Episode 354: San Jose Sharks first round draft pick Joshua Ravensbergen

Intro

Welcome to InGoal Radio, the podcast presented by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com. We've got some good things coming your way today. We always have great things, but we're gonna take you down a path of a conversation that's, kinda we're a little bit behind on, just testing the waters on, next year's practice goalie, the, paid ebug, with every organization. We've got a great NHL Sense Arena feature interview, Stop It Goaltending U. The app parent segment is going to talk about the summer ahead for your child.

Vizual Edge ProReads with Matt Murray and the Gear Segment focusing in on the Bauer Fuse as we say hello to the cofounders of InGoal Magazine. Kevin Woodley and David Hutchison, nobody can see you because you guys refuse to put this on YouTube. Hutch, you're waving, but nobody can see you because we're we're audio only on the podcast.

I said I'm all for it. Really?

I gotta I gotta face for radio.

I don't know. Yeah. You would put this on YouTube? Sure. But then then we wouldn't be able to do those easy pickups that we that we do every now and then.

True. Those easy edits when I say silly things.

Yeah. And I'd have to put on pants. No. You wouldn't. Naturally, you wouldn't.

You'd have to put on a shirt.

Could do the whole show pantless. In fact, it could be the pantless edition.

We might have to dress it up a little bit with our attire, but not a lot. Like, I think we're we're we're fairly appropriately attired.

Most days. Well, most days. Yeah. I'll give you most days.

Alright. Well, let's let's

Hutch makes Hutch makes me we do have our YouTube segment for the Gear Segment. So for those that don't know, the Gear Segment is always available over at ingoalmag.com and on YouTube. Hutch makes me cover up the tattoos for that segment, so I'd have to make sure that my I had sleeves on my shirts. It says the family segment.

I know. Total that. You are full of it. I actually saw you getting ready for the last shoot, you're the one. Oh, can they see my tattoos?

I didn't see my tattoos.

I'm with Woody on this. I I think you're you're you're a little You're full of it too

old why would I ever say cover up Ken Dryden?

I don't know. It confuses me too. Is no doubt on that. Me. We're we're knocking on the door of the Stanley Cup final.

Vegas is a three nothing lead as we record this. So one one between Carolina and Montreal. Boy, it was such a cool story between the two goaltenders out east in that series.

Opposite ends of the career spectrum. Like, just absolute like, one guy winding her down and the other guy just gearing it up. There's a lot of similarities. I mean, there's a lot less aggression in Freddie's game, but, like, strengths and weaknesses, there are a lot of similarities. It's been really interesting to watch.

And Dobes is Dobes is just fun. Right? Like, that's the opposite.

That dude just freewheels it Dobes. At times.

It feels like he freewheels it, I think, and that's great. I mean, the goofy goalie comments, and I'm just a goofy goalie that goes home and watches, what was it, Game of Thrones? You know, like, that's great. I do think there's a lot more maturity to him as a goaltender. We've talked about it having him on the podcast last summer and, you know, the decisions he was making around his training and not just wanting to go on the ice too early just to be a target.

So he was focused on the gym, but then he'd end his gym session shooting pucks in a shooting room. But it wasn't just enough to shoot pucks. He'd visualize scenarios and forechecks and hard rims and what he was doing with the puck. Like, I think there's more maturity to his game than maybe we're seeing in the mainstream media and to his approach. But, hey, his willingness to be that guy, that's the part I applaud and applaud the Montreal Canadians.

How many times have we seen it over the years where they try and put the goalie in a like, they're probably nervous every time he gets in front of a microphone. Right? Like, because this is a say nothing league. But they, for the most part, let him be himself, and I think that's important.

I like the way that, he plays the position with such freedom. And when I say freewheel it, I was more talking about on the ice. Like, he he doesn't get caught into the the the goalie school save selections a, b, or c. He he does he does a lot of improv out there.

From a save selection standpoint, I and he will pick spots and become super aggressive, but he's very rarely and this has been a big change in his game when I look back at last year and even early this year. Rarely is he super aggressive early. Like, it's once he makes a read. If you look at it like, his positional game is very inside out. It's not Henrik Lundqvist inside out, but it's rooted in short early pass.

And then once he makes a read early in his career, like, he's six foot four. He's massive. He's got incredible length, incredible compete, incredible battle. But there were quite quite often he was outside of his net east west, like outside of his post and stranded and not giving himself a chance to make the save. Most of his movement now is somewhat in a contained space, and then when he makes a read, he'll come out and challenge.

He's not it's funny because, again, I think there's a misconception about how aggressive he is. It's it's a it's a read into aggression as opposed to super aggressive early and giving teams a chance to pass around him.

You're nodding in agreement with a slight, challenging notion.

He's got a head shake there.

No. I'm not disagreeing. I'm I'm just thinking that the two things sort of go together, the off ice and the on ice. And, I think it's awesome that and maybe we need to do, maybe we need to publish some of that stuff again and bring it to light, Kevin, as you were talking about how serious he is. I think it's awesome that we can hold two things in our mind at once that he can be a little bit aloof, a little bit crazy, a little bit weird goalie ish and yet at the very same time be incredibly serious about his craft and what he does.

And I think it's important for people to understand that it is possible to have a personality and be serious at the same time. What a great example that is. Perhaps that's mirrored a little bit in his work on the ice. As you were describing, there's a real base to what he does. There's a lot of control to what he does.

But then, as Daren said, he can freewheel it a little bit out there and that makes it so much more entertaining to watch at the same time and and and very effective, isn't it?

So it's it's to me, it's the length. Like, the height is like, there's a lot of tall goalies, big goalies, but his ability to explode and extend, the amount of times he's come across where, like, he gets a pad there where not every goalie does, but he's also got vertical coverage above it, whether it's a blocker drop the stick going to his right or a glove. Like, he just there's an explosiveness and athleticism, but also a length. And length is not just a physical attribute, it's a compete attribute. And he's got both.

And that's where you're like, he's never out of a he's never out of a play. And that's to me the difference. There were times in the past where he was so far outside of his crease east west, not north south, not top of the crease, east west, that he wasn't giving himself a chance to get back the other way. And I can count on one hand in the Stanley Cup playoffs the number of times that's happened. That didn't used to be the case.

So to your point, there's a refinement, but he's not and and sort of a containment initially compared to before, but he's not stuck in a butterfly box. Like, save selection wise, he will do whatever it takes.

Play off this as you want, but just an observation. Of the four starting goaltenders in the conference finals, none played either the most games for their team or were the starting goaltender at the start of the year. Like, Schmidt played the most games for Vegas this year, Carter Hart's the man. Scott Wedgewood wasn't considered the starting goaltender at the beginning of the year. He he's the guy.

Frederik Andersen didn't play the most games for Carolina this year, and and Dobes was thought to be behind Sam Montembeault.

Yeah. It's it's interesting because I I'm glad you didn't I thought you were gonna throw me the the what they're making number. Like, is there but, like, the and then the reality is, yes. But outside of the Carolina Hurricanes, every team has a guy who's making more and was supposed to be the guy. Right?

Like, Mackenzie Blackwood. Not that they're playing him an exorbitant amount, but he was supposed to be the guy at about five and a half. Montembeault, three and a half, supposed to be the guy you know, like, Sam Montembeault was on team Canada at the Four Nations. And we are just over a year later, and he's a black ace in the conference final. Like, it's Jakub Dobes dressing as the backup.

He's the third goalie. So things change fast. It's why at the expense of losing my goalie Union card, I always say, if I was a GM, not that anybody would be ever stupid enough to hand me that.

It's not a good job of selling point for an interview. Yeah. You'd be stupid to hire me.

But But listen to and this. You ask ask me ask me to make decisions around your goaltending, the one thing I would try and do is avoid term because things change fast. And, you know, I do think there are a lot of term teams, sorry, that in the past year and a half resigned their guy because it was the devil they knew and went long term with their guy in house. We we talked about how the game of goalie musical chairs that used to happen every summer didn't happen this summer because everybody was resigned by their own team. And as we see young goalies pushing up, guys' career sorta tweeners, one b's excel and move into starring roles, I wonder if teams are going to regret some of those contracts that are now sitting on the bench for big money.

And I'm not saying these teams in particular, maybe Vegas a little bit, although I still think Adin Hill has has the potential. We saw what he did in his cup run, and I I certainly believe massively in Mackenzie Blackwood. But out outside of the Hurricanes who sort of this is how they do things, you know, constant flow of different options. You know, I think I think around the league, can find a lot of teams that double down on their guy and might be like, we might have somebody else coming, but we're kinda committed here.

Hutch?

I don't know. I think it's I I I think your point about, about four different guys who weren't the starter, is is fascinating, and, it is a fluid position. That is for sure. Every team has, every team has contracts they regret on their books, though. So to to point out, you know, that this is a goalie specific thing, I don't know.

It's, it's definitely more impactful when a guy who's making the money isn't doing it. And look, I'm not saying that about, the guys that are that are, in that final four as as Woody said. Guys like Mackenzie Blackwood could certainly step in and have stepped in in the playoffs and might well in the next game, won't he? So not not saying that that that that they're not playing well, but, but it is you know, contracts get regretted all the time and people second guess goaltenders way more than they second guess anybody else and come to conclusions way faster than they ever should without understanding and acknowledging that, that things happen out there that, we tend to blame them for that are not about the goaltender.

Here's the so it's fair point. I think I don't know. And, the very need to call out that I'm not specifically talking about these No.

Nor am I. I agree.

A lot of cases around the league, those decisions are made. I know they're made, not all of them, but in a lot of them, not necessarily by the goaltending staff if they even have one, but by a general manager that's like, oh, man. I can't afford to lose my guy. He's my guy. I'd be like, I I gotta I can't what happens if I don't have him?

I go back to that old Lou Lamoriello. I sleep very well at night knowing Marty Brodeur is my goaltender. And I think a lot of general managers have doubled down on guys thinking he can be their Marty Brodeur that lets him sleep at night without actually understanding the position, the environment, and why that volatility can exist specifically to go. Or the same thing because they don't understand will very quickly go to, but I just need a save. And then the goalie gets blamed for what's happening out there and the trajectory of their season or more can change on a few of those a few of

those whims and a few of those things that are said by by coaches and general managers who don't understand the position.

