Bauer's new TotalONE line is highlighted by adjustable breaks in the pads that allow goalies to customize how they fit and play on the fly, but the innovations go well beyond that. (InGoal photo by David Hutchison)

Dismissed by some as a gimmick when they first arrived, now there isn’t a major golf manufacturer that doesn’t offer clubs that allow you change the way they perform.

That’s precisely the idea behind the Bauer’s MYFLEX technology.

In development for almost five years, the new pads utilize foam bars inserted into two breaks across the pad – one just below the knee, and another just above it – to allow goalies to change the flex in their pads, and therefore how they perform on the ice.

Goaltenders who like a straight pad can insert black bars in both breaks for a set up stiff enough to make even New York Rangers’ star Henrik Lundqvist happy. Those that want their pad to flex more, allowing it to wrap around and help close the 5-hole in narrower butterfly drops, can use two yellow bars. Or you can go to the extreme and take the bars out to create an exceptionally soft, flexible pad (Bauer doesn’t list this as an option and while it works short term it may affect durability). And of course every combination in between is also possible – soft and the knee and stiff on the thigh, or vice versa.
Of course, most InGoal readers already know the basics from our preview last issue.

The question now is does it work?

After a couple months of testing, InGoal provided the answers – as well as a number of other innovations, like an entirely new knee cradle based on the material used to make Croc shoes, in the new TotalOne that will appeal even to goalies not interested in adjustable breaks – in the April edition of our digital magazine. Be sure to read the entire review by clicking here.

Bauer's new TotalONE line is highlighted by adjustable breaks in the pads that allow goalies to customize how they fit and play on the fly, but the innovations go well beyond that. (InGoal photo by David Hutchison)

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

I know some of you are working hard on your off-season training programs. I also know that some of you are working hard on the wrong things. So before we get too much farther into this off-season, I want to help pull you back from the brink of disappointment when none of your hard work pays off when you step on the ice for training camp.

It is not too late, so look over this list of the Top 7 Hockey Training Mistakes I see year in and year out. Here we go…

1. You have a “Chest Day”

Bodybuilders who wear those little speedo bathing suits and spray-on tan have a ‘chest day’, not hockey players. Here’s the deal, you can have your chest day, but you have to wear one of those skimpy bathing suits to the gym on those days. Does that sound fair?

A hockey player’s training split should look more like this….

OR… a little less intense option is this…

2. You confuse speed training with conditioning

I see sport coaches, personal trainers and even some strength and conditioning coaches who still make this mistake – and the “As Seen On TV” training programs are full of this training error.

If you are training speed, you must be moving fast.  Once you have fatigued to the point where you are no longer moving explosively, you are training stamina, not speed.

Even though someone calls their program “Plyo” this or that and even though you are technically doing plyometric drills, if you are doing squat jumps for more than about 6-8 reps, before you get a lengthy rest (about 4 times as long as the work interval), you are training stamina, not speed and power.

3. You train on machines

Training on machines creates weak links in your musculoskeletal system.  It helps you build strong movers, without training your stabilizers.  This gives you muscles that can produce a lot of force crossing joints that cannot stabilize that force – this is a big problem that leads to decreased performance and often injury.

4. You skip breakfast

Most of the younger players I work with want to add mass and they tell me they eat ‘all the time’, but when I ask them what they eat for breakfast, they usually start by kind of screwing up their face and then they say “I’m not hungry in the morning.”

Then I remind them that they don’t ever feel like running 300 yard shuttles, but they do it.  The tell me they hate doing single leg squats to a 14” box, but they do it.  So what is the difference with eating breakfast?  Nutrition is just another training variable and it needs to be treated with the same commitment.

5. You ride the bike for conditioning

Riding the bike in the off-season reinforces a lot of the bad things hockey already does to your posture.  It keeps your hips in flexion.  It keeps your lower back rounded AND it keeps your adductors (groins) in a shortened position.

Add to this the fact that there is no stopping, starting or changing direction and you can see where biking for your off-season conditioning may not be the best choice.  Now if you want to ride your bike one day a week for cross-training, that is fine, but do not make it your primary source of conditioning.

6. You don’t follow a strategic training plan for your specific needs

Some athletes ask me to critique their off-season training and this is what they tell me…”well, I do some MMA kinda stuff and then I do some weights and then I go to this bootcamp and then I do some stretching….”

There is no structure, no plan and nothing to address the hockey players’ specific needs.  This is just a mish-mash of ingredients.

At very least you need to think about what you need to improve as a hockey goalie and then put together a systematic plan to take you step-by-step from where you are to where you need to be.

7. You are still looking for ‘The Secret’

I love it when hockey players start asking me about protein powders, creatine, BCAAs and every other supplement before they are even training consistently.

Those are the little things.  The things that might make a 1% difference.  Focus on the big things – the things that will make 35% of the difference first.

There is no secret or magic supplement that will make it easy for you.

BONUS #8 – You haven’t started yet

….it is not too late, but it is getting there – start today.  Do something!

So here is the bottom line, this is what you need to do…

• Work hard on the right things (if you don’t know what these are, then get help from a professional trainer)
• Be consistent – set a schedule for yourself and follow it.

Maria Mountain is the strength and conditioning coach to Olympic, World and Stanley Cup Champions. She specializes in off-ice training for hockey goalies. Visit www.GoalieTrainingPro.com to learn more or click here for your free copy of the Ultimate Guide to Durable and Flexible Hips for Goalies

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

Coyotes Goaltending Coach Sean Burke, seen here filling in at practice, resurrected his career under Benoit Allaire in Phoenix, and helped Mike Smith do the same this season. (InGoal file photo)

It didn’t take long after Mike Smith’s impressive postseason performance behind the Phoenix Coyotes ended for the razors came out – literally and figuratively. Smith’s playoff beard had barely washed down the sink before some wondered if his magical season – one that should have earned him a Vezina Trophy nomination – was a one-off or the start of an impressive career rebirth.

From the outside it’s an understandable question. Smith, after all, went unclaimed twice on waivers and spent time in the American Hockey League just one season earlier. Already 30 years old, his .930 save percentage in Phoenix this season was a dramatic rise from his .899 mark a year earlier, and a significant spike from a .906 career average over five previous seasons.

