Anthon Hansson: From Retiring at 19 to Team Sweden Goalie Coach (Ep. 374)

Intro

InGoal Radio, the podcast brought to you by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com. We got a lot to get to today, including a little goalie news coming your way, Vizual Edge ProReads, the parent segment, and our NHL Sense Arena feature interview. But we're all excited about, the culmination of a situation involving the Winnipeg jets and Connor Hellebuyck, and that leads us out in our goalie news this week. David Hutchison, Kevin Woodley, are you surprised that it happened when it when it did? Because the the tea leaves were saying it could drag on for a while.

What is that saying about deadlines spurring action? I think we heard a lot of people repeat that this week, and I think everybody wanted to avoid the possibility of a return. And so this does that. Right? I think it was pretty clear he wasn't going back to Winnipeg, but, you know, even coming off a suspension, would have forced, the very least, going back for...

I don't know. Like, there's there's no fitness testing anymore in the NHL, but you still do have to pass the physical. So coming off suspension, having not been at camp, even just having to go back to Winnipeg, especially amidst the excitement of the Heritage Classic, like, I guess it's true. Like, the the cliche held true. Deadlines per action.

So here we go.

What do you think it means for the New Jersey devils, Hutch?

I don't know. Does it mean, I mean, the players have to be really excited to have him coming in there As, as Jake Allen, who's the guy, who's got the most to lose here sadly, said, when you get an NHL MVP traded to your team, it doesn't happen very often. Just... It's a it's a great opportunity to the team. I think it jacks up the pressure on the team.

You know? You can't. The team has checked the box here. This is something that, you can't look back and say we don't have goaltending, and and, you know, I believe they had goaltending before. And and that's the part that I find interesting.

I mean, Jake Allen's been doing a good job for them the last couple of years, and and I'm not sure that that you need to give up all those assets for this this increase in performance. But but, Kevin, I think you've got some numbers on some of that performance and the potential for this.

Yeah. No. Listen, like... And that's the one thing. Like, let's not forget that Jake Allen was sixth in the National Hockey League in adjusted save percentage last year.

He gave them incredible minutes. I think his goal saved in a tiny sample was plus 11. And so you look at that, and I guess the questions that clearly the Devils didn't believe they like the answer to was whether he could continue that level of play in a much, much bigger role. And tiny sample so far this year, but clearly, they feel better with the concept that Connor Hellebuyck can. And to be honest, like, there are a few guys that handle the minutes that Connor Hellebuyck does the way he does.

And so what does it mean, Daren? We'll have to wait and see. There might be an adjustment period here for Connor Hellebuyck. He misses training camp. He's also, as we've documented at InGoal over the years, probably one of the greatest readers of the game from a goaltending perspective, the way he thinks the game.

We always use that line, or at least I started using that line pretty regularly. Like, used to be the brain like a computer, body like a slinky. Like, Hellebuyck's got the brain like a computer. He just uses his body in a much different way than Hasek did, but he thinks the game at the same level. He's like...

It's like a chess master. He's two steps ahead of everyone. Now do those reads change? I think systems will be a fairly easy adjustment. Understanding what guys are supposed to do.

There's only so many different variations on that, and I think you'll probably pick that up pretty quick. But it's more the tendencies within the system. Who's going to do what and how in what moment? Even, you know, like, even if the system says this, can I trust the guy to do exactly that in the moment? So that might take a little bit of time.

But let's remove all the ifs and all the uncertainties that come with not starting training camp, and let's just plug in the numbers. When I do it at Clearsight Analytics, when I take Connor Hellebuyck's past two seasons, that includes the heart trophy year and last year where he was basically just right around league average relative to environment, and I think it's saying something that his down year is still league average and not below it at a time when a lot of guys slip below. He saves the New Jersey devils if you plug Connor Hellebuyck by the numbers into the chances that Jacob Markstrom faced last year. He saves them 30 goals. Three zero.

That's a big

That's a staggering amount.

Number. Now there are types of chances, lateral chances, high slot line, and low slot line, where he actually grades out worse than Jacob Markstrom. Net play, where he grades out worse than Jacob Markstrom, where he's actually close to 10 goals worse than Jacob Markstrom on those three examples combined. But overall, when you add screens, when you add some of the Clear sight stuff, it's 30 goals difference. Will it become 30 goals?

Who knows? But I think at a time when we hear a lot about models and different models and proprietary models and the devil's having 14 different models for goaltending from their GM Sunny Meta, The model I trust the most, the one that breaks down each different shot type and takes how many of those the devils give up and plugs Connor Hellebuyck's numbers into it relative to Jacob Markstrom's numbers, is it going to be exactly that? Obviously not. But if you trust that as an indicator, that's a pretty damn good one. 30 goals is a monster number.

When you consider that, you know, every two goals is basically a win, that's what they say in the National Hockey League, that's 15 wins right there.

Let's take a look at the Winnipeg side of it then who acquire a goaltender in return in Nico Daws.

Yeah. I'd be curious to see what they do here. Right? Like, I don't think they acquire him to lose him. I think they'll probably run three for a little while. And to be honest, I haven't checked in on on Cheveldayoff's presser to hear what his indication are in terms of how they're gonna do, but they claim Stevenson off waivers.

He's given them really good minutes. I don't see them risking losing him again on waivers unless one of them gets on a heater and just takes over the job and becomes an absolute, and they're willing to risk that. You know, Nico Daws has had incredible numbers in the NHL on difficult chances. The problem has always been the low danger chances that tend to go in. Like, he's great on the high danger stuff, but there's a...

There's typically throughout his career, and it's a small sample. And last year, he was really good, but it's kinda crept back into his game this year. One low danger goal every second start, every second appearance. And when you consider that when your goalie gives up a low danger goal, you lose almost 90% of those games unless the guy at the other end also does it, that's a tough way to live. So for me, it's always been about cleaning up the low danger stuff for him because he's brilliant with the high danger stuff.

So, you know, Wade Flaherty's been a hell of a goalie coach. And maybe the... His... In in Winnipeg, maybe he can help clean that up a little bit. That's...

And then that's not comparing him as a goalie coach to any... Anybody else that Daws has worked with. Works with Matt Smith privately. He works with a ton of NHL goalies. I obviously...

He's worked with Brian Eklund who are big on in New Jersey. Dave Rogalski with the devils, you know, and and now with the change there in New Jersey, he's had another new voice. Sometimes it just takes a different voice at a different time for everything to click. There's a lot of great pieces in Daws' game. Let's see if they can get those voices to click.

InGoal Radio, the podcast presented by The Hockey Shop, Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com, and the biggest news of the week until the Connor Hellebuyck story broke involved our friend Cooper Black. Big being Is that a dad joke? Yeah. It was a dad joke. Yeah.

Well, yeah. Feel like I should explain it too.

You should, and it's a tall tale, but it's also the truth.

Oh, well, that hurts. That hurt... You guys are killing me. Killing me today, boys. That's good stuff.

For me, the most enjoyable part... I mean, the most enjoyable part is getting to see a kid that you know and love, get to play the game for those... I I say love when... For those who don't know, he used to live in our home when he played junior hockey. One of the most enjoyable parts of that week was, I I spent a lot of it telling the whole world that Cooper is six foot nine and not the six foot eight that he's listed.

And then some genius, either with the team or the NHL, switched his his height officially to six foot nine the day of the game or the day before the game, which created quite the stare. Yeah. It's quite funny. But I've got the picture of our kitchen wall where I measured him at six foot nine about four years ago. So, anyway, what what a really cool experience to be able to see Cooper out there.

I think most people know the story and the chance for him to get his first start as the tallest NHL goalie in history by two inches. Great fun for us to see. I did put a little piece up, over at InGoal Daren because we've been filming the gear segment over at the Hockey Shop, and I think it was even this week's gear segment when we were talking about the Warrior Answer stick. Are they the ones that got rid of the 27 inch model, Kevin? And Kevin looked a little surprised.

Yeah. Kevin looked a little surprised when he heard from Cam that there's no 27's anymore. I immediately thinking, well, you don't really need them. I sent Cooper a text, and I said, hey. What size stick do you use?

So we have a piece up over at InGoal right now. It's a video of Cooper's stick that he sent me right away as we were at the shop, and, then had a word with CCM about it. Cooper uses a 24 inch paddle. Now there's a little bit of a hitch to that, but it's a nice it's a nice number to give people because so many parents run to the store looking for the biggest stick they can find thinking it's gonna help their kid. Cooper uses a 24, but because of the nature of the paddle, because of the different lie that he uses so that it will sort of work better for him, it plays closer to a 26, but it is definitely not a 27 inch paddle for a six foot nine goaltender.

The the lie, isn't that it goes, like, more vertical off

off the blade? Yeah. They they call it a 90 degree. I mean, it's not 90 degrees. I don't know how they measure those, but, but it is the tallest lie that you can get, in a stick.

And as a follow-up, by the way, a few people have commented where I posted this. Oh, I'd love to know his pad size. His pad size is not as big as you'd think. It's about Manny Legace size. It's, thirty eight plus one.

That is the maximum the NHL will let him wear, Whether that's just, the proportions of his his leg in various places or what, I don't know. And, he said he would prefer to use a thirty nine plus one, but he's not allowed.

It... That'll be leg measurements. Like, that's the LDS, and that's a very, very specific formula. It's interesting how far we've come. Like, I remember when I was learning to play goal, which is, like, a little more than fifteen years ago, I remember using a 27 inch paddle.

Because the thought process back then was measuring when you stood up, but then also it was like, oh, an extra two inches when I'm paddled down of coverage and things like that. And now I'm in a 24. Like, it just keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller. So it's... It it's...

It is amazing how the thought process on these things can change, you know, like I said, fifteen years, but somewhat rapidly when when you look at the big big picture.

Yeah. And for the for the folks who don't understand this stuff as well, parents are maybe new to the game or whatever, when your stick is flat on the ice in your stance, if you are in the butterfly and that paddle is is, you know, too long, it pulls your hands away from your body. It opens up those holes between your arms and the body, makes it really hard to seal.

Stick blade gets too far in front of you.

Or that. All kinds of things. There's a... Depending on how you compensate, I guess. Yeah.

Do you remember... Like, lies used to be a thing. The the lie of a stick. Like, the 13, the lie 14, lie 15. Yep.

You used to you used to pick your sticks based on on that as much as anything. And and it just... It went away, lies.

[crosstalk] Cannot tell a lie? Well, alright. We we tell a lot of lies around here. But I wonder. You know, it's true.

You... You're right. Like, when I get fitted... Like, I've been fitted for golf clubs a couple times in my life, and lie matters. Like, lie is a part of sort of your shaft measurements and things like that, and they and they change it around.

