The Backup Mindset: Mackenzie Blackwood Learned From Cory Schneider
- Cory Schneider posted a .937 SV% in 2011–12 as Luongo's backup — one of the best backup seasons in modern NHL history.
- Blackwood named Schneider as a goaltending idol years before they became teammates — the quote is inside.
- Schneider averaged 54 starts a season in New Jersey and still maintained a .917 SV% — what that workload actually looked like is broken down below.
- What Blackwood said he learned from watching Schneider navigate the backup role firsthand is in the full article.
- Nearly every goalie faces this moment: wanting to play more than the team needs you to. How the best ones handle it is unpacked inside.
How many of you have been in a situation where you weren’t playing as much as you’d like?
You probably thought you deserved more starts, and maybe you did, but in a team game, that is not your decision.
Right now, Mackenzie Blackwood probably isn’t playing as much as he’d like to. He’s only gotten two starts in the Avalanche’s first 10 games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, largely watching from the bench as tandem partner Scott Wedgewood carries the load.
Almost every goalie finds themselves in this position from time to time. It can be difficult to manage your desire to play with the need to support what’s best for the team. It can be even harder to admit that sometimes you not playing IS what is best for the team.
Blackwood didn't just admire Schneider from afar — he said something specific about him on Episode 70 of InGoal Radio that reframes this whole situation, and it comes in the next paragraph.
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