InGoal Radio Podcast

Dylan Ferguson and Eli Wilson, who Ferguson has worked with in the summers for many years, join us from camp in Edmonton where they are training together to talk development and the road to the National Hockey League. Whether you are a young goaltender looking to take your next steps or a parent looking to support your son or daughter, there is a lot to take in from this nearly hour-long discussion. Ferguson, the Vegas Golden Knights Prospect, got the call of a lifetime while still playing in the WHL for the Kamloops Blazers - he was needed in New York where the Golden Knights were to take on the Rangers. That call up led to his NHL debut vs. Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers before he returned to finish his season in junior hockey. He talks to us about his road to pro, from Tier 3 Bantam to the best league in the world. Wilson has coached at all levels, including the NHL and has developed countless goaltenders for the top leagues in the world. This includes work with Carey Price in the summers, much of it documented at InGoal. Wilson is also the goaltending coach for the Tri City Americans of the WHL.

Jason LaBarbera joined Carter Hart as featured guests when the first WHL / Hockey Canada Goaltending Symposium presented by InGoal Magazine wrapped up with a two-part Hot Stove hosted by our own Daren Millard. We already included the exclusive half hour interview with Hart in last week's podcast, which was loaded with valuable insights from the impressive young Philadelphia Flyers goaltender, and now we are excited to share our 30-minute conversation with LaBarbera, who has transitioned to goalie coaching since ending his 16-season NHL career in 2016, working with the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL and helping Canada win gold at last year’s IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. LaBarbera worked with a lot of elite goaltending coaches during his playing days, including Bill Ranford with the Los Angeles Kings, Ian Clark with the Vancouver Canucks, Benoit Allaire with the New York Rangers, and Sean Burke with the Arizona (then Phoenix) Coyotes. The 40-year-old shared insights from both worlds, including lessons from his playing days, and how he’s learned to blend those coaches’ unique approaches with his own strengths now. Loaded with insights from off and on the ice, including his favorite drills, make sure you stay right to the end to hear how an errant stick toss after getting pulled in the ECHL led to a visit on the bench from local police, and played a direct role to his first call up to the NHL.

In the latest episode of the InGoal Radio Podcast, we caught up with Carter Hart just as he arrived back in Philadelphia well ahead of the Flyer training camp and as a featured hot stove guest at the first WHL / Hockey Canada Goaltending Symposium presented by InGoal Magazine wrapped up. InGoal Premium members may have already seen the video of this interview with Hart and our own Daren Millard, but then they’ll already know its worth hearing again as Hart talks about everything from his mindset and approach heading back onto the ice, some of his early focal points, experiences working with a variety of coaches over the years, and how some of them have shaped his game and his philosophy to multiple voices. Hart also talked about some of the technical elements he’s added to his game over the past year, and some other elements he’s experimented with before deciding it wasn’t for him. He talks about his toughest moment in youth hockey, and he overcame it, his experiences in the WHL and why the hardest part about making the jump to pro might have been learning to pay bills. Add in some of his off-ice and game preparation habits, and there’s something that every goalie, goalie coach and goalie parent can learn from this exclusive half hour with the young Flyers star.

Recently named to the 2020 class of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Kim St. Pierre will be the first female goaltender inducted into the Hall. St. Pierre was our guest this week on the InGoal Radio Podcast, and today we bring that interview to our Premium Members ahead of its public release on the podcast. This interview has so many great takeaways for goaltenders; it will have something for everyone. It was without a doubt one of our favorites — and not just because she managed to “one more question” our Kevin Woodley! We’re glad she did because it was to make another important point in an interview filled with them. With a bit of everything from her incredible Hall of Fame career, there are lessons for goaltenders at all levels whether just starting out or playing, as St. Pierre did, at the highest levels of the game. Kim’s thoughts on mindset and how she learned to deal with the pressure of International Play resonate not just for elite goaltenders but are also framed for young goaltenders just starting out. Her approach to the game, preparation, and practice hold lessons for all of us. St. Pierre earned 3 Olympic Gold Medals, 5 World Championship gold and as a member of Team Canada set records with 15 shutouts and a remarkable .840 goals against average. We hope that you enjoy this interview as much as we did — and we look forward to the next opportunity to bring this Hall of Fame goaltender to the InGoal audience.