So it is kind of interesting. It's just it's become somewhat standardized. I think it probably in part because you can switch so much else.

I also think it's probably in part because it's so expensive to change the molds on those sticks. And every time you wanna create a new stick, you've gotta have the new mold for the for the carbon, and, that's extremely expensive. So I'm I'm sure companies would like to restrict it as much as they can.

So do you have an idea

That's why that

on on what most sticks are when it comes to Oh, yeah. The lie angle?

I'll report back to what they are compared to Cooper's next week if you would like me to do that. Is that my homework?

I don't know off the top of my head. So I think we give Hutch a little homework assignment here as if he doesn't have enough to do.

Yeah. I have no idea.

So Cooper Black I will... I I I was gonna say you're talking about the... Just really quickly because our gear segment is gonna be the Warrior Answer Stick, which has their ASG shaft with unique geometry. And I've always... I always kinda wondered why...

Because Warrior's a really popular brand in the National Hockey League. A lot of guys use it, but none of them that I'm aware of. There might be one recently that tried a stock stick and has the ASG shaft, but most of them have a traditional rectangular shaft. And when I asked about it's because they're... That that that mold that you mentioned, Hutch, and it is so expensive to change, the original molds for those guys were created using the rectangular shaft geometry, and you can't just switch that.

And so that's why a lot of guys in the NHL haven't switched over to the ASG because the shaft and the mold is all crafted around a rectangular traditional shaft. It's not because they don't want to, but the cost of changing that is somewhat significant. Plus, guys do tend to be a little more traditionalist, and adjusting to that field would probably take time. But it's one of the reasons that it... We haven't seen more guys switch completely.

Which also tells you there's lots of guys that look like they're using a certain stick, but they're not.

I... That's pretty... I'd be honest with you. That's pretty common with all goal equipment in national hockey. 100%.

Pads, chest, everything.

You completely lost me there. Understand that there's information in what you just said, but I I don't know whether it's the day or whether it's just me, but I I mean,

there's It's all that late night it's all that late night travel for you on your on your ebug life. Hey? It's starting to catch up.

Former teacher, I can tell you what I say to all the kids. If you've got a question, there's probably lots of other people in the class that have the same question. Yeah. So what do we need to clarify? Because there's people listening feeling exactly the same way as you, Daren.

I... I'm... What I'm going to do is when when we publish the episode, I'm gonna go back to this segment. I'm gonna listen to it a couple of times just to be able to absorb it a little more.

Jake, don't be shy. The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.

Here's something for you. The Florida Panthers, as we record this, are playing the Chicago Blackhawks. And Cooper Black had a chance to meet Daren Pang before the game.

Oh, wow. Yeah. I hope somebody got a photo.

Oh, yeah. There's a picture. I need it. And you've got... Not only that, but on the Chicago broadcast, they they showed the picture of the two of them in the hall, but then they also did, like, an animation of Panger and his size, five foot five in the net, and Cooper Black in his gear in the net at at six foot nine.

It's it's unbelievable. And what I didn't know... And Rick Ball of the Chicago Blackhawks, broadcast said it. Cooper Black is the same height and weight as LeBron James.

Okay. We had... I have to tell you, we had a laugh over that one this weekend. I mean, Cooper and I did. Yeah.

I just... I sent that to him, and and, we both said, perhaps not. No? Perhaps not. He might be the same height and weight, but, well, I guess it was that in combination with a number of fans that sort of comment on social underneath it.

Woah. When he's, when he's not backing up, he could play for the heat. Nope. Love Cooper to bits. He could not play for the Heat, and he is not LeBron James.

No. But but Heck of a goaie.

But it's... It gives you some perspective No. It does. Height and the weight. It does.

Because we all see LeBron out there.

Huge. Yeah. Huge. Hey. And congrats to Daren Pang.

I mean, that's one of the greatest things ever to be able to play the games that he played in the National Hockey League at five five. I think I heard on the broadcast somebody said he was five four, but

Five four and a half.

Incredible.

His... Where he was. But we we rounded up.

Well, I would round down because it's more impressive.

Kind of you. Yeah.

Not the shortest I just I just love Not the shortest goalie in NHL.

But remember he did he did the the goal gear? He wore Ben Bishop's gear. Ben Bishop. Ben Bishop. That's what his gear on.

This this is kind of

So good.

We're gonna have to do it every time there's another tall goaltender.

Incredible. I... See, I love this too because it also shows you what a good person in sport Daren is. Right? Like, the the relationships he builds with all these guys and I just...

Yeah. No. I don't mean to fanboy here, but I just love the way Daren Pang does his job.

Daren Pang and... Was recently on 100% hockey. Quite enjoyed that one, by the way. Daren?

Oh, thank you. I I didn't know you were a subscriber, but we appreciate it.

Absolutely.

What was your favorite part? Was it mine? One... Like, one of my parts?

I feel like... I I can't remember what it was, but I remember them giving you a bit of a hard time through that piece.

A little bit. The the other part

was what I enjoyed.

He he had his his his original mask out, and there's, like, there's no foam in the bottom part of it. It's a combo cage, his original combo cage. And and when he turned pro, they just changed the stickers on it, whichever team he went to. No no painting of it. And then the foam that was in the forehead and the top of it was arguably as hard as the fiberglass.

Yeah. I remember you saying that that was Wow. That was good. And That would hurt Daren Pang's in the Hall of Fame.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. His mask, he he... His mask is in that, the hall of fame display.

Oh, falling save percentage. We got a lot of goals happening around the National Hockey League. What's the impact on goalie numbers?

Well, save percentage keeps dropping. Justin Born had a piece this week. I think a lot of the pieces, frankly, that have been written in the past two years every time we come to this kinda go back to the piece we had at InGoal Magazine two years ago. At the end of the day, teams are not wasting shots. They are not wasting possession.

We have... So if you take out... Like, the total number of shots is down, like, five a game on average from five years ago, but what's being lost is not the most dangerous shots. Those are actually up. It's the easy ones.

So if you take the shots that goalies were stopping 99% of the time, you take seven or eight of those out of every game, guess what's gonna happen? Say percentages go down, especially when you replace them by another four or five high danger. So I think this is a combination of analytics and coaching staffs encouraging teams not to waste possession. I've sat in this press box. I'm...

Where I'm talking to you from right now here in Vancouver. I've had an NHL goalie coach. Every once in a while, guys will come sit next to me and just watch a game with me. And I'm not gonna name the goalie coach just because I haven't asked his permission, but we're watching the game and his guys would come down the wing and they get to the top of the circle and they blast one. And everybody would oh and ah as the goalie makes a save, and he would go, that's a turnover.

That's a great way to put it.

Don't... Right? Like, you're handing the other team possession, or if you create a face off, you're handing the other team a fifty fifty or depending on what your draw guy is. You know, I mean, the highest draw guy in the league's around 55%, you know, and almost coin flip for the other team to be able to get the puck. So teams are holding on to pucks.

They're... They understand dynamic offense. Low slot line plays have gone up by an increased margin. So what's gonna happen? Like, again, like, it's pretty obvious.

You don't need to be a mathematician. I sure as hell ain't to figure out that if you take, like, seven or eight easy shots off the board and add four or five hard ones, say percentage is gonna drop, and it continues to because that trend continues to get more and more extreme. It'd be interesting to see if we have a coin flip or a a sort of flip here where teams... Some teams, and some still do, start to value shots on goal and win battles in front of the net. Like, even now, like, if you have a shot from distance, you know, gotta be traffic, gotta be guys crashing.

Like, screens are way up. In the playoffs last year, broken play goals, which are plays that just hit all that traffic and bodies in front of the net and bounce somewhere, were through the roof. So, like, we're seeing in the playoffs, that is a purposeful mechanism for scoring goals, and it goes way up compared to the regular season. Let's see if some of that starts to translate into regular season as well. Again, difficult chances, but difficult chances that aren't measured by anyone outside of, say, a company like Clearside Analytics.

Like, nobody... I haven't seen anybody else measure broken play goals or or account for broken plays as a metric for scoring other than clear sight. And yet that's one of the trends for all the talk about East West plays and skill. That's one of the trends, especially come playoff time that is through the roof over the past couple of seasons is chaos in front of the net. So even when pucks are thrown from distance, there's a high degree of traffic and a high degree of chaos in front of the goaltender.

Pucks bouncing off everything and heading to other bodies crashing the net. So it's... At the end of the day, the goal... It's not like goaltending's gotten worse. Job's just never been harder.

At least that's what the NHL guys

do. No question. And, by the way, one of the reasons that ClearSight can get all that broken play information is because they're tracking everything manually. And most of the models you see out there and including one that we built in house as well is based on automated data, from the National Hockey League. I went a little bit...

Digging just a little bit, and I can't get as granular as you do with all that, Woody. But, over the last five years or so, shots per game have gone from 31 and a half to 27 and a half, and more than half of that is shots from 40 feet out. So it's gone from 11 and a half of those to 9.2 per game, and the numbers inside 20 feet have barely moved. So it's... That speaks to what teams are trying to do offensively.

And, and as we know, goalie stop those long clear sighted shots 97% of the time or or even more. And, those save percentage get, like, inside 20, you're down... Talking now, like, the eight thirties or below. So, we can definitely see all that happening. The the one, if I could just, harken back to the rabbit holes of last week, guys, because, of course, the other thing that comes into this is the National Hockey League being a little bit stricter about how they count shots on goal.

That puck that you catch went... That would have gone two feet wide doesn't really count as a shot anymore. If it, wouldn't have gone in the net despite you stopping it, it's not a shot on goal.

I under Try six inches wide.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No kidding.

And I'm They're pretty granular.

I know. Goalie parents, like, we all do it. We're all guilty of it. If our kid gets a hand on it... And I've heard National Hockey League, I think it was even Joey Daccord saying that if you get a hand on it, it should count as a shot on goal because you prevented an opportunity from happening.

But but some of that, of course, is related to gambling. And, as you reminded me this week, Kevin, because I was watching Cooper's game, and there were two very clear draws, one by the Panthers straight to Cooper, which he stopped from going in the net and set aside that did not ring up on the shot clock. And then there was another one I'm pretty sure it was a defenseman put on him. Again, didn't ring up as a shot on goal. And, Kevin, you mentioned that that possibly is related to, to the gambling issue.

Yeah. Because on... Obviously, like, if if you're gonna put shots on your own goalie at a time when the over unders on shots are really, really, really a big part of gambling, it would be really easy for a defenseman to it back to his goaltender four or five times again and hit and hit the over without anybody thinking twice. So I... Anything that goes back on your own net, as I understand, it's not being counted right now, which is why those three shots But can

you not make saves without there being a shot? But they No. They they don't have to do right now.