Some wondered fairly how much the spike can be attributed to playing behind the stingy Coyotes system of head coach Dave Tippett, whose goalies have traditionally enjoyed statistical success. Others wondered if Smith– was just finally back on track after his career path was twice derailed by serious concussions in Dallas and Tampa Bay. Most recognized the important role played by Phoenix goaltending coach Sean Burke in Smith’s turnaround season, but beyond simplified talk about “playing deeper in his crease” few really broke down the significant changes they made in Smith’s style, adjustments that should have a lasting impact.

InGoal Magazine had a chance to talk at length with Burke about the tactical alterations, which have roots in his own career-saving trip to the Phoenix desert back in 1999-2000, a trade that united Burke with goaltending guru Benoit Allaire for the first time.

At the time, it was the fifth team in three years for a 32-year-old Burke, whose career started in the mid-1980s, was based on the reactive, stand-up style of that era – aggressive, upright and challenging – and appeared to be on the decline. Instead, Burke embraced Allaire’s philosophy of attacking plays from the goal line out rather than backing in. The next season Burke was an All-Star again, and the year after that he was a finalist for both the Vezina and Hart Trophies, as well as the Lester B. Pearson Award, the player-voted MVP trophy that has since been renamed to the Ted Lindsay Award.

Burke, who grew up in Ontario, talked to InGoal back then about the evolution of his own game.

Burke had success after changing to a goal-line out approach. (InGoal file photo)

“When I broke into the game back then it was definitely slower,” Burke told us during the 2003-04 season. “Players didn’t shoot the puck as hard so most of the goaltenders played the game in a way we considered at the time to be athletically. You caught the puck a lot, you challenged the shooter, you got out and created things by poke checking and playing the game fairly aggressively.”

Incredible as it may seem now, in an era loaded with goaltending coaches at all levels, Burke was more than a decade into his career before he found someone able to translate the butterfly into his game in a way that made sense to him.

“I was really in a position where I didn’t know why I was struggling,” Burke said. “I didn’t understand the game as well and I just couldn’t figure out what it was I needed to do and it took a while before I figured it out again. I never really understood the game or how I wanted to play the game until I arrived in Phoenix, to be quite honest, and started working with [Allaire].”

Allaire, whose brother is Maple Leafs goaltending coach Francois Allaire, has since moved on to the New York Rangers, where those same puck-stopping principles helped Henrik Lundqvist become a four-time Vezina finalist. In the meantime Burke left Phoenix as a player but came back as a coach, and the same things he learned a decade ago are on display in the work of Smith, whose .944 playoff save percentage helped the Coyotes get out of the first round for the first time, and reach the Western Conference Finals.

Unlike Burke, Smith came equipped with a strong technical background in the butterfly, working with Jon Elkin at his Ontario based school since he was a teenager. But Burke said there are similarities between the tactical adjustments he made under Allaire, and the alterations Smith made this season, starting closer to the goal line and rarely moving out past the blue ice, reducing the distance traveled, allowing him to adjust positioning and stay on angle with short, quick movements, thus minimizing extra motion that can open up holes, especially on bigger goaltenders like Smith and Burke, who both check in at 6-foot-4.

Mike Smith came up big in Phoenix by playing deeper. (InGoal file photo)

“I think that’s fair,” Burke told InGoal of the comparison over 12 years. “The technical side of the game, it’s not rocket science in a lot of ways. He’s a guy with his ability and he really reads the play well, I wanted him to be in a position where there’s never a shot he doesn’t have a chance at. I always disagreed with the old ‘goalie had no chance on that play.’ I’ve never thought that made any sense. I think every shot, every situation, you have a chance and a lot of times it’s putting yourself in the situation to make the save. The first thing was to get Mike to believe in that, that he’s going to be in a position in the net where he can make every save, and if he does get out of position once in a while he’s such a good athlete he can make up for it.”

~ Did you have an eager student in Smith?

Burke: “What people forget sometimes is to believe in something you have to see success with it. So the advantage that maybe I have, if you want to say that, is that I played a long time. And I think when Smitty came in here, there was a respect factor and I wasn’t throwing some crazy idea at him, I was just trying to pass along some stuff that worked for me. It’s easy to tell guys and say things, but it sure helps if you have experience with it yourself and the student you are trying to pass it on to is open minded. That’s as simple as it really is. Smitty was looking for something he could apply to his game and I have already done it in my career, applied some of these things, so the transition was not really that difficult. Over time for him and in general he’s found what works for him – doesn’t mean it will always work, he may have to adjust it at some point.”

~ InGoal: You talked about his athleticism – Smith was a national level fast pitch player growing up in Canada and once hit a home run in batting practice with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays – is that a key to being able to play deeper? So many people associate it with more of a “blocking” style, yet without good hands on top of that positional base, wouldn’t guys like Lundqvist and even Smith, who is a lot bigger, eventually get picked apart upstairs in today’s NHL?

Burke: “You’d only get away with it to a point. I shouldn’t say I get frustrated, but there’s this feeling in the NHL recently that you can take any big guy and put him in the net and as long as he’s technically sound he can play and he can play well, and I think to a degree there is some truth to that. But to be a top guy in the league, or one of the top guys, I don’t think that’s good enough. You have to combine the technical side of the game, which is easier to teach, with your athleticism, your reading of the play and your patience. So a guy like Mike, he’s a bit of a rare breed in the fact he is such a good athlete and I think for parts of his career that’s the one area that was not the emphasis of his game, it was more the blocking and technical side and now he’s starting to combine that and I think that can make him successful for a lot of years.”

~ InGoal: Is that the difference in recent years, we’re seeing more big goalies who are also big athletes, like a Pekka Rinne?

Burke: “[Rinne] plays a different style, he’s more of a guy that flops around sometimes and gets on his back. He’s a competitor, he really is, there’s nothing I can say that he’s not a great competitor. But I think Mike’s game is more efficient, and he’s a guy that has that ability if you want to play like that, but over time it’s not probably what is going to be most successful for him. I like where he’s at with his game right now because he understands he has the ability to play a very flashy kind of game where he’s making great saves, but I think he knows now that if he does that all the time he’s not going to be as successful. Full credit to Pekka – and [Nashville goalie coach Mitch Korn] – he is a big, athletic guy, he reads the play well, but to play that way is not easy. It takes a lot of energy, it takes a lot of battling. Shot after shot, you are working extremely hard and I give those guys credit, that’s exciting to watch. But I just think for Mike he’s at a point where he knows he can play that way, but I don’t think consistently, night after night, if you are going to play 65 games and play 10 years, that is the best way to do it. We’ll see. Time tells for everything, but for now it’s worked very well for him.”

