Tendeck adds even more poise to his game
Giants goalie refining and polishing his performance to cut out ‘wildness’ and reduce reaching
For David Tendeck’s game, blander is better.
The North Vancouver netminder was much more of a battler when he joined the Vancouver Giants three seasons ago. He was throwing whatever he could at the puck to keep it out of the net.
He’s more refined now. He’s more polished. Everything looks very much like it’s on purpose, happening by choice than by chance.
It’s part of cutting out the “wildness,” as Tendeck explains.
“When you’re a little bit behind or stressed on time, you can’t read the play the same and you make more mistakes and you have to reach and get a little more wild,” reiterated Tendeck, 18, a 6-foot-2, 181-pound southpaw stopper. “I’ve been reading the play well so far. The game feels a little slower now and I haven’t had to reach and make those huge backdoor saves.
“I feel like I have more time to look around and see what’s going on and make adjustments from there. With things moving slower, it gives me more time to see all the pieces on the board and where they are moving.”
Tendeck was superb in Vancouver’s season-opening sweep last weekend of a home-and-home series with the Everett Silvertips, earning first star both nights after stopping a combined 57-of-59 shots fired his way in a pair of 3-1 wins.
It’s only one weekend, but he looked even more confident and poised than last year, when he took the Giants’ starting job early in the season and ran away with it. He ended up making the WHL’s Western Conference second all-star team after fashioning a 25-16-3-2 record along with a 3.02 goals against average and .912 save percentage — and that played a role in the Arizona Coyotes using a sixthround selection to sign him in June’s NHL Draft.
Tendeck was the first Giants goalie picked in the draft since Tyson Sexsmith, who got the call from the San Jose Sharks in the 2007 third round, a few weeks after helping Vancouver to that Memorial Cup national championship tournament victory on home ice.
It’s only one weekend, but it’s easy to wonder what Tendeck is capable of this season, particularly if Vancouver takes a step forward and checks better as a team than they did a season ago. Also at play is that Vancouver has another highly regarded netminder in sophomore Trent Miner, 17, who was a firstround pick, 20th overall, in the 2016 bantam draft.
“Obviously, I could be better,” said Tendeck. “I can’t be thinking that throughout the year. I can’t be chasing something. It’s going to run away from me if I do. I have to play my game. I have to worry about one puck at a time.
“Arizona didn’t give me anything in particular to work on. They want me to keep on improving, keep on working on my game.”
Further proof that his ideals about his game are changing comes from the fact that Jonathan Quick used to be the NHL netminder that he followed the most closely. Quick is from the aggressive, whatever-it-takes approach. Tendeck’s guy now is Martin Jones, the San Jose Sharks goalie who’s on the more technically sound side.
“There’s not a lot of Quick anymore (in Tendeck’s style),” Tendeck admitted. “He makes those crazy saves. He’s very entertaining.
“I still like big saves, but I’m trying to limit how often that has to happen. I’m trying to make things simpler. I want to make my job a little easier. I want to stay square, getting my angle, having good rebound control, reading the play better. Obviously, there are going to be times that I make mistakes with those things and I’m going to have to make those big saves.”
Tendeck and Jones, 28, are both North Shore Winter Club products. They’ve met only briefly.