In the latest episode of the InGoal Radio Podcast we catch up with Jean-Philippe Lamoureux as he prepared to head back to Austria with his young family for another season Red Bull Salzburg and his 10th season playing in Austria’s top professional league, the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga, where he is the reigning MVP after posting an eye-popping .946 save percentage last season. Lamoureux had immediate success in the ECHL and AHL after graduating from a standout career at the University of North Dakota in 2007-08, but left for Europe after just three seasons in North America and never looked back. The only thing better than the story about why he left, which involves his boyhood idol Ed Belfour relaying how an NHL GM who signed him would probably never give him a chance simply because he is 5-foot-10, is the journey that has followed and experiences that helped him get keep getting better. The oldest of six siblings in a hockey family that includes US Olympic stars and gold-medal winning twin sisters Jocelyne and Monique, Lamoureux shares some of his lessons along the way, including early experiences with current Canucks goalie coach Ian Clark (“If he’s gonna carve me, i’ll give him the knife”), how early lessons on positioning and the recent emergence of box control have helped him thrive as a smaller goalie, the importance of visualization and flow state to his mental preparations, and a lot more. Lamoureux also touches on the goalie-themed children’s book his wife Kellie wrote (and a defensemen-themed follow up), and why he gives up half of his short offseason back home in the United States to coach other young goalies through private lessons and camps at JPL Goaltending, including an annual stop in Vegas. Lamoureux may not be the biggest goalie or a name everyone knows, but this interview is loaded with lessons that every goalie can benefit from.

Goaltending Coach Dustin Schwartz caught up with Kevin Woodley to talk about development, with a particular focus on approaches he has taken during the NHL pause running virtual development camps and professional development, including the recent WHL/Hockey Canada goaltending symposium that InGoal presented. They dove into the importance of a technical foundation for young goaltenders and three key elements: tracking, movement and positioning. While we hear about tracking now all the time, Schwartz explains how it is so much more than watching the puck. He notes that it is a key element in your mobility and indeed all aspects of the position — not just the save execution. Schwartz, a WHL and USports goaltender himself, is also a trained teacher. He touches on how that is inseparable from his coaching and his approach of working with each goaltender as an individual -  whether working with someone from his own vintage in Mike Smith with the Oilers or with youngsters much as he did when he began working with Carter Hart as a 12-year old.

InGoal had a chance to catch up with Scott Darling just as fans in his hometown Chicago celebrating the five-year anniversary of him helping the Blackhawks win the 2015 Stanley Cup, and as usual it was an entertaining and informative chat with the 31-year-old self-described goaltending geek. Darling shared tips and insights from a 10-year pro career that includes stops everywhere from the Southern Professional Hockey League right up to the NHL, and over to Austria last season, how Covid-19 has affected his plans for the immediate future both on and off the ice, including a cancelled wedding, and his plans to keep playing. He talked about important lessons he learned about managing his game as a backup sometimes caught between being target practice for teammates and needing to stay sharp himself, including for that crucial First Round relief appearance that helped Chicago win the Cup in 2015; how he learned that there is such a thing as studying too much video of yourself; his early inspirations and first set of pads and ensuing gear obsession, including how he came to have a glove model linked to his name; and the grassroots origin story of why he will never again wear anything other than pads and gloves from Brian’s Custom Sports.

Drafted and signed by the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League, Dustin Wolf was recently named the CHL Goaltender of the year to go along with his being named the WHL Goaltender of the year and the Goalie of the Year Award from USA Hockey. Despite his young age, he has a great deal to teach goaltenders about the preparation that goes into elite goaltending as Wolf has a "leaves not stone unturned" approach to his own development.

