Senators, Penguins see themselves moving on
But for all the visualization and the positive thinking, only one team can be right
OTTAWA— The talk around Game 7 — and the playoffs as a whole — is understandably cliche-ridden. Control what you can control. Shake off something bad that happened. Focus on the next shot, the next shift, the next thing you can do.
But these things matter to players, to their mental makeup, to their ability to visualize the good, block out the bad. Their personal power of positive thinking helps them believe the unbelievable.
“The mind is a powerful thing,” said Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson, whose terrific 45-game performance in Game 6 forced Thursday’s Game 7. “History, and the scientific data of using your brain, and using visualization is a tool to make yourself better.
“If you believe you’re beaten, you’re done already. If you believe you can win, there’s always a chance.”
At 36, Anderson is a prime example of a survivor, of someone who has the ability to shake off the bad and embrace the good. He did just that in forgetting his terrible Game 5, a 7-0 loss, by following up with a terrific Game 6.
But athletes like Anderson aren’t born with that ability to focus. Like their on-ice skills, mental fortitude is a skill they learn, they develop, they nurture.
“I think it’s a process. It’s ongoing. There’s always thoughts that creep in your head,” Anderson said. “I think my biggest strides . . . in pro hockey, as far as mentally, (were) probably after my first year. I found a sports psychologist that I liked and worked with him when I was a young player and used those tools. You know, read a couple books here and there along the way.”
Ditto for Matt Murray, the Penguins goalie who will have to be one stop better than Anderson if the Pen- guins are to get to the Stanley Cup final for the second year in a row.
“You just try and worry about what you can control, and that’s how we prepare and how we play,” Murray said Wednesday. “I think, if we do that, the rest will take care of itself.
Blocking out the white noise is a skill, Murray said, something he works on. “You know, it’s just mental awareness more than anything, I think. Yeah, it’s not easy sometimes.” Anderson and teammate Bobby Ryan have turned to Mind Gym, a book by sports psychologist Gary Mack, to help give them mental strength.
“What you think affects how you feel and perform,” is one of Mack’s lines. Training your brain is as important as training your body,” is another.
Sports psychology is a huge part of professional sports these days. Ottawa coach Guy Boucher has a degree in it.
“It’s not just positive thinking,” Boucher said. “You choose every day
“It’s not just positive thinking. You choose every day what you want.” GUY BOUCHER OTTAWA SENATORS COACH
what you want. You wake in the morning, and you can want to be better, or stay the same, or get worse. Something is happening. One of the three. It’s your choice to decide what it is.”
The Penguins, too, believe in the power of positive thinking. Ottawa has never won a Game 7. The Penguins have, including the last round against Washington.
“The psychology of high stakes games definitely has an impact on players,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “What I love about our team is we’ve always showed an ability to respond. We’ve had . . . a lot of high stakes games here over the last couple years, certainly in my tenure here, and our players to a man have responded the right way.
“It always starts with our leadership. These guys have a lot of experience of playing in this type of an environment, and I think that experience will serve them well.”
The Senators, of course, see a different outcome. Forward Clarke MacArthur and defenceman Dion Phaneuf talked about it on the drive home after being drubbed by the Penguins in Game 5.
“(Phaneuf) was like, ‘We’re going to get this series,’ and I was thinking the same thing,” MacArthur said. “How do you think that after you lose 7-0? But we got one of the two.
“I believe in the group we have. I know when we play our game, we can beat any team. I’ve never been part of a team that reloads as quickly as we do. That’s what this time of year is all about. Forget it and move on.
“If you think the right way, and you go into games knowing how to execute and knowing what you want to do, good things can happen. Visualizing things can pay off.”