Dwayne Roloson

Dwayne Roloson was born on October 12, 1969, in Simcoe, Ontario, and went on to play 606 NHL games over a professional career that stretched until his retirement in 2012. Standing 6'1" and weighing 170 pounds, the left-catching goaltender posted 227 wins, 257 losses, 40 overtime losses, a 2.72 goals-against average, a .908 save percentage, and 29 shutouts across his NHL career.

One of the defining moments of Roloson's career came at the 2006 NHL Trade Deadline, when he was dealt to the Edmonton Oilers. Despite having previously found Edmonton a difficult place to play — by his own account, a rink and environment he had long struggled with mentally — he went on to backstop the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final that spring, generating Conn Smythe Trophy consideration before suffering an injury in Game 1 of the Final against the Carolina Hurricanes. Among the statistical footnotes of his career, Roloson appeared five times in NHL regular-season games in which a goaltender faced 50 or more shots, going 3-2 with a .934 save percentage in those outings. The busiest of those nights came as a member of the New York Islanders, when he faced 61 shots in a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs — the 18th-highest single-game shot total in NHL history.

Since retiring, Roloson has worked as a goaltending coach. InGoal Magazine has covered Dwayne Roloson in one podcast appearance and one InGoal article. On Episode 301 of the InGoal Radio Podcast InGoal Radio Episode 301 with Dwayne Roloson, Roloson discussed how shot volume affects a goaltender's ability to stay mentally engaged, drawing on his own experiences and those of contemporaries such as Curtis Joseph and Dominik Hašek to illustrate how difficult the transition can be when a goaltender accustomed to high shot totals moves to a team that generates fewer. "And I saw Dom when he got traded [to Detroit]. We were in Minnesota, we went out and had something to eat and he's like, 'Roli, it's tough to play here!'," Roloson recounted. "And I'm like, 'Yeah Dom because you're used to seeing 30, 40, 50 shots a night. You're seeing 18 and you know you have to mentally figure out what you can do to stay involved in the game and stay focused.'"

Drawing on that podcast conversation, Colin Hodd reported on the mental frameworks Roloson uses with goaltenders he coaches Pro Tips with Dwayne Roloson ‘Framing’ and ‘Parking’ Help Manage High and Low Shot Games. Roloson described two concepts he teaches: "framing" and "parking." Framing involves finding a constructive way to think about whatever circumstance a goaltender faces — high workload, low workload, or an arena they find difficult. As Roloson explained it, before he was traded to Edmonton he had long disliked playing there, so he deliberately began identifying things he appreciated about the city and building to shift his mental approach heading in. Parking, the second concept, is a technique for low-shot environments where attention can drift. Rather than fighting an intrusive thought, Roloson coaches goalies to set it aside using a short, repetitive cue — "park it, park it, park it" — and return focus to the puck. "In a high shot environment, you don't have time for your mind to trail off," he said. "In a low shot environment, your mind trails off."