Goaltending as a Team Defense Concept
Upper Echelon Motto: Be a Warrior!I just got off the phone with a long time hockey teammate, friend and coach. We had a great discussion about goalies (what else) and he is involved in an elite Pee Wee team for the spring in Atlantic Canada. Our conversation quickly gravitated to the idea of "the goaltender is part of the team" and not a "special individual". As a goalie and a goalie coach, I know the temptation is to build up a little wall of protection for the goalies that I deal with to insulate them from their team. And I know this is WRONG! My main job and responsibility is also to the TEAM that hires me, and not only to the goalie. In order to do this, I have to adhere to one of Upper Echelon's stated objective and that is "to integrate a goalie into the concept of team defense".
As goalies, we must get away from the idea that we are special or that our needs are above the team's. It is shortsighted, and while it may help you out briefly, your long-term success is tied directly to the team's success. So you must ask yourself, what can I do to help my team?
There are times when a goalie is misused or abused. In practice, drills are sometimes improperly timed or flow inconsistently and this doesn't allow the goalie to practice their required skills properly. As a goalie coach, it is my job to point this out to the coaches running the practice to change up the drill enough so that the goalie is getting the most out of it. I also have rarely, if ever, seen a drill readjusted that also didn't help the players. Usually, the problem comes from not giving the goalie enough time between attacks or shots to set up properly. This also doesn't help players practice in a game-like environment.
Sometimes goalies are a lightning rod to the team's failures. This is quite common even at the highest levels of the game as we very often see in the media. The current Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia series is bringing out Fleury's detractors by the busload, when for the most part it is a collapse of the team's defense (meaning ALL 6 players on the ice). If the goalie has integrated themselves into the team concept of defense and not put themselves out as separate from the team, the risk of being the lightning rod for team failure should greatly lessen.
In this conversation with this coach, I was trying to recall an excellent article just published a few days ago. I didn't have it at my fingertips to quote from during the phone call, but after hanging up, I was able to google it. The article itself is excellent about forcing a broader perspective of goaltending for goalies, their parents and coaches.
Heres is the most relevant by Greg Millen as quoted by the article:
The one thing that never changes in the goaltending fraternity is that there’s a rotation. Every night, one starts and the other sits. And, according to Millen, if you happen to be the one sitting at the end of the bench, with the ball-cap on, and the towel draped around your neck, you cannot make that a distraction.
“You’re in a group that’s trying to win games as a team,” explained Millen, “and you have to be a big part of the team, whether you’re playing or not. If you don’t have that team-first attitude, you don’t hang around – because your teammates know it, your coaches know and everybody knows it. So unless you’re a goalie who is an elite, elite guy that people shake their heads at and put up with, because they’re just so good – and there have been a couple of those, not many – then you have to make sure you’re a team player. If you do that, you normally find success goes with it.
“Because that’s the other part of this puzzle that’s extremely important for a goalie - you need your teammates fighting for you. As a goalie, you rely heavily on the guys in front of you. You need their trust and you need them to want to play for you. If you’re a selfish person and not a team player, they’re not going to play for you – and then you’re not going to succeed as a goalie because I don’t care if you’re Jacques Plante, if you don’t have a team playing in front of you, you’re in trouble.”
Millen believes that the pressure on goaltenders may be greater than every these days, in part because scoring, across-the-board, was down again in the NHL this year. Five goalies, including two involved in the Kings-Canucks series (L.A.’s Jonathan Quick and Vancouver’s Cory Schneider) had goals-against average’s under 2.00, numbers associated with the various dead-puck eras of the past. There’s an irony at work here too – as scoring drops off, pressure on goaltenders heightens even further. The line is so fine, and the margins of victory so narrow that you’d think goalies would be celebrated for their collective achievements. Instead, it’s just the opposite, Millen maintained.
“We have put so much emphasis on goaltending in this day and age, and I understand it, because the league is so close now,” said Millen, “but it’s almost as if the goalies aren’t allowed to make mistakes anymore. It’s a bit unfortunate because goalies make mistakes just like forwards and coaches and managers and everybody else in the game.
“But the nice crutch for everybody on the managerial side is, ‘oh, we didn’t get the goaltending.’ That’s often a situation that could be part of the puzzle, but nine times out of 10, it’s not all of it.
Please refer to the rest of the article
Globe and Mail: Goaltending is supposed to be everything in the playoffs, right?