We've... Hey. Listen. No. Listen.

Kevin Lankinen gave up a goal here from below the goal line early in the season, banked in off his mask. So the shot wasn't technically on goal. It was... If if it hadn't hit his mask, it would have gone through the crease to the other side, counted as a goal, did not count as a shot on

goal. That's opposite of what Daren was just saying, but you're right. Daren was talking about saves without a shot, but they don't record those.

So if you're not... If you... But you can have a goal without a shot. You sure as hell aren't getting credit for a save. That's terrible.

So if you... If that... If the same

Why not?

If you just don't if... So if that if that same puck is going through the crease and Lankinen catches it and prevents it from going to the other side to Joey Daccord's point, that's not a shot on goal. But if he misses the catch and it banks in off of him, it counts as a goal without a shot because it's not going on net. Like, they've just become very strict with that there.

It would have to be a separate metric. Much like they talk about scoring chances that aren't always shots.

I... Trust me. I know all about shots on goal here in Vancouver because I just watched a game where the Canucks went thirty nine minutes and fourteen seconds without one. Can I And, actually, it looked like they had one late in the second period? It was a rush down the wing, backhand shot from Linus Carlson off the left wing, and John Gibson deflects it into the corner with his shoulder.

And they put a shot up on the board, and the whole crowd cheers because it had been, like, twenty eight minutes at that point since we'd had a shot. Was the final minute of the period, and the crowd was really right into this whole shot counter. And I had the perfect vantage of it. It was right from the angle where I sit in the press box, and I turned to the person next to me. I'm like, they're taking that shot the board.

Oh wow,

wow. That was not on net. And sure enough, like, thirty seconds later, the shot came off the board, the fans were booing. So, yeah, it's... They're pretty strict.

Hey. Listen. I don't think it's in our list to talk about with the... Our goalie news segment here, but I gotta... Congratulations.

First game

game? To Michael Postava coming in, John Gibson on that play, I believe, got something in his eye. And so a little bit of panic in the Red Wings room. They weren't sure whether Gibson would be able to play. They had the EBug getting dressed, Daren.

And Michael Postava, who had that morning left Grand Rapids, Michigan at 6AM, stopped in Minneapolis, arrived in Vancouver at noon. Don't forget there's a three hour time difference too that he was traveling. His gear got here as we were at the rink. He didn't get a morning skate. He ends up going into that game in the third period, stops, I believe, seven of eight shots in the third period, gets his first NHL appearance, looked good doing it.

Bit of a whirlwind, and it's like he kinda talked about now he's in the NHL. But my favorite part, because they hadn't had a shot in almost forty minutes, when the Canucks got a shot on goal, the fans cheered like crazy. Like, it was Bronx jeers. Right? And when Postava was asked about it afterwards, like, how did he react to it?

He basically... And I'm paraphrasing. I should actually not paraphrase. I should go find the quote because his English is broken, and it actually made it even better. But what he basically said was, I just pretended...

I know it was because no shots, but I just pretended that they were cheering for my great saves and used it as a positive to build a little momentum. I mean, he comes into the game. He didn't see a shot for seven minutes in the in the third period. And then, actually, like, the Canucks pressed a little. They were down five to one.

They did get one off of, basically, a two on o down low that he almost got to as well. So, it was just a really neat moment, and I loved his attitude towards the whole thing afterwards. It was cool to be in the room with him afterwards and hear hear the way he managed those Bronx cheers for the Canucks as a positive for himself.

And what... How did the situation develop with Gibson and getting something in his eye? Was it off a shot or a scramble?

They they didn't say, but that shot that I just described from Carlson off the rush, I could see something maybe coming up, defenseman coming back, maybe, you know, blowing snow. There... I mean Snow. Yeah. He did not see a shot in the second period that actually counted as a shot, so it's sort of hard to find how it could have happened other than that.

The good news is he started the other night in Calgary, so they didn't think it was serious. But in that moment, in the intermission, the doctors were trying to, you know, see what was in his eye, get it out. Like I said, there's a... Not not panic, but they had to put the kid in after a really long travel day, not ideal, and get the E BUG at least starting to get dressed. Although by the time I got into the room, Gibson was there in his gear with Pastava, and that tells me that maybe the E BUG didn't have to get dressed, that Gibson would have been an option to go back in.

How much road is there in the Devin Cooley going viral?

What do you mean by road? Like like, how how long until everybody gets tired of it?

Yeah. Well, or the the fifteen minutes of fame kinda thing. Because it

It's been more than fifteen minutes because it started

last season, remember? Hey. Listen. It started with... Started way back when he was with the San Jose Sharks and first got

off that. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah.

Yeah. We're all gonna die thing. That's, like, three years ago.

Daren, I I think It's just a I think it's gonna last as long as he keeps playing well because hockey loves to smother guys with personality. They're happy to celebrate it as long as everything goes well. And if things take a left turn and aren't going so well, then, I'm afraid some people are gonna start questioning the way he goes about things, which would be really sad and absolutely wrong. He's gotta be himself to play the best that he possibly can. And the fact that he's got a bit of a...

Don't wanna say a platform because I don't think he's putting this on at all, but the fact that he's demonstrating who he is to all the young goalies out there, I think, is a fantastic thing, and I hope young coaches take note of it as well.

Yeah. And I... You know?

If he wins six five, four two, one nothing, eight three, it doesn't matter. People are going to wanna talk in... To him and hear from him after a game. And I I don't know whether that's gonna be the case, but it it certainly is the want by all of us.

He's... I mean, he's unbothered by it because this is who he is, and he's just being who he is. And I think... I... I've actually applauded.

I I... Sadly, the radio station closed there in Calgary, but I used to do weekly radio in Calgary. And I talked about this last year with Devin Cooley and applauded the Flames for allowing him to be himself and for not trying to rein him in. Or we've seen other teams. I'm not gonna name names, but we've seen other teams react to unique personalities and goal by basically trying to get them to change who they are, you know, treating it as, you know, selfish.

Some some teams have said, oh, this guy's being selfish. He's trying to put himself in the spotlight. And then, woah, surprise, the the performance struggles a little bit. So I love that the flames are sort of letting him be him. And and I think that's important.

And as Hutch said, we've heard this from Eric Comrie. We've heard this from other goalies. We're seeing it with Devin Levi in Edmonton, how well he's playing just doing those routines. And you'd heard some noise out of Buffalo that maybe teammates didn't love that kind of stuff. Let your goalie be your goalie.

And I think that's the lesson here with Devin Cooley. This is who he is genuinely and sincerely. We've heard it on the InGoal Radio Podcast. We've seen the brilliance of his ProReads. Just let him be him.

Gear

Well said. InGoal Radio, the podcast brought to us by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports Langley, thehockeyshop.com. Let's get into our Gear Segment as we visit with the friends over at The Hockey Shop.

Yeah. Well, you know what? There's, we've got the Warrior Answer Stick. We're gonna get Cam sort of explaining to us. Cam is back.

We've taken him off probation. His punishment for going away when we needed to film a Gear Segment and taking four weeks of vacation. Okay. It was just one week. It's over.

He's back at the Hockey Shop. He's there to answer all your questions. We caught up with him and went over the Warrior Answer stick. We've got another stick next week from Warrior, a special edition drop that we're gonna go over. My point would be there's always something new at The Hockey Shop Source for Sports and thehockeyshop.com.

So make sure you keep an eye, as Daren does quite often, on a regular basis. I know he goes over to the hockeyshop.com and surfs around because there's lots of new gear coming. We've got it here today, but also through the month of November. There's gear drops from Brian's coming. We're expecting some from Vaughn.

There's accessories. There's skates. There's all kinds of new stuff coming in, including, in the past month, the Warrior Answer Stick and another Warrior product that we'll unveil next week, specialty stick, specialty graphics, special pricing, all available at the hockeyshop.com. But this week, let's get Cam to break down the Warrior Answer. I apologize in advance for the number of answer puns that Cam drops, but he also at least has some knowledge to add to it.

50 grams lighter than the Covert? This is the lightest stick in the store.

I can feel it. I can feel it. This is the lightest stick in the Hockey Shop Source for Sports for Goalies.

Now are you saying that anecdotally? Or No. No. I'm just No. Don't worry because I have the answer, and you are 100% correct.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am back.

And he's got answer puns. Prepare for a lot of answer puns because we've got the new Warrior Answer stick. And I gotta say, addition to being really sexy, not you, the stick. Although welcome back from your extended vacation Cam while the rest of us were working. This thing is light as all can be.

It's beautiful. It's light. What else do we have from a feature perspective on the new Warrior Answer Stick?

So let's start. Yes. It is now currently the lightest top end pro stick that we have.

550 grams?

500 And what size? At a 25 inches.

And guess what folks? 25 inch for those that have been a little slow on the uptick. 25 inches in Warrior now matches 25 inches in CCM, Bauer, True, and other brands because they got rid of their silly sizing from before. We love you for that

Warrior. You know what? There's always... I wasn't... Let's be honest.

I'm easy confused. Well, that's fine. They have an answer for that. Jeez. Exit stage left.

Let's talk about the name. Why is it called the answer? And legitimately, because we've touched on the wait part a little bit here, this is Warrior's answer to everybody else's light stick. So this is based off of their Covert QR starting point. So it is a low kick stick.

You can still see that Covert QR cutout in the back. So that's helping to give that flex profile. We still had the return of that ASG shaft. Love the ASG shaft. Quite a fan.

Quite a fan. I use one myself and quite Don't don't let that stop you from trying it. Well, just, you know, it's it's just the right answer. Oh, god. Again.

K. Keep going. K. There, twist curve. That's the only curve it comes in?

That is correct. Okay. Good to know. And we go all the way down into 23 inch in terms of for sizings that is available. K.

So 23 up to 27? No 27 inch stick. No. Twenty Warrior has deleted the 27 inch size off of their goal stick, and this is a hot trend because our paddle sizes are trending down, not up, ladies and gentlemen. So it is a good time to double check what paddle size you are using.

And if it is at 27, that is no longer the unit. I mean, you might be six foot eight or six foot nine, and you might need a long stay. But you also will have long arms? Okay. Okay.

What else? So overall, beyond that, now we're just great balanced field. They're using their minimum carbon 25, which is their highest carbon count that we have. I love the exposed carbon under the graphic. It does look like pops.

Like, it just pops. Everything about this stick is awesome. I... You know what? Beyond getting it on the ice, shooting it, and actually playing around with it, general overall feel is just it's a very well balanced.

It's not just a super light stick. Yeah. No. Absolutely. It's totally balanced.

You can see it right... It's right near the handle. I don't I don't know how close I can live television here, folks. That's pretty close enough. Pretty close enough.

