style, but, I was only there for really a month and a half and

Right.

It was it was a tough time.

With a broken hand and a broken heart. Yeah. And tough tough place to be.

It was it's funny because I was just talking with Connor Lacouvee because I was helping out at his camp last week and he said, you know, you're in the NHL, everyone knows about the injuries you're going through. If you're not, it's tough. People just look at your elite prospects and say, well, his stats weren't that good here, so he must not be that good. They don't know what you're going through physically or mentally, and I think that goes for a lot of goalies and a

lot of in points. The NHL, we often don't know what they're going through mentally at home, things are going on. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Yeah. And like you said, Sean was a massive part of your life.

Really Yeah. You know, you guys were not just student pupil.

Yeah.

Like you guys had a, you know, like you guys are friends. Yeah. So

Yeah. It was it was tough and and like the day before that happened, we talked for two hours on the phone and just about, you know, settling into Sweden and and I was super excited and it went I went from like a 10 out of 10 excitement to be there ready to go have a great year to like a one out of 10.

Just somebody pulls the door right out from your feet.

You know, it would have been nice to have already been established there a little bit and kind of know everybody on the team but you know go you through that and everyone handles it in a different way and for me it was just it was just tough like you know tough to go through and then basically at Christmas you know because with the import stuff they were like hey like we we don't feel that your level's been up to what we expect. Yeah. Which again, I had only played four games and and was going through that but, know, they they do what they do and ended up finishing the year in check and, going there, I felt okay, this could be a good opportunity to get some games.

Still a reset?

Yeah, a little bit of a reset. I gave my my hand was finally healed. That was January. And, their starter there was supposed to get a surgery and then he ended up not. So when I went there, they're like, well, what do we do?

Because it was a second place team. And so I kinda got stuck into a little bit of, a third role. Yeah. Third goalie role. And, I mean, it was awesome.

The team ended up winning the league, which was really cool. But, yeah, I just just tried to work on myself every day and control the controllables.

Which is which is easier to say than it is to do when it's that

Had a lot of calls with the Pete Fry. Okay. You know, did a lot of work with him. I've I've talked with him since I was in the Western Hockey League and, you know, the mental part of the game is so important and it was great from a team perspective, like it was really nice to kind of see things from a different perspective and kind of just you know be a bit of a supporter because when you're a third guy you just got to work really hard in practice and be a good teammate And, you know, that was but it was a tough year and it, you know, led me to a summer last year where I didn't really know what was gonna happen.

Right. Because because you like you said, people just look at the hockey DB and the numbers and they're like, oh, okay. But you got an opportunity last year. Now, did you start in Kazakhstan?

I did, yeah.

Okay. Walk me through that

and Yeah, played the first thing I'll say is the league was 10 times better than I thought it was gonna be. I had no idea what to expect. There's some weird rules in the league

Give me a example.

That I didn't know about till I went there. Like for example, import goalies can only play half of the games.

Oh, okay.

So there's a 50% limit.

So you're basically capped.

Yeah. But Russian goalies, I don't think are imports. So it's just if you're like non Russian or Belarusian or Kazakh. So I didn't know about that going there. So I was capped at 20 games because they had a shortened season last year because of a labor dispute.

Yeah.

And so it was only a 40 game season.

Right. So Still played 17.

Yeah. Actually it was good because it's totally different style over there. It's really kinda like a North American style. Very physical. A lot of one timers.

A lot of traffic.

Direct game?

Yeah, back on NHL size ice.

Okay.

Honestly, I've never played in a league where guys shoot so hard. Was the thing I noticed about there. A lot of strong big guys and it was good, it took a little bit of an adjustment period but you know when you're only playing half the games you're playing against a lot of good competition and the top teams in that league were good so actually from that standpoint I thought it good and also kind of to learn a little bit of the Russian style of goaltending. Like we had a Russian goalie coach, Ivan Naumov, who recently retired.

