Garand is winning on his schedule
Strict adherence to pre-game rituals is paying off so far for ‘dialed in’ Canadian goalie
Dylan Garand was seven when he first tried out as a goalie.
“I remember on initiation day where we all take turns, and it was my turn,” Garand says. “And obviously back then, guys couldn’t really raise the puck off the ice. But this one guy shot it, and he got it off the ice, and it hit right on the sweet spot on the blocker.
“I still remember that feeling. I felt really good. And ever since the I haven’t taken the pads off.”
That love affair with goaltending eventually saw him star for four years with the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers and get drafted in 2020 by the New York Rangers. He’s now Canada’s top goalie at the world junior hockey championship.
“He’s unreal,” forward Connor Bedard says. “A few times (Monday against Finland), they went doubleseam (across the crease) and he’s tracking (the puck) and making big saves. It’s huge to see him do that. He’s been huge for us.”
Garand is 3-0 in the tournament (Sebastian Cossa won the opener against Latvia) with a 1.67 goals against average and a .930 save percentage.
He’ll be in net when Canada begins the elimination games Wednesday against Switzerland (7 p.m. ET, TSN). He said his mindset won’t change from the preliminary round despite knowing that the winner advances and the losing team goes home.
“What we’re here to do is to win,” the Victoria-raised Garand says. “We’re not really afraid of the elimination games. We want to win those games and accomplish our goal, a gold medal.”
Garand is known around the team as a bit of an oddball. He has been spotted meditating in closets.
“I thought he was looking for a quiet place, which is totally understandable,” defenceman Elliot Desnoyers says. “He’s a goalie, so sometimes they do some weird stuff, but it’s not something that bothers me at all. But (he’s) really a great kid and I just love the way he works hard. He’s a real competitor.”
Garand says the closet story is a big misunderstanding.
“I can’t believe that’s still a thing,” he says. “I’ll tell you the story. It was at Christmas. I was roommates with Xavier Bourgault. He had a phone interview. We were in the same room and we’re in quarantine. So I went into the closet to kind of get out of his way. I also had a Zoom call with the goalie coach to do video. And he (Bourgault) started telling people I went in the closet to do whatever.”
Well, maybe that’s cleared up, but there is clearly other stuff that makes Garand a card-carrying member of the legion of goalies who stereotypically are not like skaters.
“I wouldn’t say he’s a weirdo, but he definitely has his quirks,” says forward Logan Stankoven, Garand’s longtime teammate with the Blazers. “He prides himself on his pre-game ritual, making sure everything is done at a certain time.
“If it’s messed up, it throws him off his game. He has to show up at the rink at a certain time. He has to do his warm-ups at a certain time. Certain stretches. Just so dialed in, too. In our Kamloops team, nobody talks to him when he’s dialed in. He’s got his game face on. For us, when we see him in that zone, we know he’s ready to go.
“He’s the exact same here. Nothing changes. Some of the guys may think his pre-game rituals are weird, but it’s just normal for him. So why change it? It works for him. I don’t bug him at all.”
Canada is carrying three goalies. Brett Brochu of the London Knights is the third goalie and unlikely to dress unless there’s an injury to either Garand or Cossa, a first-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings. They were the same goalies from the cancelled December version of the tournament.
“We’re supportive of each other and we like to make jokes at each other’s expense,” Garand says. “We get along really well. It’s been a really good relationship that we’ve been building from December, through the summer now, for eight months. It’s been awesome.”
It’s clear Canadian coach Dave Cameron has a bit more faith in Garand, who looks calm, cool and collected in net.
“You know you’re having a game when you’re not thinking, you’re just playing your game and it flows naturally,” Garand says. “It’s a cool feeling when you get those games.”
And Garand seems to be having them.
“As each game has gone on, I feel like I’m getting a little better,” he says. “Been shaking off the summer rust a little bit. I feel pretty good. It’s going to be important to keep building and keep getting better.”