CBC-Sports

A little advice for struggling Price

February 13, 2009 03:06 PM | Posted by   Elliotte Friedman  

It was the NHL lockout, and the co-owner of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans needed somewhere to practice. So, he went back to Washington, and met the team’s goalie. His name was Carey Price.

“I remember thinking, ‘When I was 18, I was nowhere near as polished as this guy,’” Olaf Kolzig said Friday. “I knew right there how good he was going to be. Goalies don’t mature until their mid-20s. To see where he was then ... you could see how special he was going to be at 25.”

We’re coming up on the one year anniversary of Cristobal Huet’s trade from Montreal, the day Bob Gainey made Price his number one man. Ron Tugnutt remembers watching as Price led the Canadiens to a stunning regular-season Eastern Conference crown.

“I said, ‘This is the guy who will lead Team Canada for years.’ His footwork is incredible.”

Yzerman watching closely

Also impressed? The guy making those choices for 2010. Steve Yzerman admitted disappointment that Price was injured during his December scouting trip to Montreal, because he wanted to get an even closer look.

Now? Price is lucky the picks aren’t being made today.

There are a ton of theories: that he hasn’t recovered from ankle/knee/groin injuries; that he shouldn’t have travelled cross-country to see his family during the team’s four-day break over Christmas; that he shouldn’t have played in the NHL All-Star Game.

Or, most cruelly, that he’s nowhere near as good as the Canadiens think.

“That’s not right,” said Tugnutt, who played 16 years in the NHL and watches a lot of Price, “because he’s my son’s favourite goalie,” before adding with a laugh, “although he’s disappointing Jacob lately.”

“He’s the real deal,” Kolzig says.

To them, the issue is clear – a crisis of confidence. There is nothing more important to an athlete’s success than personal belief.

Steve McKichan coached Toronto’s goalies from 2003-08. He played collegiately at Miami of Ohio, where his position coach was Mitch Korn – now doing the same job with the Predators.

“He used to tell me a million times, ‘Don’t get too high in the good times, don’t get too low in the bad times,’” McKichan said. “It might seem like this is the end of the world, but it’s not. Confidence is such an ebb and flow. Price must remain confident that he’s a great goalie.”

‘Toughest position in the toughest city’

“You have to remember that he’s only 21, playing the toughest position in the toughest city,” Kolzig said. “When the team is not playing well, a lot of it falls on the goaltender. You do things you normally don’t do.”

Kolzig is right about that. There aren’t many Canadiens who can say they’re playing great hockey. But, the goalie gets the most scrutiny. Since Price is past 80 NHL games (including playoffs), a quick trip to Hamilton can’t happen without waivers. That’s not an option.

So here’s a three-point plan for helping him get through this.

Step 1) Positive reinforcement

“Video work,” McKichan says. “Get highlights of some of his best stuff. Show him: this is how good you are. This is what you can do.”

“That worked very well for me,” said Kolzig. “I went through a stretch where I was really struggling, so I watched video of myself from the 1998 playoffs (where the Capitals reached the Stanley Cup Final). I got all those feelings back.

“It helps when you get (reinforcement) verbally...but it’s even better when you can watch it yourself.”

Step 2) Make sure your practice habits are great

It’s tough right now for the Canadiens, who are in the middle of a six-game road trip that started in Calgary and ends in Pittsburgh. Two days after that final game comes an afternoon home date versus Ottawa. There isn’t a lot of time for on-ice work.

That said Price must take advantage of whatever opportunities he gets.

“You hear it all the time, but it’s true: How you practice is how you play,” Kolzig said. “You have to get back to all of the good habits, get back into the rhythm ... Be true to what you do. Do the right things in practice and work hard. It will carry over.”

And, to the 2000 Vezina Trophy winner, that means making sure you have the proper mentality as much as the proper technique.

“You can’t control the forwards, you can’t control the other goalie,” he said.” All you can control is the mindset that you’re going to give your team a chance to win. He’s doing too much and when you’re playing differently, you usually do. Your mindset has to be that whether it’s 1-0 or 6-5, I can make the save the team needs – not, ‘Oh geez , I can’t afford to give up three or four tonight.’”

Step 3) Adjust on ice

“When Price is not confident, he’s deep in his net. He goes down early,” Tugnutt said, which is exactly what we’ve seen recently. “He’s not reacting. It’s more like he’s predicting everything. On one play, the puck was down below goal-line, and he’s already on his knees. What’s he doing?

“Players can anticipate a few plays ahead. Wayne Gretzky was such a great player because he could always go where the puck is going before it got there, but for goalies that doesn’t happen because it can make you look bad.”

Kolzig didn’t see the Edmonton debacle, but understands exactly what Tugnutt means.

“With the butterfly, say he pushes over to one side and now the puck squirts over to the other side. He can’t get back fast enough if he’s not on his feet. I wish I had his footwork ... The game of hockey now, so many goals are scored off broken plays in front; weird re-directions. The best chances to make saves come on feet rather than on knees.”

What’s the solution?

“He needs to be more spontaneous. More reactive. Let her rip,” Tugnutt says. “Don’t go crazy, just be a little more aggressive. When I lost my confidence, I forced myself to challenge. I’d trust my defence to handle the back-door guys, and take an extra step. He’s got such great footwork, he can handle it.”

“Take an extra step” is the same advice Tugnutt gives his son – also a goalie – whenever Jacob struggles.

Learn to push through it

From the moment the Canadiens players arrived at training camp this year, they were told, “We’re going for it. We don’t want to hear about next season – we want the Stanley Cup this spring.”

In the Centennial season, that’s a ton of pressure. Right now, even the most hopeful Montreal fan realizes there are a lot of reasons that isn’t going to happen, not just Price’s play. But, fans tend to overreact to the last win or the last loss.

Yes, Price is struggling. But, it’s insane to believe that he still can’t be a franchise goalie or a Stanley Cup winner in the future.

“For him to be as good as he can be, he must go through all these experiences. It just makes you a better hockey player to learn what it takes to get through it,” Kolzig said.

“(The lockout year), I didn’t work with him technically, but more on when you lose a game, how do you get out of it quickly.

“I’d be really shocked if this setback derails him for any length of time, because he is a confident kid. But everybody goes through this. And, you wonder when you get it back.”

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