Every time I’m on the ice, my main personal goal for the day is to skate away learning something new about the goaltending position. It could be an aspect of my own game or something about the position as a whole. During my weekly Tuesday morning skate, it was a combination of both, prompting me to write this piece.

Before I explain what I learned, I have to go back to last Saturday when I scouted Tim Thomas against the Colorado Avalanche. As you know, Thomas is one of the most excited, acrobatic and hyper goalies in the world. He plays with extreme vigor from start to finish and expels a lot of energy over the course of a game. This is the way he has always played, and one glance at his stats will show you that he’s still capable of dominating the NHL in this manner.

During his game against the Avalanche, there were two occasions in the first period when he was victimized by bad bounces. The first one resulted in a goal after a shot from the point deflected off two players in front of his crease and in the net. He narrowly escaped a second goal against on the other situation when a pass by his own teammate riccoched off his defenseman’s leg and shot just wide of the net.

After those two separate bad bounces, Thomas elevated his situational awareness and was even more attentive than usual. He was razor sharp for the remainder of the game and was only beat once the rest of the afternoon. It was if those two bad bounces ignited his mind and snapped him into focus. And although I have seen this dynamic happen a million times in my life, it was very interesting to watch evolve during the game.

Fast forward to Monday night. The St. Louis Blues came to town and I was able to scout Jaroslav Halak. When I compare his butterfly style to that of Thomas, I can’t think of two goalies more different than each other. Thomas is extremely active and thrives on a lot of movement in his crease. Halak, however, is extremely calm and thrives on very little movement. He’s a patient, passive, positional butterfly goalie that likes to let pucks come to him. Thomas will actively and aggressively challenge shooters and eliminate their time and space.

In Monday night’s game, Halak was razor sharp in the first period. He stopped all 15 shots he faced and played his unique style to perfection. Although he gave up a couple of iffy rebounds, he was positioned perfectly for each of Colorado’s rebound shots. Early in the second period, Brandon Yip misfired on a shot in the high slot, but quickly double-clutched and slipped a slow shot along the ice to beat Halak five-hole. That goal seemed to have the opposite effect compared to Thomas’ first period on Saturday. Yip’s goal maligned Halak’s timing and caused him to be much more hesitant and unfocused as the game went on.

Halak would suffer the loss, 4-3, allowing four goals on 32 shots. He was beat twice five-hole, once short side over his blocker and once on a wraparound. After he was beat by Yip early in the second period, Halak appeared to lose energy at a rapid pace and was unable to come up with a timely stop in the final 30 minutes of the game. For the fifth time in his last five losses, he had allowed four goals against.

—[ TGG ]—

I awoke the next morning and headed to my usual Tuesday morning drop-in. I skate for 90 minutes every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday morning with two different crews, depending on where I’m needed most. For this skate, I played with a slightly lower level of skaters than what I prefer. You could say this was a low-B level skate, but I usually play with a solid group of A-level players, mostly college club kids and some older guys that played juniors and in Europe. It’s a great way for me to keep my skills honed and stay in shape since I am such a busy guy.

On this particular skate, my mind wandered due to the slower speed and pace of the scrimmage. My mind wandered, as did my vision and focus. Although I still made a number of quality saves on the stronger opportunities, I was caught playing way too casual on some routine shots and gave up a couple of weak goals. I was not happy with myself. In fact, I was so frustrated that I completely lost focus in the final 15 minutes and had to skate off with a bitter taste in my mouth.

But I finally pieced together something I’ve known for many years. And that made the whole experience beyond worthwhile.

A goaltender should do everything they possibly can to approach every sequence and scoring chance with an attentive mindset. A goaltender should also do whatever they possibly can to eliminate any kind of casual mindset or approach on routine saves.

First of all, I must clarify that APPEARING casual or attentive is not the same thing as ACTING that way. Simply appearing attentive or casual usually means the goalie is confident, prepared and comfortable. It is also a sign of quality situational awareness and an element of scouting that I pay close attention to with all goalies.

From a mental perspective, however, trying to eliminate a casual approach and embrace an attentive approach to making saves is very important.

When I make a casual save, I can tell that I’m cutting mental corners. I do not track the puck as well as I should and my eyes do not always stay attached to the puck. This happens in a number of situations, whether it is a high-rising shot way over my head, a shot that’s clearly going wide or one that I know will be blocked by a teammate. It can also happen when the puck is going in an East-West direction high in the zone or just inside the blue line.

When I make an attentive save, however, I can sense that I’m paying attention to details. I never take the puck’s trajectory or angle for granted, I control rebounds better and I absorb more shots than usual. I communicate, I micro-adjust my positioning, I set my feet quicker, I keep my head up and I execute butterfly sides with more precision. I don’t over-slide, I don’t get caught cheating and I control where pucks are going off my pads and stick.

When a goalie is mentally attentive, everything happens in a sharp and complete manner. When thy are mentally casual, however, they cut corners, skip steps and fall victim to bad timing. Things are more prone to happen in a cumbersome or unbalanced manner when a goalie is casual. Deflections, tips and re-directions are more likely to hit them or catch a piece of their pads when they’re attentive. That’s just the way it goes in today’s game. And this is true for all levels of hockey, from the mites to the pro’s.

This mental state of readiness is extremely important in all aspects of goaltending. Whether a goalie is playing with an attentive or casual mindset, that demeanor will often dictate the level at which they execute and compete. Attentive saves to start a game can snap a goalie’s focus in line and set them on a path to a strong, consistent performance. Casual saves can cause a goalie’s focus to derail at any given moment, and that visibly affects their confidence, consistency and mechanics.

Going back to my own experience on Tuesday morning, what I really learned was that I am much more prone to playing with a casual mindset when I am up against lesser-skilled or slower skaters. But I almost always play better against the A-level players because I’m simply more attentive. And because we are all natural creatures that live and die by the same elements of the goaltending position, I am willing to bet that you have had to deal with similar issues and dynamics.

I see this happen every year when Junior-aged goalies coming out of the WHL, OHL and QMJHL begin their professional career in the AHL or ECHL. I see it happen every year when many minor league goalies get their first experience in an NHL game. They have no room to be mentally casual because they know this is the biggest moment of their life. No stone goes unturned, no detail is left to chance. They constantly lead with their eyes, turn their head, track and locate pucks with the highest level of precision possible.

To put a nice little bow on this important lesson of the casual versus the attentive mindset, look back at both Thomas’ and Halak’s effort against the Avalanche. Thomas was a little casual early, but after a couple of key moments, he snapped into an attentive state of mind. His play was much better as a result. Halak was very attentive in the first period, but after Yip’s awkward goal early in the second, his focus and energy started to wane and a casual demeanor slowly started to take over. The result was a lack of timely saves and some bad rebound control in the second half of the game.

What makes Thomas so successful despite lacking the kind of technique and refined butterfly mechanics you see with goalies like Marc-Andre Fleury or other elite-skilled goalies? It is his attentiveness. He never approaches a save or a sequence casually. Yes, he’s awkward at times. But it doesn’t matter because he’ mentally locked in to the play. This is not to say that Halak is not an attentive goalie. He most certainly is. But as you will come to learn over time, all it takes is one casual sequence to cause issues and wreck an otherwise solid outing.

To me, this whole lesson proves that a major part of winning in the NHL is being as attentive, focused and consistent as possible. More often than not, the goalie who wins that battle will end up being one or two saves better than the other.