Well, you you better have organizational depth. And if you don't, you gotta go find it.

That's a great point, Daren. You absolutely need that. And I think that's where I think you can build that again if you have strong people

in your But just just for us know what

for interest find you those guys.

Have we created a situation where we feel we have to have all that depth because guys get second guessed so quickly? What if it was just the old, that's my starter, I'm sticking with them for 70 games, would more guys be more successful if they knew the team had their back? Just throwing it out there.

Maybe. Although I don't I don't know that anybody's playing 70 games anymore. The game's just so demanding physically.

I I sometimes wonder though that gosh. Listen to what Jakub Dobes said at the end of that last round. Right? Oh, you're you're so tired. You've played 14 games here.

How are you feeling? How are gonna recover? Oh, I could play four more.

I would I would defer to Scott Wedgewood's comment about why we're seeing more one a, one b tandems. And he said, specifically, the game has become so demanding East West physically on the goaltending that he's not sure he thinks that's a part of the trend as opposed to but you're right. Maybe it's just you don't you don't trust your At the end of the day, you need depth, to Daren's point, because unless you've built up unless you have the next ones coming and a constant stream and supply of them, you're a lot less likely to have the courage of your convictions to say, well, my this guy's been pretty good for us. He's an unrestricted free agent. I'd better resign him to a big ticket because that's what we have to do because we don't have options.

Like, forget within a season, but even avoiding the need to go long term on guys. If you've got three, four guys that you think are ready to come up, there's no right answer because those guys are young and inexperienced, and you pay for experience. So we've solved nothing.

Okay. I'll throw the e bug, the practice goalie. That paid position that's going to debut in the National Hockey League next year. Do do we know how this is gonna sort of sort itself out?

No. We don't. We and I think we got a little bit of fly in the ointment, this week when Lindy Ruff suggested of the Buffalo Sabres suggested that they might keep three goalies next year. Colten Ellis being the third along with Alex Lyon who's under contract and obviously, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen who's under contract. Because as much as everybody just automatically says it can't work, it doesn't work, we hate it, they made it work.

The Seattle Kraken made it work all season with Matt Murray. And what rough suggested, and I don't know if he was saying this specifically, but what seemed to be implied was if we have three NHL goalies on the roster, we don't necessarily need that paid position. Now I still think

you would words in his mouth or did you say that?

So specific like, again, that was very much what he he seemed to be implying. Like, so I don't wanna say I'm paraphrasing a little bit here, but that seemed to be what he was implying. I'm not saying that the Buffalo Sabres aren't gonna hire anyone, or that that's what he meant, but he seemed that that's what he's talking about, about having that third guy around that practice.

Why would you why would you need it if you've got three NHL guys in your roster?

Right. Exactly. But, of course, the as we saw in Seattle, I still think they'd force you to hire one because the chances that all three are healthy all year you know, like, they had three goalies, but a bun you know, Matt Murray missed a bunch of time. So

With with the third goaltender so would Matt Murray be eligible to be the e bug?

No. He's played too much. Can't have more than 80 professional games.

So so you still need you still need the e bug?

Right. By the rules of it, I think you still have to hire that guy. Yeah. It's just if you've got three on your roster, what's that what's that guy doing? And I've talked to a lot of different goal I've talked to goalie coaches around the league.

They've had applications pouring in for that job all year. It's there's gonna be a lot of different ways it's approached by different organizations. Some of them

the most overhyped things ever.

And yet Jake Oettinger told me that he think it's gonna be a massive difference to him because he doesn't, like, in terms of being able to manage his rest if he doesn't have to be at every practice.

Well, he doesn't have to practice. They've got they've got a guy around.

Not everybody not everybody has a Daren Millard, but I'm No. No.

They they they Every team's got a guy.

Not every team travels their guy.

Okay. But you don't practice a lot in the road anyway.

Some do. Some do, but not every team practices. Yeah. Hey. Game day skates.

Game day skates. Like, what's the difference between getting your five reps and getting off versus having to be out there an hour and take shots and and, like, for the most part, guys don't do a ton. But I watched the Utah Mammoth who have had a third guy that travels all year. They're they're a year ahead of the e bug thing. And, you know, while the goalies, the NHL goalies were getting warmed up at one end, the practice goalie was at the other end facing their first power play unit, five on all simulated power plays with And maybe they had penalty killers out there too on fresh ice, which the panel, the power play guys want to work on fresh ice.

But normally by the time they get to that drill, it's all chopped up. So the skill players like that and that is a drill that normally one of the other two guys has to go through. So from a rest management standpoint, like I'm with you in that it's it's probably going to be oversold and there's going to be a lot of trees if there if there were newspapers still, would be a lot of trees cut down to to write those stories. But I got it. When you got an NHL goalies of the stature of Jake Oettinger thinking it's gonna be a huge difference to him, you know, maybe maybe what it does is it frees up the coat.

It allows more coaches to actually have some flexibility. Because just because you got a guy, Daren, doesn't mean you use him. Right? Like, so if if it's a mandate

facets to it. Go go finish that

thought. If it's a mandated position and teams are hiring college or or higher level goalies, the guys that like, one goalie coach suggested to me, he thinks guys that were on the verge of playing pro but didn't quite make it, but they're they're fresh out of the game are gonna come into that position, spend a year facing shots, and think they can go back to pro again. Like, that's the level. They want guys that are competing at a at a high pro level versus, you know, I'll give you the Dallas example. Right?

Like, he's a really good goalie, but he, like, like, he's not a professional goalie. Never was a professional goalie that I know of. Daren Millard is a fantastic goalie. Stopped a 100% to the shots he faced according to the hat he's wearing right now, but was never a professional goalie. I think permission for the guy to leave and leave practice for the practice goalie becomes easier if the coaches and the players shooting aren't bitching about the level of save execution dropping too significantly.

It's interesting because not that long ago, a lot of trees were killed writing the story three doesn't go into two, and how much guys would hate having a third goalie on the roster and how it's not good for their individual preparation. But one thing that's different about this one is if you have three NHL goalies, you have to share the nets. You have to keep these guys sharp. You have to get them reps when they need them. If you've got a third guy who is just there to help out, you can sit him anytime you want and not feel bad about it.

So you at least have the option of working this into whatever system you think you're gonna develop within your team.

And I'll give you I'll give you one example of where in Montreal, where they have a really good practice facility with two sheets, they had three goalies for a long time and not every guy like I remember Jake Allen tell me he hate he he didn't think it worked. But for all the stories

I don't think it works either.

For all the consternation about it, I've had a lot of guys tell me that it does work. I've I've I I may not cut down trees at nhl.com, but I've written the practice goalie story for, like, feels like seven, eight years now. In Montreal, their goalie coach would have the goalies off on the other sheet doing goalie specific drills in practice while the two guys were in the net, and they would rotate through. So it wasn't two goalies one goalie standing in a corner sharing a net. They would actually go do their goalie specific work on a separate sheet and then alternate into the drills that way.

Then, obviously, they can't do it on the road, and not every team has a practice facility that nice. Hell, I live in Vancouver where they don't have a practice facility at all. But for the teams that have the resources, you can work this to your advantage.

There there's two facets to this new position. It's the the practice goalie part, and then there's the e bug part. But the the e bug never happens.

No. Right. I mean, it's pretty rare. We're gonna lose that because it's it's a story that people It's

very rare. And you're still gonna have that guy coming in. Like, it'll still be a story of the the guy that that Right.

But he's an he's an he's an employee now.

But but but the the e bug story is I kind of roll my eyes at at the importance of the e bug. It never happened. And and if it does happen, it happens once a year.

I know. But when you're a 7 or $8,000,000,000 industry and and you got an accountant in the game, it's it's a great story, but it's not necessarily a great look even if it happens once every three years. I'll give you here's my closing argument. I know Daren hates three going into two. Here's my closing argument on three goalies, and it goes back to Hutch's point about playing 70 games.

Don't kiss up to him.

Take a look at Devin Dubnyk the first year he got to the Minnesota Wild after the trade from Arizona. How many did he play in a row, guys? Was it 50 or 40 something? In a row. He will tell you the only reason that he was able to do that is because he got on the ice at practice, he did his goalie drills, he faced a couple of rush drills with the team, and then he left because they had Niklas Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper.

They had three goalies on the roster. And so the decrease in reps at practice for Devin Dubnyk that allowed him to just focus on his game and not trying to keep the boys happy by being out there as a target allowed him to play all those games in a row, and I don't think anybody's come close to playing that many games in that period of time since, and that was a decade ago.

I don't know that we solved anything.

I rest my case, your honor. Done. Wait. Don't I get my part?

Wait. Don't I get my part?

Nope. Done. No counterpoints. This is not a democracy. Oh,

I'll give you a chance. Go ahead.

I just questioned whether Devin Dubnyk felt that way because he knew there was an alternative. What if we lived in that world where a guy just plays 70 games? And then you wouldn't even be considering the alternative and it would be okay.

But we lived in that world back then. Guys were playing 70 games.

Yeah. And guys did it.

And then they and then none of them won in the playoffs. Like But would nobody would yeah. I'd love to Nobody would

statistical argument, but I think we're very quick to

Nobody would have played the amount of games Dubnyk played in a row even back then when guys were playing 70. And you're right. It it was different in 2015 than it is in 2026 for sure. But, I mean, he literally lived it and breathed it and said afterwards, the only reason I could do this was because of this.

Just saying he knew there was an alternative.

Gear

Gear Segment brought to us by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com.

Bauer, views. It's live. I've never worn Yeah.

It's live.

You can get it now.

You know what happens? I gotta give a shout out to the Hockey Shop Source for Sports because they had a nice event. Good shout out to Bauer too. Brought in Kristen Campbell and our featured guest this week, Joshua Ravensbergen, for a intimate little sit down. You had to win your way in.

I think it was, like, 30 or 40 young goalies there, many with their parents. They had Bauer in store for two days doing fittings of the new fuse gear or pretty much anything, any Bauer line that you wanted. The new fuse chest protector was there. I'll tease it now because Kristen Campbell talked about it, in the one on one we did. I I led that roundtable, in front of that, I guess, live audience.