~ InGoal: So it’s more a matter of knowing when to use that athleticism and when to rely more on your size?

Burke: “It’s not much different from a lot of other sports – if you can throw a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, it doesn’t mean you throw it every pitch. That’s not over time probably going to work for you. Mike is a guy that has that ability and at the end of the day it’s what is going to separate him from a lot of other goalies in the league, but if he just approached every game with that being his biggest asset, over time it would be a difficult way for him to play. He’s a bright guy too, Smitty is not a guy that just goes out there without thinking about the game or doesn’t have a game plan. He understands the game and he’s just at that stage now where he is maturing and realizing this is the type of hockey he is capable of playing and he’s having a lot more fun playing this way than I’m sure in the past at times.”

~ InGoal: Mike’s always had a really outgoing, easy-to-like personality, but has there been an evolution this season from being a popular guy to being a guy players follow on the ice? Is he emerging as more of a leadership figure on a team?

Mike Smith has been turning heads in the desert with his mask and his maturing play (InGoal file photo)

Burke: “I think he is, but I think there’s a balance there though. It’s always difficult for a goaltender to take too much of a leadership role other than just by example. It’s that fine line of not wanting to be too vocal in the dressing room and trying to focus on what your job is. I always knew – and Smitty knows – if you go out and stop 50 shots a night that gives your team the best chance to win. If you’re too caught up in trying to lead or focus on other things, it’s difficult to do but I do think you can emerge as the leader of a team by coming to the rink every day, being a professional, focused, and showing the other guys you are ready to play every night. And I think that just naturally leads a team. Now guys come to the rink knowing he is going to be ready and our goaltender is focused and going to go out and play well for us. That’s the kind of leadership top athletes have — they lead by example. I think he’s getting to that point now.”

~ Is that also why goaltenders shouldn’t be team captain, an experiment they tried with Roberto Luongo in Vancouver?

Burke: “It’s difficult. I remember when I was in Hartford they wanted to make me captain and it just wasn’t something I felt comfortable about. It wasn’t going to work. Being the captain is obviously the symbolic leader in a lot of ways, that’s why you have the ‘C’ on your jersey, but more than that he has to be a guy that can handle that situation. And it’s hard for a goaltender. You’re not going to play every night to begin with, so it doesn’t make sense from that standpoint. But just to be the guy that has to answer all the questions all the time and be the focus, I think it’s just too difficult for a goalie.”

~ Thanks to Sean Burke for taking the time to talk to InGoal during such a busy time of the season. Be sure to keep an eye on InGoal Magazine for news about his first goaltending camp later this summer.

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur continues to show that being one of the NHL's best puck handlers isn't all about being able to shoot hardest. (Scott Slingsby photo)

That gave the recently-turned-40 goaltender sole possession of the NHL record for assists in a single postseason, breaking a seven-way tie with Glenn Healy, Grant Fuhr (twice), Ken Dryden, Gilles Gilbert, Kirk McLean and Tom Barrasso. But to really put Brodeur’s feat into perspective, consider he is only one assist shy of Pekka Rinne’s NHL-leading five assist total for the entire regular season (Brodeur and Craig Anderson were next with four helpers this season). Brodeur, who also has a playoff goal on his resume, is also now just one point and two assists from matching Fuhr for the career playoff highs in both categories.

Of course, more interesting than the totals are how Brodeur accumulates them. And that was made even more interesting by watching him play the puck Monday night while editing an article on playing the puck written by Mike McKenna, who played two seasons in the Devils’ organization and is now with the Ottawa Senators. Among the many great teaching points made by McKenna in the story, which will run in the June edition of InGoal Magazine, was that being good with the puck was not always about being able to shoot it the hardest. Watching Brodeur’s subtle little fakes, angle changes, and soft chips elude the Rangers really drove that point home.

Even the assist provided another great example from McKenna’s article about the keys to becoming a great puck handling goalie. It wasn’t a brilliant 60-foot pass, or even a crisp 15-foot tape-to-tape job. Brodeur simply recognized that coming out behind his net put him in a better position than the first Devils’ defenseman coming back and, knowing where his players would be on the other side because of advanced systems and set ups McKenna also addresses in the upcoming InGoal story, throws it safely off the glass, giving his players a good chance to retrieve it while also ensuring he’d be back in his net before either team could make a play on it:

As for how Brodeur got started handling the puck (like McKenna and Marty Turco, it involves Ron Hextall) and how he got so good at it, the Devils’ star shared his secrets with InGoal for an Ask a Pro segment last season:

“The way I wound up playing the puck was my dad used to be the photographer for the Montreal Canadiens and one morning when I woke up before going to school my dad came in and said ‘son, I can’t believe what I saw last night’ and I didn’t see the game so I didn’t know what he was talking about,” Brodeur told InGoal, “But Ron Hextall was playing and he said ‘this guy is like a third defenseman.’ That stuck in my mind and the next thing you know I watched a game and saw him play and I was amazed and I thought, ‘you know what, that’s what I want to do, I want to put that in my game.’ And so I started working at it.”

Brodeur said the key to getting better was, “simply shooting pucks.”

“Every time I have a chance, I’m going to make a pass to one of my players in practice,” he said. “Every time I have a chance, I’m going to clear the puck just to see how far I’m going to be able to shoot it. And when they’re doing drills on the other side and I don’t feel like taking shots, I go and I take maybe 50 pucks and I’m going to aim at the cross bar, or aim just over the net, and you know I’ll shoot on my backhand, on my forehand, or from behind the net I’ll get someone to skate board to board at the red line and I’ll try to hit his stick. The key is you’ve got to play, you’ve got to practice, and you have to love what you do. I was 14 or 15 years old when I started to work at it, just remember when I was midget AAA we had hockey and school together so we had a class of hockey and I would just go into the gym and shoot those big heavy orange pucks for half an hour just to get stronger.”

Be sure to check back in June for McKenna’s more complete breakdown on how to become a better puck handling goalie.

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

Steve Mason is the only Canadian goaltender drafted into the OHL in the last eleven years to have played more than 20 NHL games. David Hutchison photo

The purpose of this study was to determine what the actual chances are that a boy, developed through the Ontario minor hockey system, will reach and play in the National Hockey league as a goaltender. People constantly converse at the local arena about how great a prospect their child is, and that one-day he will play professionally. Confidence and optimism are good things, but comments should be based on facts and not local arena myth. The study results are not meant to discourage anyone but to provide the reader with knowledge and insight.

