InGoal Radio Episode 337 Matt Tomkins and Connor Ungar

Intro

Dad's with us. David Hutchison, as always, overseeing the maturity levels of Kevin Woodley and Daren Millard on InGoal Radio, the podcast presented by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com. See, I've I've already disappointed him, Woody. He dad's already shaking his head with the way I introduced him.

I'm just thinking my family wouldn't agree with you about a maturity level here. Most people in this house say I'm 50 going on twelve.

So Well, it's all relative.

Okay. So you guys are going on ten.

Well, thank you for that compliment. Appreciate that.

I did shave off the gray beard, so I'm feeling very good right now.

Just just the beard. You can just say that.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Everybody knows

the implied. Yeah. Okay. We got a goalie fight to to talk about. And you know the best part about Nedeljkovic and Bobrovsky squaring off in a great tilt was they stayed in the game.

You never see that.

Do you know why?

Because they didn't get game misconducts. They weren't the second fight.

Because they were the only fight.

Yeah. Yeah. They they they shut down the scrum. When they started fighting, everybody stopped to just watch the goalies.

And and nobody saw it coming. Otherwise, they would have stopped. Like, that's the question. Did the officials just not see Bob just use that stealth speed to get in there before any official could break it up, or was it because they started before they chucked their helmets off? Like, because we've seen attempts at goalie fights of late.

They've never been able to get started. The officials have always gotten in the way. So did Bob just start it so quickly they couldn't, or is it because they didn't throw their helmets off and, you know, they were going before they there was no sort of stage, like, warm up act where everybody takes their gear off. Right? Because you can't take your your helmet off if you're a fighter anymore in the NHL.

You have to start with your with your lid on.

This week's, pro tip brought by Kevin Woodley, how to successfully start a goalie fight sponsored by The Goalie Fight People.

I don't know.

Yeah. I was who would sponsor a goalie fight?

UFC?

Yeah. That's good. Yeah.

It was good. Everybody loved it. I I made the joke in private circles. I'll share it here because it's just the reality. Bob got tired of fighting the puck, so he decided to go after somebody else. And we're just kidding.

And we're just kidding.

Two times Stanley Cup winner, like, one of the best up. But this it is interesting to me that and probably because of the Olympics, like, the spotlight that Jordan Binnington is in right now for, obviously, a season that is nowhere near the expectations for him based on his career. The numbers I have, Bob is basically having an identical season in an identical environment, and I'm not sure I've heard a whole bunch about it. So but that's one way to get yourself in the spotlight. Start a goalie fight.

If you ask goalies, would they rather have a goal or a scrap? The goal means, I think, a lot to the individual, but you get more notoriety out of a scrap.

That's that's a good call. We might have to put that one out there. I'm not sure not sure I can get a column out of that one, but that's that's

a What would you rather have? Oh. Even the guys that get beat up or lose the goalie fights still gain all this attention out of it. The goalie goals are fun, but they kinda just fade away.

Well well, speaking of goalie goals, did, Alex Nedeljkovic not just join the career Gordie Howe hat trick club?

One of five. It's it's the Ron Hextall hat trick.

Okay. So now I now now you got trivia question there. One of five, Daren. We need to know the other other four.

I can do

Chris Osgood? Yep. Ron Hextall?

Billy Smith?

He must have been in a fight. Probably Must have been. Probably with a player.

I don't know whether Billy Smith's in there.

No. Billy Smith is in there.

He is there? Okay. May it'd be logical. We'll we'll we'll we'll have the answer throughout the episode because we'll be able to look it up. One of us will look it up. And Goal Talk

To Hockey

came to me. It just came.

Doesn't like, okay. More notoriety out of the fight, but, like, history. Like, I remember being in the barn when Ullmark scored his goal and walking into the room after and being and and having all the numbers right after, like like because I had to write instantly and having all the numbers and being like, hey, man. Like, you're just the what does it mean to be like the I can't remember the time. It was like the eighth goalie in NHL history to shoot a puck into the net.

And there's been more since then, but they actually shoot a puck into the net. Like, it is such a small list. I've gotta think it's a smaller list than goalie fights.

Who are the five guys that have a Ron Hextall hat trick?

How about Mike Smith?

That's a good one.

That's right.

That slipped through my memory.

Which is also Bandwidth. If I'm not mistaken, Mike Smith was the last goalie fight prior to Bob and Ned. It was Smith and Talbot. That was the pre that's how long it had been. So now we're actually maybe maybe that we are in the midst, Daren, of a shifting paradigm.

As goalies as teams pull the other goalie earlier and more often, and goalies are shooting pucks in the nets once a season at least for the past couple, but we're seeing four or five years in between goalie fights. Maybe the goalie fight's gonna become more rare, it will become more

It absolutely is.

So it it is gonna become the bigger deal. Now I gotta ask all the goalies. It's for it's on my list today. I'm gonna go into the I'm going into the room, and I'm asking what would you rather have? A goalie goal or a goalie fight?

See, I'm the idea guy.

I appreciate it,

Daren.

I can't follow through on any of it, but I have a ton of ideas coming towards you. And you I never thought of the concept of why they had their masks on when they started the fight, but that makes sense now.

Yeah. Because they're like like, to me

Because you can't take your mask off.

Can't take your helmet off the fight.

Both guys, they're in circles. They were like, take off your mask, you guys.

Yeah. But and that's the thing. But if if you square up and take your mask off, that's the that if you look at other attempts at goalie fights of late, as guys square up rather than like Bob just come charging in, when guys square up and take their mask off, as soon as the mask comes off, the referees break it up. And I think that might be why this one in addition to I I don't know, but I think that might be why this one was allowed to start in addition to the fact that Bob just got there before anybody realized what was going on because he's so damn fast.

I thought of both at times, both guys were doing their impression of the 400 individual medley. A lot of flailing. We had the we had the freestyle. We had the butterfly. Like, there there was not a lot of form in that fight.

No. There was there were moments where it was like watching basketball players fight for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. A little bit. But there were also like

there were also some other moments there. Like, I thought Ned had some good form on a couple of those rights. So I'll say this. I wouldn't wanna do it.

Did you see Bob went to the room? He thought he was tossed out, and he came back into the game to a standing ovation. The the camera down the hall watching him walk back out. It was like a championship fight with the with the favorite the the three time champion coming into the ring.

Maybe this is maybe this maybe this is the spark. It's Yes. Turns the Panthers.

Oh, you're not the first person to mention that.

Yeah. No. Yeah. 100%. Somebody sent me a picture of him, the infamous picture of him from the Stanley Cup playoffs where he's just in his knee pads.

And and, obviously, Bob is a pretty he's a pretty thin guy these days. Probably as strong as they come with all his workout regimen, but he's not the biggest. Somebody just sent me that picture of Bob looking like very waif like and with the hashtag attached to it, bully.

Other goaltending news, James Reimer joins the Ottawa Senators and is victorious. Is that the spark?

One zero one one. Right? Like, gets a win last night. I think it was a shootout loss in his first one or an overtime overtime loss in his first one. So, might be, to be honest with you, they needed it.

I was a little may have sent the odd note, Daren, saying, what are you waiting for? Sign this guy. And then once they sign him, what are you waiting for? Play this guy. If you're waiting for James Reimer to look good in practice, it would be the equivalent of of waiting for Connor Ingram to turn things around in the American Hockey League before calling him up.

Like, if you're going on form in the American League, if you're going on form in practice for a goalie with that much experience, that that type of veteran savvy, like, just put them in the game. They finally did, and James has been good for them. Only one goal last night in the win against and just nice to see. Right? He went over.

My understanding is he went to the Spengler, and I know he went early and played some pro games over there before the Spengler, got into a couple. And the whole idea was or into a couple practices. Like, he was working with a pro team. He was skating Kelowna.

I didn't know that.

The whole idea was this is it. Give it a shot second half of the season, and I'm glad he got an opportunity in Ottawa. I'm a big Leevi Merilu00e4inen fan. When I did my polling of, you know, sort of top goalie directors and scouts around the league this summer, he he clocked in as a top 10 guy. He had a lot of success last year.

They're a good defensive team. Travis Green has them playing good defense. Quite often when I do my radio hits around and people wanna single out goalies and and it's really easy to look at the environment and say, goalie goalie doesn't exist in a vacuum. This isn't on the goalies, but this one kinda has been in Ottawa. They're a good defensive team.

They weren't getting enough saves. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is a great talent that was asked to do a lot this year, more than he had to do last year in a support role, and just looks like a kid that needs a reset in the American League. So James gives him the opportunity to do that. We all wish the best for Linus Ullmark in terms of whenever he's comfortable and ready to come back and play, then they're gonna have a really nicely established veteran duo.

Reimer is being asked to do a similar job as Tristan Jarry in Edmonton. Go in there and settle things down and, provide some stability and did a pretty good job of that too. Even in in a loss last night, Hutch was was giddy over the butterstack.

Wow. I mean, I gotta be honest. I just saw it on social media, but, butterstack, as we've said before, credited to our own Paul Campbell for inventing that term. The slide in a butterfly into the pad stack, and this one full roll onto his back. Just just beautiful.

I think if if we ever do create that goalie dictionary, that save will be there for butter stack.

Although That is on my list of summer, tasks, by the way, is to start the goalie dictionary.

Butterstack. Butterstack. So now if anybody wonders in the Hutch household why dad's hands are constantly stuck to his phone, it's because he saw the butterstack on Instagram and poured syrup all over it. Oh, love us a butter stack. Love us a good butter stack.

It's interesting, though, Andersen, like, comes back from injury, had his first shutout here in Vancouver. I watched it in a game where the Canucks got kinda caved in in the second period. He you know, being asked to stabilize it is interesting because when he came in, that was the ask. But as he comes back off the injury, it's stabilized. Right?

Like, they're playing better defense than they were earlier this season as a group. Obviously, Leon's absence changes the mix up front, but up to that point, they had a really you know, like, things were rolling offensively with the way they had their forwards lined up. And, again, to me, it's just like there was a team when people asked me early in the season, I would point to the defending. Like, the defending fell off a cliff. And so it's better.

All the goaltenders are better. I would argue in a way that well, Jarry was out. It was actually Connor Ingram and Calvin Pickard that helped stabilize the goaltending. Because since the trade and and Calvin's sort of gonna get stuck as the number three here by the looks of it, and that's a tough spot to be. But since the trade, on December 12 that sent Stuart Skinner to Pittsburgh, Connor Ingram's fourth in the NHL in adjusted save percentage.