She talked about there is a women's specific chest protector that she's been wearing all year and loves that Bauer will launch in June. So keep an eye out for that. They actually have it in store at The Hockey Shop Source for Sports, thehockeyshop.com. So if you're a female goaltender listening right now and the idea of a women's specific chest protector appeals to you, you don't have to wait for the launch. They have it at The Hockey Shop Source for Sports.

Like I said, Kristen Campbell wore all year raved about it. Check it out. That's just one of the things you get when you go to The Hockey Shop Source for Sports. You get the expertise, not just from the the guys that work in the goalie department, but they bring in experts from each brand to help make sure that their staff understands not only what's new and what's improved, but how it's gonna work with your game. We're gonna go to Cam and talk about the Bauer Fuse and what's different.

Everyone on his staff will be able to tell you, hey. Is it for you? Is it not for you? How's it gonna play? How's it gonna feel on your leg?

How is the new strapping affecting how it feels on your leg? That's the expertise you get at The Hockey Shop Source for Sports. And I haven't seen it yet. I'm putting words in his mouth, but I'm assuming since the new Bauer Fuse has launched and that is part of Bauer Supreme line that the previous generation Bauer shadow, whatever is left in stock, will be on sale. If not now, then very soon.

So make sure you keep checking out the hockeyshop.com for those sales. But for now, let's go to Cam, who knows a lot more than I do, to explain what's new, what's different with the Bauer Fuse. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Yeah. Just fuse it together. Welcome back.

Oh, jeez. You almost think that I set them up for that. That was that was actually off the top of your head. Know it was. I'm kind of impressed, Cam.

I'm not gonna lie. I know David Hutchison behind the camera is super impressed with your ability to pun it up.

Smiles all over the place.

Of course, is. It's Bauer Fuse launch day.

It is Bauer, the Hockey Shop. Source for sportshockeyshop.com.

We're back with the new Bauer Fuse and Cam is gonna walk us through what's new, what's improved. This is more of just slight improvements on the shadow line. I don't think there's any right thing radical. There's a couple of changes around the knee block that are worth noting.

Small small small radicals. Small small. There's some stuff that has changed.

Okay. So let's start with the pad and walk us through.

Alright. So first most noticeable would be that fully extended knee stacks. We saw this come out on the Flylite pad with them getting rid of what was called that pro bump in particular. That's gone now, and they've now fully maxed out the actual knee landing service to maximum that they possibly can.

Which is interesting because you know why the pro bump exists? Story class. There used to be an NHL rule about the requirement that this inner piece could only be so long and then that second knee block could be longer and so the first one ended, the second one could be bigger and all goalies want a bigger knee stack, but that left it unbalanced so they added the pro bump to keep it level. I'm assuming k Whitmore has decided it's okay to have one solid piece from end to end which kind of makes sense because it was a bit of an outdated rule. Didn't really.

This is good. I like this one solid knee buck and I noticed like like they've always had that hard inner lining, that hard inner surface for sliding. Yes. This feels plastic's the wrong word. Not quite the slide plate of Warrior, but this is really firm.

Firmer than in the past?

I would say about the same. So the big change is now that, like, rib texture to that, honestly. Maybe that's what what does it, but it feels like Yeah. Really hard. But to be honest, in the grand scheme of things, and we saw this from Warrior a little bit before and having that in texture service, it not doing a whole lot in terms of four year slidability.

That I would ability is coming from The stiffness. The stiffness. Yeah. For sure. Which is still right there and still very, very good as well as that angled calf plate without getting too far ahead of ourselves here.

So you again, you're sealing here. You're not flushing on the ice here, so you're just sort

of limiting. You've got a gap here, a channel. You're not you don't have more material on the ice.

Yes. Yes. To push against.

Exactly. Makes you All of this makes you faster.

Yes. Unless you're Cam. But I am pretty quick. So still Stabilla slide. Stabilla slide versus stiffest version of their bracketed system for their knee cradle.

Still great overall feel. Overall inside of the pad when we get into it a little bit more. So we still have that removable cap wing or a knee wing. A bit more angle this time to help wrap around the knee pad if you do strap it behind the knee. Okay.

That's okay. Change, cap lock. Got kind of triangular pieced. That's updated their TuneFit Plus strap system. So instead of having to Velcro a little bit further back, they've actually Velcroed it on a little bit further.

So that's where you actually see the male side Velcro now. So as you're bringing it around, it gives the pad a little bit more of a connected feel even between the last of the Soon Fit Plus strap. And there's some adjustability as far as where you attach it? Correct. And modularity, once again, the way that Bauer attaches a strapping system, you can swap that out to say the slide system that's on the fly light pad or even an old two fin two point o.

So this is basically that that is that calf lock is removable. Correct.

Yeah. Okay. So the Velcro still on the outside stays the same because that's what you're obviously mounting it to, but does accept some other options. So again, a great little feature there. Pillow moved on onto the inside here.

Yes. And contoured as well. Quite nice when you're especially going around down to

that butterfly. Does it do it work for you? Because you've got you've got thighs for calves. I do. I It

still works. It still works. I like it. Feels great. Get good rotation to the overall pad.

Nice, good connected feel when you're down on the ice too as well.

And I love how it like, you're right. It's tapered in terms of being rounded to sort of fit your where is it, Cam? You're hiding it. Rounded to fit your fit your cap that way, but also tapered a little bit here. Last thing we wanna do is anything sort of holding our ankle off the ice and changing that angle.

So like that a bunch.

What I also do really, really like too is that they pronounce the shin of the pad to create a little bit more connectivity too as well. So it's connected to the back of the pad a little bit. Keep saying that we're

connected connected. I I feel very connected right now to you. Okay.

Keep going. Goodness. Okay. And changing that bottom calf strap as well. So now feeding through the actual outer calf and wrapping around just to create a little bit more closure to the pad.

I don't wanna say connected again, but we're gonna say connected again. But of course, like all things, there's an adjustability too. So if

you want it to fit a little looser, you still have that ability.

Yes. And that allows you to open that up a little bit more too. So I really like what they've done there. Okay. Boot of the pad.

This part hasn't changed really a whole lot from our shadow line. Again, still a little bit more of that, not that same open boot that you have in the Flylite pad.

Boot

angle is the same? Boot angle is made the same. Relative boot? Flat. Yes.

Still soft boot as well. We wanted that little bit of flexion there.

I'm surprised at the flex. I think of the Supreme line is their stiff line.

We should tough talk about the whole wall. Yeah. Because there's

a lot more flex here than I expected.

Their mid flex points. So what they consider three, there are still two notches higher than this. Right. So again, this is similar to shadow though.

Again, this yeah, shadow and expectations are supreme, is there stiff pad, but this has actually got a fair amount of flex up top. I like this as

a general retail aspect side, as you're selling off of the wall. For example, it's like the consumer, if I give you a two by four, what is that? So if you're specifically looking I'm

playing a two by four.

If you're specifically looking for a pad that stiff, no problem. Again, that's why that custom level exists for sure.

I mean, most pro guys at the NHL level, I mean, that's pretty stock. From the knee up, everything is a lot stiff. Quite a bit so.

For sure. Yeah. But that

doesn't necessarily apply at retail,

so that makes sense. K. Last but not least, again, we still see their new well, what they call it? Like, their kind of version of a hybrid toe elastic system, creating that little bit more of that gap up front. Rubber mounting, so that's the new thing that changed over with the fly light.

Just a little bit more flexible, easier to do up onto your pad and or skate. Yeah.

It's kinda like, it's a nice call out and it's it's got a quality feel and finish

to it. Exactly. Okay. Gloves. 600 brake.

Bauer's version of 600 brake.

Feel like it's funny because I put it on my hand and I watched where that pocket was relative to my hand and I'm like, is this a

580 or for like, the way

it sort of comes up up, not quite over,

but up, but that is their 600. That knife's wide open presence that we found in the shadow, and that kind of really took that glove off. Like, perfect. You're still getting that same overall feel with fuse. Big things that's changed is more so on the backhand with changing how they've done their molded foam on the back.

Damn it, Cam. I know. It's dropped. A bit more better for, like, slash protection in particular. So see how that backhand, this has changed.

It's all one large piece. So again, those sticks coming down and on you, you're getting that extra protection.

Not gonna lie. I felt like I am. Yeah.

Did it hurt, though?

Well, I mean, you know, I'm kinda soft, though. Tidal shoe.

A little bit. A little bit. Other than that, you're still getting those textured finger stalls, which again Yeah.

The feel inside of this glove is noticeable. Just textured finger stalls. It feels like a neoprene wrapped on the top and then there's a material which you will know the name of that I don't on the inside gripping. It's like a rubbery grip material. It's probably on there somewhere.

You gotta read it, don't you?

So the Duraconnect. Duraconnect.

I love when they come up with

full names. Like the double t? Yes. So that's stock stock with the skate lace in the center as a pro feature. Nice looking.

You can

see the pocket on this. Nice and that's a nice big pocket.

One other change from the shadow is a little bit more reinforcement going into the actual tee of the glove itself. So they've added another layer of plastic on both sides of the tee just to create a little bit more rigidity to it, especially long term durability. One of the things we need notice in the shadow is that that did start to break down a little bit and create a little bit of a fold over as you take the glove blocker.

Yeah. It ain't broke. Don't fix it.

Just fuse it with your old one and create the new one. So k. Not too much to go over here. Dirt connect palms, the same material that you find.

Oh, I like to feel that. I like that.

That's a good feel. Dirt. Okay. Well, there you go. Here.

No.

It's not what I was talking about. K. There's rubber in the finger stalls here. That's what I was talking about. Oh, you're talking about grit.

Yes. That's not in Dura Connect. So But the actual Nash type material is cultured. So you were wrong. Actual glove DTC makes its return for those actual finger guard protection.

Again, So those pucks riding up, designed to give you that little bit extra coverage.

You see that green foam? Just kinda barely see it in there.

A little bit more mobile in the thumb. In particular, they added a bit more flexibility to that versus the actual shadow blocker. Other than that, I can't. Hi. Still that same hard punch that Bauer's been really known for in their blockers.