The data were obtained from the Ontario Hockey League Minor Midget Priority Selection draft and were limited to the period from 2001 through 2011. The International Hockey Database was used to determine the playing history of the goaltenders selected.

Numerous questions for each draft needed to be answered, including the following: (1) Total number of goaltenders selected (2) Percentage of entire draft class being goaltenders (3) Highest round and overall selection number (4) Lowest round and overall selection number (5) Average selection round for a goaltender (6) Tallest height (7) Shortest height (8) Average goaltender height (9) Percentage of the goalie draftees being either 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th quarter births (10) Number of goaltenders selected from each of the different minor hockey associations that make up the Ontario Hockey Federation: GTHL (Greater Toronto Hockey League); OMHA (Ontario Minor hockey Association); Alliance Hockey; EOMHA (Eastern Ontario Minor Hockey Association); NOHA (Northern Ontario Hockey Association); HNO (Hockey Northern Ontario) and US-based Hockey clubs. The CISAA (Conference of Independent School’s Athletic Association) may also have players drafted (11). The percentage of draftees playing at least one regular season OHL game (12) The percentage of draftees playing twenty or more regular season games (13) Number of OHL draftees subsequently selected in the NHL entry draft (14) Number of NHL draftees playing one regular season NHL game (14) Number of NHL draftees playing twenty or more regular season NHL games.

Please select this link to see the data compiled for this article

Discussion

The table shows that approximately 30 goaltenders or ten percent are chosen annually. Most people familiar with the OHL draft history generally know these statistics.

The data reveal that although the majority of goaltenders are not taken in the early rounds, a first round select for a worthy goaltender occurs. Over the 11-year period, five goaltenders have been first round selections. The highest selection at 4^th overall, and the only one to play in the NHL to date, is Dan Lacosta with four regular season NHL games (Columbus Blue Jackets) to his credit. A first round selection is by no means indicative of future progression to professional employment. Conversely, being a late round selection may still provide you with a chance to progress through the system. Both Adam Dennis (14^th round) and Tyler Beskorowany (14^th round) were drafted to National League clubs and are presently playing professionally.

With the present NHL trend of drafting goaltenders of significant height, physical stature is assessed. The data reveal goaltenders of all sizes are selected. There are goaltenders at 5’11” to 6’1” who play in the O.H.L and are successful. Being of short stature may make it difficult to move to the next level, but the goaltender may still have an opportunity to play major junior hockey if he is good enough!

The long-standing debate how an early birth date potentially affects player selection and development, is given more power on the basis of this study. The majority of goaltenders selected in each draft were born either during the 1^st or 2^nd quarter of the year. The selection of 4^th quarter births is consistently quite low and faired best in 2008 at 21% (six draftees). Furthermore, the combination of 1^st and 2^nd quarter birth selections is consistently over 60% and ranges from a high of 78% (greater than 3/4^th) in 2011 and 2001 to a low of 63% (almost 2/3^rd of all goaltender selections) in 2002. Whether these goaltenders are better at stopping the puck or whether there is a bias purely based on physical stature and perceived athletic maturity is unknown. Nevertheless, these kids are consistently selected with much higher frequency than their 3^rd and 4^th quarter birth counterparts.

Another question relates to the distribution of goaltender draftees amongst the numerous associations in this province. Parents and coaches repeatedly preach that the league in which their child plays is the most competitive and that hence their child, by association, must be a better player. The league, or association, from which the majority of goaltender draftees are selected, is consistently a contest between the Greater Toronto Hockey League and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association. Over the course of eleven years the O.M.H.A had the majority of selections on seven occasions. The GTHL had most selections in both 2011 and 2010, and on three occasions selections were equal between the two leagues. The GTHL had the most first goaltender selections with four. It is very difficult to interpret these numbers in some respects. The OMHA is by far the largest OHF association with teams divided between the eastern ‘AAA’ and south-central ‘AAA’ leagues. The GTHL is a league to which many players are recruited for their draft year. The degree to which GTHL recruitment affects goaltenders is unknown to the author. This would be entirely speculation, since draft information lists only the hockey club from which a goalie is drafted, but not the hometown or grassroots association from where the prospect may have originated.

The concern, however, relates to the low frequency with which goaltenders are selected from the leagues of northern Ontario. Is this because these goalies have relocated to a larger centre in southeastern Ontario for greater exposure? Is it related to lack of solid developmental opportunities, competition of less quality or something entirely different? The data shows that on numerous occasions not a single goaltender may be selected from either the NOHA or HNO!

Goaltenders selected from US-based hockey clubs are generally a small yet consistent number. The majority of these goaltenders do not report to the OHL initially or at all.  Some goaltenders pursue opportunities in prep schools, NAHL or USHL. The best goalies usually advance to the US U-18 National development squad and, if drafted to the NHL, may then enter the OHL at a later date. Two examples of this include Jack Campbell (Windsor Spitfires/Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds) and John Gibson (Kitchener Rangers).

Goaltenders and parents need also consider that only a fraction of draftees actually play in the Ontario Hockey League. Of the 335 draftees 128 (38%) have appeared in at least one regular season game. According to the author’s definition, merely appearing in one game, or part of a game, did not make someone a legitimate OHLer. The value of twenty games was arbitrarily selected to legitimize someone as an OHL goaltender. He discussed with others whether it would be better to look at games played over one, two or three seasons to determine if the goaltender had longevity in the league. In the end, the twenty games played (GP-20) remained. It is fully recognized this may be point of contention.

Despite being a developmental league, the OHL is first and foremost a business. It is a buyer’s market and the window for a goaltender to prove he belongs is not infrequently a narrow one. If not successful you will be replaced within a short period of time. Of the 335 OHL drafted goalies, 90 (27%) have played twenty or more games to date; however, the classes of 2010 and 2011 are early in their major junior careers, and this skews the results.

From a percentage perspective, the class of ‘08 was the best with respect to number of draftees that actually suited up for an OHL club at 55% (11/20); however, it is realistically the ’09 class that is strongest at 50% (18/36) due to a larger number of goaltenders being drafted.