Calvin Pickard's fifteenth. They're both well above expected. Tristan Jarry is now just slightly bumped up above Pickard. They're actually sort of tied for fifteenth. Like, Ingram's been really good.

They're getting great goaltending out of all their guys, and it's an environment that's still far from perfect, but a lot better than it was for the first couple months of the season. By the way, as we talk about, you know, that trade and what's happened since, I think there's a forgotten guy in that deal a little bit that we need to get a give a little bit of love to, and that is Stuart Skinner. Since that deal, he was actually up until his last start, which appears to have bumped him out of that spot. He was actually also so obviously coming off a tough one, but he was also in the top 10 in adjusted save percentage since the trade. So on the other side of that, in a rotation with Archer Loos, he's done a really good job for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

This is as quiet as the Oilers goaltending situation has been in a long time.

Except for the fact that they're now gonna roll with three, and there was a lot of noise about what they did to manage that. Because coming into, I believe, this past weekend, they were facing a decision. Ingram's 10 game counter didn't start till Jarry came back, but the one month in the NHL before he needs to clear waivers did. And so I believe they're just now through that. And so there was a decision to make.

There's no way you're sending Connor Ingram down, and yet he was the only one of the three that could go down without requiring waivers. So would you risk damaging your depth chart by sending Calvin Pickard down and potentially losing him? We've we've just talked about what was going on in Ottawa. The flyers with Dan Vladar have faced, you know, some nights where where they're not getting anywhere. It's it's been tough for them between the pipes.

Would they look at an experienced veteran and picker? So it looks like they're gonna roll with three. I'm I'm of the opinion that you can turn that into a positive, but most people just look at the math and realize it's hard to divide three goalies into two nets. They did it. They did it here.

It was first half of back to back against Vancouver. Calvin Pickard traveled with the team. Tristan Jarry started. Picker backed up. Next night in Edmonton, Connor Ingram did not travel to Vancouver.

So while the rest of the Oilers got in at three in the morning, Ingram was back home in Edmonton getting the proper rest that he could start the next day, and they win that game as well. Shutouts back to back for Jarry and Ingram. So there are things you can do with three goalies to sorta, you know, make it work for you, but I think having three goalies will inevitably mean it's not quiet for long, Daren. And guess what? The two goalies we have on the podcast today are pushing from from below in the American Hockey League.

Matt Tomkins having a good season and Connor Ingram, our other featured guest, guys rocking a nine fifty five, six and o in the American Hockey League so far. So, lots of depth depth, lots of options for the Edmonton Oilers suddenly in the crease.

I think it's worth mentioning on the three goalies don't go into two nets. Like, there's two different ways of looking that. Like, at at the National Hockey League level, especially this year with the compressed schedule and so little practicing, I think that makes a lot of sense. If you're a minor hockey family looking at a situation like that, I don't know that it's necessarily the same thing. You have many more practices.

They are longer practices. And for three kids to share two nets probably means more appropriate rest so kids can take better reps. So I don't think you look at the National Hockey League and compare it to your situation at home and necessarily apply that.

I don't think the National Hockey League should look at it that way. And I easy for me to say for

a this year is different. Right?

Yeah. I honestly like like, again, I guess when you've when you've got a bunch of guys playing and it looks like right now they're in a back and forth with Ingram. And that that may be the way they proceed. But if you've got a workhorse number one, three goalies. Like Devan Dubnyk played 56 games in a row because they had three goalies.

He'd do his work with the goalie coach. He'd get off the ice, and the other two guys would handle the all the rush drills and endless open looks that come with an NHL practice. This this year, there aren't even NHL practices. So they've got a practice sheet. They've got extra ice.

You know? Take your goalie coach off to the side and and like Montreal did a couple of years ago. There was so much attention in Montreal in having three goalies. And talking to Samuel Montembeault, he's like, there were positives. Like, we would go to the second practice sheet with, our goalie coach and just work on our stuff as an individual goalie, have one on one sessions, and then rotate in and out of the main practice rather than having one guy standing at the board.

So there are ways to mitigate it. It doesn't necessarily have to be the negative that it constantly becomes in the media.

I don't like it.

I knew you wouldn't because you got a hat on this as a 100%. There's no way you're dividing three into two.

I've got my InGoal shirt that says, I've got my goalie card.

I I thought the hat was my save percentage of late, Daren. I appreciate you celebrating it with me.

Wait. One guy the guy that's starting, and I got this from Marty Biron. Was on 100 hockey. We were chatting about the three goalie system that that that Buffalo's navigating right now.

Right.

And it's like, the guy that's starting wants his own net. The other two guys gotta switch, or you do the three goalie rotation, and nobody's really happy. And then you got the third guy who's just standing in the middle of the ice, doesn't know where to go. So the goalie coach ends up talking to him for most of the practice instead of working with the other guys. It's it's it's challenging to to make it work.

I think that's partly a culture change though. Like, we're used to feeling that way. We've trained ourselves to feel that way. But if you can start getting your head wrapped around the idea that taking four or five really good high intensity is the better way to train yourself rather than stand in the net while coaches run flow drills for half an hour and just bag yourself, then I think eventually we'll be able to teach guys that this actually makes some sense.

But part of the problem is, oh god, there's three of us who are competing. I gotta be out there begging for my reps as opposed as opposed to Dubnyk's approach. Again, culture change. I got my reps. I feel great.

I don't need to stand out here and take one timers from the hash marks for the next twenty minutes. My game's in a great spot. I did my work with my goalie coach. I'm getting off. And I played 56 straight freaking games at a time when we're and and obviously ten years ago, it wasn't to this degree where we're worried about, you know, I what did I say last week?

Right? We celebrated Glen Hall in 502 straight, and I had been talking that week on Calgary radio about them playing the wheels off Dustin Wolf at eight in a row. Because practice wears guys out.

If I if I had three goalies, I would have one guy come in halfway through practice. You don't have to be ready at the start of the practice. Come in halfway through, and you do middle of the practice to all the stuff at the end of practice.

Why?

And then the one guy, the person that's gonna back up, the number two, he takes the start of practice and does everything through the the first part. And then you you don't have that awkwardness.

Yeah. And if you're at home like, it all depends. Right? Like, some of these like, Montreal's blessed. They have two sheets.

Right? So they literally would be running goalie sessions on one sheet while the rest of the team practice. So I guess not every team has that luxury, but I'm with you, Daren. Now if you're the three and you're not playing very often or at all, that's tough. That's tough.

You're the guy that's out there at the end of the practice taking all the like, your target, right, for the end. But, and I hate to say this for the guys that have to do it, but if I've got a clear cut one or or even a clear cut one and two, I don't want them out there as a target for the final twenty minutes of practice Well, guys work on their one timers from the dot. Like, it's not doing you any good as a goaltender.

You can get sure. Maybe you can get something out of it. We always talk about making sure you find a way to get something out of the drills that aren't designed for you for sure. But, again, they're not designed for you and being out there for a whole bunch of them just because we can't have three goalies.

Interesting. So school. You used the Dubnik example. If you have a clear cut number one, you need three goalies. That that doesn't necessarily compute when when you first look at it.

Why would you need three goalies if you've if you're riding one guy, but but it does make sense.

Yeah. Because we used to they used to wear guys out that were number ones by making them take practice trips. And by the way by the way, you're all gonna have a third goalie next year. Everyone's gonna have a practice goalie. How they use them is gonna be interesting, and

we'll see

how this mindset works. But I'm watch I'm I watched Utah do it. Game day skate, third goalie was out there. I think it'll be more

impactful just to having your own e bug. Like, the you you know who's going in.

Fair.

But I think it'll be as impactful as a practice guy.

I'm watching teams use it as a practice guy, and then tell me afterwards it's helping them manage their work their what is it? Load management for their number one.

Yeah. Because next year, we go back to a normal schedule. We're we're starting earlier. I know there's two more games. So as a practice influence, I don't think it'll be harder.

I'm being very contradictory today. Yes. Really are. Challenging. That's okay. We would Why is that?

Daren. Daren got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or Let's because you started really early recording your other show too?

I I don't know. Well, maybe maybe it is coming off a conversation with Shannon.

Say it's it's it's it's Biron. He's he's old school. We have to have a chat with him. I'm texting

I love

that guy. This. He is

the best. Laugh. We had we had a great conversation about the dago bar in the Grand LA in Quebec City, one of the great nightclubs of all time.

Beyond my time.

That that's what we got into at 100% hockey. We we did the goalie fights. We did goalies. We did the sabres, and then we finished it with heading to the clubs.

Gonna have to rename the show to ninety five percent hockey.

Yeah. Good point.

Well, we hey. Honestly, we can, in honor of Connor Ungar's save percentage in our featured guest, nine fifty five. I think I said it before. Like, let's let's let's tee this up really quickly because we got our featured guest coming.

Former Weeking, by the way.

Yeah. Matt Tomkins, fantastic. We've got him for a second time on that. Like, just what a great path and what a great attitude. I love his approach.

Olympian. Connor Ungar is eleven one and four. Played on four different teams in two different leagues. His save percentage in those leagues, nine forty four, nine forty five, nine forty four, nine fifty five. So stay tuned for that feature interview, and Matt Tomkins coming

up. So that's impressive because it's multiple different environments.

Yes. And we talk about that in the interview, how like, a great one for kids who get jumped from team to team or you're going from your winter team to your spring team and, oh, everything's different. Well, how do you manage that? We ask Connor.

Mhmm. Or if you're playing multiple men's league teams, gotta make it work.

Yeah. One of those. Are you one of those?

I I used to play in a in a league in in market where I love playing the doubles. Play with my team, and then if the goalie, the next game or the game before couldn't make it, I love playing the doubles.

I did a double once where I had to have my wife waiting outside the rink with the car. I got into the car

Oh, you changed rinks?

In full gear, I got in the car, drove across the town and walked in and onto the ice at another rink.

That's awkward.

That was Sitting in the did you wear a seat belt or did you just go with the gear to protect you?

I do not remember. I probably did.

You shoulda you honestly, shoulda had a cape. That's what you should have been wearing. That's some superhero stuff right there.

You just gotta

do stuff like that for the memories. Right?