I was just gonna say, like I recognize that

name He's right a Chicago Blackhawks system. Dan had a good career in the KHL and he had to retire due to injuries and he was awesome like working with us and just kind of you know learning how to use our bodies a little bit more in different ways like you see Bobrovsky play and he's kicking his leg out and just moving different become more of a more athletic, but not like an athletic goalie like we would call it here. K. We're doing things off the ice like front rolls, back rolls, you know, just just learning how to move your body in ways to make a save.

Little old school, like a little there's it sounds like a

Little bit.

Yeah. Little Tretiac out there.

Yeah. And then you see it come into guys' games. You see you see Bobrovsky in the finals. He's making saves, you're like, well, how did he contort his body like that? Or a lot of goaltenders will see, you know, Andrei Vasilevskiy, the behind the back glove save is kinda his trademark.

And just learning how to move your body in ways that you wouldn't normally think about, and then it just kinda happens in the game. I like that. I've seen I've seen Ian Clark do that quite a bit. Yeah. The goalie is, like, kind of, you know, you're making a desperation save.

You can practice desperation Yeah.

Was one thing we did a lot of over there. Okay. And it definitely helped. Like, I felt like I wasn't as robotic, if you would say. Was like, okay, what do I need to do to make the save?

And, yeah, I hit the 17, I was at 17 games, I could only play three more games. So, and then I had the opportunity to finish the season in DEL2 in Germany, really another good league.

Good league.

Yeah, good league. And they also had a Finnish goalie coach. That was something for me that was really a selling point. Like many of the other teams I had gone to, I knew that it was only for the rest of that season. They had a starter who he's a great goalie, Askarov, good goaltender and he's signed there for I think three years so I knew it was just kind of an opportunity to get back into Europe and show what I could do and the goalie coach there, Mika Tervanen, he's I think he's done twenty years in Liga, five years in the SHL, maybe longer.

Yeah. He's he's great like he he's very honest and he's had a number of National Hockey League goalies that he's he's worked with and like I know back in the day he was one of the main goalie coaches for Kiprusoff. Okay. And he told me right on day one, he's like, here's what I like about your game, but here's what I think you need to improve on. We talked about playing a little bit simpler, moving less, know, if the play is in tight, staying down, sealing the bottom of the ice and trying to play as sim simple of a style as possible.

So some tactical adjustments.

Yeah. Some tactical adjustments and changed how I hold my gloves, changed the glove positions.

Okay. I gotta hear about this. Yeah. Especially when we're talking about somebody who worked with Kiprusoff.

Yeah. So we changed it to more of like a holding it like sideways, like thumb up a little bit like

a little more like a handshake.

A little bit like Hockey.

Yeah. Okay. A little more handshake than fingers up.

Yeah. And that was an area for me that he had noticed that I was getting picked a little bit low glove. Okay. We changed it.

And you had it fingers up before? Yeah. Okay. That was common now.

Yeah. So that was something that, you know, especially on breakaways, like giving a little bit different of a look and we implemented it really fast and I really liked his mindset. He was really direct. He was always very honest. Yeah.

And, I was there for three months and I I really felt I developed more in those three months than I have probably since my second year in Finland.

Okay.

And he was really hard on me, but in a good way. And, he really took my game to the next level. And I I've never been someone who's, like, looks at the statistics because I think statistics can be a little bit of a lie.

They I mean, the reality for goaltending is it all about what's happening in front of you.

Right? I basically showed up two days later, played my first game, and then had a week to work with him before the next game. And after we started making some of the changes, think in my final I think I played six games there, in my final five games, I was above 95%. Nice. And it's a great league.

I don't know if people know much about, you know, DEL1 is great, DEL2 is a really good league too. Both leagues don't have that many teams so you're getting guys that go between the leagues. But felt really good and finished the year on good note and I felt like, my game's in the best place that it's been. Yeah. And now coming into the summer it's a bit of okay let's see what happens for next But you know for me I feel like as a goaltender I'm always somebody who I really believe in myself but I also know that there's areas I need to improve on and I feel like I'm getting better every season.

A little bit like when I was a kid, always felt like I was getting better and it's been a little bit of a struggle kind of getting recognition and having to believe in ourselves and you know, but my goal has always been to play at the highest levels and you know I know that it's not easy, especially taking the route that I'm taking and you know going kind of a weird path where I've had to

You've been to some different places.