Matt Hackett, with 12 GP for Minnesota last season, seems destined for regular NHL employment soon. Photo courtesy of Chris Jerina/AHLinPhotos.com

As the goaltender continues that Everest-Like climb towards professional status he reaches the NHL entry draft. The number of OHL goaltenders drafted annually is low. Of the 271 OHL drafted goalies whose NHL draft date has come, 37 (13.7%) have been drafted to the National Hockey League in a 9-year period. The average is 4.1 goalies per year from a twenty-team league. The ’01 class is supreme with 8 of 32 (25%) having been drafted including Gary Coleman, Al Montoya, Mike Brown, Dan Turple, Ryan Munce, Jeff Weber, Adam Dennis and David Brown. The numbers are misleading in that both Al Montoya and David Brown never played in the OHL.  Both goaltenders were drafted via the NCAA. Also, it is anything but common for these draftees to make an immediate post-draft jump to professional hockey and hence they almost always return to their junior clubs for more experience.

The study’s endpoint is well defined and numbers continue to diminish. Only 7/37 (19%) NHL drafted goaltenders have participated in an NHL game. This includes Al Montoya, Dan Lacosta, Danny Taylor, Justin Peters, Steve Mason, Matt Hackett and Mike Murphy. The percentages are once again slightly misleading. Dan Taylor played 20 minutes for the Los Angeles Kings in 2007-2008, as did Mike Murphy (2x OHL goaltender of the year and 1x CHL goaltender of the year) for the Carolina Hurricanes this past season. Twenty minutes does not legitimize someone as an NHLer but statistically a GP value of one must be given. If we eliminate Murphy and Taylor from the discussion then you are down to only five legitimate NHL goalies. Al Montoya must be removed from the study since he is an American citizen and never played in the OHL. The remaining three goaltenders (3/37=8%) are Steve Mason, Matt Hackett and Justin Peters. Steve Mason, a former Calder Trophy winner, is the only goalie to date that has played more than 20 games (1/37=2.7%). Therefore, of the 271 OHL goaltenders, either having been drafted or being NHL draft eligible, only  one (0.4%) has played more than 20 games in the National Hockey League.

Robin Lehner has played 13 NHL games to date for the Ottawa Senators and remains one of the top NHL prospects. Scott Slingsby photo.

The study doesn’t include OHL European import goaltenders drafted, and potentially advancing, to the NHL. There have been 26 goaltender imports of which ten (38%) have been drafted to the NHL; however, it is important to note that many of these goalies where drafted to the NHL prior to playing in the OHL. Upon being drafted they move to Canada for a better development opportunity and competition, as the Canadian Hockey League remains the most direct route to the professional ranks with strong competition. Two of the ten draftees, Michal Neuvirth and Robin Lehner, have played in the show.

The study also doesn’t include active or previous OHL goaltenders (drafted or free agent signings) having received a professional contract through free agency including J.P. Anderson, Andrew Engelage or former OHL goaltender of the year Michael Ouzas; however, none of them have advanced to the NHL.

One consideration to which an answer was not found is the ratio of draftees based on the win-loss record of their minor midget club. Everyone understands the importance of goaltending to team success and winning championships; however, the author does not automatically believe winning clubs have the best goaltender or that someone is poor by virtue of playing for a losing club. Also, a goalie facing 15 shots per game is not a poor goalie and one that faces 45 shots is not automatically great. This grossly over-simplifies what goaltending and team play is all about! Furthermore, most scouts are not goaltenders and may therefore not be assessing prospects in the proper fashion.

Minor midget ‘AAA’ clubs are ranked (www.myhockeyrankings.com) with year-end rankings and team records being available in April. They are not available retrospectively for 2001 – 2011. The information was however reviewed for the class of 2012. A total of 30 goaltenders were selected on April 7^th, 2012 with a total of 57 Ontario-based clubs listed in the ’96 ‘AAA’ category. The top goaltender was selected in the first round, 21^st overall. His team had an impressive 57-14-3 record and completed the season with a provincial ranking of 2^nd. The club with the worst record (and ranked) to have a goalie selected had a record 7-34-8 and provincial ranking of 52^nd. 26 of 30 goaltenders were selected from Ontario-based clubs with seven (27%) coming from losing clubs. Goaltenders with permanent Ontario residence but playing out of province or in the United States still remain the property of the Ontario Hockey League and may be selected. This did not occur in 2012.

The question of sample size may be a criticism of this study. The OHL draft review is available well beyond 2001 retrospectively; however, it is important to note that before 2001 the draft was not purely based on selection of minor midget players. Player selection was a combination of minor hockey and junior players of different age and calibre and for this reason 2001 was selected as the starting point. When one considers that all Ontario-based goalies begin in house league and the number of goaltenders at house league, ‘AE’, ‘A’, ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ level, the odds of an Ontario boy making it to the National Hockey League are quite poor.

In conclusion, the purpose of this retrospective analysis was not to debate the reasons why Canada is not regularly producing more goaltenders at the National Hockey League level. It is nevertheless reasonable to state that as relative globalization of our great game progresses, other nations with strong athletes and developmental programs will produce professional goaltenders. Were this not true, the percentage of Canadian hockey players in the NHL, in general, would not be declining. This argument is furthermore supported with respect to goaltenders by the data regarding imports. A boy developed through grass roots Ontario minor hockey can make it to the National Hockey League; however, it is a profession that only employs 60 men at any given time and the odds are greatly stacked against you!

NB: Please note that for the 2004 OHL draft no information was provided regarding height, weight or date of birth.

[upprev]Subscribe (it’s free!) to the InGoal Newsletter to receive all the latest news[/upprev].

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

Toronto Marlies goaltender Ben Scrivens talked to InGoal Magazine about his unusual stance and glove position in this week's Ask a Pro. (InGoal file photo)

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be out of the playoffs again, but top goaltending prospect Ben Scrivens is still playing hockey through mid-May with the AHL affiliate Marlies, leading the crosstown farm club through two rounds and to the Calder Cup Semi Finals.

Scrivens leads the AHL with a 1.61 goals-against average and .944 save percentage after eliminating the Abbotsford Heat in five games Wednesday night, and continues to build on a an up-and-down season that saw him struggle with his focus at times in the AHL, but also play his first games at the NHL level, compiling a 4-5-2 record and .903 save percentage with the Maple Leafs.