Yeah. Yeah. Is there pictures available of that?

No. I do have pictures somewhere of Woody in a car in full gear, though.

What was that about? What were we were we were headed to Angelo Maggio's three on three rank to do some recording, and somehow I ended up in the car in full gear where we were going from one to another to We were

on some crazy deadline. Who knows? But Yeah.

It was it was pretty good stuff.

I I think it was the Prius too that he folded into

I can't believe you could get in the car in the front seat. Did you sit in the back seat lying down, or is it in the front passenger seat?

Pretty far back.

It was it was I remember this. This is it

was the original Bauer Ultrasonic, wasn't it?

Odin. It was the original, like, the first generation Odin gear that we had, like like, original original, if I remember correctly. The the blue and white one. Now Now you have to now you're gonna have to find the photos. Now you're gonna

have Gonna have to actually

just double blue. But

We have we have doubles. Only time I play two games in a day now is for the Canucks Autism Network tournament, and I usually struggle to walk for the rest of the week. I don't know how anybody does two anymore.

That's I love my doubles.

Because we were a lot younger.

Most of it's ride and die, but I I love my doubles. The Manitoba Martini, never get tired of it. We get our Gear Segment coming up brought to you by the Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, the hockeyshop.com. What's happening?

Gear

Everything. That's kinda what it that's kinda what it feels

like every time I go into the Hockey Shop Source for Sports. They have the new Vaughn ION. We're gonna give you the pads and gloves today as part of our Gear Segment. And in coming weeks, we will also walk you through the new chest protector for the Vaughn ION as well as new pants that have an extra layer in the front. Basically, a built in, not full cup, but an extra cup protection layer.

I believe we call it the PP protector. At least we did here at InGoal Magazine. So that's coming up. But today, we've got Vaughn ION, which is a continuation of a building off of their SLR line. And you know what that means before we get to the Vaughn Ion.

It means that Vaughn's SLR line, which we were fans of, SLR four, and if they've got any three left, are all on sale massive discounts at the hockeyshop.com right now. And, of course, unlike Bauer and CCM gear, which is restricted in terms of shipping across the border, the Vaughn stuff can cross the line. So the discounts you get, if you're an American customer on those Vaughn SLR four, SLR three past generations, they're massive. Add 30 some odd, 35, 38. I almost cry when I hear it.

Discount based on your American dollar going further up here in Canada. So can't say for sure what happens when it crosses the border in terms of that magical t word tariffs, but you're gonna save some big bucks on the Vaughn previous generation SLR line at the Hockey Shop Source for Sports. Call them if you've got questions or the hockeyshop.com.

Hutch, what do you say about this, Vaughn line?

Gotcha. My eye on Vaughn.

Yeah. There you go. Pads and gloves coming up in our Gear Segment on InGoal Radio, the podcast.

Christmas is over, but not at the Hockey Shop, not for Santa Cam because this is Santa Cam. New gear. New gear in January from Vaughn, and it's something you're gonna wanna keep an eye on. We're gonna ionize this review here pretty quick. Don't even know if to the OG of dad jokes, David Hutchison behind the camera for bringing us the ION.

This is the Vaughn ION. You've seen it in the National Hockey League used by one Calvin Pickard. Ion Select. Ion okay. So Pro Select, actually.

Uh-oh. Oh.

See? See? So there's a lot we don't know about this gear. I'm gonna get Cam to fill us in. All I've all I know is I've seen Calvin Pickard wearing it. Yes. So tell me what is new, what is different.

You can check it out at the Vaughn website. This is available now. They've got it in store at the Hockey Shop Source for Sports. You can custom order it. It's ready to go early in 2026.

So walk me

through it. Okay. Let's start with the pads. Yeah. Okay.

Rigid, rigid construction. Even I would say more so over the previous year's Ventus. Soft boots. Boots. Soft boot.

It's rigid from the Buddha. Yeah. We are quite a bit stiffer. I would go as far as saying this is the stiffest Vaughn pad stock off the wall to date. Well, that stiffness transfers, I noticed it right out of the box too, this is one of their callouts.

They've integrated the knee stack into the face of the pad, so the stiffness continues with, you know, a little or a lot more sort of tie in between the face and the knee. What's that s word we're looking for? Stability. Wow. Yeah.

Wow. That was neat. Look

at us. Look at us.

But yes, quite a bit more stable. Less of that over rotation of the pad, less of that rocker as you're, like, dropping down into the butterfly. Gets you into the ice faster Snap. As Down. What's the other s word we're looking for?

[crosstalk] Slidability. Slidability. What's that material called? Quick Slide. Quick Slide.

[crosstalk] Yeah. Can you even make the sound? It makes on ice. Yeah. It's kinda like a if you're a Brian's guy, it's very similar to Primo.

[crosstalk] I've yet to see if you're explain to me the difference, but it's it slides real good. Yes. Yes. So that maintains we again, we see that return. We have a definite design that's working here.

NHL legal lace as well. Nice little bit of a call out In terms of its contact point too, this is almost like a bit beveled in terms of the Yeah. Noticed that was rounded. Yeah. So less surface area contacting the ice, but still allowing it to give that good seal.

So again, helping to improve that slide a bit more.

Pretty firm. Firm. Yes.

Exactly. So again, stability, slidability. We all got it there. What else? Strapping.

Strapping. Let's see the strapping.

Open it up, Cam. Open it up.

The return of RRC. RRRC strapping from Vaughn. Adjustable, easy to get that nice wraparound. You get the ability to move the strap around a little bit. I can now mount these straps here on the inside if you want a really super tight fit to the pad itself.

Again, that agility to customize the pad even after That's it's arrived as correct. That's nice. It's a nice easy adjustable. It's very deep leg channel. It gets really connected to this pad.

A 100%.

It being a rigid pad. Correct. I like that adjustability. So what I would say The her her feet pad.

I'm doing

Reedy. Reedy.

So no mystery about these pads because we've obviously let the cat out of the bag here. We're okay. Really flat boot. Very flat boot construction, so that still continues with the Vaughn sizing that we know and love now. So same VX1.

[crosstalk] ION, we're going have a similar sizing. It's going fit a little taller than older. That's correct. That's why you do see thirty one inches as a stock senior sizing now as well. Wow.

Yeah. Thirty one point two, thirty two point two up from there. Stiff pad, I would say your more flexible guys are going to benefit a little bit more from something like this to be able to really get that flare out to that pad. If have a very, very narrow butterfly, you are going to experience a little bit more of that, I would say, openness. Can you custom order it with more breaks above the thigh rise to help close that?

So with Vaughn being a custom company, yes, you can help. So if you need a little bit more flexibility up to the top, that is a possibility. But again, I wouldn't try to mess with a pad that's designed to be stiff too, too much by trying to make it softer. So again, those are kind of what we're kind of specifically looking for in terms of that fit. They thinned out by their standards, the top edge?

Yes. Little bit thinner in terms of its overall profile. I would still say one of the thicker ones up top versus

to some other, but that's that's where they get a lot of their rigidity from. Correct. Okay. Plus I do wanna ask about Pro Select and the different models, but first, let's go into the gloves. Yes.

[crosstalk] Because I've got I've got what do I have? I have the 70? You have a 70. They call it the 70. Feels like it closes much like a five eighty.

They're really comfortable that five eighty kind of style of closure. That's correct.

Have the

Pulling my fingers into the 60. Thumb, base of the thumb. In my hand. So more of that five ninety style in particular. So you get those two options.

Stock off the wall. Double tee, they've gone back from they used to have the single tee in the SLR four. They switched back to their double tee. Skate lace? Skate lace stock.

Nice wide open pocket. Shock shield in terms of for the palm padding. So this has been quite a bit better since jeez, when did they come up with it? I think it was like B10, I think it was. Just a better way for that impact padding.

This is still a game ready glove, but still feels quite thick on the hand. Good overall protection right off the bat. Strapping on the back. Very traditional esque, very Vaughn esque. Not too big of, like, changes to be expected here.

[crosstalk] Again, something that's It works. Breathable. It works. Not too much more to say about that. Four fingers with a pinky loop to separate those two.

[crosstalk] Correct. You've got some adjustability on the top in terms of being able to tighten it and loosen it and really crank it down over the fingers if you want that to prevent slip out and the same adjustability over the

back of the hand to be able to lock it in. It's a it's a this one in particular is a really just right out of the box.

Both of these are right

out the Literally, we just took

them out of the box. And they're they've got great closure to them right off the bat.

So It feels good on the hand as well.

Exactly. Minimal break in time probably required for these Feels like that. The break on that, like, is it feels a little thicker, like you're closing around it compared to this one? Yes. I mean, a thick print, but at least you know that there's padding there so it's not like it's something taken out to be able to get that closure.

Right? Okay.

So now

Blocker. The blocker? He's a she's a beefy boy. She you have beef? He's a beefy boy.

17 millimeters. Seven. Of HD Foam in there. Carbon layering on the front. Active rebound.

[crosstalk] Rigid blocker but you are gonna get Ica pads rebound positive I believe is the nomenclature rebound positive. In other words, it's designed with this stiffness to produce a more active rebound by a little more time to recover. Exactly. So that goes along with the blocker. To be honest, for how thick it is, it's not heavy.

It's not chunky feeling. So it's balanced on your You are gonna get a hard, hard rebound off of this guy. So I I I actually quite like the feel of this again for really being able to get that, like, rebound quality level of it. And I'm still able to get really good flexion with it too as well. So Okay.

[crosstalk] Even though it is, again, something that's a beefy blocker, you get really, really good control over it. I like that. Like, the steeper angle at the top sort of keep pucks from rolling over. Get that deflection up and out and away from that now.

Okay. So now we talked about ION Pro Select. This is

the highest end because we've Domestically made in Canada. And in The United States? Yes, but we don't get any of that product. Okay. Yes.

Only Canada only. Okay. That said, all here. All awesome. If you wanna learn more about it, give us a call.

604 Are there other are this 589-8299 or 18005677790. There will be more to come. There are subsequent lines, but that is a video for another day. Is there

a beep beep beep beep beep beep.

Cam, I had some questions about whether there were gonna be other like, is there other availabilities at lower price points coming or do you have them or what? Yes, Kevin. And that's for another video for another time later on closer to the spring.

Wonder if Ion was created because of that little play on words that you made Hutch, the ion.