Little speed for her. Same angle as a shadow in that sense. And it's funny because you

mentioned that pop, one of the things we heard with the other line as the face thinned out, that pop was still prevalent in the middle, but you lost it around the perimeter of the blocker. This is a more solid board, not tapered at the corners. My assumption would be you're gonna get more consistency in those rebounds even if you don't push it off the middle of the face. That was one of the issues with the Hyperlite. I'm always messing up.

What's the previous generation of the of the other line? Come on Cam. Help me out. It's early in the morning. Help me out.

Oh my the other line

fly light. There it is. Thank you very much. So it was a little more tapered around the blocker and we heard feedback right up to pro that it just didn't have the same consistency again throughout the face of the blocker that as Cam said Bauer is known for in terms of those active rebounds. You're gonna get that with this.

You can see how the board is more consistent all the way through. It's not tapered around the edges and I think that'll help you with the rebound control. So there we go Cam. At least that's anecdotally what we've been hearing.

Okay. Perfect. Feud it. If you want to order custom, call Yes. Me

Where do they call you?

(604) 589-8299 or 1-800-567-7790 or check us out at the hockeyshop.com.

Bauer Fuse, available in store. As Cam said, custom orders. Hit them up. Any information? Sizing is the same from shadow?

Yes. If you got any questions, make sure you give them a call.

I like the the doughnut on the back. The the the doughnut on the strapping on the back. Little there's a little hole on the back that kinda slides over your calf, and it helps keep your the the the strap up. It's almost like a professor strap up there. I just thought that donut goalie.

The professor

Woody's looking at me strange, but

No. You know what? I I the triangle. I I was thinking this

yeah. Did. Impressed with your attention to detail there.

Yeah. I'm I so am I, Daren, because I saw the triangle, and I never thought of the shape of the hole in the middle of it. Was thinking more of the shape of the triangle. Can a triangle have a can a triangle triangular doughnuts would give you a lot more to chew on.

It's like a Bismarck.

Fit more in a box too.

No. I'm hung now I'm hungry. It's, hey. Did we mention in that segment? I can't remember.

Did we mention that that that Cam was, Cam was Cam appeared on the inaugural edition of off campus in that segment, or is that do we save that one for the next one? I can't remember where in that film session.

Think we mentioned it in there.

Oh, next week, folks, we'll be introducing you to Cam and his it's more than just a cameo. It's more than just a cameo.

Cam. A cameo.

A cameo. Yes. A cameo in the Off Campus. Do you also know another because this is the Hockey Shop Source

for talking about? I don't understand this Off Campus thing.

Off Campus is the new show on on Prime. It's hockey related, off campus, obviously, around based around a college team. It's it's a little steamy, I'm told. Haven't watched it, but Cam

But Cam's in it?

Cam Cam is not in it per se, but he is one of the skaters.

With Cam.

No steam. No. Yeah. Cam's getting

no steam.

Just goals. He's He's one of the goalies. He's one of the extras. See if you can recognize him. Told me it took him six hours to shoot a scene in which he gives up a wraparound goal.

So, folks, if you're watching, you see the wraparound goal, that's our boy Cam in off campus getting lit up. It took him six hours to get lit up. He's normally so good that he wasn't good enough to get scored

enough. Six hours to score on him. If you think about it that way,

that's pretty impressive. It took him six hours to look like a college level goalie trying to get across. No. So yeah. I gotta

He he read the script that and he knew the guy was gonna do a wraparound. Of course, he's gonna stop it.

Exact how would he not? But but on the Off Campus note, because, Daren, there are probably people listening to this podcast who aren't old like us that actually know what off campus is. It was filmed here in Vancouver. There are a number of actual friends of InGoal that appear in it. I helped Dave Tomlinson.

The was working with them, and I can't remember. He's the hockey director, but, like, had a title, finding players, recruiting players. So a number of people that we know, a number of goalies that we know ended up sort of in that, extra role for the on ice scenes. It is because of the relationship with the hockey shop, though, the jerseys, they supplied the jerseys because the Hockey Shop does team sales like no one else. They supplied the jerseys for this show and the exclusive rights to sell the authentic jerseys.

A bunch of knockoffs. This show has taken off, so there's knockoffs on Etsy and Amazon and everywhere. But if you want an authentic off campus jersey, check them out at the hockeyshop.com. They I think they sold a couple 100 after within the overnight online of the first show premiering.

Wow. Yeah. Will Cam sign the jersey for me?

I've I you know what? He probably would, Daren. He's probably gonna charge you, though, because he's that's the kind of guy he is. He's not know?

I get it.

For the kids, maybe.

Matwiv Gotta capitalize on that fifteen minutes.

I don't know if that it was even fifteen seconds, but it was definitely him.

Cam Matwiv, Gear Segment. That's all I want. InGoal.

Thanks to make it happen. No. You got I think we gotta my friend, Daren.

Yes. My pal. Vizual Edge ProReads. Matt Murray this week. How about our friends over at Visual Edge?

Do you want the puck to look like a beach ball? Every goalie has that night here and there where the puck looks huge. I'm imagining Carter Hart probably having those nights right now. You're ahead of every play. You feel calm, patient, in total control.

Then there are the nights where you're 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 is all it takes on your laptop or tablet.

It's what's NHL goalies like Jordan Binnington use to make the game slow down when it matters most. And remember, folks, you can get 10% off using the code InGoal, I n g o a l, all caps. But if you are a member at InGoal, ingoalmag.com, you read our ProReads. On every ProReads, there is a special InGoal member only discount code that will save you double that. So if you're a member, go to any ProReads.

I'm not gonna read it here because that would be giving it away. You will see the member code to get double the discount on Vizual Edge. ProReads is designed to help you read the game better. Vizual Edge will help you see and process it better. It is the perfect combination.

And you know who's really good at reading the game, guys? Matt Murray. I know he didn't play much this year, but when he got in with the Seattle crack and when he was healthy, think he posted a nine twenty two. He played well. And as longtime readers of InGoal know, he is superb at thinking the game.

He actually the two time Stanley Cup winner thinks that's his separating factor, his ability to process. So anytime we have a chance to watch video with him, it is a real treat. If you haven't already and you're an InGoal member, go to the ProReads page, click on Matt Murray because Hutch has created a new great page where you can select by goalie the ProReads and go watch his initial sit down with us. It is nine minutes on screens and how to manage traffic. It is practically a TED talk.

It is the go to on how to manage screens and traffic. So make sure you go check that out. But this week, Daren, breakaways, but not clear cut, not from the blue line in, not even from the hash marks in necessarily. When a guy pulls up at the wall and the far side guy cutting in is behind the d, and so you know you're gonna end up one on one with him, but it's an area pass. Guys floating it off the wall into an area for that guy to skate into below the hash marks, and you're coming across to it.

What decision are you making in terms of depth?

I gotta be honest. I was trying to picture the situation that you're painting more.

Do you need me to do a better job of describing it? Are you are you questioning my ability to describe it?

No. It just takes a while to to set it up.

Need to

get out in my head.

We need to get you on Vizual Edge so you can process the game faster.

So so the guy coming down, he he button hooks.

Yep. Pulls up on the wall, and there's another guy Just

throws it to the middle, and the guy charges center line drive.

Yeah. Like He's cut into the puck. And not even center line drive, more a little backside. So sort of coming down from the, say, inside the dot. But he's gonna catch that puck and be basically on an in tight breakaway from that point on.

And you're pushing across to him.

Depth would be coming over from the sidebar, so I I top the crease at most,

I'm sure.

Okay. So neutral depth, not too aggressive. You don't think you can get out and flow back with him? No. K.

Hutch?

It's happening too fast.

I've seen the ProRead. I edited it.

That's not fair. Okay. So Hutch can't do it. Daren's the one who's gotta on the spot here. Daren, you're right.

Those are great reads. So Matt walks us through the his decision making and the why. You're right about it being too fast. He doesn't take a ton of depth. He's very conservative in this ProReads, but he walks us through the specifics why, what his keys are in terms of whether he targets the post or not with that positioning, and where he believes his exposure is.

And because he's Matt Murray and so darn good at this, he also talks about his height, recognizing that as a bigger goalie, this might be different for other guys compared to him. The importance of five hole closure and and being able to sort of get that sealed where the exposure is. That's I mean, that's the beauty. Like, that's a simple play. Matt spends almost four minutes walking us through it, with video, with descriptions, and sort of helps you not just think about how Matt Murray manages it, but how you might manage it if you're a smaller goalie.

So, that's what you get in ProReads. You get NHL goalies breaking down how they process the game so that you can think through it better yourself. Make sure you check it out as a member of InGoal Magazine at ingoalmag.com.

Good stuff there. What'd you say? Medium depth?

He came a little more conservative than that, but his the the thought process like, he came over to the post, Daren, but he's also six foot four, six foot five. And so he talked about that thought pro but you're right. Not you can't come out and challenge on that one. Or you're not gonna be able to come out, grab ice, and flow back. So if you don't, that guy can pull it the other way on you too.

Just it's happening so quickly. The guy's coming straight to the middle, and you're coming from somewhere. I don't know how you would be able to. I think that was one of my easier boxes right there.

Yeah. It's and you you got it right, so good for you. But, way

more After I after I got it through my head what what the scenario was.

Yeah. Matt did it in real time. And for the record, folks, there are more details. So Daren didn't just give it away. There are a lot that like, just because it's Matt Murray, he thinks it through and explains it.

Like I said, not just as Matt Murray, but understanding that a smaller goalie might play it differently and sort of allowing for that and explaining it a bit. That's I mean, we I hope Matt Murray he's a free agent this summer. I hope there's a contract out for him because I want an excuse to to do more ProReads with him. He's one of the best.

You know, if we were on YouTube, you could have got out your whiteboard and I get diagram at play.

If we were on

YouTube beginning part because all ProReads begin with showing the save. Yeah. And and challenge you to think through what you would do in that situation. Yeah. We could show some of it and have people thinking about it.

And we wouldn't need

a we wouldn't need a whiteboard, Daren. My forehead pretty much works.

See? Pete Fry's gonna be mad at you.

Yep. Come on, Woody.

That's that's another one.

My paleness has nothing to do with my ability to stop Pete.