The thoughtful Alberta native and Cornell University Grad, has been a part of InGoal’s Ask a Pro program before, joining James Reimer and fellow puck-stopping prospect Jussi Rynnas in a two-part session that included thoughts on Toronto’s goaltending development, and how he got started with Leafs’ goaltending guru Francois Allaire in Switzerland. Scrivens took some time out from his playoff run this week to talk to InGoal about everything from his unusual stance and glove positioning, to mental tips, and his season so far, including the important role of his ongoing playoff experiences in the American League:

“I feel more confident right now at this exact moment, Scrivens said. “We’ve got a really good team so that helps any goaltender out, but in terms of my development this is huge. You always want to play meaningful games late in the season and into the summer. Toronto has been pretty adamant about getting their guys playing if they are not in the playoffs. Guys are always in the World Championships if they are not here playing meaningful hockey, and as a goalie it’s no different. You want to test your mettle in pressure situations, and that’s what the playoffs are.”

~ InGoal reader John Milhouse asks: Do you continue to work on technique in the playoffs, or is it more mental at this point?

Scrivens: “No, it’s mental, it’s consistency, it’s a whole bunch of different stuff, but at this point part of Frankie’s system is you put in the work during the year. We work hard in practices, we do 45-minute goalie session and then we stay on the ice for an hour-and-a-half practice, so it’s a long day some days. But the benefit of going through all that pain during the season is now you get into playoffs and you are not trying to re-invent everything, you aren’t trying to solve issues that have just come up. By this point in the season you should be confident with your game and if there’s a tweak here or there, fine, but it’s not re-inventing anything.

Scrivens has a fairly low, wide base, but still generates a lot of power and speed in his lateral pushes. (InGoal file photo)

“Frankie is with us on the ice in Toronto and [Jean-Ian Filiatrault], our other goalie coach travels with us. He works with the guys in Reading, the fifth guy, and also Garret Sparks in Guelph, so like last year when I as up and Reims was up, Jean-Ian was with us because there was no one in the coast. So right now Jean-Ian comes on the road with us and Frankie is in Toronto with us, so we always have a goaltending coach with us. The amount of input they both have is still huge.

“We talk every single day, we go over every game, goals – this is good, this is bad, keep doing this or that – the only things that changes is we’re not doing long goalie sessions where we work on this play or that play. We’ve done all that work already, so now it’s more about maintaining that and your energy levels and confidence, and just making sure you are ready. Because you never know, in the regular season we can spend 45 minutes on a goalie session and then an hour and a half on the ice. You can spend two and a half hours in your gear and you know the most you are going to play the next day is 65 minutes, right? Even if it goes into a shootout it’s not going any longer. I know now how much I can push myself and when I’m like ‘okay I need to take a few less reps here to make sure I have the energy to get through tonight.’ Because you can end up playing 120 minutes in the playoffs, you never know how long you are going to go. You can’t overexert yourself in practice because you don’t know how long the game might go.”

~ InGoal Facebook fan Edward Sinclair asks: How does he stay mentally focused?

Scrivens: “I had a hiccup this year in late January and February where I was just making mental mistakes and it wasn’t any one thing, it was a culmination of errors, where there is no ‘oh, I did this wrong and I’ll just change that.’ It was finding out all I have to do in order to stay sharp for a full 60 minutes and going through that definitely helped me out at this point now because I am able to gauge myself. I have kind of a checklist now, where instead of what am I doing wrong, it’s just make sure I am doing this now or that now, and they are all connected to each other and when one slips they all slip. So I have to make sure they are all at a high level.”

Scriven comes out of his crease, stands alone atop the hash marks, and puts his head down to concentrate during long breaks in action. (InGoal File Photo)

~ InGoal follow up: Is that what you’re doing during breaks in the game when you come out to the top of hash marks facing the opposing net, and put your head down? It looks like you might be talking to yourself there.

Scrivens: “Yeah, just kind of talking to myself and going through that mental checklist, but it’s a lot of killing time too. One of the things I found this year was when your mind starts to wander, and that talk within your head is kind of getting to ‘oh, what did I have for dinner or I wonder what so and so … ’ humans are notoriously terrible multitaskers so if you try to think about this and do that, everything goes downhill. So one of the things [Marlies head coach] Dallas [Eakins] suggested to me was talking to myself. You can’t think about anything else when you are talking to yourself because you can only really do one thing at once. So just by reciting different stuff, like the checklist out loud, it keeps you focused.”

~ What kinds of things are on your checklist
“Things like ‘top of the crease,’ or ‘watch the puck,’ just simple things, nothing earth shattering. It just keeps you focused with positive reinforcement, and again there is a parallel to golf: Before you line up to take your shot, it’s ‘keep your head down, back straight, follow through with your elbow.’ It’s nothing that I’m sure hundreds of goalies don’t do anyway.”

~ InGoal Facebook Fan Steve Pace asks” You have a very unusual glove positioning; how did that develop and why? And Marvin Pinero has a similar question: Why is your catcher so high up? What benefits do you get from it than having a normal stance?

Scrivens likes to hold his glove so it is more perpendicular to the path of a puck coming up off the ice, effectively maximizing the surface area that is square to the puck. (InGoal File Photo)

Scrivens: “My thinking behind it – and I am huge into logic and reason in terms of how I do things – so if you have your glove sideways [with the thumb pointed straight up or even more open] where does the puck come from? The puck comes up from the ice, so the angle it comes at is up so I want to face as much of the glove as possible perpendicular to that path. And then the other thing I was going with, is what’s harder to do – because mostly every goalie is dropping while they are making saves – so what’s harder to do, lift a limb back up against the momentum of your body, or start with the arm up top and keep it there? So you have gravity and momentum working with you more. Again so much of it is trial and error, and everybody has their own way of doing things. But I found that works for me. I like to stay up top because that’s where guys shoot the most if they’ve got time and space. They are looking upstairs, so try and take that away visually and then if they shoot it up there you are not moving anything, it’s not as much of a reaction save to try and windmill it every time. And then anything down I am already going down, and I’ve got gravity and momentum going down and that helps me get it down and close everything up fast still.”

Toronto Marlies goaltender Ben Scrivens talked to InGoal Magazine about his unusual stance and glove position in this week's Ask a Pro. (InGoal file photo)

[upprev]This interview was sent only to our subscribers days ahead of being published here. Subscribe (it’s free!) to the InGoal Newsletter to receive all the latest news – and exclusive fresh content – every week[/upprev].

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

This guest article is from Larry Sadler, the Director of Smartgoalie.com.