I think in more like it's a real positive for your game.

Are are are ions the positive?

Well, it could be positive or negative. They're just charged.

But I just wanted to get a science science lesson from Science Hutch

If you're feeling negative, you might wanna have a positive added to your game.

You know what? You know what? What's that? That's a perfect segue because you know who wears this in the National Hockey League right now? Probably the most positive guy I've ever met, and it's a big part of the success he's had, and that's Calvin Pickard in the in the Edmonton Oilers.

We got an Edmonton Oilers team going today. He's he's in the bowling eye on gear this year.

We talked about three goalies. Like, you really do need that guy around. He's such an important part of that room.

He is. And and I don't know if you saw the Hockey Day in Canada stuff and the interviews with McDavid and his teammates about what he means to that room. Like, there's there's lessons there about making yourself indispensable as a person, as a teammate. And like I said, he's he's played some really good hockey, especially since that trade was made in mid December. And as I said before, I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I'm just gonna reiterate it because his season long numbers are not gonna look great.

In part, in large part because his environment this season up until that trade was one of the worst in the NHL. He had an eight sixty three save percentage for the first two months of the season. Nobody succeeds in an eight sixty three save percentage. Maybe Ilya Sorokin. That's about it.

From our ION to Vizual Edge, it's the ProReads with Jet Greaves. So what's happening with Vizual Edge right now?

Well, Daren, I know for you with that 100% save percentage you're wearing, every puck looks like a beach ball. For the rest of us that would like it to look like a beach ball or would even like to see it at all, is this is often the case when I play eyes shut, every goalie has that night. You know the one where the puck looks huge. You're ahead of every play. You feel calm, patient, in total control.

Okay, Daren. You know what that's like. Hutch knows what that's like. I barely know. Then there are the nights, and this relates to me, when you're a half step late.

You see it, but you don't really see it. You're reaching, you're guessing, you're fighting it. That's not your technique. That's your eyes and your brain not processing the play fast enough. Vizual Edge fixes that.

It measures how well your eyes track and process the game then gives you a custom plan that trains it. Three fifteen minute sessions a week on your laptop or tablet wherever you've got those in the time. It's what NHL goalies use to make the game slow down when it matters most. And, of course, we've got a discount. InGoal, all one word, all caps.

If you want double the discount, you should subscribe to InGoal premium. Go to any ProReads, and you will get the InGoal premium member only discount. Daren's a big members only guy.

You get

you get that double discount on Vizual Edge. So Vizual Edge is a great way to see the puck and read the game better, and that makes them the perfect sponsor for our ProReads, which is all about helping goalies read the game better by sharing insights from NHL goalies. And this week's Visual Edge ProReads is Jet Greaves of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Great breakdown on the video. I love Jet's honesty.

This starts as an even man rush at the line, and Jet's playing about half ice in his crease because it's even numbers. So I would ask the two of you, and this is a trend we're seeing around the National Hockey League right now and at high level, like we we heard I heard this from USA Hockey with their national development program, in terms of being a a new way of approaching rush chances in terms of initial depth. I heard this at their the symposium in Minnesota a couple summers ago. Unless it's an odd man. So if it's just even coming into the zone like a regular entry, where do you start in your crease?

Do you wanna take more depth?

That used to be the trend.

Yeah.

They used to talk about I think USA Hockey used to use the frame ready on red. So they were out, set, ready on angle as the puck hit center ice. But that trend is changing because the puck and Jet talks about this. Because chances are in an even man rush that puck is going wide. Why would you be so far out as the guy enters the zone on one wing that you have to double the distance you need to travel in order to get set on the other one.

So increasingly at this level, unless it's odd man, we're seeing goalies set up half ice waiting until that puck is sort of in the zone or until that first play is made and then taking a step out into that spot. So, like, that's a trend. I I don't know how you guys feel about it, but it's one I'm seeing all around the National Hockey League, mostly with success. Obviously, it's situational. They're gonna be odd man rushes where you wanna get out and have a little flow, but that's where Jet is when this puck enters the zone.

Now the mistake, and I love that Jet admits that when he makes mistakes, is two of his defenders go to the puck carrier. And all of a sudden, one of the guys in that even man rush has a massive pocket of ice to skate into. And in retrospect, he wishes he'd taken ice when he identifies that because ultimately, it becomes a one on one breakaway of an even man rush to a one on one breakaway in tight, and he gets stuck sort of deeper. So he walks us through the positives and negatives of not having recognized it sooner and getting a little ice and flow, but also there is a benefit because the guy caught the puck, you know, like a lefty coming down the left side catches a puck from his right. Is he gonna shoot or is he gonna pull it back the other way?

And so there were benefits to being a little deeper in case that guy cut back. Jet walks us through all of those things, walks us through the keys in his mind to making the save, what allows him to stay on the puck, and the things he would have done differently. And, again, that's what I like about the honesty. Like, hey. Yes.

I made this save. Here's why I made this save. If I could do it again, I might also add this element into my save. He walks us through all of it in the latest ProReads presented by Vizual Edge.

I'm gonna think about that every time that I face a rush this week.

I am not the comparison point here because I play drop in skates essentially.

It doesn't matter. It's still a rush.

Like, every time the

puck comes up the ice.

I find myself getting caught way less just waiting. Now I'm playing way deeper anyways, like two thirds crease max. But I

you wait until they come in the zone before you take ice?

And I used to be a guy because, again, I the the two games I play a week now are over my head. They're better than me. They're guys that played some minor pro or junior college. Like, they're just better than I am, and there are nights where I get torched. But since sort of coming I used to be like, oh, I gotta be

out on this guy because he could walk into the top of the circle and rip one. And there are still guys that do every once in a while. But now I'm just like, well, if I can handle that shot from two thirds depth, why am I out at the top of the crease, heels out on the edge of the crease, and having to move so much? Like, you'd I just find it's easier to keep the game in front of you and and and sort of follow that cliche we talk about a lot. Let it come to you.

Let it come to you. I just find it's easier from a more conservative initial depth.

Just have to have your mentality ready to challenge out, like, periscope out. To

an extent. Yeah. To an extent. But I also find that sometimes it's just easier to sit back there. And, you know, I mean, obviously, open looks in the middle of the ice are different, but it's it's again, it's just it's kinda shifted things for me.

And so I had another I had another guy, definitely not after my last game. Trust me. Nobody wanted to talk to me after that one. But a couple of games ago said, hey. Like, you're playing really well.

I'm like, well, yeah. I think this change is actually working. So who knows? I'm I'm a bit of a I'm a little slow between the ears and slow between the pipes. So maybe it's just helped with both.

Maybe it's a placebo, but maybe it's making those shorter routes easier. But it's a trend that I'm trying because I'm getting this feedback from guys right up to the NHL. We're seeing it. We're hearing it in interviews. And I think it's it's one that more goalies should consider.

Parent Playbook

Got a double conversation coming up in our Sense Arena feature interview. But first, Stop It Goaltending U the app presents our parent segment. Looking forward to this conversation with David Hutchison, but our friends over at Stop It Goaltending U the app have all kinds of things going on.

How old is your oldest daughter, Hutch?

21.

So when Hutch brings us his parent segment, you get twenty one years of parenting experience. When you go to the Stop It Goaltending U app, you get twenty five years of NHL goalie experience at your fingertips. That's what you tap into every time. From the same parent that helped get Joey Decord to the Seattle Kraken and the National Hockey League, that's what you get with a subscription to Stop It Goal Tending U, the app. All the knowledge from Brian Daccord, who's been an NHL goalie coach, scout, and director, as well as all the insights and expertise from his staff at Stop It, which last year celebrated twenty five years as one of the world's top goalie schools.

And it includes teachers working right up to the NCAA, all delivered in easy to digest chunks, including five short daily primers each week, weekly style analysis and breakdown videos, and drills that you can take onto the ice with your team and goalie coach. Plus, every subscription to the Stop It Goaltending U app gets a subscription included to InGoal Premium, the best of both worlds. So check it out at the App Store or Google Play Store and get Stop It Goaltending U, the app, and InGoal Magazine premium delivered to your tablet, your computer, your phone, and get better at goaltending.

Hutch.

Daren. This week, I just wanted to talk about comparisons. I've seen a few people out there talking about decisions and where their kids should play and all sorts of different things and and thought I would chip in with a few thoughts that will probably lean into another, few parent segments coming up. In a lot of minor hockey leagues, we're not far off from playoffs. Seems crazy, but a lot of leagues tend to shut down sort of February time for playoffs.

Spring hockey emails are already flooding parents' inboxes. And if you're like most goalie parents, you're watching. You're watching who's getting the playoff starts. You're watching whose stats are better, which kids are committing to which spring programs, and you're wondering, is my kid on the right path? Are we falling behind?

Here's what makes it harder than ever. The pathways to success in goaltending are being rewritten as we speak. Any CHL players, for example, can now go to the NCAA. A lot of junior a routes that used to exist to preserve kids chances of playing college that those are disappearing or at least changing, what looked like the right path two years ago might not even exist anymore. And in the middle of all this change, we're doing what parents do.

We're comparing. We are watching other families make decisions and panicking that we need to keep up. That kid's going to this elite spring program. That goalie just committed to a tier one team. That family's hiring a private coach, and and we we all think, are we missing something?

The comparison trap, I call it, has always been dangerous for goalie parents, but right now it's worse than ever because nobody actually knows what the right path is anymore. Here's the reality. When nobody knows what the destination looks like, comparing your kid's path to someone else's path is completely pointless. You're measuring yourself against a standard that is shifting beneath all of us.

Are we making a mistake? The comparison trap, I call it, has always been dangerous for goalie parents, but right now it's worse than ever because nobody actually knows what the right path is anymore. Here's the reality. When nobody knows what the destination looks like, comparing your kid's path to someone else's path is completely pointless. You're measuring yourself against a standard that is shifting beneath all of us.

The kid dominating at 13, he might burn out at 16. Your kid who's struggling right now, he might not peak until he's 17, 18, 19. The elite path one family is chasing might not even be relevant by the time these kids are draft eligible. We simply don't know. What we do know is the goalies who keep developing, they stay engaged, they don't burn out, and they will have opportunities.

