Goalies gear up for season
Almost in unison, four goaltenders sprawl on the ice, paddles horizontal with their legs. They get up and repeat the move. And again. And again.
Modern goalie training isn’t just about angles anymore, says World Pro Goaltending instructor JF Martel. You’ve got to be smart in dealing with chaos in the crease, and it’s possible to get better at it with practice.
“What’s on right now is tracking, we emphasize a lot of tracking the puck off the release, eye coordination,” says Martel, as the Zamboni cruises around the Family Leisure Centre following a day of camp. “There’s a lot more scramble play, even at the lower levels. So we do a lot of reaching, falling on your stomach.”
The ice never melted at the FLC this summer but it’s going in at Canalta Centre for the Medicine Hat Tigers’ training camp which starts this weekend. Netminders of all ages know the time is coming to get back between the pipes, and in the Gas City Martel’s camp has been a mainstay for about 15 years.
“He’s just so smart, so good with all his goaltenders,” says 18-year-old Logan Larock, who’s been coming to the annual camp for the past decade. “He cares about them.”
Martel remains the goaltending consultant for the local WHL team, but his work this week is about helping kids of all skill levels improve. Larock — who was with the South East Athletic Club’s midget AAA team last season — is off to the Manitoba junior A league’s Swan Valley Stampeders in September and knows he’ll have to be in top form to stick.
“Pretty much just fine-tuning,” says Larock, who’s understandably nervous but also excited about leaving home for the first time. “You’re in the gym all summer so your strength is there, you’ve just got to knock the rust off, sharpen up your skills.”
In this Wednesday session Larock and the others in Martel’s advanced group — there are another 34 at the camp who were on the ice earlier — finish up with calculated pad-stacking stops, first as a group but then with Martel firing shots to one goalie at a time.
But everyone knows what’s done outside of camp can have just as big of an impact on improvement.
“It’s one thing to be structured and have mechanics, but if you’re not fluid, if you’re not good with your hands it’s tough,” says Martel, who encourages goalies to always have a few tennis balls in their bag to practice hand-eye coordination with.
“To me it starts with working on your flexibility. You’ve got to be flexible and agile and fluid and pliable. For many kids, it’s hard to get them stretching. When they get to bantam I always say once in a while a yoga class won’t hurt you.”
Larock wings tennis balls off walls at home when he’s bored, and Martel makes sure to show campers videos of NHL goalies doing the same. If it’s good for them, it’s good for you, the logic goes.
With a long season ahead and lots of competition for players like Larock, every bit of practice helps to gain the upper hand.