Author Larry Sadler argues that the number of Canadian goaltenders in the NHL, like recent playoff phenom Braden Holtby seen here, actually exceeds the expected number, based on the number of registered players in Canada. Scott Slingsby photo

The intent of Jeff Hall’s recent article here at InGoal comparing Canadian and American goaltenders was admirable: to take a look at the list of NHL goalies and to see which country had bragging rights when it comes to goaltending.

In Jeff’s article he uses the word depth to describe the US goaltender situation. Depth is an interesting word. He, in his article, implies that it relates to talent, or skill. In fact, it means more than that. In my opinion, it also relates to the quality of numbers. In fact, I feel it would be best to look at depth in terms of fulfilled potential when we examine the condition of goaltending development in the US and Canada.

I took a quick look at the stats for NHL goaltenders  in the 2011-2012 regular season and have come up with the following tables. When we look at the numbers of goaltenders and their country of origin we find one set of figures. By themselves these numbers reveal just a small fragment of the facts. To better appreciate the true definition of depth we have to consider potential – fulfilled potential, in fact. Take a look at the tables below. They don’t just show the numbers of NHL goalies and where they “hail from” – they also show the IIHF registration figures for each of these countries and what percentage of the IIHF total each country makes up. To me the sign of true depth is whether the country is living up to its percentage of IIHF membership. In other words, does the percentage of NHL members reflect that country’s level of overall participation?

When we look at the number of total NHL goaltenders this season and then look at their country of origin we see the following:

This shows us that Canada makes up 47.19% of goaltenders having played in the NHL this past season. When we look at its registration numbers we also see Canada has 36.93% of total IIHF membership and 45.24% of U20 registered players. So even though this number has declined in the past 10 years, Canada still makes up a higher percentage of NHL goalies than one would expect considering our percentage of membership in the IIHF.

Finland makes up 8.99% of NHL goalie totals and this is well above their IIHF & U20 numbers with their percentages almost double and triple the expected, respectively.

Sweden is even stronger with more than twice their registration numbers and more than three times their U20 numbers.

The US makes up just 19.10% of NHL goalies. This percentage has only improved slightly over the past 10 years, despite their high number of registered participants. Their NHL participation levels are below their percentage of IIHF membership numbers and U20 numbers. Their registration numbers are 87% of the Canadian registration numbers but their NHL numbers are just 40% of the Canadian numbers.

Let’s look at those goaltenders that have played 20 or more games:

This chart shows us that Canada makes up 47.19% of NHL goaltenders having played 20 or more games.

The US now makes up just 16.33% of NHL goalies. Again, this is below their percentage of IIHF membership numbers and U20 numbers.

Finland and Sweden continue to be strong.

Finally, we should look at those who have played 40 or more NHL games:

Canada makes up 24.49% of NHL goaltenders having played 40 or more games. The US makes up just 10.20% of NHL goalies, tied with Finland who has 13% of the US registration numbers.

In conclusion, we see that the US actually lacks depth, or at least is not developing as many top NHL goaltenders as one would expect based on their level of participation in the game. We see a large number of registered players in the US but their NHL numbers do not measure up. The US goaltending figures show they have unfulfilled potential.

The question that should be asked here is why there aren’t more US goaltenders playing when you consider their registration numbers.

Larry Sadler is the Director of Smartgoalie.com.

For further information on goaltending instruction please contact Larry at lsadler@smartgoalie.com.

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

Winnipeg Jets Goaltender Chris Mason extends further, and faster, than he could otherwise by employing the “snow-angel” technique. Ken DeNardo photo

Benoit Allaire says, “If you focus on technique and your technique is perfect, you will have success.” I definitely believe in developing proper technique and I believe in the comment by Allaire; however, there are times when proper form is of little value and I just want the goaltender to battle and make the save regardless of how it is done. It is with this in mind that I wish to discuss the situation of an off-square rebound and the use of the “snow-angel” technique as a desperation save.

In a perfect world a goaltender would not create any rebounds subsequent to a shot. This is however not realistic and hence we teach our students how to both minimize and deal with these rebounds in the appropriate fashion. One common situation encountered is a point shot with net front traffic. In this situation a goaltender commonly assumes a butterfly position to prevent cheap goals along the ice in case visual attachment and tracking is impossible, or difficult at best. A shot is taken and a pad save is made often with the creation of a rebound to the side of the goalie. Depending on your team’s defensive strategy in front of the net, an opponent may be left unchecked with a great scoring opportunity off this rebound.

The ideal manner with which to address this situation (a post-save response) would involve several technical components including the following: (1) The goaltender would put his head-on-a-swivel to regain visual attachment to the puck immediately (2) A pivot of the shoulders, torso, hips and pads would place goaltender back on a square line of attack to the puck albeit off angle and (3) a dynamic butterfly slide (power slide) would be performed to get back on angle making a blocking type save in tight zone play possible. By doing all this, the goalie stays upright, which provides maximum vertical net coverage. It also allows him to stay in control and potentially battle with further scoring opportunities with a solid down game. This however is predicated on the fact that enough time is available for said goaltender to perform all the biomechanical elements prior to the release of the second shot by the opportunistic attacker at the side of the net!

Often criticized for employing the "snow-angel," Roberto Luongo has been taught, and practices, this technique to extend his backward reach along the ice in desperation situations. David Hutchison photo.

The ‘snow-angel’ is a reactionary desperation save when the goaltender decides there is insufficient time to perform the above noted sequence. The goaltender plays the odds of sealing the ice by dropping prone on the stomach and flaring the pads out as far as necessary, or as allowed based on flexibility and anatomical restrictions, and hopes that time and space limitations prevent anything more than a quick one-timer along the ice. If the snow-angel is performed to the goaltender’s trapper side the glove should be kept open, somewhat off the ice and out in front of the body. This sometimes allows the goaltender to make a great glove save which always becomes a highlight reel favourite! Although more difficult on the blocker side, the arm can be slightly raised with the posterior surface of the paddle facing outward and occasionally knocking down a low shot. It is true that choosing the “snow-angel” save basically leaves the goaltender down and out for further play (something I have always referred to as the “floppy fish” position) but you can only ask so much of your goalie. Hopefully teammates arrive after the second save and knock the opponent down hard.