Maybe it's the CHL, the USHL, college, who knows? Maybe it's a path you can't even see yet. But comparing right now at 11, 13, 15, it tells you nothing about where these kids are going to be later on. Goalies develop on completely different timelines. We know they always have Some, yeah, peak early, but then they plateau.

Some are late bloomers and maybe they figure it out later at 16, 18, 20, even later. The position is too complex. It's too mental. It's too dependent on physical development that happens at different rates. Look, I've lived this.

Our family took the road less traveled, guys, as you know. We kept our son home longer than most families who were chasing that elite dream. He had some success in the CHL. Now his path has taken a different turn than he's in the BCHL. Do I look back and wonder what if about decisions we made?

Mhmm. Absolutely. Every goalie parent does. But here's the thing. There's no way to know if we made mistakes.

The alternate timeline doesn't exist, so I can't have any regrets. What I do know is that years of family time that we wouldn't have had had we been chasing that elite path earlier, we got those. We got dinners together. We got them at home. We got to watch them grow up, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The alternate timeline doesn't exist, so I can't have any regrets. What I do know is that years of family time that we wouldn't have had had we been chasing that elite path earlier, we got those. We got dinners together. We got them at home. We got to watch them grow up, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

And I have no idea if the other path would have worked out better, so here's where we are. For everybody else, when those spring hockey decisions come at you and they're coming, remember this. You can't make good decisions when you're stuck in the comparison trap. You can't see what your goalie needs when you're too busy watching what everybody else is doing. Just do what's right for your family.

Make sure your kid's having fun. Make sure he's developing. The rest will follow. Next week, we're gonna talk specifically about navigating spring hockey in this, crazy landscape. But for now, take a breath.

Your goalie's path is their own, and that's exactly how it should be. As always, we'd love to hear from you. What comparisons are you wrestling with? What'd you think about my thoughts today? Maybe you have a different opinion.

Email us podcast at InGoalmag dot com.

Remember the movie sliding doors?

Mhmm.

Like, that's that is down the path of what would have happened if one of one of the great movies that make you think about every decision that you make, big decisions that that you make.

I often think about some crazy decisions, in the past that got me to where I am or got other people to where they are and had that one little decision not been made. There'd be massive changes in life and it's a crazy one. But at one point I was coaching this girl who, she got a full scholarship, down to the US as a rower, I was, I was a rowing coach and we had a conversation about it and the only reason she ever took up rowing is because she happened to move in, beneath a rower and she kept seeing the Rowing Canada magazines showing up on the sort of the front step. But the only reason the person above them even got into rowing was because another guy volunteered to tape ankles for a basketball team and recruited them all down to the rowing club.

So it's like had this guy not volunteered to tape ankles, she doesn't get a full ride down to The States as as an NCAA athlete. Like there's lots of those stories if you think back to your life, small decisions. The reality is if you're happy where you are today, you can't really have any regrets because you don't know what got you there.

Those dominoes. Similar thing happening with the Edmonton Oilers goaltending situation from the NHL into the American Hockey League and the ECHL. Domino's falling and, taking advantage of that, opportunity. Part of our Sense Arena feature interviews, this week, brought to you by Sense Arena.

Yes. We are thrilled that NHL Sense Arena supports all of our feature interviews. And, as you know, guys, getting enough quality reps, especially Daren would say in the three goalie system, is one of the biggest challenges for developing goalies. Ice time is expensive, schedules are packed and sometimes you just need more practice than you can get at the rink. I suppose if Daren had two goalie partners, he'd be standing on the bench with his NHL Sense Arena headset on just trying to get those extra reps in.

So NHL Sense Arena comes in in those situations where you can't get the reps that you want to get. It's VR hockey training, virtual reality designed specifically for goalies. Yeah. There's a player version. They they went down that road too, but it all started with the goalies as we know it does.

You get to work on your angles. You get to work on your box control. You can practice reading shot releases. You can learn to track pucks through traffic. The skills that lead to more saves all from home.

The goalie advancement program, of course, includes guided courses that break down positioning and anticipation into focused lessons. You can do pregame mental warm ups to get sharp before you step on the ice, and you get unlimited reps wherever your schedule allows. And right now they're offering 50% off their annual plans. That's just $29 a month and you can save even more at checkout with the code IGM 50. So as always, head over to sensearena.com to learn more and get started.

Did you see Joey Daccord demonstrating NHL Sense Arena on the NHL network a couple weeks ago? It was awesome. Just walked walked everyone through. Like, we know it. We've talked about it, to but see the rest of the world sort of get this glimpse that here's this NHL guy using this on game days as a tool, I thought was pretty cool.

So good job by him. Good job by the NHL network, guys. I loved it.

Feature Interview - Connor Ungar

Subtle jabs or not so subtle. I'm going to bypass them, the references, during your introduction there. But, we have conversations with Connor Ungar and Matt Tomkins, this week. You wanna start with Connor?

Yes. Well, speaking of different paths, both of these guys took different steps. Matt Tomkins, who we'll get to in a minute, goes overseas and plays a couple seasons in Sweden after starting his career in the American Hockey League. Comes back, plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2324, and is now a big part of the Edmonton Oilers pecking order in goaltending and and a guy who looks like he's ready to be back in the NHL. Connor Ungar, who we'll start with, he went to Brock University, and we'll get into that.

Stop me if you've heard that before. Some guy named Logan Thompson. I guess it's not the first time he's been asked about it. But both of these guys took different steps on the way and as part of their path in pro hockey. They didn't follow the traditional ones.

And they're both, like I said, on their way to being or have played in the National Hockey League already. So let's start with Unger because I've said it before. It's the shorter of the two interviews. What he's done this year, playing for four different teams because the Oilers don't have a dedicated ECHL affiliate. He has played for the Fort Wayne Komets two games, the Greensboro Gamblers for four games and the Orlando Solar Bears for five before getting the call up to Bakersfield of the American Hockey League where, oh, by the way, he's six and o with a nine fifty five save percentage.

Across those four teams in two leagues, eleven one and four, Same percentage at each stop. I mentioned it once already. Nine forty four, nine forty five, nine forty four, nine fifty five. Not bad at all. Had a shout out shortly after we taped this conversation.

Let's just catch up with Connor Ungar on a crazy year and how he's managed to succeed amidst all these changes in different teams and teammates.

First time talking to Connor Ungar. Real excited to meet him. Second year pro Out of Brock into pro, which is a path we've seen before. You've been all over the place this year. I'm looking for advice for kids, changing places, fitting in on a new team in short order, something you've had to do this year.

[crosstalk] Any thoughts on that? Yeah. Like, I think as far as fitting into new teams, I think it's just about being, you know, being a great just being a great teammate. Like, you know, you gotta go in there. You can't be you know, whatever your situation is, you can't really go into a new spot and, you know, be bitter or sour because, you know, that'll rub rub off on the guys.

So I think, you know, it's important to just be upbeat and happy and excited to be wherever you are in in whatever situation you are. So I think as far as bouncing around, moving team to team where you might not know guys, I think that's the that's the biggest key, I think. What's the toughest part? Do you get

different and especially in the in the ECHL, do you get different voices from a coaching perspective, new systems, New teammates? Do you like like, I know does does Sal come down and help a little bit and sort of provide that voice from Edmonton, or are you kinda on your own at that level sometimes?

No. They definitely help out, but I think, you know, I think you gotta use all the different information as a positive. Like, it's just, you know, growing your toolbox and soaking up being a sponge and soaking up information from everywhere. And, like, whether you like it or don't like it, you know, you maybe don't have to you could try it and and not you use it, but it's important to, I think, just be a sponge and and soak it all up. So I think I've used the whole situation to a positive, And and, you know, I think it's it's helped me in a sense kinda, you know, gain some different perspectives and just finding what works, what doesn't work for me, and and kinda using that moving forward.

Tools in

the toolbox is something we're all about. Right? Like, sort of share it and let everyone pick what they wanna. That process, though, sometimes can be difficult. Like, you said, try it.

How do you figure out what's for you and what's not?

Yeah. I think it obviously starts in practice. Like, you try different different things coaches might tell you in practice, and, you know, you give it an the honest college try. And, you know, if it doesn't work for you, then, you know, maybe you don't implement it. But, you know, me personally, I've never had had any trouble just trying stuff, you know, whether it's equipment, whether it's a certain style on the ice or or anything like that.

I've always been open to to trying it, and I think that's been beneficial for me throughout my career.

How how has your game evolved over the past couple seasons even back to Brock coming out of out of Moose Jaw? What kind of things have you changed? What kind of things are you focused on? What are maybe an example of

I've learned to not be so puck focused if, you know, maybe this puck's in a lower lower less dangerous scoring area. Right? Like, don't be so puck focused on that because it's probably going seam, and sometimes it might go seam again.

a tool that you've added to the toolbox? I think probably the biggest tool is is, you know, playing with a little bit more flow and more more rhythm to my game in a sense. Like, the game just gets so much faster as you move from, you know, school to to East Coast to the American League. It just it plays especially off the rush and end zone happens so fast. Like, you know, I've I've learned to not be so puck focused if, you know, maybe this puck's in a lower lower less dangerous scoring area.

Right? Like, don't be so puck focused on that because it's probably going seam, and sometimes it might go seam again. So Yeah. Just being you know, playing with some more flow, maybe, you know, maybe more relaxed in a sense, but that's maybe not the right word because I'm obviously dialed in on the puck, but maybe playing a more relaxed stance, you know, not being so set, stick on the ice, feet wide, like narrow feet, not super set because it's it's probably changing sides and just I think that's if I had to pick one thing, that's kinda the biggest thing that I've kinda tried to grow over over the last few years.

A little more relaxed, let it come kinda thing in zone?

Yeah. Exactly. Like, you know, off the rush, the guy's coming in down the wing, and he's basically on the board. So why would I be set wide feet, stick on the ice in that situation when there's guys driving middle, back post? Like, maybe I'm more relaxed on the puck because I know it's probably coming to the middle or heading to the weak side.

So it gives you you know, I can get over there quicker. I could probably get over there on my feet instead of sliding if I'm not super wide. So just just stuff like that, kinda reading the game and just playing with more flow, have some drift to it, especially if it's coming off the rush.

In zone two, it sounded like maybe a little, like, a little bit of Yeah. Not that you're gonna be moving a ton in there, but a little bit of flow to your game even in zone. We've seen this. Like, Boston recoil, I think they call it drifter in LA, like, coaches starting to put that back into guys' games even in zone.