A lot of different places but you know, I still have a clear picture about where I wanna play and

Well, and you've and you've played games in the highest Yeah. League in Finland. You're you're in DEL, which is second level in Germany. You've played in some really good leagues.

Yeah.

And to your point, I mean, the only year, numbers are numbers, but the only down year you've had is is the one where you lost one of your best friends and mentors. Yeah. Right? Like so the two of the last three years when you've been in the right mindset, when you haven't had to deal with massive personal tragedy and loss, you've played really well. So hopefully people can see that, and there's an opportunity there in the near future for

you because it

sounds like I gotta ask one more though. Yep. Because you talk about well, two actually, got two more because I'm famous for this. Yeah. So two more, I promise.

First one is how to receive that criticism. You talked about the coach in in Germany being, you know, not pulling any punches. How do you have to make sure you absorb that as a because it could be easy to go the other way. Yeah. Right? Like to be like, hey, I just had all this success in Kazakhstan. I'm playing great.

What do mean I gotta change my glove?

Yeah. No. I mean, you have to really have an egoless approach. And the thing that we talked about that he liked and is that, you know, you have to have self belief, but you also have to be open to learning. Cause you get a lot of goaltenders that are one or the other.

They don't believe in themselves or they think they're great but they don't want to change.

You want to combine the two.

you have to really have an egoless approach. And the thing that we talked about that he liked and is that, you know, you have to have self belief, but you also have to be open to learning. Cause you get a lot of goaltenders that are one or the other.

You want to combine the two and you know, was the main thing that we had talked about And, yeah, so it was just kind of having that, you know, thick skin, but also to like in terms of a career standpoint, like you have to be prepared to get told no. You know, like, think growing up in minor hockey, was cut from over 20 teams. I've been released from a lot of teams in pro and you really have to have that, you know, confidence in yourself and belief that, hey, I can do this and you know, people are going to say no and I'm going to use it as a learning experience and you know, I'm not sure how familiar goaltenders are with you know, football but you look at the Kurt Warner story.

Right.

Know, that's a guy that you know, he didn't make it in the NFL till his later twenties and just worked and he didn't even have a job. Was working at a supermarket and then five years later he super bowl MVP. So I think that you got to have the right mindset, you got to believe in yourself, but at the same time you have to know that, Hey, there's things I need to improve on. And, like I know for me this summer, like I've never worked harder. Like I'm in the gym twice a day, five days a week.

Like, I think you get to a certain point as you know, a goalie where you get to a certain age and you decide, do I really want this or not? And for me, I've never been clear that I really want this.

So So last one then, because you talk about being open to change. Yep. Do you have to be careful? Because sometimes we can chase change a little bit. You know what I mean?

Like like being open to it, but like we talked about foundation before, like knowing there are some things that you don't wanna change too much.

For sure.

How do you find that balance?

Yeah. You gotta have balance. You don't wanna be changing your style every year. Right. I think part of it is dependent on the league you're playing in.

I feel like it's built a really unique goaltender. I mean very few goaltenders grow up in the North American system and then get influences in you know by Russian coaches, Finnish goalie coaches, Swedish goalie coaches, know goalie coaches in Central Europe. I just feel it's very unique and I have, my own style that I've created.

Every league is going be a little bit different. I think for me because I've played so many places and I've had success in different leagues, I've had to kind of make micro adjustments. I feel like it's built a really unique goaltender. I mean very few goaltenders grow up in the North American system and then get influences in you know by Russian coaches, Finnish goalie coaches, Swedish goalie coaches, know goalie coaches in Central Europe. I just feel it's very unique and I have, my own style that I've created.

And yeah, I think it's it's been really good, but you don't want to change too much and you want to have that foundation. And for me like my foundation right now is like I trust my size, I trust my skating, if I can be on angle, to the shot I feel like I have a really good chance to make the save and puck placement where do I want the rebounds to go and try to make it as easy as possible. And also too, like, one of the big things in Finland that we we got into and when you're feeling really good about your game, you can do it is what kind of game plan do we wanna play? Like, we would have some games where we'd be playing a team on a second end of a back to back and we'd say, hey. We don't wanna take whistles today.