Just let me grab my phone here. I just gotta get into my contacts and Pete's gonna be an emergency intervention.

Parent Playbook

Stop It Goaltending U the app parent segment. Before we get to Hutch, the folks over at Stop It Goaltending U doing some great work.

Do you wanna have twenty five years of NHL goalie experience? Goalie coaching experience even at your fingertips? You wanna tap into the goalie parenting expertise that helped Joey Daccord reach the NHL? That's what you get with a subscription to the Stop It Goaltending U app. All the knowledge from Brian Daccord has been an NHL goalie coach, scout, and director, as well as the insights and expertise from his staff at Stop It, which includes a long list of veteran NCAA coaches, all delivered in easy to digest chunks, including five short daily primers, weekly style analysis, breakdown videos, and drills that you can take onto the ice with your team and coach.

Plus, you get a subscription to InGoal Magazine included. So check it out on the App Store or Google Play and get the best of both worlds with a subscription to Stop It Goaltending U, the app, and a subscription to InGoal Magazine. Hutch.

Let's talk about summer, and let's start with something that's gonna feel, I don't know, for some people, counterintuitive. Your goalie probably doesn't need to be on the ice every week. I know. I know. That's tough for a lot of people.

Every other kid out there seems to be signed up for something and your group chat is going talking about all the different things people are doing. You see Instagram posts, Facebook posts, and in the back of your head, you're hearing, if he's not working, he's falling behind. Here's what I want you to hear. A break is not falling behind. Kevin talked about it today earlier with Jakub Dobes and how he has been a little bit more thoughtful about how he uses his time in the summer.

A break is the work. The mental and physical grind of a hockey season takes a real toll. Rest is not laziness. It's recovery. It's letting the body consolidate everything it's learned.

Goalies who come back from a genuine off season are almost always hungrier, more focused, and more coachable in the fall. Now, one good camp, maybe a couple. Absolutely. Find a really good goalie program. Ideally, somebody who's teaching philosophy you've already researched.

The InGoal Coach Directory is a great place to start. If you want to learn about those programs, just head over to ingoalmag.com. Check out the link there. A focused week or two with a great coach can be really, really valuable. But a camp or two is very different from filling every week, June through August with ice time.

And there's one thing I gently push back on specifically, the player development sessions so many people run. And they need you so they call. We know you want to stay involved. We know you want to have your kids seen by different coaches, but putting a goalie in front of a bunch of players who were just trying to rip pucks, that is not development. That's just target practice.

Your goalie is not a prop for a skater session. Now that said, if your association runs something and skipping it entirely puts you on the wrong side of the politics, well, play the game a little, show up, be visible, be a good community member. Relationships definitely matter in minor hockey and everywhere in hockey. Burning bridges over a summer skate isn't worth it. Just don't mistake participation for preparation.

So give yourself and your goalie permission to step back from the ice a little. Fill that time then with something better. Get them outside, get them moving, but it doesn't have to be in a crease. Baseball, tennis, fitness programs, even one specific for goalies. You've heard us talk about pickleball.

What a great one that wasn't around when I was playing, especially for us beer league guys. Mental reps matter too. Few sessions with a tool like NHL Sense Arena or Vizual Edge, working on your tracking, decision making, cognitive work, those can keep your neural pathway sharp without any physical wear. Think of it as keeping your brain tuned between, you know, between reps, low effort, genuine benefit. And then here's something that doesn't get said enough.

Family time, hikes, bike rides, a trip somewhere, sitting around the fire. These things matter more than we give them credit for. A kid who feels connected, rest, and loved, not defined entirely by their performance and goal is a much more resilient athlete, full stop. Hang out with your friends. Don't have to be hockey friends, just friends.

Do silly things. Do fun things. Have a summer. The goalies who burn out, they usually get there because summer stopped being summer, because the pressure never let up, because someone often with the best of intentions decided the rest was a risk. Rest is not risk.

Rest is part of the plan. So this summer, find a good camper to show up when it matters, then put away the gear, hand them a glove, a racket, take them on a hike, let them sleep in, and when September comes, watch how they skate onto the ice like they actually wanna be there.

I wanna be there. What's what's wrong with with being a target? I keep hearing that that it you just don't wanna be out there being a target.

Well, first off, a lot of guys just hate it and that creates the burnout right there because they can be really miserable sessions, especially when they're, you know, goalie drills where the guys are absolutely ripping from about six feet out or less. So they can be a miserable experience for a lot of goalies who feel like they need to be there because you're not seeing the same scenarios that you see in games. So you're not learning game reads, you're just learning practice reads. And and you've heard Woody go off many a time about how practices aren't friendly to goalies. Well, skill sessions that people run, go double.

And would say, like, we used to rant about this a fair bit, and and doesn't mean you never do it. Part of especially in season, part of your as Hutch mentioned, if the association needs you out there, there are times, yes, in season, it's part of the job. Like, you can't just skip it all the time. And you can find things in drills that aren't goalie friendly. Like, it doesn't mean you just give up.

If you're in your your your team session, team environment, and you've got these not goalie friendly drills, you can't just get mad at it. Find something you can take out of it. That's one thing we've come around on and and stressed a fair bit over the years. Sure. But like Dobes said, don't wanna just be out there endlessly being a target.

I actually had this conversation with as our feature guest coming up, Joshua Ravensbergen, about how much he's on the ice. And, obviously, being out in the North Shore, there are some incredibly skilled professional hockey players at the North Shore Of Vancouver, North Vancouver right now. Think of the Bedards and the Celebrinis and all these guys. And I think he made a comment, same kind of thing, trying to find that balance. You know, if he likes to go to three on three skates and and more of a shinny environment, but understanding that too much of it, you can start to build bad habits.

If it's just all backdoors, backdoors, backdoors, and you start cheating because you have to to make a save against in in that space, in shooters, that elite. And that's where you have to find that balance. But I gotta tell this story share this story that he mentioned because he was skating with Celebrini because they're obviously they're both San Jose Sharks. But Celebrini, this is a this to me says a lot about who he is as a cat or as a he's not is he the captain yet or future captain or whatever he is? Like, he checks in with young draft pick, yet pro going to college, Joshua Ravensbergen during these skates to make sure that it's not too far to one side, that they haven't tipped the scale to the point where it's doing nothing for him as a goaltender.

He actually asks the goalie, and he'll do drills for the goalie on top of the stuff that's for the shooters. And I thought that said so much about Celebrini. And maybe as a goalie, it's okay if you're in these sessions to say, hey, Like, can I get a little time for me? Or, hey. We've we've crossed the line here on on on stuff that actually works for both of us now.

Yeah. Between between shots. Right?

Right.

A chance to reset.

Or even scenarios. Right? Like, if if you as shooters are spending hours taking shots you will not get with time and space you will not get once during a season. Are you actually working on something that applies to your game or to the game? And that's like it it works both ways.

And I know skill work. There are skill elements in there that that can have a benefit because the application is not always at the end a shoot and score scenario, and it's the buildup to that. But putting shooters in an environment that's not realistic to the game is every bet as detrimental to them as it is to the goaltender. Right? So that conversation about having it both ways, I think, matters.

Go back to something. It's been a while since we've discussed this, I think, but that concept of, you should probably only have so many butterflies in your practice week season, talking about limiting the number of butterflies a young goaltender can use in a season, for health reasons, much like pitch counts in baseball. Where do you want to spend that budget of butterflies? Do you want to spend it in one of these skill sessions just mindlessly going through reps or do you want to send it spend it in purposeful sessions with a goaltending coach with a a good practice that set up for everybody's benefit, maybe every now and then need to be a little bit selfish with how you're gonna spend your time for your own health.

Sounds to me like you're talking practice goalies.

See, I've never been the I've never been a three doesn't go into two kinda guy, but

Oh, I love it. So yeah.

Before we slide over to our NHL Sense Arena feature interview, congratulations to the PWHL, champions, from Montreal.

Montreal, Ann-Renee Desbiens, a friend of the show, as well as Sandra Abstreiter, friend of the show. Just enjoyed the playoffs. They were great. We had a couple of articles caught up with Ann-Renee Desbiens, and Sandra on the eve of the playoffs. And a couple of articles, the advice that Ann-Renee had for other goalies heading into the playoffs and the mindset.

And there's a couple different articles up at InGoalmag, including understanding that you don't need to do more in the playoffs, that that that you've worked so hard during the the year that your average you, the you that you are in a game in, game out basis is enough. And and sort of that mindset that she took into the playoffs was kinda cool to have her share that with us on the eve of the final game of the regular season and then see her carry that through and win the Walter Cup and hoist the Walter Cup. So congratulations to all involved. Hoping to have their goalie coach on the show here in the next little while as well. Another great season of PWHL hockey is wrapped up.

Worthy champions, a fantastic goaltender hoisting the trophy, and a lot of questions as expansion looms and expansion drafts loom about who's gonna be where as the league continues to grow. Exciting times.

Yeah. Big opportunity with the four franchises coming into the league. Huge. So, yeah, eight more jobs as as goaltender and and backup or tandem and maybe practice goalie.

I was just gonna say, you know what the PWHL does that the NHL is moving towards? They have three goalies constantly year round every game on the road so they don't run into an e bug situation. And quite often, that third goalie, especially as we head into a practice draft, teams will find a third goalie. They won't play much in that first year, but if they lose somebody on that expansion draft, they know what they have in that. Like, it's a stepping stone to that next opportunity.

And as these opportunities grow, I would not be surprised to see some of those current thirds step into backup roles next season with the team they're on.

The thirds don't dress, though, like college.

Not not for the game. No. I don't believe they dress for the game.

Because college hockey, the thirds dress.

But for but if somebody gets hurt, they're in there right away.

Thirds dressing is always makes me laugh. I don't know why. I shouldn't laugh. At least at least you're involved. Beats sitting upstairs.

Right?

Popcorn's popcorn's a little tougher to

I would not wanna have to put my gear on for a game I've got no hope of getting into. I just some somebody who's done it and does it and supports it, send me a note podcast at InGoalmag.com. I would love to know why somebody likes that. Except maybe in like a big championship game or something. You know how for the bowl games and football, they'll have a 100 guys dressed in their gear?