Especially with, you know, a lot of the o zones these days. There's a ton of movement d diving down, wink with the center coming high for three high and then attacking downhill. Like, teams will, you know, get it up to the point, change size, and then almost attack downhill. Sounds like a rush. Off the rush.

Right? So, yeah, absolutely in zone and just just reading situations, I think, has has grown a lot for me, and I think it's something I wanna continue to keep doing. With those reads and with sort of getting comfortable as the environments change at different levels, does patients come with it?

I I mean, I'm only watching practice today, but your patience off the release in some drills where guys were walking into prime areas sort of stood out. Is that is that am I right in sort of saying that's a has it always been a strength of your game, something you're focusing on?

Yeah. No. I that's a that's a great question. I don't think it's always been a strength of my game, but something that's definitely grown this year because just with moving up levels and changing spot changing places, like, guys, you know, the player's looking for you to make the first move. Right?

And if you kinda you know, you're like, oh, I think he's going glove. Like, I'm shifting a little bit, leaning a little glove, and then he's gonna beat you. Right? You have to just trust your instincts, trust your reads, and just snap on the release of the release of the shot and just really bear down on maybe a little extra focus, really paying attention to that blade, like, take little cues if he opens opens it a bit, closes a bit. Like, it just comes down to those fine details.

Right? So I think that's something that's definitely grown in my game this year. Sounds like a lot

of reads. Like, a lot of reads. Is that can that only be experience, or do do you use other tools to sort of work on it? Can you can you use video to become a better reader of the game?

Yeah. 100%. I think that's something that I've been been pretty good at. So that hasn't been something that's needed to grow much this year is, you know, my, you know, watching video or, you know, the tactical skills. I feel like I've always had those, so I think the on ice reads have kinda been and what we just talked about have been the biggest things I've grown this year, but but, obviously, video is huge, like picking up tendencies that certain teams do with stuff, especially on the video is huge for me on, you know, in pre scouting a a power play for the other team.

Right? Like, what are their tendencies? You kinda have to know that because, again, it does happen so fast, and and you need to have a little bit of, you know, what are the what are their tendencies in your back of your head. Right? Or you might be able to loss. So

Like them for shootouts too, or would you rather not know? Everybody's different on this one, I find.

You know, that's that's a good question. I think I I I like it's not gonna mess me up if, like, you know, a coach comes to me and says, hey. Like, these guys in a shootout, this is what they like to do. Like, that's not gonna, you know, mess with me. I'm still gonna be patient and read the situation when I'm out there.

But but, yeah, I'm I'm indifferent about that. Like, I'll who's it with the flames? Kirk Kirkland's going low glove every time. Like, that's something you'd maybe like to know. Like, if he's doing if a guy is scoring two, three times in a row, like, the same way Got a move.

You'd maybe like to know that. But yeah. No. Shootouts are fine. Just go out there and battle and try and make the saves.

Right?

How many times have you been asked about as you work your way up towards the National Hockey League and keep playing?

[crosstalk] How many times have you been asked the Brock University Logan Thompson question? Am I gonna be number a million or what? You know, like, you know, maybe a couple times, but no. Not not too much. I think it's it's maybe the years have been was it, like, five years apart?

They're separated enough to where but, no, I I get the question sometimes. And, yeah, I think it's almost like kind of a coincidence how, like, you know, we both were in Brandon and both went to Brock. Like, me, for when I was picking schools, I just wanna go somewhere I was gonna play and, you know, that Brock was the spot for that. You know, I didn't pick it or not pick it because of LT, but, you know, I think, you know, I was like, hey. This team's like, I'm gonna play every game here and, you know, like, the guy

It's funny enough what he said at the time too. Yeah. Exactly. So I think that's what, you know, he was looking for and I was looking for was just a a chance to play and and, you know, they were they were gonna offer me that. And and then, you know, you look at, oh, LT went there.

Yeah. Exactly. So I think that's what, you know, he was looking for and I was looking for was just a a chance to play and and, you know, they were they were gonna offer me that. And and then, you know, you look at, oh, LT went there.

Like,

why not? So I've often looked at Canadian University and, like, seen some really good goalies and be like, yeah. Why not? Like, we see the NCAA late signings, and I've always felt like there's a lot of talent there and teams sometimes miss on it. So it's nice to see you guys getting this up.

Yeah. Like, in Usports, you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly. I played against some I'm old,

so I think I still called it CIS,

so that just hit dead day to me. Yeah. For sure. I I played against some really good goalies goalies there, and, know, that's there's there's good there's good goalies everywhere, and, know, you kinda just have to get a bounce, you know what I mean, to get that opportunity. And I'm very fortunate and, you know, thankful that Edmonton gave me the opportunity out of out of youth sports.

So I'm super excited about that and, you know, just wanna keep getting better, keep moving up the ladder.

Up to this ladder with Kelly Garde, what's that that relationship been like? I guess you would have worked with them at training camp. You know, how do you how you build on that relationship? What are some of the things he brings experience wise? There's a there's a guy that, you know, went to a different path at times. Yeah. He he's been great. This is the second year I've had the chance to work with him, and, you know, he's coached against me in the Western League.

Yeah. He he's been great. This is the second year I've had the chance to work with him, and, you know, he's coached against me in the Western League.

Right? So I think that's that can that can be big. Right? Like, he knows my game. He knows, you know, what needs to get better and and what what's strong and and, you know, what things to to work on and what things can help me be successful.

So he's been a great resource, and he's always a great great coach, and, know, we have a really good good relationship there too. So I'm gonna take this back a little bit. How did Connor Ingram become a goalie fall in

So I'm gonna take this back a little bit. How did Connor Ungar become a goalie fall in love with goaltending? What do you love most about it now? You know, let's wrap with that.

Yeah. That's a good question. It's hard to you know, you're so young. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where I think it started in the mini six hallways and, you know, this in street hockey. And I think at that time, I was, you know, the only guy that could play goalie on the team I was on.

You know? Other other kids weren't good at it or didn't like it. I was just the only guy that could get us wins at the time and I honestly, I think it just it grew from there and and you're you have the opportunity every night to be be the guy. Right? Be a difference maker.

I think that's what I love most about it.

Awesome. Thank you

for joining us today. Awesome.

Feature Interview 2 - Matt Tomkins

So there's an interesting story going on in the Oilers with their goaltending depth. Unger's pushing from below, and you've got InGoal'm doing what he's been able to accomplish at the National Hockey League level with Tristan Jarry and Callum Pickard. And right in the middle is Matt Tomkins, who's who's done a really good job himself.

Yeah. And it's it's interesting here. Right? Because when they called Ungar up, Tompkins had better numbers. And Tomp Tompkins numbers aren't quite the same as what Unger's are.

And I think the lesson here is don't judge by the numbers, especially at the American League where I don't have access to, you know, proprietary adjusted numbers to sort of measure the environment that they're facing. InGoal'm had numbers in the American League that that just did not look like an NHL goalie, and yet he's been, as I said, one of the top five NHL goalies since he got called up.

There was a bit of controversy when Ungar went up over Tompkins at the time.

Yeah. And there's I mean, it just goes to show you, like, not to read too much in the numbers because they don't necessarily guarantee success. Or in Tompkins case, he may have gone up and had the same success. Right? Like, like, I've had a couple of people tell me that Matt Tomkins can be an NHL goaltener.

They believe he is an NHL. There's a lot it's funny. I just watched, I was down in the American League last night watching Jacob Fowler, was just in the NHL. But talking to people around the Laval Rocket, they think that Cayden Primeau is ready to be back in the NHL as well. It's just there's only so many spots.

It's tough to get one. And and in the case of Tompkins, nothing he did or didn't do, just Ungar got first dibs and ran with it. So Matt's a guy who, like I said, I know I know people in the Oilers organization believe he's an NHL goalie, really liked the signing in the summer. A chance for him to go home. He's originally from Sherwood Park.

We get into that a little bit. This is a guy who's turning towards being an NHL goalie, just needs a shot at it. And in the meantime, sharing some great lessons about his path, about the unique nature of it. As you said, Daren, he's an Olympian. His first NHL win was in Montreal.

We get into all of it, in this interview with Matt Tomkins. Really enjoyed it.

Really excited to welcome back to the InGoal Radio Podcast, Matt Tomkins. It's been it's been a couple years, man. It has. Yeah. How are you?

I'm doing great. Yeah. Time flies. Can't believe it's yeah. Probably over two years now since we last talked.

So yeah. Great to see you.

And with the Edmonton Oilers now, like, this is this is kind of a cool deal. What walk me through what led to it. Obviously, you got your start restart with Tampa Bay. Yeah. The decision to sign in Edmonton this summer.

Yeah. I mean, I this is my first time through free agency, which is, you know, pretty hard to believe having played this long and didn't really know what to expect. I kinda, you know, had been prepped by my agents a little bit of how it kinda looks. And, yeah, leading up was just really an unknown. And then early in the morning on the first, got a call from my agents and, you know, Edmonton made the offer, and that was an easy no brainer for me.

So dream situation. Obviously, amazing to be able to sign with your hometown team, have the chance to, you know, wear the Oilers jersey one day and and play for them. So like I said, easy no brainer for me, and it's been a really great situation so far. What's it and then maybe some advice for for young kids because now you've got a new goalie coach at both levels, Kelly Gard here in Bakersfield, but obviously, Pete Aubrey, who I know is a big fan of yours. Sounds like

you got some a chance to work with him or at least talk to him and get to know him in the summer. What's that process like of working with new voices, new coaches, new ideas coming to your game?

I think it's really important just to try and be on the same page right from the start. It's obviously, working with new guys, there's different kinda lingo. There's different mechanics that they like to use, different approaches to the game. But when you really dive into it, at the end of the day, everyone's teaching the same sort of stuff, same ideas, and just a matter of kind of making sure you're understood on both ends so that when you get to work, there's no real question marks about what you're doing or or what the approach really is. So and that was great with with both Kelly and Pete and, you know, getting a huge head start with that where you feel really comfortable working with them from day one and just being open about how you feel about stuff, being open about things that you wanna work on, things that you think are important to your game, and also asking the same of them of, you know, keeping keeping me honest and, you know, really making sure that they are open about how they feel or or things that we should be working on.