We're just gonna keep the play going. So you're trying to get the pucks in the corner, a lot of pat short side pad saves. You know, if you block it, you're trying to block it to your d and just keep the play going. And there's other games where your team's a bit tired and you need more whistles so

you Just freeze everything.

Yeah. And especially in Europe, like, some of the rinks are the atmosphere is crazy. Like, it's like a Stanley Cup playoff game and you're going into a building with 12,000 people sold out and you're like, okay. We need to calm things down here.

And they're right on top of you,

it feels like.

What your what's your best experience overseas? Best

fan best fans have been in Germany.

Yeah.

Yeah. That those have been the best fans. I loved my time in Rosenheim. I wish there was an opportunity to stay there. I know their situation was they had their guy and Yeah.

I don't blame them. He's a great goalie. Loved my time in Rosenheim. Finland's really good. It's it's really professional if that makes sense.

Like, in the league

of games, it's kind of feels a bit like an NHL atmosphere except you have the one zone that's like the the crazy crazy diehard fans. But I think like Sweden I wasn't there long enough to really get a feel for it.

Yeah.

Czech was good like the fans in Ceske Budejovice I mean that's a historic team that's spent years in the top league and they're trying to fight back to get up there so they had great fans too and yeah. I've like, I I mean, really, I've been fortunate to play for a lot of great clubs and a lot

of see a lot of the world too. Yeah. Like, do you look at this? Like, as much as you're focused on continuing to build and and and continuing to take steps as a goaltender? Do you do you take time to get to know a city to to to appreciate some of the culture you've been?

You try to appreciate it. I mean, it feels like you are in such a sprint and you're just kind of looking at, okay, what am I doing right now and what's ahead? And you know, what can I learn from the past? But you do have to enjoy it because it goes by quick. And like, for me, I'm just like, it's crazy.

It was ten years since I played for the Vancouver Giants. My first year in the Western hockey league, it feels like it was three years ago.

So

time goes by so fast and you have to really appreciate it. And I think every NHL goalie that I've talked to, they've said, hey, appreciate your career because before you know it, you're 35 or 40 and you're like, what's happened? So I mean, you don't think about that when you're younger, but it does go quick and yeah, I mean, like I said, I've been really fortunate to have good influences and, know, good support system and people who push me in the right way, but also believe in what I'm doing.

Love it. Cody, thank you very much for the time today. It's great to catch up with you. Let's hope that there's just believe there's another opportunity coming for the next step and a continuation of what you built on last year. And in the meantime, I look forward to maybe getting out to a few more of these skates and I'm dizzy just watching those guys out there, but you guys are hanging in nicely.

Yeah. Awesome, Kevin. I really appreciate it, and I've got a I'm a big fan of what you guys are doing.

Appreciate it.

Really like the website, and it's it's the best best site for goalies that wanna learn stuff. And, yeah, you and Hutch are doing a great job.

Thanks, buddy. K. We'll talk soon.

Outro

Take me back. When Cody talked about getting over top of the puck and and tunnel vision. Can you just break that down a little bit more?

I wish I was recording video. We were talking in person, so it wasn't like a Zoom where where you've got you've got a like, getting over the puck, sort of having your chest over the puck and not pulling back off of it, I think is fairly common. I'd almost wanna check-in with him again. I don't wanna put words in his mouth in terms of what he what he means by tunnel vision. But we've talked about things like whether it's box control or head trajectory, the idea of sort of having central vision, binocular vision might be something that a phrase that people use in terms of sort of middle of the socket straight on the puck, straight lines at it, as opposed to relying on peripherals or having your head up and allowing your chest up, your shoulders back, and your head up on a shot that's gonna end up underneath your vision.

So I think it's just having your head on the puck is what he's talking about there. And, again, tunnel vision is clearly a phrase that was used with him that has resonated. And I think there's a lesson here without having to define it for everyone. We've talked about this before. Quite often, you'll see the late bloomer stuff or or goalies take longer to develop.