Because a lot of sticks are down near here, and they're sort

[crosstalk] of bottom heavy. This thing is really well balanced. So the only note Yeah. The one colorway don't wanna

put tape on it. It's so pretty.

It's up to you. One colorway. No custom. If you wanna order yours a yellowy purple there, you can give us a call. (604) 589-8299 or 1-800-567-7790.

Yes. I remember those digits. Jono, you got a little bit of work to do. You did drop that ball. He did drop the digit ball.

Look at you flexing as soon as you come back. He's, he's smiling in the background. Guy takes a month off. Give us a look on the website. Get one thing right here.

thehockeyshop.com. He has the answer to the numbers. That's about it for Cam. One more answer point, I'm out. Like, just...

I can't do it with you anymore. I'm done.

Favorite part about that stick. What is it?

Not the name because Cam's not even a dad, and he's got dad jokes for name for for for miles, like, just endless. It's bad enough I gotta put up with your guys' size jokes with Cooper Black. I gotta put up with Cam and the answer. Honestly, like the features, love the way the carbon... The exposed carbon pops against the graphic, the Warrior graphic, and the Answer graphic, but just how light it is.

Like, it's a really good looking stick even if you don't have purple and yellow gear because it only comes in one colorway. But, man, it's it's so light at 550 grams and and just wanna get it on the ice and zip it around, see if it can help me handle a few more, make a few more passes out there, Daren. Not something I'm adept at, but it feels like a twig that it's got a nice little low kick point and would probably help in that regard.

Just zip those passes.

Yeah. Usually to the other team, but... Yeah. At least at least if you're doing it with authority, you can pretend it's purposeful.

There's been a couple of games that I've watched recently, and there's... You know, the the the puck will be sent down the ice, and it'll be... The goaltender would have to come out and play it and... Or sit back and deal with the breakaway. More guys deal with the breakaway now than ever before.

Why why why do you think that is? We don't have those races for for the puck by the top of the circle.

Reminds me one of the ProReads we had with Alex Lyon when he was talking about... You know, he's pretty sure the player was gonna shoot because if he didn't shoot, he'd get back to the bench, and he'd be stapled to the bench for the rest of the game, probably. I think it's kind of the same thing. The goalies probably get a better chance to go out and get that puck, but if he doesn't get it, he might not be starting for a while.

Right. Whereas the breakaway, if you give up a goal on a breakaway, it's like, you know, a third... More than a third of those go in anyways. Right? So I think it I think it's failure of the colossal mistake and maybe the collision, frankly.

I never thought of that part. If if you're really, it's it's a close play. I just wonder, are we that comfortable because of the the evolution of the shootout being around for as long as it has now, with with breakaways that they they don't think twice, about?

They only go in a third of the time, Daren. Like, it's not even a fifty fifty anymore. Right? It's a third of the time. So, you know, if I go out there and lose that race, it's going in a 100% of the time.

If I go out there and get trucked by the guy, there's a good chance I'm not finishing the game. To Hutch's point, if you if you really underestimate and, like, just make so easy and it looks so bad and you give a free one, at least on a breakaway, you gotta... You, you know, you got a two third chance of stopping it.

Congratulations. James Reimer, signed a contract with the New York Rangers.

Yeah. I'd be curious to see. Obviously, I... Also, I think he... Did he not set...

Was it a record or the... In a long time? Hutch has this number. Like, I think it might be our old friend Wade Flaherty, the oldest oldest American Hockey League shutout.

Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. The the oldest goalie since Wade Flaherty. To post a shut out to the

American League.

Post a shout out in the American League in quite some time between his first start in the American League and that one. Sorry. I thought you were referring to the record of number of franchises played for, but, of course, he's gotta get in the game before that happens. But he's knocking on the door now.

Yeah. It'll be him and Cam Talbot. Right? This is number nine for James Reimer as well. Listen.

Dylan Garand's been really good for them. They've played the wheels off him a little bit. Couple of the starts where things have been looser in front of him. I don't think it's been all on him, but where the the numbers have gotten a little bit crooked as the starts pile up. I I think...

I've said this on the podcast before. I know Dylan Garand is an NHL goalie. I believe that firmly. But asking him to be an every game starter, something we don't ask of anyone else, like playing at a or hellebuck type pace, your first full time in the NHL, you know, that's a big ask. And so having a veteran to support him a little bit, not being willing to wait for Kochetkov to come back off injury, you know, probably some value.

Like, can't think of a better guy to have alongside you than James Reimer, not to mention the fact that they share some philosophical approaches to puck stopping and and and teachers that they work with. So, to me, this is just a great support for a young goaltender who has shown some great things but is being asked to do a lot.

Isn't it interesting that, back when we were talking about what Columbus might do in light of Merzlikins not being able to come back, we came up with two names, and that was Cam Talbot and James Reimer. And then the next man up in, New York wants to look at someone else, James Reimer, to mentor the young guy, and and both both knocking on the door of being in nine franchises. So very parallel trajectories there.

Eighteen year pro, James Reimer. And then this is going to be his, you're right, ninth theme, will equal Cam Talbot.

I remember covering James Reimer when he first came in with the Toronto Marlies coming into Abbotsford. It wasn't even the Canucks affiliate back then. It was the Calgary Flames affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. That was the first time I met James when he came in, with the Marlies. He'd had a cup of coffee, I believe, at that point with the Maple Leafs, he came in and talked about his work with Francois Lair, and we had a great conversation.

And here we are all these years later. He's still kicking, and we're still covering.

Vizual Edge ProReads. Alex Nedeljkovic, coming up, but first, a message from Visual Edge.

Yeah. Hey. And Ned's been really good for the San Jose Sharks this season as well. Not surprising. There's times where it looks like the puck might look like a beach ball to Alex Nedeljkovic.

If you would like the puck to look like a beach ball, you know those nights where it does, here and there, puck looks huge. 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 to train improvement. Three fifteen minute sessions a week on your laptop or tablet. It's what NHL goalies use to make the game slow down when it matters most. And remember, use the code InGoal, I-n-G-o-a-l, all caps, to receive 10% off a subscription to Vizual Edge.

Or if you're a member of InGoal Magazine and you head to our ProReads this week featuring Alex Nedeljkovic, each ProReads will give you an exclusive member code that will allow you to save 20% off Vizual Edge. Gotta be honest, if you're considering Vizual Edge, you should go get the subscription to InGoal Magazine first because the cost of our subscription would actually be offset by that 20% savings all by itself. So make sure you check it out. Vizual Edge, get the discount. InGoal Magazine, every ProReads get double the discount.

And this week, that ProReads features Alex Nedeljkovic, who we caught up with heading into the season, spent a good forty five minutes watching video. This one is another low high. We've had a lot of this lately because I think we're seeing a lot in the NHL. Low high pop plays, passes below the goal line, and Ned talks about the importance not only of just what shoulder he looks over and how he handles the play behind the net, but the importance of his inside edge as opposed to the one that's up against the post when he's in a reverse or in a reverse VH. And so, no questions, no quizzes for Daren this week.

We've just got a lot of great breakdowns, more than five minutes on the keys to his mechanics, both in terms of when he looks over what shoulder as well as the importance. I believe he uses the term, that's my motor, of the inside edge. We often think of the the skate that's against the post as being important, but at the NHL level, almost every guy will tell you universally, it's that inside edge that matters most, and Ned breaks down that as well as anyone has in this week's pro.

Dive into that a little bit more about the inside edge?

Well, I mean, it's... So, I mean, it provides multiple things. Right? So your seal on the post can be driven by your inside edge. Your inside edge allows you to push up into a high shot or just push into that seal.

Your inside edge, if you have to go back to the other post, guys will use that inside edge like a rudder to sorta steer themselves and almost have, like, a pull across as much as a push. Like, it's it's a little bit of both. And then that inside edge allows you to sort of steer into position, in this case, on a low high pop pass so that you can sort of center shift and make an easy save. So it it really is... It's like a rudder.

It's... If you let it drift behind the goal line, it's amazing how much control you lose as opposed to keeping it above the goal line for at least, say, 30 degrees. I know Ian Clark talks a lot about that 30 degrees above the goal line relative to the goal line.

Yeah. You don't wanna be flat. Right?

No. You don't wanna be too flat. You also don't wanna be too steep because if you get too steep and that puck goes across, it's a much bigger movement. So just the importance of having it anchored, it's something that us all... Like, it's really easy for me to talk about.

It's it's really hard for me to do. You know, like, that that rudder Thank you for saying

that because I find it difficult to Yeah.

Yeah. Harking back to the... Remember the video of Sergei Bobrovsky would be a really good one to check out on our site, Daren, to get an idea of exactly what Kevin's talking about there using that inside edge because he's working that that post where he's going through various angles, using the rudder effectively.

Yeah. And it's... And you... So you use your toe to go backwards and your heel to push outwards. I just find

I have trouble with the toe part, like, going backwards. That... That's that's the side that I have difficulty really getting into unless I'm really working on it.

My old ass struggles with all of it. I just... My body does like to be hinged into that pie. It's just... It's a lot harder for us old people than than than you...

Than the youngsters might imagine because they all do it so automatically now. But the value of it, the importance of it, the importance of it... And and for the longest time, it's funny because there's probably a young... A lot of young kids listening to this and parents are like, my kid does this already. He's always done this.

What are you guys talking about? Wasn't that long ago, and there are still some guys in the NHL where if you watch them, if they go post to post, that inside edge, they will not keep it anchored. It will drift behind the goal line, and they lose a ton of mobility and access to quick quick movements and and quick square ups because of it.

Parent Playbook

Outstanding stuff. And you watch these ProReads over and over to to really get the the message that, the athletes are passing along to us. The parent segment brought to you by Stop It Goaltending U, the app.

Yeah. You wanna have 25 of NHL goalie experience, goalie coaching experience 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 Stop It Goaltending U, the app. All the knowledge from Brian Daccord has been an NHL goalie coach scout and director, as well as all 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, and breakdown videos, and drills you can take onto the ice with your team and coach.

Plus, you get an InGoal subscription included. So check it out now at 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.

This week, a parent wrote in on Instagram, Daren, and said that their son and their family listen to the parent segment every week, specifically mentioning one about being a great teammate even when you're not starting. And they said they would like more parent pieces aimed at young minor hockey goalies. Now I did put it out to them, and I'll put it out to everybody else here. What would you like to know more about if you're a parent of a young goaltender? I'd be happy to hear from you.

parents@ingoalmag.com. Be happy to address the questions. But but first, I wanna make a point, and that's that I believe that InGoal and the parent segment is for goalies of any age and parents for goalies of any age. Of course, you're gonna need to adapt how you use it, and, some of the reading is pretty high level, but it is a real resource for goalies of all ages. And, honestly, it costs less than a few skate sharpening, so why not give it a try?