So been a great relationship working with both those guys. Obviously, I've known Pete for a long time and feels like I've known Garo here for for a lifetime as well working with him. So it's been a lot of fun and and they've both taught me a lot and, yeah, working with Garo around here every day has been a blast, and we have a really good time and getting a lot of really good work done. So I feel great about where my game's at.

Do you almost need a dictionary? Like, do we need to like, we've talked we joked at InGoal about creating a dictionary because goalie coaches will use different terms for the same thing, and and bridging that gap when you come to a new organization or a new team can take

some thought. Definitely. And I think when you're younger too, you you're almost, like, intimidated about questioning what they were, you know, asking you to do or certain words they're using. So that's where I I feel older now and,

you know You say, hey. What do you mean?

Yeah. What are you talking about? I've never heard that before, and and you don't feel weird asking it. But, yeah, we we definitely do need a dictionary because, you know, especially me having been over in Europe too, I've heard, you know, 10 different terms for the exact same thing. So keeps it funny.

What how has your game progressed over the last couple of years? I mean, I I mean, like I said, I know there's a foundation there that you've built, but always looking to add new things and new ideas and new voices. What are some of the some of the things you can share that that have you've tinkered with?

Yeah. I feel like my game's really come a long way in the last couple years. And, you know, obviously, last time we talked, there had been a lot of fine tuning kinda coming back from Europe, getting ready for the North American game and and trying to make it to the NHL. And ever since then, it's been, you know, even more and more fine tuning just as far as structure and consistency and and just the overall approach to the game. And I think a lot of that has to do with, you know, my age and experience where I feel really good about where my game's at.

I feel like I know how to approach, how to get the best version of myself and, you know, working with the goalie coaches, it's been really easy to share that with them as well so that we're we're able to work on things that I think are really important. And, yeah, the last couple of years is just it's it's been huge and had a really good couple of years in Tampa working with Hockey Sense and Max Valancourt who really, really helped me progress my game and really just fine tune all the things that make me successful, you know, at the NHL level and and the American League level as well. So continued that, you know, right from day one here with the Oilers and feel really good about where things are at. And, yeah, just trying to be as calm, composed, and and structured as possible and simplify things as much as I can. Give me an example.

Like, when you say, like, where does calmness come from? Like, goalies hear that all the time, and it's so easy to say. Really really easy from my couch to say be calm and composed and let it come, but when you're in it, it could be a lot harder. Where does it come from for you? What are the sources of it?

set, square, track, compete. So whenever I'm looking at film of a game or thinking about, you know, how a practice went, if I just think about those four things and think if every time, you know, was I set on every puck, was I square, did I track it? And then did I compete if there was a rebound? If all of those things are taken care of, then usually more times than not, the game goes really well and the practice goes really well.

Yeah. So the last couple of years working with Max Valancourt, he actually really helped me fine tune something that I think about every day, whether it's practice or game, and it's just set, square, track, compete. So whenever I'm looking at film of a game or or thinking about, you know, how a practice went, if I just think about those four things and think if every time, you know, was I set on every puck, was I square, did I track it? And then did I compete if there was a rebound? If all of those things are taken care of, then usually more times than not, the game goes really well and the practice goes really well.

I think when I get outside of that and I start thinking about, you know, little things about, hey. Where are my hands are at here? How's my depth here? Or, you know, how's my momentum or anything like that, then I kinda get away from those important things. So that's been huge for me at this point in my game where if I just think about those four and that's all I think about, 99 times out of a 100, it it goes really, really well.

Okay. And I I'd be remiss. I haven't we're all the way in here. I haven't asked you about the NHL experience. What's it like?

It's incredible. You know? It's everything you dream of as a kid and more. And, you know, I think I was very fortunate that I had the opportunity to do it much later in my career, so it was, you know, had that buildup and anticipation for so much longer than than most guys have. So, you know, just being there, Tampa is obviously an incredible organization, and to have an opportunity to play, you know, with all the players there and, you know, share the ice with Vasilevskiy and all these guys.

It's it was amazing. And, yeah, I'm just really, really grateful for the opportunity that I had there and and the chance to, you know, wear that jersey, play in the NHL, and fulfill my childhood dream. So, yeah, it

was it was incredible. First one, did

First one, did you get family out or what like, what walk me through what your memories are of that first one. I was like, it was funny because when I started this, I'm like, oh, yeah. We talked to you before. And for some reason, I was thinking it was right after, so that's my bet.

No. No. It's great. Yeah. I had family and friends kinda come periodically throughout.

I had two kinda separate stints. Obviously, the the big one at the start of the year was up for a few months, and then actually finished the year there, and then was there for the playoffs as well. So, again, had more, you know, family and friends come to that stretch as well. So I was able to play games in both, you know, parts of the season and really felt like I progressed with every game and and showed that I was able to compete and and succeed at the NHL level. So it was really encouraging to have the chance and then also for it to to go, you know, extremely well where I feel really good about, you know, how things are at and how they progressed.

Yeah. Hopefully, I'm not gonna embarrass myself here, but was first one or one of them Montreal?

My first win was in Montreal. Yeah. So my first game was in Ottawa, and then I won my first game at the Bell Center a few weeks later. So

So, like, that's I mean, I was recently in Montreal, and it's if you haven't been there, folks, like, live in a, quote, unquote, hockey city, and it is nothing compared to Montreal. Like, as soon as you get off the plane, people ask you about hockey. Right? Like, so to get your first win in Montreal, what's that like, man? There are legends in the rafters.

It was incredible, and it was the second game of back to backs, and it was an optional skate in the morning. So there's only a few of us out there. So I remember kind of doing a couple laps around. Was actually my first time ever being in the building period. So was out, you know, looking at the rafters and looking at the Patrick Roy banner and all these things.

So incredible place to play, nevermind getting my first win. And I was actually fortunate I got to play there again and and won another game there. So I got to play there twice, and, yeah, both are just, you know, highlights of my career up to this point for sure.

What do you take from the time spent around that? I mean, you got a chance to work with Frantz, who's, you know, one of the greats, but also your time around Andre. He's not necessarily an open book with us, but anytime I've had a chance over the

past couple years, we've gotten into the weeds a little more, and he seems like a really passionate goalie guy. He's incredible. He was unbelievable to have as a goalie partner. I learned so much from him, and you're so right. Like, he's very quiet to the outside world, but when you're with him one on one and you're working with him and, you know, your goalie partners with him, it's you can just take so much away from how he approaches every day, approaches every game.

He's such a competitor. Obviously incredible at what he does, one of the best in the world. And just being able to watch him, work with him, and see how he approaches the game, see how him and Frantz work together, like, that was invaluable to me and just something I'll never forget for the rest of my hockey career, never mind the rest of my life, like, being able to see just some of the best in the world do what they do and and master class. So really cool.

What like, were there anything that stands out about the way he approaches certain things, or or is it just big picture stuff, the work rate, the work ethic, or is there anything specific that you're like, hey. I hadn't thought of doing it that way or, you know, in general that you're like, this is something I will do forever.

Yeah. There's a ton of stuff that he does so uniquely, and I'm sure all the goalie nerds know that he's the only one in the world that can do it. So there was a couple things I tried.

There's some physical gifts that the rest of us just don't have.

the big thing that stood out to me was technically how precise he was. And I really noticed this when he was coming back from his back injury, when he started skating and he started his approach, it wasn't just let's go out for a skate and get a sweat. It was so precise as far as, you know, how he was set, how he was square. You watch him playing, you see all the tiny little micro shuffles and he cares so much about that.

Exactly. So a couple I tried and realized really quick that it's not gonna work for me, but the big thing that stood out to me was technically how precise he was. And I really noticed this when he was coming back from his back injury, when he started skating and he started his approach, it wasn't just let's go out for a skate and get a sweat. It was so precise as far as, you know, how he was set, how he was square. You watch him playing, you see all the tiny little micro shuffles and he cares so much about that.

And he approaches it so well that, you know, if he ever does get beat, he's almost like, what just happened? They're like, how? What went wrong? And the way he approaches like every single rep is, you know, the biggest thing that stood out to me where, like, he doesn't wanna get beat ever. And, you know, that's, you know, human element.

Of course, as goalies, you understand that, hey, if I'm out for a practice or I'm out for a game, I'm I'm gonna get beat, where he's like, I don't wanna get beat ever. I wanna stop every single puck, and I'm upset if if I don't. So I compete. The compete is it's off the charts. And just watching it every single day, you realize, like, okay.

This guy's one of the best in the world for a reason.

Okay. So we have some some mutual friends that I think you work with in the summer. I'd like to know a little bit. Like, James Wendland and the work you've done with him in terms of physically and your body, some of the you know, I'm assuming some of the footboard work. What how how is that walk me through sort of what that's looked like and how it's manifested in your game, how you think it's helped you.

Yeah. I was extremely lucky to to run into James and meet him by happenstance there before my first season with Tampa and was referred to him from Lyle Mast, another mutual friend of ours. And, yeah, just working with him was incredible. Like, so many things that foundationally now I just carry with me every single day.

Can you give me an example? Like, because we've had a bunch of the stuff on on the website, and I think sometimes it's funny. I I got a few that NHL guys are like, oh, man. Like, my hips, if I do that, are unreal. And then we have kids that read the website, and they I don't think they realize how key some of this stuff is.

Yeah. So the big thing for me when I first met James, actually, I'd gone to him. I was having some issues with my back, and that's kinda what started the whole thing where, you know, I learned so much about all the footwork and kind of the whole body alignment and everything that goes into it. So the big things that have stood out for me that I've carried with me today are all the footwork, which I think is incredibly important for goalies and a lot of the stuff that's been able to keep my back, you know, very healthy. So I was always having back issues up until I met James, and there's so many things that I had just not considered as an approach to, you know, day to day maintenance.

And now it's just part of my daily routine with, you know, warming up and all the correctional work and making sure everything's aligned. So, yeah, it was a blessing to meet him for sure, and I love love seeing him in the summers and being able to work with him, and it's a lot of fun. And then now obviously, it's taken a lot more of an approach now to like goalie specific with the tracking and the balance and stuff like that. So I'm sure you guys have gone over that. Actually, I've seen you guys go over that a lot.

So like with the balls and the goggles?