So many times with other goalies, I've seen it be a concept that isn't necessarily new, but is delivered with different language or in a different lesson, or maybe they're at a place in their career where they hear it differently, and it really resonates and clicks and helps them find something in their game. So I'm not saying that's that's what this is with Cody, but it's just a it's a reminder that different phrasing. It's a reminder that we need to build out the the goalie dictionary as well to sort of make sure that every under everybody understands what they mean by these things. And I don't wanna put words in his mouth in terms of trying to define it for everybody, but that's how I

I was trying to imagine, are you sticking your neck forward and your head forward? I got that that's sort of what I had in my mind, but I know that's obviously not what it is, but but tilting

yeah.

Is giving us hand tilt, so that's the and I'm trying to interpret, am I supposed to like, is it hit and run on, or am I am I supposed to steal second? What am I supposed to do here?

No. You're just taking.

I'm good at that.

I take interestingly enough, I mean, I have the baseball background. It's it's funny how many shots in hockey as a goalie I take on. I'm probably not supposed to be doing that.

Oh, just let that one go by. We're doing some some cross ice two on two in the last few days at the skate with some of the some of the guys in town, Keir Schmidt is is here. And he's so great, so big, and it's it's such a privilege to be able to watch him up close. And we're we're bemoaning the fact how difficult it is because it's so fast paced and what you do when they get in so tight because you can have a breakaway, but it's like a five foot breakaway kinda thing. And and I said, I'm I'm so leery about getting beat up high that that I'm holding my glove up, and then inevitably it goes down low.

He's like, no. No. Hold your glove lower, but stick it up farther in front of you. And because everything's in so tight that you don't have to hold your glove up up high like we normally do on our shot. Just get that thing out farther like a just a telescope out.

Wow. Isn't that fun stuff that I just never in in the heat of the battle, I don't think of.

Projection. Aerial angle is the goalie term. Yeah. Or projection. Two things.

Yep. What Say dictionary.

Taking away taking away the aerial angle, the angle to the top of the net.

Aerial angle. I'm gonna buy a t shirt with that on it. Right after right after Woody gets done walking through his waterfall. Gotta find out whether I need two or three of them.

I'm with I'm out here chasing different aerials, probably from the one from the Mermaid.

How was the waterfall? Like, did you walk underneath it?

Not the one we went. There there are on the big island here in the Hilo area where yes. I'm I'm here dropping off my daughter at school. There are literally, like, a dozen different ones you can go to. The one we went to yesterday was, I believe, Akaki Falls.

I'm probably saying that wrong. I probably butchered it, but it was it's 422 feet, and you're seeing it sort of from midpoint and high. You're not you're not underneath that one.

Wow. I think of Shannon Falls in the Lower Mainland going up to Whistler, and that that is beautiful. Not walking underneath that thing, but but good for you to be able to experience something like that in what is a stressful time. You guys both have kids going off to their respective journeys. Mattie heading off to the Western Hockey League again and and Woody with your daughter starting her journey in college and playing some volleyball.

So I send you all the strength that I have.

I I this is the this is the biggest sacrifice I'm making. I mean, clearly, I am this is the sports parent sacrifice.

No. Well

Going to Hawaii to drop your kid off. It's so hard, Daren.

It's hard. Like, as as a parent, like, you gotta go home and it's like,

Oh, it'll be hard it'll be hard trust me, it'll be hard when we leave. I'm pretty much as I've joked with my wife, I'm here basically just to make sure she actually comes.

Yeah. Steph's a mama bear, so I I wouldn't

You're not there yet. You can't you can't be that far off though, Daren.

Yeah. We're we're we're a ways. I'm gonna I'm gonna learn through you guys. Let's just say I'm taking notes. I'm I'm We're the how not to's.

No. No. No. Like, how to handle it. You guys are great great parents, great dads, great mentors for your kids, and and I mean that sincerely.

I hope everybody enjoyed it, today's episode, Cody Porter. Check him out. Follow him throughout his quest to to get to that next level as he as he works his way along. And love what's going on over at the hockey shop. Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com.

We'll talk to you next week as we get closer to the start of the season.