You're not gonna hand in goal, of course, to your seven year old and say, go read this. It isn't a kid's magazine. It works best when you sit down with them. Even a few minutes a week are gonna help raise their hockey IQ. You don't have to be an expert either, by the way.

You don't have to be a goalie or a goalie coach. You don't even need to have played hockey yourself. What you're showing your kid is that being curious and asking questions is how you learn, and you get to learn right along with them. So I would suggest you start with ProReads, which we were just talking about. Sounded pretty complicated as we were discussing it there, but when the ProRead comes out, if you sit down with your son or your daughter at the computer or the iPad and tell them what you're about to look at and then ask them to think from the first shot that we give them what's gonna be important there because a little bit of prediction makes it a better learning experience.

And then watch the save together and ask, have you seen anything like this before? Have you done anything like this before? What do you think is important? I think your job as a parent there is to translate some of our language down to their level, and maybe as we move forward, Kevin and I can find a way to work in some language for younger kids there. But then I want you to sit down and listen to the goalie together.

ProReads are quick. It's three to five minutes. You get to see the play broken down and hear it from an actual NHL goaltender, and that is pretty cool for a young goalie. And, you know what? I would also suggest use the intermission as you're watching hockey games together.

Of course, most kids are gonna wanna go play mini sticks between periods. That's fine. But if they're watching with you, pull up a ProRead, or you can go to the ProReads section on InGoal, find the goalie that you're watching that night, pick out one of their ProReads, go over it together. Connect it with what they're seeing on TV to what you're looking at together on the iPad or something. Then go check out some of the ProDrills.

One of the things I've learned is that NHL goalies do drills that even the youngest goalies do. Sure. A six or seven year old isn't gonna be pushing off the post with all kinds of power to a big butterfly save. They're not gonna rip across from coast to coast on the crease on their feet, but the elements are there in everything that we publish. And you can pull them out and say, why don't you try this next time you're on the ice?

Some of the goalies we've spoken to, like Connor Hellebuyck and Dustin Wolf, of course, have gone to local public skates as they're growing up to practice their skills. Tell your kid about that. Then show them some of the work these goalies do on the ice and, heck, maybe even take them to a public skate. Dustin Wolf does c cuts in his prepractice ice time that we published. There's elements we published of Dylan Garon doing his on ice work that even a young goalie can do.

And then when you're going through the parent segment on the podcast, I I think the same thing goes for it. A lot of what we talk about sounds like it's for older goalies, but most of it has a version for the youngest kids that you can pull out. Like, we spend a lot of time talking about routines for practice day and game day, and, no, a five or six year old should not be stressing out over a rigid routine. But planting the idea that there's a couple of things to think about before practice, it's not a bad thing. Even that simple idea of, here's your bag packed.

Can we go check it together? You know, listen. Devin Cooley finds wins within a game no matter the result. For a young goalie, that might be as simple as asking, what was your favorite save today? What was the most fun part?

Did you win? You can take that out of our parent segments. You can take that out of InGoal. There's a lot of great stuff on there that I really believe is for goalies of all ages. And I have to keep saying it again.

Think about the value. Look at everything you invest in your goalie to help them enjoy the game so they can play to the best of their ability and have the best experiences. I actually need to say this because November 1 is coming up less than a week away. Right now, the current price of InGoal is $49.99. If you go sign up today or within the next week, you'll get locked into that price for a couple of years.

If you wait till November 1, the price goes up to the kids' favorite number, $67 per year, 67. So you got a great chance to save if you go check it out this week. I think it's great value, and I think it's great for kids of all ages. And, again, if you've got anything you wanna share or ask us about, parents at ingoalmag dot com.

It was out of respect for you that I didn't go, 67. 67.

I was thinking it.

The best part is when when he said the 67, he juggled. Like, he he did And I

looked at Woody, not you, by the way, because he's got the same kind of childlike

I'm hold... I'm I'm hold... I'm I'm at the rink, so I gotta hold my microphone. It's a little harder to talk and hold the mic. I don't wanna go Marty Berdur on our interview where the Yeah.

We know you're too mature for that, Daren.

I'm also in a public setting where there are other people near me. As you can hear the music maybe in the background, they're they're they're getting set for tonight's game. So that means that staff is just over my left shoulder, spatting up ahead to hear me say it. They don't wanna see me juggle. Speaking of speaking of music, can

I slide one in here, boys? Part of the goalie news every week, we wish happy birthday to goaltenders, and this... Today's happy birthday is to a musician. Chad Smith, drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, was a goaltender growing up. Common origin story that you hear on the podcast so often because he loved the gear and also because he wanted to be the backbone just like a drummer is.

Love it. Happy birthday, Chad Smith.

The ultimate independent contractor, goalie, and drummer. There you go. NHL Sense Arena, a feature interview. What do we have this week, before we talk about our friends over at NHL Sense Arena?

NHL Sense Arena, a feature interview. What do we have this week, before we talk about our friends over at NHL Sense Arena?

We caught up with Anthon Hansen. I probably butchered that. I apologize. I think I do it better in the interview because I asked him right before we started talking. We met him at the symposium in Boston, the USA Hockey Goalthending Symposium.

One of the things I loved about that was the fact that they had people from other nations, other associations, all over the world. They invited them. They didn't make it USA Hockey exclusive. They're all about sharing ideas and lessons. Anthon coaches for Brinis as well as has been...

Won't be this year, but has been for the past couple of years at both World Championships, the Olympics, and the Four Nations, their national team goaltending coach. So some great stories there. Just a really unique perspective from a guy who stopped playing at a young age and started coaching pretty quickly. So he's been doing this for a long time despite being really young. So a lot of great insights and background from him.

Fun stuff there. NHL Sense Arena brings us our feature interview, every week. And before we hear the conversation, just, update on what's happening over at NHL Sense Arena.

Update is an understatement. It is huge this week because they've come out with NHL Sense Arena '27. They issue updates all year long. You hear from us at various times about new features that they've added into NHL Sense Arena. But once a year, they do something real big, and that was this week.

Two new modes for goaltenders to get really excited about, including, you know, just the the regular small updates that they've done, making bringing the NHL rosters up to date and making the animations look better and so on. But here are the two big cool things. Goalie shootouts. You're in the crease against NHL shooters in a survive and advance challenge. Each round, you face three shooters from an NHL team, and you need to save five out of nine to beat them and move on.

If you allow too many goals, you're out. There are opponents from all 32 NHL teams. Great fun, dialing up the pressure a little bit, which is probably not a bad thing. An all new playmaker mode, because don't forget, there's also NHL Sense Arena for players, but it includes a goalie mode. Goalies get to read the attack.

It's a little bit of ProReads here for you as it unfolds in front of them, and they have to make decisions based on a threat assessment and the different shooting options. The first goalie course is reading the game from the crease, focusing on reading the attack and anticipating scoring chances. That covers tracking the puck, assessing shot threats, and finding the right position for the save. Goalies earn their own Hockey IQ score. Great, great new feature.

Former NHL goalie Andrew Raycroft, says that Hockey IQ lets a goalie play faster without necessarily moving faster and calls Playmaker a tool for turning reads into instinct. Get it today at sensearena.com, and use the code I g m 50 to save even more. Fun fact, guys. Andrew Raycroft was also speaking at the USA Hockey Symposium. And when he did, he mentioned InGoal and ProReads specifically as a great way to learn how to read the game and improve your goalie IQ.

Sense Arena now adds another layer to that.

Feature Interview - Anton Hansson

Let's get over to it. Our NHL Sense Arena feature interview on InGoal Radio, the podcast.

Really excited to welcome to the InGoal Radio Podcast, someone we got a chance to meet over in Boston at the USA Hockey Symposium for the first time, and we finally caught up. We caught him in between games in the Swedish hockey league. Anton Hansen of Brynys, goalie coach also for Sweden at the Olympics, at world championships, at a number of different levels. Thank you so much for taking the time to to do this today. I know it's a busy part of the schedule over there.

Thank you for having me. I'm really excited. I'm really looking forward to this, so just happy to to be on the show.

Well, let let... Walk me through your background on how you got into this because you're only 34 years old. But when I when I look up your coaching record, you've been doing this for sixteen years already. So pretty much right into coaching at 18, it looks like. Mhmm.

How how did... How'd you get started?

I was playing hockey. I was playing goal in my hometown. Didn't reach, like, any any high... Higher levels of playing. So got into coaching at my goalie coach camps, and they...

When he ran ran camps in the summertime. So I think I was around 15, 16 when I started attending his camps as a as a coach. So I I I went one week as a goalie, and then I had two weeks as a as a coach to to pay off the the the first week. So that's how I came into coaching. And I I found it...

From the beginning, felt it was something for me. I really like the the the communication with with the goalies and the communication with the with with the human. So from an early age, I I I found that I... When I stopped playing, this is what I what I wanted to do. So when I was 19, I felt that I haven't reached where I wanted to be as as a player, and I felt like in the, like, near future, I wouldn't be there.

So I jumped straight into coaching, and so I started coaching in my in my hometown town... In my my hometown team. My old goalie colleague was the first... One of the first goalies that I coached and on from there.

What was that like starting with somebody you actually played with and then into that coach? It would have been a a... Is it an easier transition that way, or is it more difficult?

Like, we had a... Like, we had a good relationship when we were playing together. So it was pretty... Like, from beginning, I think it was a pretty smooth, like, transition from from from colleagues to to to a coach and and a relationship as well. So it went it went pretty smooth, actually.

Now starting at lower levels and then working your way up

Mhmm.

Walk me through the progression and and some of the influences. You know, who's who's influenced your coaching? And maybe in different regards, maybe there's been somebody that influenced your coaching from a mindset standpoint, somebody else that... From a technical standpoint. You know, what are what are sort of your foundations, and where do they come from?

Like, as I said, I started coaching at Mikkel Sambury. He's been a goalie coaching in. Sense. So the coaching at at his camps, he's been a big influence for me both as a goalie and later on as as a as a coach and still someone that I... We we still do camps together in the summertime, and we still keep in contact.

So we talk a couple of times each month still. So that that was one of my... And it still is one of my my biggest influences as a as a coach and as a goalie. So started off in in in my hometown team, as I said, gave me a lot of opportunities. Like, we...

They they had no goalie coach that was around. So I was I was 19 at the time. I had no, like, bigger commitments except the girlfriend, so I could spend all my nights at the rinks. So I coached every team from u 16, u 18. I've helped out to the younger goal in sending in the cloud from, like, nine, 10, 11 years old.