Exactly, which I think, you know, ties into Lyle's approach too, and that's been so important for me where, you know, like I said earlier, with my approach now to the game, simple is better for me, and, you know, the tracking aspect is so, so important, always has been for me, but now that I have actual tools where I know if it's going well or not, and tools of how to correct that, if I feel off with my tracking, that's been the biggest thing. So I approach it every day with, you know, trying to dial in the eyes and get warmed up and make sure that, you know, my head and neck is working the right way. And, yeah, it's just done wonders for me in being able to track the puck.

Are you are you a goggles guy?

I am.

Yeah. So and how do you we're just gonna let the Zamboni go by here. We're we're at Abbotsford Ice Center, now now the Rogers Forum, I believe. Yeah. So there it's gone.

How do you use them? Just out of curiosity because, like, I've started using them. I will take them out in warm ups, and I had a two time Stanley Cup winner. As as we're finishing warm ups, just skate up to me and go, kid, you got something on you got something on your face there, kid. But so I'm I'm willing to swallow the pride, but what like, how do you use them?

Just warm up stuff or do do you take them on the ice too? The odd time I'll take them on the ice, but more so warm up. And if I should say if I have them on the ice, it's primarily skating.

The odd time I'll take them on the ice, but more so warm up. And if I should say if I have them on the ice, it's primarily skating.

Yeah.

So I actually don't wear them anymore for, you know, seeing actual shots. I found it helps so much with getting my head forward and down at the right position, and then more so being when I snap the head and if I'm going side to side and, you know, pushing, that if I have the goggles on, everything kinda comes with it and hands and stick and upper body and everything rotates just perfectly, so I'll do that when I warm up, wear them occasionally, but then more so off the ice, a lot of it tracking with the racquetballs and all the classic goalie stuff, so it doesn't take much now and that was kind of the biggest sell for me when, you know, Lyle was introducing them to me was that it's, this isn't a twenty minutes a day kind of thing. Like, wear them for a couple minutes, just calibrate, you know, do the odd thing with them for a few minutes and you're good to go. And that couldn't be more true where I throw them on and I just feel exactly that. Like, okay, now I'm centered.

I feel like my eyes and head and neck are all working together, and and then it translates onto the ice.

I was gonna say the beauty the beauty to me is, like, learning a lot of the tracking stuff, there could be a tendency to go out there and think about it and sometimes exaggerate it. The goggles just sort of snap you to it and and make it instinctual almost.

Absolutely. And a big thing that actually happened last year working with the goggles specifically was I'd realized that, you know, my back was coming like, my back angle was really, really forward and to the ice.

So pinching at the hips, I'm guessing?

Pinching the hips and then the bigger thing was I had then my neck was jammed up. So I'd find as pucks would get closer, I'd kinda get locked up and I wouldn't be able to track it. So now that I have a, you know, back more of at a a 90 degree angle to the puck at all times, then I I'm able to track using my chin come down and into saves. And the example I would always watch last year with Joseph Woll, I think he does an outstanding job at tracking the pucks and and being a head first kind of guy, chin down, chin to the puck, however you wanna phrase it. So I'd watch him, and that was a big thing I noticed with him.

He never really get like super hinged, and he was always, you know, able to go head first and and snap his head into tracking the pucks really well. So that's a big thing for me. Was, you know, focusing on the stance so that my tracking I have all of it. I have access to use a 100%.

And we just I just watched you doing a drill with Kelly Garden. We were just talking about it, and we'll have that up at ingoalmag.com, but just the compete too. So taking that, not losing the structure, but making sure, like Vasilevskiy, you don't lose that compete.

That's the biggest thing. Like, we can talk foundations all the day and structure and, you know, fundamentals. And at the end of the day, like, you watch any hockey game, like, if a goalie doesn't have compete, like, you get in trouble. It can't just be all structure. You see guys get away with it at certain levels, but, you know, as the the game picks up, guys get more skilled.

You have to be able to compete and adapt on the fly or else, know, you get burned, you get in trouble really quick.

Has there been a learning curve coming to the West too? Like, at the American League level, New shooters, new teams, like, we we talked yesterday. They don't there's not a lot of crossover until you get to, like, basically, the cup final call the cup final. You don't see these guys. There been that been a process, like, systems, coaching styles?

Definitely. Obviously, when you're at different levels in the American League, you're seeing the same teams all the time. So like, yeah, I came out West. I'd never played out here at all other than, you know, I played a couple teams the odd time, but looking at lineups, I don't know a single guy sometimes. And I'm like, hey, what's going on?

So there's been a lot more of an approach of, you know, hey, Garo, can you tell me about their tendencies? What do they do off the rush? You know, where do power play looks? And kinda learning about, you know, different guys and how they approach the game. So, yeah, it it's been a fun learning curve for sure.

All new players, all new, you know, teams and systems and everything, but, yeah, it definitely keeps me on my toes for sure.

A lot of video then? Is that that still a tool? Like and and can you learn to read the game better? Like, as much as we talk about how we hold our body and how we move, at the end of the day, the position requires anticipation.

Yeah. And I've actually never been like a big video guy. I've never been like before games, you know, breaking down everything of every single team. But now I've actually found that, like I said, I'll look at a lineup sometimes and I don't know a single guy, so that's a pretty hard approach as a goalie where you're like, I don't know who the shooters are, I don't know who's gonna be on the power play, I don't know anything about

Even in Bear League, we get to figure it out. Yeah. You're totally flying blind.

Yeah. So that's been a big help with Garo. He's he's put together all their scoring chances before every game. And, you know, I'm starting to pick up different tendencies as we, you know, continue to play a lot of the same teams. But for example, last night, you know, we're playing Abbotsford.

I've never played them. Knew a couple guys on their team, but, yeah, I had no idea about how they approached and and what they like to do structurally or or tendencies. So definitely a lot more time with video and and making sure that, you know, I'm as prepared as I need to be and ready so that the anticipation and and just kind of the natural flow of the game can take over, and I'm not, you know, worried about everything that's going on and and having no clue of what to expect.

Any other big adjustments coming with the I mean, was it easy coming home,

[crosstalk] or was there did you feel pressure going into camp wearing a jersey that you you grew up sort of like, was it different in any way? Yeah. Maybe a little bit. It was obviously the most exciting, you know, contract I've ever signed with family and friends and and being able to share that news with them when it came up. And, you know, obviously really encouraged about the opportunity to to be able to play there and then play in front of family and friends and got to play a couple of preseason games that they were able to come out with too.

So that was just kind of a

That's very cool.

Yeah. It was really cool and just maybe a little bit of a a teaser as far as, you know, what could come in the future with being able to play meaningful games for them. And, yeah, hopefully, if that opportunity comes, I'll be ready if it does come. But, yeah, just a really, you know, special opportunity for me and would always have been, you know, a dream to wear the Oilers jersey, and, you know, now I'm one step closer to doing that. So it was, yeah, really, really amazing opportunity.

Was your guy growing up in oil like, was there an Oilers guy growing up that was, like, your guy? It's kind of

a mixed bag. Like, obviously, I was very fortunate growing up. I went to a ton of Oilers games, but my guy was Patrick Roy.

Oh, okay. Oh, okay. Okay.

Yeah. So I was kind of a, you know, Avalanche fan, Oilers fan. But, yeah, of course, going to Oilers games growing up in Edmonton, hard not to always have have cheered for them. So yeah.

Oh, I can't look. I like I said, can't wait to see it in the regular season. Thank you so much for spending the time with us today and catch up. It's always great to see you.

Yeah. Thanks so much. It's always a pleasure. Appreciate it.

Outro

Double feature with the NHL Sense Arena feature interviews, this week with, Connor and Matt. And now they are a tandem that, has great promise, and looks like they will be the tandem for the next little bit, given that the Oilers are carrying their three goaltenders. Anything you wanna say about that, Hutch? No? No?

Well, you had a lot to say chirping me, going into your parent segment. What what I hear you.

Chirping you. I was just trying to give you another tool how to navigate things.

I wonder I mean, honestly, if you're the Oilers, in addition to managing having three goalies in the NHL and not wanting to risk losing any of them, you also probably didn't wanna mess this up by sending one down. Like, if you did because if they didn't, they could have sent him down without requiring waivers. Now you've got three in the American Hockey League. They could have sent Picker down, risk losing them. But if they didn't lose them, now you've got three in the American Hockey League.

And given how well both of the guys have played down there, is that something they want as well? So, you know, like a little like, the travel's a little different. The ice is a little bit like so I I I don't know. I wonder if that played a bit of a role in the decision as well. Like, we've got a really good thing going in Bakersfield as well.

It's so funny. An organization that didn't you know, there were questions about goaltending depth and decisions for for the longest time, and now they've got a glut of guys who are having success.

All or nothing. Just like your kids with the radio or the TV. It's either super loud or you can't hear it as parents. It's all or nothing.

That's a Daren's parent segment brought to you

by Yes. That well, I got something to say about that. Can you turn it down? Well, it's only at 14. We never did that either.

We never we never judge volume on numbers.

I got that because of a grandparent in the house.

Got one I got one TV that goes

to 25, fourteen's mid pack. The other one, it goes to a 100. I don't know what 14 would be if you could even hear it. So you've lost me completely. I'm an old

Same with charging charging your phone. My my phone's own only at 56. I'm like, well, that's like half charge. Can we not use that as as the assessment of how charged your phone is? Says the guy with a 100%

getting upset about his kids charging their phones now?

Well, just yeah. I wear them at 100% hockey.

You are having a day there, mister

I know.

It's 75%. I gotta find some positivity.

How can you get off a call with Marty Biron and not be smiling?

I I I am. I don't know what's going on with me today.

Hutch, we dragged him down.

Woody what finally got to me?

I broke him.

Had to happen eventually. Three guys smiling, can we?

No. And and we don't even make it up. It's not like it's scripted.

Nope. Three three three. That's because three is three no. Three doesn't work. Right?

Like, Daren's just upset. He's looking at the screen. He's got three. He only see two spots on his side. It's like having three goalies on the ice.

He's flustered.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for being part of InGoal Radio, the podcast, brought to you by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com. Send us your thoughts. Make sure you subscribe and and like the podcast. Love your feedback.

So let us know what you're thinking about guests, about topics, about reactions to what we said, the three goalie system. Let us know. We are here and, ready to communicate with you on InGoal Radio, the podcast brought to you by The Hockey Shop. Source for Sports Langley, theshop.com. Be well.