Danny Taylor of the Abbottsford Heat taught a simple drill to me a couple of years ago for this situation. Ask the goaltender to assume a butterfly position in the middle of the blue paint and slightly off centre to one side. Only one puck is required! Upon giving the command “go” the goalie drops into the prone snow-angel formation with as much flare as possible maintaining the pads flush with the ice. The instructor takes a quick shot along the ice a short distance from the goalie. The purpose is not to score but to practice the mechanics. Once proficient, the instructor may add a second shot to the drill. This could be either a chest or pad save from a shooter in front of the goalie following by the off-square shot mimicking the rebound. This should only be done when the goalie is comfortable with mechanics and technique in the initial basic drill.

In conclusion, being a technically sound goaltender is an important element in trying to succeed in ice hockey. There are however some goaltenders who rely too much on technique and become robotic in their movements. The only thing that matters is stopping the black projectile and sometimes you can throw technique out the window. The “snow-angel” is a reactionary desperation save. We have all seen it be used with success in elite play and it can work for you as well.

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

The last time InGoal caught up with highly touted Los Angeles backup Jonathan Bernier, he was coming off an up and down rookie season with the Kings, one that improved decidedly after adjusting some practice expectations, and coming a little further out of his crease midway through.

Bernier’s second season was a struggle as well, but only to find playing time behind Vezina Trophy finalist Jonathan Quick.

Just because he only played 16 games – a career low at any level – doesn’t mean the 23-year-old wasn’t still looking to improve. In addition to how he dealt with all the down time, Bernier’s evolution included a slightly altered glove position, which was the first question InGoal posed to him after practice during the first round of the playoffs for this Ask A Pro segment:

The question came from InGoal Facebook Fan Cody Osborne: Your glove position is unique to most NHL goalies in that it is kept high, but not palm down. What drills do you focus on to keep it high when making crease movements and butterfly slides?

Bernier worked hard, with some help form his goaltending coaches, to keep the glove up even when he was down. (Ken Denardo photo)

Bernier: “When I was younger I kept it really low, so I’m just trying to get a better presentation with my glove, so it looks bigger and that space doesn’t look too big up there. Having a goalie coach around definitely helps you with that. It’s not so much specific drills as it is maintaining it in all drills, and it’s more when you are getting tired that you start forgetting and old habits start to come back. And that’s when [Kings goaltending coach Bill Ranford] would remind me to keep it up. Once you get used to it, you don’t really think about it any more. But if it’s down, he can tell you right away.”

~ InGoal reader Jack Hardwick asks: Why are your toe ties so different; why did you modify them?

Bernier: “My toe tie is anchored on the far inside edge of the toe bridge, it’s fixed, and I tie four knots in the lace between the pad and where it ties to the skate. In my Memorial Cup year I had a high ankle sprain, so I had to modify it, and this way my skate doesn’t go up as high [towards the middle of the pad] because it’s anchored on the inside, closer to the ice. There’s not many goalies that wear it like that, but usually if it’s in the middle of the pad your ankle kind of goes higher. And for me, my ankle never really recovered as good as I wanted to so I had to make that adjustment on my pad.”

~ Mark Ferrante asks through the InGoal Facebook page: How do you decide on which pads to use? And how long does it take to break them in?

Bernier: “I live 15 minutes from where [former Koho and current Reebok equipment guru Michel] Lefevre makes the pads, so I kind of help him out on stuff I like and change a little things. I’ve been going there since I was in Pee Wee. I was in Koho before and just stuck with Lefevre. … And it usually takes me about a week to break my pads in.”

~ InGoal reader Richie Jiaravanon asks: What mods do you have in your equipment and why?

Bernier has a long-standing relationship with Reebok gear guru Michel Lefevre. (Ken Denardo photo)

Bernier: “I’ve always had just one strap, not two, going through knee stacks and it is attached on the outside of the pad below the knee rather than wrapping around it, and I’ve always had one less strap on the lower leg [both of which are now standard features on the new Reebok P4]. I have a single break on the outer roll, and a second upper break on the face of the pad, but not a second break on the outer roll. So I still have a little bit of flex, but not as much. I attach the inner Velcro strap around my knee instead of down to the outside of the calf [like Carey Price does]. I also felt like the inner layer of the knee [where it lands] comes up a little, so I put Velcro right to the edge of the stack to hold it down so the end piece wouldn’t pull up. This way it feels a little more solid.

“As for the blocker, it’s standard, and the gloves are actually the 590 break with a one-piece cuff. And yes, I have a practice glove. Drew [Doughty] likes the glove side and he can shoot it (laughs) so I think it helps, especially when you start and your hands are cold and you don’t want to get injurted in practice. Usually you have two gloves anyway, so you just beef one up so it doesn’t hurt. It’s pretty hard to close – I don’t even think I can really close it – but it’s just for practice.”

Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Bernier (Ken Denardo photo)

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com

Martin Brodeur continues to set records in his 40s.

Brodeur celebrated that milestone by making 20 saves in a 4-2 win over the Flyers on Sunday to give the Devils a 3-1 series lead. In doing so he became the first NHL goaltender to appear in a playoff game in both his teens – his first postseason game came in relief of Chris Terreri, now his goaltending coach, as a 19-year-old straight out of junior was back in 1992 – and his 40s.

The win was Brodeur’s 106th in the playoffs – he posted his milestone 100th in the first round – trailing only Patrick Roy’s 151, and more importantly moved him within one victory of making the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2003, when he won the last of his three Stanley Cups. Brodeur also posted his 24th career playoff shutout in the first round, passing Roy for top spot in that category, and with three assists already, including one on his birthday Sunday, could soon hold that record too.

Brodeur assisted on an empty-net goal by Dainius Zubrus with 44.4 seconds left to play, becoming the oldest player (not just goalies) in NHL history to record a playoff assist on his birthday. With one goal and 11 assists in the playoffs, he moved ahead of Roy into second place all-time with 12 points, behind only Grant Fuhr, who had 14 career playoff assists.

It’s an impressive list for a future first-ballot Hall of Fame goaltender known for maintaining his stand-up style in the era of butterfly stoppers. But it wasn’t always that way for Brodeur. With his recent milestone in mind, it’s a good time to take a look back at an old Ask A Pro the Devils living legend did with InGoal, one in which he revealed he too used to play the butterfly.

That’s right, Brodeur said his “whole thing was the butterfly” in junior. Click here to read the entire Ask A Pro with Brodeur, including how Ron Hextall inspired him to become such a great puck handler.

Copyright The Goalie Magazine - InGoalMag.com