I had goal practice for them, like, once a week. So I could do, like, almost everything that I that I said yes to that I wanted to, I could do. No one was no one was telling me not to do it, so I just kept doing that for for five years. Trial and error and a lot of things that I did back then that I wouldn't do again. But being 19 years old and not afraid of of of trying things, that was a big big impact and and a big thing for me to to keep with me, like, for for the rest of my life so far and hopefully in the future too.

I love that. Well, give me give me an example of something you tried that you thought might work and why it didn't.

Yeah. We had what we call the the the shuffle... It was a... It's a shuffle route. We did...

Like, this is 2010. So back then, a lot of the goalies had really sharp skates. Like, we had, like, Henrik Lundqvist era in Sweden. Every... They were so sharp.

So...

Right. Inside edge high and deep deep deep. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So so we... It was a lot of deepened back then as well.

So we we did what we would try to call the the the shuffle... Shuffleslinger in Swedish, but, the shuffle routes and and, like, a set route in the net, all shuffles. But since the skates were so sharp, we we... I I would say, like, today, I was... I would I would be worried for the hips and the groins because I would say that to do that kind of, like, skating in in the crease that we did would probably be not as beneficial for your for your hips and your groins looking at hindsight.

But but I think back then, that was, like, what we did and what we knew. So we we kept on doing that for for a couple of seasons too. So

Okay. So from there, you get an opportunity. You go to Scleft, yeah, and I'm probably gonna Yeah. Make mispronunciations throughout this interview. So I I apologize.

But sort of that opportunity to rise up and go through to to different levels and then, you know, to Malmo in twenty nineteen, twenty in the SHL. Mhmm. Was the goal always the SHL? How... What...

What's it like over there in terms of, you know, the mobility and and moving around in different jobs and different opportunities? We we don't have a sense of it here. Right? Quite often, we think, like you said, the hometown team is is where guys stay.

Mhmm. No. So I was I was working at... I I was working at store that sold the TVs and cell phones, that type of stuff. So so, like, first year, I wouldn't...

I I didn't really see it as, like like, a career path like that.

But Okay.

Like, during during the first year, I felt like this this might be something I can do. And, like, being, I don't know, 19, 20 years old and maybe maybe naive if you if you look back at it. But back then, I was like, maybe I can do this for for a living. So I I started looking around. So I found...

So we have in Gothenburg, which is my home hometown, close to my hometown. At the university, they have a sports science bachelor's. I took a bachelor degree. So the third to fifth year, I was coaching. I all...

I also started at university. So I I have a sports science background. And during those years, I I learned a lot in school that I tried and applied and and tried to to take into the... My my coaching every day. So during the last year of school, I was I was gonna have, like, a bachelor, as I said, but I was starting to think about, like, what should I do next?

What... What's the next step? Should I be doing this as, like, consulting? I I I I already did consulting around Gothenburg. So I did not only my hometown team, but but a lot of, like, smaller groups and and goal to practice like that.

But in in, I think, early October, maybe around this time, in in my in my finally... Fine... Final year in school, I had a phone call on the way home from the rink one afternoon where the goalie coach of Calleptio called me, and he said that he got my name from Thomas Magnuson that we all know. Yeah. So he he was the guy that introduced me to, my name to.

I had no relationship at all with from beginning. But being around different events, coaching clinics, stuff, like, you you get to know people. And and the goalie coach community isn't that big. So that was kind of the way up to who left there. It was a a long move.

So I I I went up there, visited for a couple of days, and then we spent the better part of that that we entered to try and figure things out. But, yeah, lucky for me, they they found me to be the most interesting guy they interviewed, so I got the job.

Going to... Walk me through the schooling, the university, and the sports science and how it applies. Give me examples of some of the things you learned that are, you know, maybe more on the sports science side and how you apply that to goal training. And Mhmm. And the other thing too is I was curious about, you know, the...

We hear a lot about what a great program they have for goalie coaches in Sweden for teaching and coaching, and I'm assuming you did that as well. Was that part of the schooling or outside of it?

That was outside of the schooling. So the first... Like, the first two years, I did the the three steps that we do as a goalie coach in Sweden to be... Become, like, the the level three goalie coach to have that certification. So I did the the the Hockey Federations part.

And then when I... Just when I finished that in in the spring of twenty thirteen, I... The same fall, I I started school. So that that... That's when I started in the university.

So it it was kind of broad, like, the beginning was kind of broad. So it was all... Everything from biomechanics, nutrition, but also a lot of coaching, psychology, socio psychology. So not just from an elite elite sports point of view, but also from, like, a health perspective and society perspective as well. So I I think it gave me a a broad broad picture of what what sports can be and...

For for an athlete or for for everybody. So I learned a lot, and we had a lot of great teachers at the... At that program too. So from the psychology part of things, I I brought a lot of the theories that I still use when I when I tried, like, with self self determination theory and so on were kinda use... You pick the cherries, I think that's the expression you have.

Yeah.

Pick the cherries. So I I did that and and and brought along a a lot of things. So now I think this, it's ten years since I graduated, but I still use a lot of what I did back then every day.

Self determination. Why... The... Walk me... Can you walk me through how that...

Like, what that is and how you apply it to goaltending?

Oh, yeah. To build the... This... What to say, in... The athletes' inner motivation, you have to have autonomy.

You have to feel that you are appreciated, and you feel confident. So if we can apply all those three things, like, try to have that twin every day, we are creating a higher level of inner motivation for the athlete. So...

Right. That's a great example.

Yeah. So that's an e... Like, an an easy... It it was an easy thing to, like, to bring into how I planned the week is, like, how we set up practices. So even, like, today, every every day when I came into the ring, I tried to I tried to have those three pillars with me just to create that...

The sense of motivation. I didn't create that in moderation from the goals as well.

So from to Malmo for a year by the looks of it a little bit and then to. Walk me through that path and and how you ended up. I mean, I think it's, like, seven years now with.

Mhmm. It is. It is. So I came from, and that was the the junior program that I coached up there. So they...

From 15 up to 120 and with the school. So a lot of younger goalies, younger, I would I would say kids, but younger goals and help them through... Throughout the... Like, that part of of life too. So I spent two years then up there.

And then, like, in a couple of days, I got the call from Eco Panthen, a team that was was... Is based in in Malmo that was back then in Hockey Shop Sensekan. Yep. And and we we found out that we're gonna have our first our first kid, our son. So...

And Malmo is much closer to home. So being able to coach at the pro level with only one team instead of going in between school and do 18 and out of 20 and and a lot of different goals for us, me and my my girlfriend, felt like the the the the good step for us both as a as a family to be and and for me as a coach. So that was why we left. I I I really love the time we had in. The the coaches around and and all the staff around, Both the men's team and the junior program are are amazing, and a lot of them I still have have contact with to this day.

So... But we moved out to to Parent then, spent a year there, and then moving on to Malmo in in SHL. So kind of pretty quick from, like, moving up to. You didn't know, like, quite where my coaching, like, path would take me. Within a couple of years, I was I was fortunate enough to to be in the SHL with Malmo.

And then I... The head coach back then in Malmo, he got a new job in Brines, so he asked me to follow. So spent a couple of years in Brines out of goal coaching, actually. I was

I noticed that it said... Yeah. The the title was different for a couple of years.

Yes. So I I spent the first, I think, two years in business. I was I was analyst and video coach. The goal coach... We had a couple of different goal coaches, like, for those years.

So some of them didn't follow follow followed along on the on the away games and on the road. So I could spend a lot of time with the Goals, like, on the road or pre scouting. So I kept in touch with the with with with the position. But for me, back then, it was all about, like, working with with the people that I that I like to work with and in a place that I like, and and Venus gave me that opportunity. So...

But looking for... On the position from from another perspective as well, I think that has given me today a better understanding maybe of the... Not the position itself, but how we can see the position from from another point of view. So coming into the statistics back from from the university and and and and that part kinda gave me an an another view of of of the position that I I think benefits me today.

In in what ways? When you're looking at it from another lens, looking at it from the offensive side, doing video breakdowns, what kind of things did you learn, or what what what did you see that maybe you weren't seeing when you were looking at everything through the eyes of a goalie?

Because, like, because I haven't... I wasn't as emotionally attached to goalies as you are as a goalie coach, even if you try not to be, like, then you are. So I saw our... And I say our as the team. Like, I saw the defensive structure from another point of view.

Like, more from a, like, how would he place the situation to... And I I spent more time with the players in in video sessions. I kinda got their view even more on how they viewed situations, both, like, as a d's or as a defending team, but also for... From the... Like, an offensive point of view as well.

So I think that that gave me that, like, aspect of viewing the position.

Is it... Like, do you think it... Like, as a co... Goalie coach, that an important step to to to be able to do video to... An important skill to have and also understanding of systems and what teams are trying to do to you and what you're trying to take away?

Absolutely. I think... And and from the beginning when I came up to Calyxte, like, one of my tasks that I had to do, okay, was was not only goalie coaching, but also code the games for the junior teams. So I I had to learn both the system, like, technical wise, but but also the the the the the system within the defensive structure and how teams forward check and how they break out. And and now when I coach goal is a lot of what we see and a lot of what we talk about is how how you see the game and how you can read the game.

So from my point of view, can I? If if I'm better at understanding our defensive structure, maybe I can be better at seeing patterns and and help the goal is see those patterns in the... From from the opponents, how they try to create offense, both when we sit and speak and and and also from a from a scouting standpoint. I think that can help the goal to develop the skill set. And now we now see that we we want our goals to have.

So I think that's that's one of the... Like, how I work with TheGoal is now. And that's just the technical part of it, but also seeing and break down our structure and our system and and and also the opponents.

When you take that information to them, how do you present it? Like... Because, essentially, what you're talking about is ways to help them get better at reading the game. And I guess the the question I have is, clearly, a lot of people think that's an innate skill and you only get it with experience, but it sounds like, you know, you believe that there are some things you can help along the way and and and help develop that skill and teach it.

Yeah. Something like from from the way we do it or the way I do it is we have a big pre scout of the opponents. We see their... Fortunately, how they break out, how they set up in the neutral zone and everything. And then then I take the the opponent's offensive part of that and see how they try try to create the scoring changes.

Like, what do they search? Is is it a is it a a team structure, or is it player specific structure? Is it is it some place on the other team that are searching and what? How are they giving us the, like, giving us the information? What signals are they sending?

What what can we use? And this is also... A lot of it is for the the men's single list, but also on our junior program. So try to break down offensive structure. This is how a lot of teams, when they jump with their strong side d and the offensive zone, this is usually where he ends up.

