Hockey

Yes, I have been too hard on myself in the past but I'm now working on learning to give myself a break and not put too much pressure on myself.
 
Transcript: "Have I ever been too hard on myself? Yes, I've definitely been way too hard on myself at times, especially when I was younger, I'm trying to make the national team. And as competitive as I am, I've always wanted to be the best on and off the ice. And I had that form of perfectionism. I just always wanted to be perfect and that's just impossible. So for me, I just had to learn to give give myself a break sometimes and not lose sleep over, you know, if I didn't perform as well as I should have one game or I didn't get as many points or as I wanted, I think that pressure can be good but also bad at the same time so just being able to make sure you can really level it out and not put too much pressure but also have a little bit of pressure where you push yourself. I think is important."

All goaltenders use the butterfly save technique, but what varies is the position of their feet when they begin their stance. Some goaltenders choose to start with a narrow stance and attack pucks from that taller, narrower position, while others choose to start with a wide stance and attack pucks from that wider position.
 
Transcript: "Butterfly style versus Andy Moog style versus any other goaltender, Mike Vernon style at the time. I think to clarify things, I think people should appreciate that a butterfly is a type of save. It's a style of save that all goaltenders use to defend the net. The things that vary with regard to stance and your ready position is some goaltenders like myself, Mike Vernon would be another example, maybe Marc-Andre Fleury right now in today's game, they begin with a narrow stance. Their feet are a little closer together and then they attack pucks from that taller, narrower position. Patrick, Jonathan Quick right now in the game, Soros in Nashville, they play with a very wide stance and they attack pucks from a wide stance. Veselevsky in Tampa Bay would be another wide stance goalie. So you have narrow stance goaltenders, you have wide stance goaltenders, they all employ a butterfly style save. It just really dictates the position of the feet, whether you're narrow or wide, but the save technique, the butterfly save technique is virtually used by everybody in the game without exception. It's a very effective method for puck stopping. The changes are narrow versus wide."

Re-evaluate your mental and physical preparation before games and practices so you can trust it. Instinctively react on the ice, and go with the flow of the game.
 
Transcript: "Well, a poor performance, whether it's a period, whether it's a game, whether it's a week or a month, you really address the corrections the same manner. You trust and believe in your preparation, both physical and mental preparation. You have to trust it. If you don't trust yourself and your preparation, then you've really got a problem. But that's where you should start. Re-evaluate your mental and physical preparation. Make sure all those things are in order. When you hit the ice, when you play, whether it's practice or game, it really has to be instinctive and reactive. You can't be in your head thinking about, I should do this, or I should hold my hand here, or my stick was there. You really have to be instinctive and reactive as you step on the ice, whether it's playing a game or whether it's playing a practice. The mental and physical preparation obviously occurs before either of those events, and that's where you have potential to change. If you're not trusting your preparation, maybe you do more physically. Maybe you find a simpler version of your mental prep. Either way, you cannot go out there and play confidently and play with authority unless you trust your preparation, both physical and mental. When the game starts, the practice starts, it's instinctive, reactive, and let the play happen. Go."

The most common power play breakout strategies are speed and possession. Players need to support the puck carrier on entry, with two flankers along the wall, a defenseman following up, and a middle support player who can be a rover. The goal is to gain the blue line quickly and spend as much time in the offensive zone as possible.
 
Transcript: "I think the most common power play breakout strategies would be speed and then possession. So it's important that the players, usually a lot of the teams nowadays do the drop breakout or a variation of it. If you have a McKinnon or a McDavid, usually it's a single drop, meaning that there's one player back to receive that drop pass, then the other four kind of have to support him on the entry side. But if you have a McKinnon or a McDavid, I think that's a smart move. Most teams don't, obviously, so their strategies are once we gain the opposition's blue line, how can we get it set up as fast as we can? So I think you find you always have two players that are along the wall that try to match the speed of that player that's carrying the puck to the blue line. So that's imperative that you have support once that player enters the zone. Defenseman that makes the first pass, whether it's a drop or a speed breakout, as we like to call it, he has to make sure that he also gains the offensive zone and then he's on entry side. So I think that you see also that if a player skates down the left side wall, he has to make sure that if he banks it behind him, that defenseman's already there. So it's important that that defenseman gains the offensive zone as well. And then there's usually the fifth player. Sometimes you'll post him kind of in the middle and he can be a high support option. So meaning that the two flankers on the side enter with speed. And now if you rim the puck, one's there, and if you pass the puck out to the side or ladder it out, kick it out, then he's there. So defenseman follows up on entry side and then that middle support player, he's kind of a rover. Wherever that puck goes, he's high support, middle support for the entry. So I think those are some strategies you see. And in the end, it's how can we gain the blue line? How can we get possession quick as possible and spend the most time as we can in the offensive zone?"

Canada and America are now on equal footing when it comes to hockey, with Americans playing at a high level internationally and in junior hockey. Team USA is now just as good as Team Canada in the sport.
 
Transcript: "So the question is, why is Canada better than American Hockey? I think the better question by was Canada better than American Hockey because they just had more players, playing the sport caught like their National Pastime. Even if the lacrosse technically might be, I don't think that's true anymore. I think that Canada America our shoulder to shoulder in Talent levels. In fact, with so many more kids now playing in America, when you've got an awesome Matthews coming out of Arizona to players coming, out of California players, coming out of Florida. The sheer number of Americans playing, and we see what they've done on the international level, Junior Hockey, everything like that. So I disagree with the premise of the question, I think they're every bit equal in the past, you might have been able to make that argument. But right now I'm going to read. I'm going to wave the red white and blue and say, Team, USA. Any Team USA is right there with Team, Maple Leaf in hockey."

I had to wear an all-glass clear i-tech mask during the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary Alberta after finding out I couldn't wear my combo cage mask.
 
Transcript: "During the 1988 Olympics in Calgary Alberta, we found out the morning of the first game that we weren't allowed to wear our combo cage mask. In the Olympics, as a result. I made a quick decision to wear an all-glass clear i-tech mask and fortunately never got hit in the head with a puck during the four games I played during the Olympics in 88 but certainly the most unusual moment I had with regard to equipment"