Sure. Cause you want to be out there and celebrate when you're at this big moment. But Friday night game in the middle of the season, I don't know why I would want to do that.

Need a door opener. Actually, it's not there's barely

one I got a lot of practice at that. I'm gonna leap back up.

My the my best skill is d. Need a d. Two. Two.

Mine was more like, Hutch, wake up. Open the door. Open the door.

You get those those benches where the gate wouldn't open and guys are just yelling at you. Like, I got PTSD.

Learn how to hop the boards.

Go back. There's a rink that I that I grew up playing in that only had one door in Wawanesa, Manitoba. One door Wow. In the the bench.

Was it inside the blue line or at the middle?

It was Oh,

those rinks where they're inside. That's crazy.

Gosh. I I would think that it would have been in the neutral zone, but that's a good point. One one door and it's in the in the in the zone. Yeah.

It's a bit of a recipe for disaster.

Our NHL Sense Arena feature interview coming up right now. Sense Arena with a lot of great things happening, Hutch.

Absolutely. And if you've got a young goalie at home, this one is genuinely worth hearing. We are still in goalie month, and NHL Sense Arena is making it count. They've got prizes. They've got new content dropping.

And right now, they're giving away a signed Joey Daccord jersey. Joey was one of the first elite level goalies to fully embrace VR training. He's been using NHL Sense Arena to supplement his on ice work for years. This is a chance to bring a piece of that home, head to their social channels for details on how to enter, and keep an eye in your inbox too. They've got more surprises coming through the end of the month.

Now here's the thing I actually wanna tell you about because it ties directly into the stuff that we've been talking about today. NHL Sense Arena just dropped the NHL goalie drill collection. 12 drills built from real training routines of NHL goalies, including Joey Daccord with the Seattle Kraken and goalies from the Utah Mammoth and Calgary Flames. These are pro inspired reps available right from home inside the app. You can run a few reps.

You can stay sharp. You can be ready. The NHL goalie drill collection is live now inside NHL Sense Arena. And don't forget, goalie month is still going. Get on their socials, get involved, and get your name in for that Daccord jersey.

There will also be an InGoal Magazine hat given away this week. Not quite the Joey Daccord signed jersey, but maybe we'll get Daren Millard to scribble his name on this one should you so choose. To my pal. To my pal. Daren Millard.

Love Cam. Make it a a Cam off campus signature. There we go. That'll have value.

See? See, we're we're we're adding to the the the benefits of listening to InGoal Radio, the podcast, including our NHL Sense Arena feature interview this week.

Feature Interview - Joshua Ravensbergen

With Joshua Ravensbergen. So if you don't know, we do it in the introduction, but first round pick of the San Jose Sharks Coming off, another I was gonna say third year with Prince George cougars, headed to play at Michigan State next season, so headed the NCAA route. We talk about a lot of different things. We talk about what it's like to not be drafted into the WHL. And then a few years later find yourself drafted in the NHL.

We talk about the work that went into that, about the wake up call of not being drafted. We talk about the time he's gotten to spend with Ryan Miller, who as a development staffer with the San Jose Sharks has made several trips up to see Joshua in Prince George. Not a not a short trip from California either as I've talked to Ryan about. We get into everything, some of his early inspirations, some of the people that influenced him along the way. So I think you will enjoy this, especially young goalies who wanna follow in his footsteps.

Some great advice on the goalies that he would look not just up to, but at closely in terms of can I find things in their game to help me? And it wasn't always the NHL. So stay tuned for that and more with Joshua Ravensbergen. Really excited to welcome to the InGoal Radio Podcast, Joshua Ravensbergen of the San Jose Sharks first round draft pick last year. Prince George Cougars headed to the NCAA next season.

First off, just season's over winding down. I wanted to start with where you're at and how you approach an offseason. We have lot of guys that dig right in. Some guys feel like they need to get that separation from the game. Where do you fit on that one?

Yeah. I five for me. I like them back. I usually get myself two or three weeks off and kinda start getting back into things whenever I feel like I need to get on the ice. But sometimes some years I tell myself, oh, I'm gonna take three or four weeks, and then I get bored and skate after two weeks.

But I I just like skating because it gives me something to do in the summer.

What does it what does it look like for you in the summer? Like, do you divide it up to like, do you go out and have some fun, or are you right into goalie drills? How do you sort of break down that approach to the off season? And I know it's gonna evolve here as you become a pro.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Like, it's changing every year. When I was younger, like, 18, you 17, I remember I just skate as much as I could.

Like, whatever ice was invited out to, I go. But now a little more structure. Like, I'll start first couple weeks really just gating and working on technique and then slowly add shooters and really just keep a technique based, like, this first bit of summer and then get more and more advanced as the summer goes on. But especially for me this fall season, I think I'm more focused on the strength size. I feel like that's something I need to improve.

Just getting stronger overall, stronger core. Just a little more explosive. So trying to keep it to two or three ice times a week right now and focus more in the gym.

Goalie skates with a goalie coach, or do you just get out there? Like, have you we've had some guys, you know, Connor talk about right around the age you are now going out to public skate and do increased movement patterns. Is yours a little more structured? Do you play any shinny summer hockey, or or are you wary of sometimes that can get a little too unstructured for goalies. Where where do you fall on that?

I'll try to do one or two goalie skates and then K. Get invited out to go to a winter club here. There are some good skates there, and there's usually some open ice. The summers, I'll just go go there too and mess around with some friends or it sucks because the ice has been taken out a lot of places this summer. But past summers, that's what I do.

Spend a lot of time, just open ice. Then you can run your own drills, play some machinny, do whatever you want. It's a lot of fun.

Okay. So Joshua Ravensbergen is running his own drills. At this stage, what drills are you setting up?

It's kinda whatever you feel like you need to work on. Like, player walking in from just above the blue line, just tracking down the wall. That's what I was doing a lot last summer. Felt like it's off the rush place that I need to get better at. So I was working on that, keeping my posture good, then you could run two on ones to do that.

I like player just walk around the top of the circles, and you just stay with them. Because being a tall taller goalie, I feel like I need to grow my body a little bit more, and you just gotta keep up with your strength and fight to keep up with the player too, which can be a little harder. I do that quite a bit. And then lot a lot of breakaways too because those are a lot of fun to end up skate with.

Okay. So I don't wanna put you in the spot of being a goalie coach, but is the goalie coach mindset like, it's not you're you're setting yourself up for tough shots there. That then important to not to make it too easy and some skilled shooters and sort of ramping up the difficulty even in the off season. And then the the second part of that is when you talk about the unstructured stuff, so just going out there and having fun and having a skate, is there a benefit to that? Like, to to sort of get out there and just turn off the structure at times and compete?

Yeah. Yeah. I think a 100%. Like, you gotta you gotta be a goalie too sometimes. That's what I feel anyways.

You gotta be able to read the game and not rely on your structure all the time. Like, there are lots of times in games where you just have to be a lot athletic, read the play, and kinda go with your gut. So well, yeah, whenever you get out there and just play in the chaining, you have a lot of fun with your friends, and and it helps your game too as long as it doesn't get too sloppy, which it can at times. But as long as you're just being aware of that and, you know, go in till you start developing some bad habits or getting a little sloppy, then it's usually fun.

Yeah. If everything is past, past, past, and you you start to cheat a little bit after a certain amount of time, that can become habitual. But it sounds like you have a really nice balance in terms of your approach and being aware of that. Where does that where does that come from? Is that internal?

Are there coaches that have helped you get to that point along the way in terms of understanding the need for both things?

I think just just when I was younger, I didn't get much coaching. So it was more just getting on the ice. It wasn't as structured. And then so I'd have that side of it. And then the last couple years, you know, I got a lot more opportunity to work with a lot of good goalie coaches.

And then, you know, they tell me the things that they think I need to work on too, and then I see it as well and then add in the structure as well.

So let's rewind a little bit, go back to origin story. You talked about sometimes you gotta just be a goalie. How did you become a goalie? What led you to it?

I remember just playing road hockey with my cousins when I was really young, and that was kinda what got me into hockey. And then I think I started age three or age four. I don't know if know if that's what it's called anymore. But, obviously, like, you split your first year, but I remember just hated waiting in lines and practice as a player. I just like getting shot after shot.

It gave me something to do. I think that's kinda why I became a goalie.

Okay. And so were there I mean, you're still playing at that age, obviously. Influences long way or any like, what about guys that you looked up to? Were was did you hit a point where it's like you're watching the NHL or watching a local junior team and where you went from, it's just hockey to, I'm watching a little bit what this guy's doing. Were there was there anybody, you know, posters on the bedroom wall, guys you tried to emulate growing up?

Growing up, not as much. I remember doing a goalie camp when I was younger. I probably was second year Adam or that'd be second year u 11. I don't really know what's called anymore. But they're talking about thoughts of making the NHL as some motivational speaker.

And I remember just feeling super inspired from that. Was like, oh, I wanna make the NHL, and that kinda got me going. And then whatever level, like, I was going up to next, I find that I always watch the goalies at that level. Like, I remember going to Northwest Hawks, U18 games. I'd watch their goalies, and then when I got there, and then I'd watch a lot of videos to, like, dub goalies.

I try to find as many as I could of them skating because my skating was a focus at that point in U18. And so I'd watch a lot of that and then get to the dub. And then I start watching, like, AHL goalies and the NHL ones, and I've been watching a lot more now because it's kinda like next next step for where I wanna be.

So you didn't start like, hey. Like, start at a young goalie looking at the you were always looking at the guys that were at that next I love that mindset. Anybody that stands out from your time watching the dub?

Like, Those were the guys that was watching when I was, like, a year year out kinda the guys that were gonna be in their spot in a year or two. And, yeah, I just try to find Instagram clips or really anything I could find of big drills they're doing in the summer, kinda what they look like, how fast they're skating, kinda see what I needed to get to.

Love that. I love that. Coaching influences along the way. Because as you said, not not much when you were younger. There must have been a point where the technical part, there were people sort of pointing you in the directions where it wasn't just Instagram clips.

Who were some of the influences we can give a shout out to?

Yeah. Sean Murray, he did a lot for me when I was younger. That guy's always he was kinda my first goalie coach. I remember North Van Minor, he'd come out once a week, maybe. And he was also, like, one of the first people.

