Pro Tips with Ann-Renée Desbiens
From Record Season to Playoff Mindset: 'Just Be the Average You'
- Desbiens set PWHL records with a .955 SV% and 1.11 GAA — and her explanation of how she got there challenges what most goalies believe about peaking for playoffs.
- Her coach told her players need to play their best games in the playoffs. Desbiens disagreed — and her reasoning is worth reading closely.
- Why trying to make a 'crazy save' under playoff pressure is exactly when you let in the weak ones, according to one of the world's best goaltenders.
- The specific mindset shift Desbiens says she learned long before PWHL records and Olympic medals — and how she applies it now — is detailed in the full article.
- Preparation, not performance, is her answer to playoff pressure. What that preparation actually looks like for Desbiens is unpacked below.
Ann-Renée Desbiens is coming off a regular season for the ages.
The Montreal Victoire goalie set PWHL records with a .955 save percentage and 1.11 goals-against average, tying Boston Fleet No. 1 Aerin Frankel — who had an equally surreal season — with a league-record 19 wins, including seven shutouts, one behind Frankel’s new record.
Those are video game numbers for both goalies, but will they mean anything once the PWHL playoffs start this weekend and postseason pressure gets turned up?
Preparation is the biggest thing. If you've done everything to prepare yourself -- your body, your mind -- to get to that moment, then you get to just enjoy it
Desbiens gives a direct answer to whether her record-setting regular season will translate to the playoffs — and the reasoning she shared with her coach just before the Seattle finale is in the next paragraph.
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