So this is what we need to keep an eye on and so on. So I try to narrow the the team scout down for the goalie so that we can see how and when they create scoring chances and if it's a team team structure or if it more more player specific structure as well.

Do you... Like, for young kids Mhmm. You know, obviously, you don't wanna overwhelm with too much information, but are there lessons here in terms of how to how to learn to read the game? Like, is it something you can study? Is it just a matter of watching more hockey? You talked about the patterns, being able to identify those patterns. Because we do hear a lot of it. Right?

Like Yeah.

Kids that, you know, really technical, move really well, know how to play the know how to play the position, so to speak, but don't necessarily know how to play the game.

Yeah. I think so. And and I think a lot of it come from from seeing the game, but but also, like, playing the game. Like, what do we say? Play play the game as a as a player, not just a goalie.

Not just waiting not just waiting waiting around for for the puck to to start to come to me, and then we'll see what happens. Like, being involved in the game, we had a a great quote, like, dominate the neutral zone as a goalie that we... I I brought from Boston as well. Like, we need to see the game not only when they cross our blue line, like, the defensive blue line. We need to see the game earlier.

Like, how fast are they coming? Like, what what the... What options does he have if he slow down at the blue line? So as early on as possible, can I see it and and consciously think about what might the next step be? So I think seeing a lot of hockey is great.

I think that playing a lot of games are great, and it can be hockey hockey. It can be different type of things. Just everything that involves like a a ball and a stick or, like, soccer, football, or, like, all those types of of sports will help you create an understanding of the patterns that develop in in those type of games, those type of sports.

I think that playing a lot of games are great, and it can be hockey hockey. It can be different type of things. Just everything that involves like a a ball and a stick or, like, soccer, football, or, like, all those types of of sports will help you create an understanding of the patterns that develop in in those type of games, those type of sports.

I love that. I love that. That's all about finding the patterns. Yeah. The, anything else you took away from Boston?

Haven't been a part of that? What was it like to to get to come come over and and sort of... Because I know in Sweden, correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys as coaches get together on a fairly regular basis and share information and share knowledge. Mhmm. Maybe for those people that aren't aware of it, can you share what that's like?

What those what those... Is it Goalie World? Is it called Goalie World? I can't remember.

We have... They call it, like, Goalie Convention. Like, what's that?

Goalie Convention.

Goalie Convention. So, basically, when when I started coaching, like, in, like, 2010, 2011, like, we had big international ones with, like, 50, 60 goalie coaches. And by then, that that was, like, the big ones. Yeah. So I got to see...

And I I got to meet and and get to know a lot of the the goalie coaches that were then working in the ECHL. And so I... They were my, I would say, like, heroes, but my... I I I looked up to them, and and and I I saw, like, what they were doing. And being able to talk to them on on those type of events were really good for me.

And I think that was the big part of of Swedish Goalie development as well. It was an open open discussion. Like, people could... People came in and shared, like, their their ideas, their knowledge, what worked for them in the past, and all of that. So I think for for all goalie coaches that that that were around those those events, everything was open.

Everything was sharing. We didn't, like, hide. So for me, as a young coach, as a young as a young person coming in, that was a great learning learning events for me for a couple of years. So then moving on from the, like, big national events, moving on to the smaller for every region. So almost all the SGL teams nowadays, we we in Brinis host one every year.

So we we invite people to coaches that are in our community to come in, and we Okay. Try to share our knowledge along with Stefan Law, who comes around and and share his knowledge, and Thomas has been on a couple of those as well. So we get get to meet each other, like, every second year, like, all of the SHL or Hockey Shop Sense or SDHL goalie coaches. Once a year, we get to meet the the the coaches in our community and and share and share our knowledge with with the... Within that group too.

Is it go both ways too? Like like as... Because there's always... Like like you said, the people at the top, you learn from. When you were a young goalie coach, you're learning from the people in the SHL.

But quite often, the people at the bottom, the young... They're they're around the young goalies. The game's constantly evolving. There can be great ideas coming from the bottom up.

Exactly. That... That's the type of events that we try to create when when we have, like, an agenda where where we... A lot of things, like, that have been around how can we develop game readers. Like, how can we we develop those type of skills and then...

And then we we do like to see in in our goals coming into our system in the next couple of years. But also, like, we we encourage them to ask questions. We encourage them to share what they're doing. Like, it's been a couple of years since I was in, like, youth hockey in my everyday. My son's playing hockey.

He's he's soon to be eight years old. But since since... It was a couple of years since I had, like, meeting those 10, 11, 12 year old goalies on a regular basis. So it's great for me to have, like, their insight in in what they are talking about and how they see things and the questions that they get and how they everyday looks like just just to be able to to keep that keep that fresh as well.

Is your son a goalie?

He's not a goalie. Not yet. Right now, he likes to score goals. So we'll we'll we'll see. He's he's tried, but he's tried.

But and I

I was gonna say, like, can can he even be a goalie at age eight in Sweden? That's right. Like, you have different... You've... You're set up differently.

Walk me walk me through that because I think it's probably important our audience... This... You know, we have audience all over the world, but I think in North America, it might be important for some people to hear how it works there.

We encourage our kids to not play, like, full time goal until they're, like, 10 or 11 years old. Like, we want them to be later full time goal. Just because of playing the game, skate with with with player skates and not the equipment, Try to be not as specialized too early.

We encourage our kids to not play, like, full time goal until they're, like, 10 or 11 years old. Like, we want them to be later full time goal. Just because of playing the game, skate with with with player skates and not the equipment, Try to be not as specialized too early. Sometimes... And I I look back when when I was playing myself.

I I wanted to be a volley so bad since I was, like, seven, eight years old, and I I couldn't be a full time volley until I was 10. So but I think for me, like, later on, I was never a pro goalie, so I wouldn't say this is a... I wouldn't say this is a... The perfect fact, but I think playing out would benefits everybody. So...

And and now in my son's team, we we have a couple of guys that really wanna play in goal, and they can do that once a week, but they have to be playing as a player, playing the game, seeing that part of of the game as well, as well as developing the athleticism that that you need when you're going.

Different perspective. Right? Like, you're seeing you're seeing it from... Like like, you talked about looking through the lens of an analyst Mhmm. On offense and systems.

Just see the game from the other side it. I I gotta ask, though. I'm curious because you said, you know, obviously, you you wanted to be a goalie really bad from seven or eight years old. Who was your guy? Like, did you have... Was there a was there a hero for young Anton growing up in terms of the goalie he wanted to be like at pictures on the bedroom wall or watch games of?

Mhmm. We had... Like, since I'm from Southern Gothenburg, and the Lundqvist came up in in Fidel, and that's... That was the team that I I shared for when when I was a kid. So they won the gold medal, and he was the the goalie that was in the nets for...

When they won the gold the gold medal in the in SHL when I was 11 and 13. So, obviously, that's my... That was my big hero back then. And and also looking at North America, I had Patrick Roy as one of my biggest heroes as as a goalie. And so I tried to have my jersey as big as he...

I had a book where it said that he had a a jersey that was so big that he could, like, fill up the net with. So I tried to get the biggest jersey that I could get when I was nine or 10 years old too so I can I can catch pucks within my way? My jersey the the way the way that Patrick did.

I love it. I love it. Have you had an opportunity to meet Hendrix? And then now you're... You've worked with the national team.

You've been on international stages, Olympics. So boyhood hero, have you had a chance to meet him through your various work?

I I... I've only said hi to him. I haven't had a chance to sit down and have dinner or further discussions, but but I love to do. But... No.

I I I met him, but, not more than that.

Not a bad guy to have as your hero, one of the all time greats, as a as a person and as a goal. Okay. So, you know, on that on that note, we've talked about your work at Bereanus. World championships, first one in 2024, four nations, Olympics. What's it like?

I mean, like you said, we... You you started at '18, 19. You didn't even know it would be a career, and now you're you're working with the national team. Some of the biggest names on the biggest stage. To be an...

You know, to be an Olympian even as a coach. Like, what what does that mean to you? What's that been like?

Same thing like... The the feeling that I had when when I got that call from from the national team from from from the from the GM was the same feeling that I had when when Hockey called me and offered me, like, hey. Would you be like to do this full time? Like, you worked so hard, and and I tried to stay in, like, in the moment and your... With your goal is, and you have your your everyday, and do you do, like...

And and I did that when I was in in... How's my hometown team, and and I spent, like, all my energy and all my focus on that. And and, essentially, like, when when when that call came from and and and later on, like, when the NASA team called, it was like like a reality check that this is is this for real? Like, can this... This is really happening?

But I think, like, being in the moment and being present and being, like, so focused on where you are, maybe not, like, paving out of career, like, I need to do this in five years. I need to do this in ten years. More like, do this, like, as where I am right now. Do it as best... That's as good as I can and and with the folks that I best folks that I can have.

And I think that gives you the opportunity to have those... Get those phone calls later on. So... But getting that phone call from the GM was like... It was in the middle of summer.

I got the call, and they asked me. I was like, hey. We would like to have a discussion with you for for this role in the actual team. That was a... Both as a goalie coach and also as a video coach.

So assistant video coach, analyst, and and and and goalie coach for the natural team. So that was a childhood dream come true and something I would never imagine as a 19 year old quitting playing career. I felt like that so so far away, but being able to do that for three years has been has been amazing. So I... I'm I'm really thankful for that journey and and all those moments and and members that created.

And and working with some of the biggest names in the game over here as well, whether it's a Markstrom, August of Sinnoh, Wallstead Oh, yeah. You know, Sam Harrison. Like... So what... When you go into that environment Mhmm.

What... What's the what's the approach? Like, you know, because you're... In a short tournament, you're probably not gonna change their games. Right?

You're not gonna reinvent the wheel or anything like that. But Mhmm. You know, how do you find ways to to help them be their best, especially if you're just meeting them in some cases?

I I started off very early. I I made phone calls to all of the, like, I think, nine or 10 goals that we felt that was the the the... Our best Swedish goals in North America. So I was... Because the...

Stefan has been in the National League for, I think, fourteen years, maybe, something like that. So he he was a long time. He had... He's he's been building up great relationship with those guys for for quite a while. So I took it.

I've tried to be as humble as possible. So I made the phone call. I said, this is this is... I'm not gonna... I'm still not Stefan.

I'm not gonna do it like Stefan did, but I'm gonna do it like you feel like the best. So I started having pretty early conversations with with the guys that we have playing over in North America. So building the relationship not only for the next tournament, but but what I felt like was a couple years ahead. So so pretty humble approach from from my side, just getting to know the guys better. Some of them I knew a bit.

Some of them I met along the way. Some of them was new for me, like, relationship wise, but but just being able to to start, like, that relationship pretty early and not calling them just two weeks ahead of the world championships and say, like, hey. Would you wanna come? Just more, like, know where they are, know where... How the seasons went.