I remember he came up to me in PeeWee, so it'd be youth 13, I think. And I remember asking me, like, how much I like the game because he thinks I could play far, go far. And he was always a big believer in me, and he got me or got me an opportunity with PG too. So I

was gonna say, I thought I thought I read that he was influential because you weren't drafted in the WHL, and he helped you get up to Prince George Cougar. Obviously, we miss Sean every day here in

the Yeah.

The Lower Mainland. You know, that what was that like, that experience going from undrafted to getting that opportunity? There's a lot of pressure sometimes around the WHL draft. How'd you manage that, especially when your name wasn't called back then? It doesn't matter now, but in the moment, that can be tough as a kid.

Yeah. Yeah. I remember being pretty pissed off, but I think it was a good thing overall because it kinda opened my eyes to how hard you have to work in the summer. I kinda treated that summer, like, my opportunity to get better after that. Skated as much as I could.

I was working out pretty consistently every day. Like, I didn't do a lot other than hockey that summer. And from there, I went on to have a good U18 year and then took what I learned from that summer and then was able to go up to PG and make it out of camp.

What, what do you remember of that camp experience? And and maybe more so, Josh, your mindset going into it. Because there's gonna be a lot of young goalies that'll listen to this. You're you're first round draft pick in the National Hockey League right now, not drafted into the WHL. There are kids right now at junior camps, tryouts, things like that.

How did you manage the pressure of that first chance in PG that allowed you to not just make the team, but have the success you did?

Yeah. I remember, like, I didn't I didn't do that well in camp, actually. Like, I've had people telling me, like, I've heard yeah. People told me that they're thinking of cutting me right after camp. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what I heard.

And then after we got into camp or past, like, training camp and got an exhibition, I was thinking, like, god. I could just do what I could do. And if I'm not doing hockey, like, it'll it'll be okay. Kinda not putting as much pressure on myself, and then I was able to have a good exhibition. And I think I had, like, six shout outs to my first 12 or 13 starts, something like that.

Yeah. It was a it was a pretty good year. Pretty pretty darn good year for for, you know, especially being as young as you were at the time and and with a a guy we've had on the podcast before and know really well, Ty Ty Young alongside you.

Yeah. Yeah. It was the yeah. It was a lot of fun stuff there in the league you always wanted to be in. And, he was a great great guy to watch and practice too, and I told draft your goalie, kinda where where I wanted to be.

And he's a great guy as well, so it was good learning off him.

Advice for younger goalies? I mean, saying take care of your body, but is it just making sure you're stretched out, you're doing your dynamic work before every practice, after every skate? What what how would you for another young goalie that's hoping to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you give them on how to make sure your body's prepared for a season like that?

Yeah. Before every ice, to roll out, do a little dynamic. And then after ice, like, a little cool down, especially after games. I didn't do that at first, but really cool down after games. So you're able to sleep at night because sometimes you're be pretty jacked up.

And then I try to, when I get home, stretch at home as well pretty much after every practice day.

That's something that what yeah. Okay. So that's something that maybe you didn't know coming into it.

Yeah. Yeah. I didn't stretch as often as I should and caught up to me.

You were young. You could it probably didn't hurt at the end of the end of those things like it does when we get old.

Yeah. Exactly.

Moving into your draft here. There was obviously a lot of attention on you. That can become a pressure point as well. How did you manage that? How did you manage to play as well as you did with that extra focus perhaps on your game?

And, again, we got a lot of young kids that wanna pull you know, wanna follow in your footsteps. Advice for them on how to manage a draft year.

I think you really have to get it in your head that it doesn't matter. It really it really doesn't matter where you go. Like, I was in draft for the job. I mean, draft for first round of the NHL, but I'm not not there yet. So at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter, and you just gotta take it day by day and keep finding things to improve on, you know, and just let everything work out.

That can be easy to say. Can were there moments where it was tough to do?

Oh, it was it was very tough to do. Like, for me, like, I don't think my head was in a great spot per se in my draft year. Felt like I battled through parts of it, and I was learning a lot that year too just on the ice. So my style play was changing. So there are lots of things in my life that are changing, but I think I definitely could have done a better job with it just putting it to the side and just really trying to go out and enjoy hockey.

And, you know, there's always always other roads, and there are many different paths. Everybody has their own path and not folk focus about it or overthink about it too much.

So your game's changing, you say. In a key year for you, you're is that part of just the natural progression you trying to continue to get better? Looking back at it, do you is there any sense of, well, maybe I shouldn't have tried to change so much in such an important year, or is it just all growth mindset? And maybe give us an example of some of the things you were having to adjust in your game as you went through the WHL, you know, year after year as part of that evolution?

Yeah. Like, my first year coming from UAT, and I was really aggressive, and it was something that had to change in the long run. So I didn't really have that much of a choice. So I draft here, like,

Positionally, just, like, out were were you an out early in retreat guy off rush?

Yeah. Yeah. Especially for my size. Like, I was probably three feet or more outside of my crease for every rush. And so for going my size, like

That's a lot of moving parts.

Yeah. Hopefully, when I do get to pro, like, that just won't work when it gets faster. So that's something I did have to change. And, yeah, I had to dial it back and not be so aggressive off the rush, kinda dress outside the crease depending on the play, but it was a it definitely was a big change for me.

Any other things that you had to change? Like, put, like, positional. I mean, that's common. Right? To have to sort of change your depth management, play a little more conservatively as you move up the ranks.

Were there any other things? You talked about being a big goaltender. I've you know, I think draft year listed at six five. I've seen you listed at six six now. That's a long way to get a big body down to the ice.

We see a lot of goalies trying to narrow their stance. The longer your legs are, the harder that can be to do. You know, some of those different things, how have you had to make adjustments over the years?

Yeah. Exactly. Like, it is different. It can be challenging, especially when you're growing. Like, just even the muscle memory from your glove position, blocker position, just on shots, like, everything's off a little bit, and you have to get it recalibrated, I guess.

And just always playing around with my stance, like, still improving to this day. I just keep playing around with my hands, how far apart they are, and my stance levels, and where you wanna be on each shot type. And, yeah, there's just so many little parts to it.

A lot of play reading by the sounds of it. Like like, where you wanna be, how you wanna be set up in your stance can depend on what you're facing. A lot of video involved in terms of learning to read the play?

More just watching Hockey. I feel like that's probably the best for goalies to practice it, in my opinion anyways. Like, I watched a lot when I was younger. I've been trying a lot of watch or watch a lot of playoffs this year, not even watching the goalies, but just watching players' tendencies. And then you can kinda pick up on things, and it seems to happen more easily in a game where you're able to pick up on certain situations.

And I'd say that's was that a big one for me.

So when you're watching the playoffs right now, you're watching through a very goalie specific lens?

Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying, especially on the power plays, just seeing all the options and one tees and kinda play like I'm in that in my head.

The patterns of the game. There are lot of goalie coaches listening right now that are are smiling widely because we've heard this at InGoal a lot. And a lot a lot of the guys right up to the NHL feels feel like goalies just don't watch enough hockey. They'll watch the YouTube clips. They'll watch the highlight, but the patterns of the game and the way it evolves, they feel like guys just don't watch enough of that.

Is that conscious effort, or just like you said, just something you've always done?

Yeah. Like, growing up, you know, you love hockey. You wanna watch as much as possible. Like, I remember Saturday night hockey in Canada, so I was watching that. And then as you get older, I think more of a conscious effort, you know, try to watch as many NHL games as you can when you have time during the season or even other games in your league.

That's kinda what I was trying to do. And then there are times where you feel like you need a little break from hockey once you get back from the rink, but I think it is good to try to watch a game every here and then see what you can learn from it.

So you're just putting it all up in the the mental savings up here? Do you write any of it down? We've seen some guy a member of Thatcher Demko telling us when he was younger, used to make notes as he watched games.

Yeah. I've never made any notes. Maybe I could be doing that, but more just watching for now.

It's all just it's all just up up up and and stored up mentally. What was the draft like for you? San Jose calls your name. You're part of the National Hockey League. I know you've had this question a lot before, but what kind of emotions go through your mind?

And then what are the next steps immediately once you sort of get through the celebration part? It's usually dev camp pretty quick. You're introduced to some new coaches, some longtime friends of ours, guys like Ryan Miller of Jenny in that organization. What What do you remember most? Let's start with draft night.

Yeah. Yeah. It was unbelievable. You know, you're sitting there sitting there for a while. I think it took four or five hours to get to my pick.

It was a slow it was a slow draft.

Yeah. Yeah. It was a slow draft. Just feeling a relief knowing that you have a team that wants you, and then calling the GM and then going to dinner with my parents and my adviser and a bunch of other people. That was really cool too.

And then it was a quick really quick turnaround at dev camp. I think next morning or afternoon, I was out of there back to Vancouver, pick up my stuff, then down to San Jose, and then just meeting everybody. Goalie coaches, yeah, like you said, and Abby and Miller, they're great. Enjoy working with them.

Did you ever get do you ever watch like, Ryan played in Vancouver? I don't I mean, I'm trying to think you wouldn't have been in Prince George yet, so you would have been in town. Were you ever a Ryan Miller guy? Did ever watch him play?

I don't know if I ever watched him play. I probably was at the game, but, yeah, I remember when he played for Vancouver. He'd probably have a hockey card of his, and Abby's maybe lying around. I used to collect when I was a kid.

What what kind of kind of advice do get from them?

Miller is he actually come up he's come up a lot quite a bit last season, so that's been really nice. His big thing with me was posture. Just keep on working with my posture, and we spent a lot of time on that in glove positioning. Just showing showing more body to the shooters. That's what he wants to have me working on a lot, like, not as much net.

Because I think I saw somebody from some shooting coach, like, as a player can't see as much net. There's, like, a very high percentage chance that he won't score, something like that.

K. I

don't know if I worded it very well. But

No. No. I know what you mean. Like, if it if it looks like there's nothing there, there's a there's a chance, I mean, they'll miss the net entirely. Right?

They they feel like they have to be perfect. That's a if you feel like they gotta be perfect, you've won that battle.