Jake Allen of the St. Louis Blues was our guest this week on InGoal Radio Episode 72. Jake always leaves us with important lessons and we walk away feeling we have learned more about the position after a conversation with him and this was no different. We spoke at length about the pause, staying prepared and what he's doing to help his Maritime community. We also looked at practices and how he takes something from each one even though significant stretches might not be favorable for goalie development. Allen also talked about both playing with nd being coached by the winningest goalie in NHL history, Martin Brodeur as well as how he is able now to focus on process and his game, rather than results - an emerging them on the Podcast amongst many top NHL goaltenders.

Our guest this week is longtime NHL goaltender turned broadcaster Kevin Weekes. You'll enjoy the hour long chat that ranges from his development in the game to his in-depth knowledge of the gear, the technique and the people behind the mask. Weekes is a fantastic storyteller who will take you inside the game with his memories of playing the game t the highest level himself, along with legendary teammates such as Lundqvist, Brodeur and Luongo.

Mackenzie Blackwood spent nearly an hour talking about his development as a young goaltender in the National Hockey League, including some specific technical details reserved for the goalie-savvy InGoal Premium audience. He didn't start playing goal until he was 12 (!) and yet he understands himself, his game and how to play as a professional well beyond his years. And hang on till the end for Woody's "one more question" which details an inside story of why Blackwood played so much of his early NHL career in borrowed gloves...

Chris Driedger was in the midst of a breakthrough season when the NHL shut its doors two months ago, establishing himself as an everyday option by posting a .938 save percentage for the Florida Panthers more than eight seasons after being drafted by the Ottawa Senators. For Driedger, who turns 26 this month, it hasn’t always been an easy path from third-round pick to NHL regular but the journey, which included spending time in the ECHL as recently as two seasons ago, has provided the Winnipeg-born goaltender with a lot of valuable lessons and insights into what it really takes to make it to the world’s best league. From how to approach practice, even when they’re running drills set up for the goalie to fail, to managing his mindset before and during games and what he learned from Roberto Luongo and is still learning from Sergei Bobrovsky, as well as a detailed breakdown of his game-day routine right up to how he maintains focus through the national anthems, Driedger spent close to an hour sharing those lessons with InGoal.

This one may be our longest feature to date as David Hutchison sits down to talk sport science and goaltending with InGoal Member, and New Jersey Devils Director of Performance Science & Reconditioning Coach, Devan McConnell. We talk about what makes goaltenders different from a physiology and biomechanics perspective, injury prevention, efficient training and recovery in the midst of challenging schedules – in the NHL or minor hockey – our specific needs in training and in practice and much more. McConnell is not just an NHL Sport Science Director who works with the likes of MacKenzie Blackwood and Cory Schneider, he is a goaltender himself who played and coached at the college level. This interview is packed with knowledge that will help goaltenders and coaches at all levels.

It seems like almost every week we say to ourselves – that’s one of the best interviews so far! And we mean it. So here we go again – another fantastic interview we enjoyed so much and we hope that you will as well. In fact, this time we’re changing things up a bit – with two guests in one interview as we sit down with goalie and goalie-coach, an opportunity to explore their working relationship and get insight from each of them about the other. Jeremy Swayman is this year’s winner of the Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in NCAA hockey, freshly signed to an entry-level deal with the Boston Bruins. As the number one goaltender for the Maine Black Bears, Swayman played in all 34 of the Bears games this year registering a 0.939 save percentage and a 2.07 GAA with 3 shutouts. His coach, Alfie Michaud was a Black Bear himself in the late 90s before going on to a 15-year pro career that began with the Vancouver Canucks and concluded with stints in three European leagues. Together they talk to us about the NCAA and give us insights into the day to day training and development in one of the top programs in the country, his development work now as the NHL season is on pause, insights into his technical work, how they approach games including their different personalities as goaltenders. The interview covers close to an hour and we would have loved to see it go longer.

In this episode we sit down with Montreal's Charlie Lindgren who spoke with us about a wide range of topics from his development as a youngster, his competitive streak — he wouldn't let his younger brother Ryan, now a New York Ranger, shoot on him until he was 19 — moving from the NCAA to the NHL, working with Carey Price and much more. Plus, the boys make their Vezina picks with dinner in Vegas (one day...) on the line.