After my ice hockey team won on Thursday night, some of us went out for a beer and just to talk about the game.  During the course of the game, I let in 6 goals, and a couple were weak.  The other team didn’t have a lot of shots, but they had some good quality chances when we coughed the puck up in our own zone.

Anyway, I got to talking with another goalie who had been playing for over 15 years without the use of his legs.  I really didn’t know him until about a year ago when I met him for the first time.  This is the second game I have played against him.  I am very impressed with the way he plays considering his disability.

He let me know what he observed at the other end of the ice.  One thing was that I go down to much.  That is a no brainer and something I have been working on getting out of the habit of.  I have been slowly but surely, but I still go down a lot.  The other thing was confidence.  The captain of my team recalled a practice we had when I was facing 3 of the best players on my team on the same line.  I was stopping pucks all over the place and the main reason why was because I was relaxed.  It seems that maybe, in the back of my mind, I am not that relaxed in a game.

It could be a confidence problem.  I really don’t know what to say to that.  Even though I believe and know I am going to stop the puck when I play, maybe there is a bug in the back of my mind that has doubts.  I took some of his recommendations and am going to work on doing what he says.  I have always listened to what other goalies have told me.  Some of the advice has been very good in the past.

I love the game of hockey and have loved it for a while now.  My goal is to get better, and they only way to get better is to make small changes to your game.  If I played the way I played 4 years ago today, I wouldn’t have the success I have had.