The Ride to The Rink: How Young Goalies Can Prepare, Compete and Believe

This episode is powered by NHL Censorina. Hello, hockey goalies and skaters around the world, and welcome back to another edition of The Ride to the Rink. Got a real treat for you today. Our friend Steve Breer is here. He has a former NHL goalie coach. He is a Division I NCAA uh goalie coach right now. He has been in the position his entire life dedicated to goaltending. So whether you're a goalie or a skater, you need to listen to this one because Steve is someone who knows. He knows. I'm not gonna say what we're talking about. He just knows. Okay, and we're gonna have a great discussion with him today about your game in the youth levels. I'm gonna throw it to my good friend and my line mate, Mike Benelli, here for the first question. Go ahead, Mike.

Hey Steve, thanks for joining us. And I just, you know, without without having uh all the resources that pro goalies and college goalies have and all the support staff around them, you know, what are three things that you could you know relay to a youth hockey goalie that they can do today to prepare for competition, whether it's a practice or a game, you know, what are three things that you would think that uniquely would give them an opportunity to step in and be prepared to play well?

I always say failing to prepare is preparing to fail. So I would say the first thing is plan. You know, if you have a plan going into a practice or going into a day or going into any kind of training, then you're already off to the races, right? Because you have a focus. And so, you know, whether the drill is right or wrong doesn't matter. It's if you think that it's gonna help you with being a better goalie. So the first thing is to prepare by what are the things you need to do to be a great goalie? Well, I gotta have good reflexes. Okay, there you go. Reflexes. What are you gonna do today to work on reflexes? Well, I gotta have good feet work both sides, both feet. I can kick a soccer ball, right? I can dribble a soccer ball. That's one way. Okay, I got a good hand-eye coordination. Okay, I can juggle tennis balls, I can do, you know, these are all things that everybody knows. But sometimes just sitting and thinking about it and then writing out a plan, then you have a direction to go with. So that's I'd say number one is actually sitting and thinking for yourself, what are the things I need to do? I gotta be flexible. Well, when was the last time you stretched? Right? And sat in front of a TV. I used to sit in front of a TV when I was a kid, watch rock'em sock'em. They have a goalie saves uh side uh segment of the videotape. And I would just watch the goals make all these saves, and I'd be stretching while I was watching it, right? Um, so like that'd be another one, another way to do things, right? So I think like one is thinking, two, having a plan, and then three, executing the plan, right? That'd be that'd be the number one thing. The second part of it all is you need to have fun. So, how are you gonna make little competitions for yourself if you go to practice and you're like, I'm not gonna let Johnny score on me today. All right, there you go. You've raised your bar a little bit more of that compete and that fun and enjoyment, and you're helping your friend as well because you're making it harder for him to score, right? And he's got to work harder. And so these are some little things that you could do as kids that really gonna be game changers as you do it repetitiously over time, right?

That's a great answer. I love it. You know what you're reminding me for the kids listening. I had a collection of old VHS tapes, Rock'em Sokam, NHL videos. I used to watch those too, man. And kids, I'm bringing this up because you you have YouTube, you have unlimited access to not only the Rock'em Sokum films that are on there, but but anything you could want to watch in hockey um is there. Uh, Steve, here's a question I want to ask you. So there's a good chance, you know, if the kids listening to this show, kids, you're choosing to listen to a show about hockey, right? You've got big dreams if you're doing that. And I appreciate that. So I want to ask you this, Steve. You know, what's something you've learned from coaching in the NHL at the NCAA level about the athletes? It can be goaltender or skater that surprised you the most about those athletes.

The supreme confidence in their abilities. I would say that is a big separator. You have to have a supreme confidence in your ability. And some people mistaken it for arrogance and and sometimes it I always say cockiness versus arrogance. Cockiness is an extreme belief in your abilities. Arrogance is an extreme belief in your abilities to the point of turning people against you. You want to be really cocky, you have to, because everything in hockey is built to tear you down, right? Players are trying to be better than you, guys are trying to steal your job as you get older and you make it to the next levels. People are going to be talking about down on you. You don't do this good, you don't do that good, you know, you're not as good at this or as that. Um, as you have success, people are like, well, well, you're not as good as so-and-so. And so that everything is built around tearing you down. If you do not have a supreme confidence in your abilities, and every NHLer that I've ever met, they have a supreme confidence in their abilities. And they have to. And so I would say that that's probably something nobody thinks about very often. They think it's just going to come to them. You got to build that. And that's built through repetition, that's built through doing it, you know, over and over again, and knowing without a shadow of a doubt, I can shoot that top corner, I can make that glove save. I know I got it. Uh I'd say confidence, uh supreme confidence in your abilities.

