Composure – The Goalie’s Weapon

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=362239

Excellent article about what goalies need to do when in the midst of the battle.

The opposing team’s objective is to always get into the goalie’s head, the goalie’s job is to keep them out.

“A goalie’s biggest weapon in battling the distractions is composure. Staying cool and calm under fire is the difference between winning and losing.”

No team can win when their goalie is distracted. A goalie’s job, aside from stopping pucks, is to remain collected and calm regardless of what is happening in the game:

Opposing team crashing the crease… DOES NOT MATTER.

Bad calls from the referee…. DOES NOT MATTER.

Goal scored against that should have been a save… DOES NOT MATTER.

Goalies need to remain focused on their job (saving the next shot) and understand there will be things in the game they have no control of (such as a bad ref call). Goalies should not bother worrying about those things out of their control as it will only take their mind off their job of making the next save.

The more a goalie can stay focused and compused, the better goalie they will become.