Yeah. Whereas if they see a little bit in that, they're way more likely to hit that spot. So

So how like, at six foot six, depending on how you hold yourself, you can you know, I mean, we we had this we had six foot nine Cooper Black on the podcast recently.

Yeah.

And, you know, he talked about if his glove's at his waist or at his shoulder, it's not even in the net. At six six, when you talk about presentation and sort of your stance and your setup and your posture, what are some of the keys to you? Maybe another young goalie who's who's blessed with that size is listening right now. How do you how do you look at that, and how has that changed under under Miller's tutelage?

Yeah. Yeah. Because being taller, you know, it can can be a gift. It's not everything, but you can feel a lot more in that sometime. So I think just putting yourself in a position, you know, where you're strong enough.

Like, I had to work on core a lot this year just to have my chest in the right position, be a little a little more upright so I could have access to my hands and be able to get to pucks instead of kind of falling down collapsing because my straw wasn't or my core wasn't strong enough on the release. I felt like that's something that helped me a lot.

So you were sorta getting that chest angle a little too forward and the hands pulled back a little bit before?

Or not even that. Just had to get my chest forward. And when I dropped, I felt like my core wasn't strong enough that I kinda collapsed and just everything would come down. It'd be hard to get my hands back up.

I gotcha. Yeah. That makes sense.

Yeah. Sorry. That's another advice for young goalies because I never really thought core was that important till a year ago. I don't know why, but I never started training it till last season. And I found out something that has helped me a lot.

What does that mean to you to have a guy like Ryan Miller, you know, one of the most decorated American goaltenders in in the history of the game, flying into Prince George just to to see you, to talk to you, to work on your game with you, and what are those conversations like? As and just as an aside, we're huge Ryan Miller fans here at InGoal. So

Yeah. It's been unreal. He's been he's been great. I think I think he came up four, five times, I

think. So,

yeah, it's really cool just to even talk to him about his playing days. There's some really cool stories and just his experience because obviously an unreal career. So it's a privilege to learn from him.

Has he talked to you about equipment yet?

Equipment. Yeah. He went he had really preferences. You know, he'd, yeah, go through gear in Vancouver, I think it was, when everything was changing. Yeah.

We've we've talked about his gear before.

He hasn't he hasn't, like, taken your gear home and stitched any new pieces into it when you weren't looking? He's the guy that used to do all his own stuff with his gear.

No. Yeah. Yeah. That's what he was telling me. Yeah.

Because his gear's changed, and he's in Vancouver. Yeah, he'd do his own no adjustments, but, you know, all my gears would stay so far.

Changing out his own blocker boards. I've seen it all. It's awesome stuff. Do you think is it important to to I mean, maybe not to the degree that Ryan did it, but to have an understanding of how your gear moves and performs and what you can expect out of it as a goaltender. Like, sometimes some guys are some guys are, like, nth degree like Ryan was, and some guys are like, just send me whatever, and I'll wear it.

Is it important to have some understanding of how it's gonna perform and and why?

Yeah. Yeah. I think it is. I think that's something I could get better at too, honestly. I've never really been a big gear guy.

I've kind of just worn what I've had available.

Okay.

But I think it is important to know, you know, what suits you best, what will kinda attribute to your skills, because there are a lot of different models and brands out there. And every pad, glove blocker, chest protector is a little bit different and can tailor some people more than others. So I think it is something that everyone should have a decent understanding about anyways.

Okay. So you finish your WHL career as the all time leader in wins for the Prince George cougars, which is a pretty big deal. And you get your own bobblehead, which is the bigger deal. I don't know. Lot of dumb guys who get their own bobblehead, man.

That's pretty cool.

Yeah. Bobblehead was pretty cool. Yeah. Right. That's a hard one.

Okay. So please tell me you at least you have one. Right?

Yeah. Yeah. I got one. My parents have one in our place. It's right right by my RV TV, actually.

I love it. I love it. Decision on Michigan State next year. What led you down that path? Obviously, it's a completely changing world out there for for all student athletes, WHL, CHL.

It's all changed. What led you there? Were there other options? Why why'd you pick that spot? Because you're familiar with pressure, but following in the footsteps of Drew Augustine is is also a a degree of pressure.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's that's one of the reasons they've seen that there's a goalie of that caliber there. The chances must be doing something right. My calls with them, their development program just sounds really good.

Their strength guy, I've heard unreal things about them, which is something that I really need to work on my strength off the ice. So I think that'll be really good for me. And, yeah, just all it seems like everything's around development, and they put a huge emphasis on it. So I'm I'm really looking forward to it.

You talked about, you know, working on your skating this summer and working on your strength and posture and all those things. I guess college hockey in a lot of ways is the perfect environment for that because weekend games, we've heard a lot of guys talk about just how more how much work goes into the gym versus in the dub, especially from Prince George. So much travel, so much bus ride.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Like, four or five days a week to workout compared compared to PG or on the bus for weeks at a time, and it's hard. Sometimes it's really hard to fit stuff in your schedule and especially when you're playing a lot.

You gotta rest and recover and get ready for the next game as well. So there's not as much time in the gym as you would get to school. So that's something I'm definitely excited for because that's what I need right now anyways, I feel.

When do you head down? What does the rest of the summer look like? And by the way, I almost forgot. Congratulations too. WHL goalie of the year, Del Wilson award.

We've talked to a lot of guys over the years that have won that, like Carter Hart and Dustin Wolf and a lot of big names. That's a that's a big accomplishment as well.

Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate it. One of my goals going in the summer and great team this year too, so that definitely helps. But yeah.

Yeah. It was really cool.

So and how does the rest of the summer look? It went like, development camp again, I would assume?

Yeah. Yeah. 50 sharps. Yeah. I got about a month and a half ish left here before dev camp and then go to dev camp, and then I fly into Michigan State first half of semester.

Right away?

Yeah. Right away.

In the gym.

For the rest of the summer. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So in the gym, and, it sounds like they can get goalie coaches to come in and kinda skate with the team as well.

So so I am looking forward to it. I think it think it will be good. Have everything in one place, and it'll be easy to focus on hockey.

Well, first, we're gonna meet you in person, which I look forward to tomorrow at an event at the Hockey Shop Source for Sports out in Langley with Bauer. So the equipment you're wearing right now, I look forward to that. I look forward to staying in touch as your career moves forward and watching you develop into an NHL goaltender. Josh, this has been really fun. Thank you so much for taking the time today.

Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it.

Outro

I like him. Yeah. I didn't know him before that interview and then obviously meeting him at the, at the Bauer Fuse event at the Hockey Shop, and I was very impressed with the young man. So, exciting things, exciting times ahead for him. A lot of pressure heading to Michigan State next year where he replaces Drew Augustine, who has been an outstanding NCAA goaltender for several years now, and but something he embraces.

So looking forward to following his path. And I also loved his talk about sort of the summer skates and and the guys that he's training with and how he manages that balance between compete and structure. So lots of great things. I think that's gonna be the first of many with us and Joshua.

So his path junior to to NCAA is sort of a way that's that's supposed to work.

The new way, I guess. Yeah. I I I mean, I think we're all sort of figuring that out. Right?

Just just gives you a little bit

It gives him more time. Yeah. It gives him more time. Right? Because

Gives the organization more time. They don't have to take up a spot, to a goaltender that's that's still developing. Like, there's just

And and WHL teams don't CHL teams don't tend to keep 20 year old goaltenders, this would have been his 20 year old season. So his option previously would have been to turn pro. And, you know, he talked about NCAA as a path now. He's gotta work on the physical right now. He's focused a lot on strength, and and you get that.

We know you get that in the NCAA. Games on weekends, in the gym all week, that's that's the bridge. That's the next step.

Wonder what the we'll have to touch base with them to see how much of an adjustment it is because we always hear about going from college to pro and and playing every day instead of just on weekends. Although the American Hockey League is a weekend, basically. What what adjustment that is, I wonder what it's like going from playing having a fluid schedule to just basically on weekends.

Well, there's gonna be a lot less buses. I'll tell you that, especially playing in

Prince George. Especially for him.

But back to backs every week if you're if you're playing all the time, if you're the number one guy.

Yeah. But, I mean, a lot of WHL stuff was a lot of back to backs and three on threes on weekends. No, Hutch?

Big time. Yep. Yep. Three on three, four and five sometimes.

With travel sometimes.

Mhmm. There's three and threes in the Western League.

Yep. Yeah. And there's four and fives. And, but and Joshua would have had as tough a travel schedule as anybody. Their closest competitor is something like six hours away.

Kelowna.

Yep. Kamloops, one of the other.

Right. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there's no easy trips where some teams can just sort of I mean, a couple hours is relatively around the corner.

Good stuff today, guys. Like the the discussion off the top. Not not crazy about some of the takes that that Woody was offering up, but we'll get past that.

The judge has ruled. There is no more decisions, no more arguments.

I forgot about the judge.

Don't make me get my gavel, Daren.

You would be great with a gavel. You would be. Yeah. I I like, would you have a practice gavel? Like a warm up gavel?

Have a warm up gavel for a few. You know what? I don't wanna take this down another path, but had somebody talk about warm up sticks and they're playing at a high level and not taking his gamer on out. Now I'm trying to remember who it was, not taking his gamer out for the pregame skate. It will come to me.

I will remember. But it was very much validation for for Woody's prac warm up stick.

I was in a Facebook parent group conversation and there were a ton of people talking about their practice stick and their warm up stick like it's perfectly common. So I think it is, especially with the price of top end sticks, it seems to be a much more common thing. I like to think it's because

I get having a practice stick.

Yeah. I I think we should now call it the woody stick. We should just call it the woody.

Especially if they're wooden. They should sell wooden sticks just for Woody's practice.

Woody's practice sticks. That's right.

There still are. I think the Hockey Shop has a couple, don't they?

They might. They might.

Be good. The woody section.

Think of how much lighter your stick would feel when the game starts if you're it's like it's like putting the the goggles on that take away your peripheral vision and your lower vision, and we can talk about that later. And then you take them off and everything looks so much bigger. Playing with a wooden stick, and then you go to your composite for the game after a warm up with the wood, you'd be like, my blocker can feel pucks so Yeah. Yeah. I I will never rip pucks.

Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you next time on InGoal Radio, the podcast presented by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com.