Started to to have conversations with the goalie coaches as well just to get some insight if if it was something that we can can benefit from knowing, like, from a pretty early stage.

It's tough to have, like... Short tournaments are tough in a lot of different ways. Do you ever... You've got that experience looking as an analyst on on the other side too. Like, do you believe that certain goalies can fit certain systems better than others?

And and I don't want you to give me any examples, but as you're trying to consider, like you said, nine or 10 goalies that are, you know, eligible for these things, is any part of the consideration, hey. Is what this guy's really good at, and this is what we're going to try and do as a team. So he's a perfect fit, or this guy is really good at these things, but we're not gonna give that up. You know what I mean? Like, like, sort of fitting...

Is... Can you fit a goalie to a system better than others?

I think I I I think it can, but I I think also I think also a bigger part of that is the, like, the personality within the team. Like, I think that's a big thing. Structure wise and and and, like, what your strengths are as as a goalie, I think that... That's... That is one thing.

But also, like, how... Like, you meet a new group. Like, you you have to create trust within that group. So that, like, when you go out on on that, like, the final game, like, the final period, like, when things come down to, like, when really matters, I think I think that's also, like, a thing that I learned a lot from from those those years that the the trust that you can build in a pretty short short time is really, really valuable.

I love it. Last one. I haven't really talked about technique. I haven't talked technical with you. Mhmm.

Where's the game at in Sweden? Where are some of the focal points from a development foundational standpoint? What are some of your personal things when you talk about goalie foundations? You know, where do you where do where do you lay those foundations?

Mhmm. I would say that we are... Sweden in general, we've been talking a lot about, like, the box control Yep. Covering the net, how... Knowing how how big you are as a goalie and how much net you cover in such situations.

I think from the beginning, we spoke more like, okay. Is is it a reaction part? Like, can I react in this situation, or is it more like a blocking or or covering? I think where we've gone through the last couple of years is more mixing it up, still knowing, like, the the size of the net and everything, but being able to mix it up and use our our hands in in more efficient way, maybe more... Maybe influence more from from maybe North America or the Czech guys or even the Russian guys that are...

There maybe are... Or have been further ahead than than us Swedes. I say us Swedes now in that point of view. But but the big thing for us has always been skating. And still for me, like, skate...

If you can skate well, if you can move well, you're gonna put yourself in a position where you can have the choice later on if you wanna, like, cover a lot of net or if you wanna use your hands more or if you wanna track the pucks all the way in or if you wanna like, the the big body or the small body, just be be in the way of that pocket in different situations.

So, skate, when you talk about goalie skating, how would you... Like, your your son's friends that wanna be goalies if you were on the ice with them? Like, is it a lot of just everything in the crease, or is a lot of dynamic edge work out of the crease? How are you trying to build those things?

A lot of dynamic edge work out of the crease.

Like Okay.

From from an early age and and try to do that even with with our guys because when you when you come up when you're, like, 16, 17 years old, you are pretty, like, molded into technique. You're t pushing your shuffle. Like, you have you have your your specific goal technique. So we try once in a while, not not every practice, but once in a while. Try to mix it up.

Right? Like, challenge those edges in in angles and and getting to know those edges in in ways that maybe aren't as, like, normal for us to do. Like, it's not a t push only, and then we try to be as best as we can in that t push. Just try to create to to get to get to know those edges outside of the decrease work we do as well. But then, again, we do a lot of increase work too, and and that's where we have to be building a foundation being, like, master that technique as well, but but also being able to...

And I think that's especially important from a young age... Young... Younger age, being able to to challenge those those edges in in every situation, outside edge, inside edge, being able to find the balance and find the the strength in in your foot and your ankles all the way up.

And I think that's especially important from a young age... Young... Younger age, being able to to challenge those those edges in in every situation, outside edge, inside edge, being able to find the balance and find the the strength in in your foot and your ankles all the way up.

I was gonna say, so it sounds like, like, precision within the crease still matters, but the reality is the game's gotten so dynamic. We have to have dynamic responses in unpredictable matters, in unpredictable ways. Has the game gotten unpredictable over there too? Like, we see it over here. Obviously, I don't get to watch much SHL, but, I mean Mhmm. Man, life is hard as a goalie over here right now. A lot of a lot of lopsided scores and east west and crazy plays.

Is... You've seen the same in the SHL?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I... Last couple days, like, the the number of lateral passes and backdoor plays and and and and and I think that's... That...

That's great. Like, we we... Thomas spoke about it when we were in Boston, like, the the

Pendulum.

Like, how... Yes. The the the pendulum has been, like, from maybe a a course y hedge volume based approach to to scoring goals. We got into shot quality and more of a shot selection Yeah. Is how we would would...

Is how we would say so. We we meet a lot of different different situations now than compared to, like, three or four or five years ago. And and some teams are getting so unpredictable. It's getting predictable, like, in a shell too. Like, you feel that you can be...

They are creating offense in in a predictable way, but on the way, like, it's it's a lot of bounces on the way too. So... But it's it's it's creating situations for us as a goal is that might be hard to to to to meet, actually.

How do we swing the pendulum back? I know Thomas talked about it. Do you feel like just more skating, more edge work, being able to have those dynamic responses to unpredictable? Is that that how we sort of swing that pendulum back, not not being too predictable in our practices?

I think so. I think so. And I think, like, if we can be as... Where where we where we started, like, reading the game and and and reading those reading those signals, reading the the information that the that the shooters and then the players are giving us, I think that's the big thing now. I think it's been important before.

It it was important for, like, fifty years ago, thirty years ago, ten years ago. I speak with the goalie coach that was coaching in in the men's team forty years ago. He's in... At all our practices. He comes down.

We have a talk once in a while.

I love it.

And and and, like, the things that he spoke about forty years ago, the... That's the same thing that we speak about now. Like, how you how you read the game. You need to react. You need to move.

Second parts create those type of situations in practice as well. So it's fun when we when we can meet, and we can we we can have discussions. And his lens is maybe different than our... My lens, but but still a lot of it is the same, but but in a maybe different way. But it...

It's it's the same from from the from the beginning.

Anthon, this has been fantastic. Thank you so much for letting us see the game through your lens. It's it's been a real pleasure getting to know you. I know our audience is gonna really enjoy this conversation as well. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me. It's been it's been a pleasure. I listen to the podcast every week on my bike ride to to my work, so it's been a pleasure to listen to to this too, maybe.

Oh, I I I love it. I'm I'm glad to hear that. We we got a listener. We do. Thank you so much.

This is really great. Best of luck this season. I know you're already well underway. And like I said, just really appreciate you making the time in between games today.

Thanks so much.

Okay. We'll talk soon.

Yeah.

Outro

That trip to Boston, it it just gives us so

much to come.

On the podcast.

Oh, forget the pod... Well, I don't I don't wanna say... I I almost said forget the podcast. Please don't forget the podcast, folks. Do not forget the podcast.

We enjoy having you as listeners. But if you haven't already subscribed to ingoalmag.com, let me tell you. Right now might be a good time because in addition to all these guests we've brought you, we are about to start bringing you all the content from the USA Hockey Goaltending Symposium, including on ice sessions with Jacob Fowler, Mike Buckley, Los Angeles Kings Goaltending coach and Team USA Goaltending coach, Andrew Raycroft presentation, Steve Valiquette's presentation, Aerin Frankel up on stage with Jim Craig. There is so much coming, and it's all coming to InGoal Magazine, and we'll all be subscriber only. So make sure, as Hutch said, you've got till November 1 to get it for just $50 Canadian.

At that point, it'll probably translate to about $50 American or $67 in Canadian dollars. So check it out now. I didn't do the dance.

I was waiting.

$67.

See? There it is. Hutch Hutch, you don't... We don't have to wait very long. We just know...

Just lay out a little bit. Woody'll I still don't know what he'll come through.

Maybe Woody just can't suppress it.

My youngest is still a teenager. So she... She's... Yep. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much.

It's it's perfect. Six foot nine kids. Cooper Black. Plus skates. Think about it.

Six foot nine.

What That's two inches more than six seven. Plus skates.

When when he's in a butterfly, how much net does he does he actually cover? Is it just legs? Because there... There's different... Like, your torso, you can have a large torso.

You can have long legs. Well, there's one photo up on the site if you go check it out of him in the RVH. A good chunk of it. And, surprisingly, because when he stands there, his waist is at the top of the crossbar, which is just absurd. But, but when he's in the RVH, you would think his shoulder would just plug up that that top corner, but it doesn't.

And and I'll tell you one... I mean, it could. It absolutely could. But one thing I noticed that Paul Maurice said before his first start is that he's not just a big lad. He's an athlete.

And and so he gets into the RVH there in a... In an athletic position. Could he just be a big blocker and fill all the holes? I think he probably could. It'd be...

I'd be interested. Kevin, didn't you have a a discussion with Francois Allaire? Maybe it was even the hundredth episode here where he talked about sort of wondering whether one day we'd have goaltender so big they'd just be able to play the game on their knees. I would I would be fascinated if Cooper would do that in a practice to see what would happen. Stay on the goal line.

Stay on your knees.

There wouldn't be a lot of that. Wouldn't be caught moving, wouldn't be caught in a transition. There's certainly... The way guys skate and move around on their knees

I'm actually being serious.

Interesting experiment for sure.

And you're being serious.

It'd be Honestly, why do you need... I mean See

see. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

If you fill the whole net top to bottom when you're on your knees, it's not that hard to move left, right when you're on... I mean, you'd probably get picked apart on a clean shot. You gotta pick your spots. I don't literally mean sixty minutes, but I think you could spend a lot more time on your knees. I'm not not advising Cooper, but I'd be curious to know what the experiment would be like if somebody tried that.

Yeah. We want guys on their feet as long as possible and as much as possible.

Because you're you're typically more mobile, but not a lot of guys can also go to the crossbar when they're on the goal line, and you don't need to move that much for meetings. I barely get to the crossbar standing up.

I can't reach my water bottle.

How tall are you, Woody? Like, five three?

I'm I'm headed there pretty quick, Daren. I'm headed there pretty quick. There was a time when I measured six one, but now I can't even touch six two.

And Hutch has the hands of somebody that's four foot eight?

Yes. Yes. True.

I could say that. I can

use intermediate palm gloves. That is the truth.

Well, you you guys are both awesome because you you you don't pin me to the wall when I don't read the emails. Very nice of you. I appreciate your patience. Thanks to everybody for joining us today. Fun stuff from Cooper Black to Connor Hellebuyck to James Reimer being back in the National Hockey League. Some some cool happenings in and around InGoal Radio, the podcast.