Your goaltending stories are the best! Even if they're long for Reddit. ;)
If a parent or coach gets too many hands in your kitchen, being too loud, it just stops being as fun. You listen but mainly you just wanna be alone in net, freewheelin', makin' shit up creatively and playing it by ear, that's why you're a goalie.
One thing about Mrazek is he modeled his game on Fleury. He's the reason I ended up being a fan of Fleury, too! (I just couldn't think of any good Mrazek related screenames.)
So he has Fleury's old habits of v. aggressive positioning and big creative saves but poor consistency. And I know Fleury had to significantly modernize his game, and did start playing within the paint, in order to finally lead to last season where he was so good with both his initial positioning/angles and could still make big saves.
You listen but mainly you just wanna be alone in net, freewheelin', makin' shit up creatively and playing it by ear, that's why you're a goalie.
But that's something Fleury talks about, games where he's having fun and games where he's not having fun. Mrazek has not been having much or any fun.
They did bring Salajko in specifically for Mrazek because he was his AHL goalie coach and they worked really well together.
Ironically, he had a lot of time with Howie in the summer first at the Net360 camp and then during the preseason. He helped Howie revitalize his game! And it's been incredible. Meanwhile... Mrazek was at the World Cup.
Howie was so great before his knee injury, then groin injury, and he said something about his back being bad before, too. He used to have super aggressive positioning but this summer made a commitment to start playing in the paint and attributes it to having that much more time to read the play and read the shot and not have to travel a great distance to make a save (because he's deeper in the net).
I think it's 50% or more psychological, he was solid technically last season but riddled with doubt. But Salajko brought him through, either way, and he was supposed to be Mrazek's coach! So I dunno if that compounds things, Jimmy stealing his friend/coach. Mrazek and Jimmy's relationship got a little icy last season and in Czech interviews he did mention he wished he had a goalie partner he understood better and clicked with more.
I'm really rooting for the kid, I love the lil' punk, and I hate that fans are starting to turn against him. (Some of the same people who spent all last season tearing into Howie and acting like Mrazek exists to save the team from him...)
I wish I could just will him to succeed out there!
I've heard that cliche with all kinds of numbers and words. We should talk more about the mental aspect of it, that's a part of what they call "voodoo". Let's talk voodoo instead
Meanwhile, how did this word enter our vocabulary about goalies. I know a lot about Vodou, and I only pretty recently started participating in the hockey community online, so it's sooooo weird to see people being like "Goalies are like a monotheistic African Traditional Religion!"