InGoal Parents: Your Best Season as a Goalie Parent – Part 1

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.