I I love that you bring it up, buddy, because we talk a lot about on the show just belief and how important belief is. And I love that you brought up different ways to work on that. That belief doesn't just show up one day. It's done through repetition and through the work. Um, and when that ball starts rolling, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And like you said, I want to reiterate, kids, there were gonna be things that are gonna try and stop you. There's gonna be forces that are gonna try and put you down. The stronger you get, the bigger that ball rolls, the more belief, the more structure you're gonna have. And I I I agree with you, buddy. That's completely essential. Um, my last question for you, Steve, is this so a lot of kids listening to this show, right? Uh, 10-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 15-year-olds, what would you say to yourself if you were listening to this show right now? Right? What would what would you say to a 12-year-old version of yourself?

How do I separate emotion from the game? Because I found in my life, in my career, I loved the game so much. I still love the game so much. I I get so much joy out of shooting pucks, getting out and skating and shooting pucks, going in net and trying to make saves. I still go in net at well, I'm gonna be 50 years old here coming up. I I still love going in net and taking shots from the guys in the NHL. And I was even thinking tomorrow, I when I go to or next week when I go to Wisconsin, or maybe I'll go in net for the first practice so the guys can see that hey, I you I can actually play. Um, that's always a really an eye turner. But sometimes the emotional part of the game grabs a hold of you, and then you think irrationally and you react irrationally, and you create these thoughts in your head that are irrational. So it's trying to control the emotional part. That's the part that I wish I would have been better at. And there's moments in my career where the emotions took over, and I, man, I literally couldn't stop a beach ball because I was so emotionally like, I can't believe I let that in. And oh my God. And then you paralyze yourself to where you can't make the next save, right? It just gets worse. And it's and it's I and so that I think is a real key, especially for goalies, but for players as well. My son talks about it too. Like you get this paralyzed where about shooting the puck, you know, you you missed a wide open net the next time you you're like you're paralyzed and you you double clutch it, you know. And so I think the emotional separating emotion from the game is uh is something to learn, and and that's a tough one. That's a really tough one, especially when we love this game so much and it brings so much joy to our lives. And it and the higher up you get, the more it becomes a central part of your life, right? Identity, like we talked about. And so it's separating that emotional side of it. Um, I wish somebody would have taught me and learned earlier.

It's a great lesson, Steve. And I'll say too, along with that lesson, kids, comes uh gratitude, right? And you can hear it in Steve's voice, how much he loves the game still, right? One of the coolest things, kids, as you get older, is you'll find that you know you will continue to love the game even more than you do now as you get older, even though your body might change, the love never goes away. And and uh kids, my advice to you too take a minute every time you step on the ice and just just have some gratitude that I'm on the ice today. This is a beautiful thing that I get to be here today. Uh believing that. Mike, any final words before I close this out?

No, I think I I would just love, even though, you know, we have a lot of goaltenders that listen to this and players listen to this. I mean, how can we find you?

Yeah, I am Brier's Goalie School.com is our our main website. Um, you know, I'd like to tell people about a few things. It's one, Brier's Goalie School, and then that's the overarching company. And then underneath that, we have an academy for goalies, strictly goalies, and it's a really unique program that we're really excited about. Um, for kids that can't come to the academy, we have a mentorship program where kids can work with us from a distance. Um, and that's been a wonderful thing over the last 15 years. And then we have goalie schools in the summertime, um, and all that can be found on Briere's Goalie School. But just to give everybody the passion part of it and you know where my heart lies, and I understand that hockey can be an expensive sport, and um, you know, it keeps a lot of people out of the game. So, what we did is we created a nonprofit uh called path to the crease.org. And it's a nonprofit company where goalies can get companies to sponsor them through the nonprofit and uh give them scholarships to attend any of our training. And uh for the companies, it's a write-off against their taxes, and for the kids, it's a way to help the parents afford our training. So a kid could literally come to our academy for $2,000 for the whole year, which would be like $2 an hour for lessons. I mean, it's it's incredible, but um yeah, I'm really proud of that that company, um, just trying to give back to the parents and get in and uh maybe put things in favor for the goalies so that more people want to be goalies. Um, because it's given me everything I've had in my life from being a goalie.

So well, Steve, I'll tell you this right now. We'll be putting that in our show notes, kids. So if that's something you or your family is interested in, make sure you check out the show notes with the show or visit the website that he just said, and also with our micro content kids, you're gonna see a lot of clips from this episode and our big episode this week. Um, which, if you the kids, you like this conversation, listen to the big episode of Our Kids Play Goalie this week with Steve. Um, just just gems of information for you to follow. Uh Steve, I can't thank you enough for being here today, man.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Yeah, it was our pleasure. And kids, remember wherever you're at on your hockey journey, we believe in you. You should too. Let's go on the next episode of The Ride to the Ring. Take care, everybody.