Episode 83 Linus Ullmark
Covering the world of goal tending in and around the Stanley Cup Playoffs this is inle Radio the podcast Darren lard along with the co-founders of inle magazine David Hutchinson in his uh very humble setting in Vancouver Island just uh enjoying the Comforts of home and then we have Kevin Woodley who’s on the
Other side of Vancouver Island on the ocean side the Pacific Ocean Side outside of Tofino where it’s raining and he’s surfing and he’s taking a break and he’s made time for us uh with his family uh on vacation so uh this is a really a cool show as we bring the entire world
Together uh in Las Vegas and Beyond and the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue and this is a fascinating time uh in which we see some goenda uh was fantastic against the Vegas golden knights Woody does does Corey Crawford come back for more or is that his swans song oh that’s a good
Question I think he comes back from more the question is obviously whether it’s in Chicago uh we talked about this in the past like Cory Crawford earlier in his when he was winning cups in the the first couple of Cups maybe got overlooked but as that team has
Deteriorated around him he’s become a massive part of it and his adjusted numbers over the past couple Seasons when healthy are like in the top 10 in the NHL he’s a massive backbone of that team and it’s funny enough watching that series against Daren I kind of thought
Um game three Mark Andre flurry comes in and beats Crawford 2 to one and I said to a couple people I’m like they’re lucky they won that game cuz Crawford that was the first time in the playoffs to me that he looked like Corey Crawford and obviously we know he had he was
Diagnosed had positive covid test barely got into training camp only had a week before the playoffs started to me he didn’t look like Peak Corey Crawford until that game three and he stole game four and man I’m telling you I always I thought Chicago was going to be a tough
Out if he could play at that level and I think you know probably Vegas as as good as Vegas is they might have caught a little bit of a break that it took him three games to get there and good on them for putting him away when they did
Cuz you know he was probably just going to keep getting better and he really is one of the top guys in the league these days so I I don’t think he’s done I’m curious as far as where he continues and if it’s in Chicago um based on their cab
Situation well Chicago doesn’t have a real yeah what what do they do for go problem is can they afford to pay him 6 million and behind him though like you can’t Overlook what they’ve built behind him I think a lot of us were surprised when they signed Robin laner last summer
Just because Colin Delia showed like he was an NHL goendale as much as there were still some work to do in the adjustment from Europe I mean last year he went back to to the world championships and won a gold medal so there’s there’s obviously some upside there as well do you roll
Into next season with both of them that’s a that’s a big ask behind a team that gives up a ton of chances to me the only question is what’s Cory Crawford willing to play for and will that fit with the Black Ops cuz seeing him anywhere else would seem weird and he’s
Certainly showing how good he can be behind that team Hutch uh you are of a certain vintage so when you saw Cory Crawford making stops in game four and five it brought back uh memories of grand fear Bill Ranford Rick tabarra there’s there was a whole lot going on I mean lifting
His leg up there was some Jonathan Quick in there it was less uh relying on just solid technique and just pure goal tending and isn’t that a theme we’re seeing it all over the place although some of those names you mentioned I was a bit of an old man by the time they
Were playing so I’m an even older vintage I’m Ken Dryden doing the split saves would be a little bit more accurate for my age unfortunately but I think we’ve seen a lot of that uh over these playoffs and it’s been just a vintage time for goal tending uh I think
We saw Marky doing that last night for the Canucks a fair bit we’ve seen Carrie going out on a limb a little bit more than we’ve seen we know laner always did anyway uh it’s just a whole lot of that happening out there and it’s been been a
Great time for goal tending I think probably as good as we’ve seen in in a long time in the playoffs I’m struggling I’m so glad I can talk to you guys though today because there’s no morning hockey what are we doing without morning hockey now I know it’s bizarre uh let me
Ask you this Hutch because you’re uh you’re so dialed in because of uh young Maddie on the go tending as side do do you think all this um just impromptu uh goal tending make it up as you go along react uh is that frustrating for goalie coaches or is that really great for
Goalie coaches to see and how does that impact uh the evolution of the position going forward great question one we could probably do a whole show about we’ve had some long conversations about this and I know Woody often talks about you know the rise of Russian goal
Tending it being less structured as you come up I personally believe that we need to look at at this the way we do a lot of sort of high performance Athletics and we have to do what I’d call periodizing the training and maybe not so completely formally but but
Suggesting that there’s a time uh when we are training technique and we want to give people the skills to succeed uh but then there’s also times then we have to let them sort of apply those in a more creative way and to sort of evolve their understanding and use of those tools um
So so I think enabling both in in a kid’s development are incredibly important I’m not a black and white it’s got to be one of the other um and then the other piece would be that I think we’re also seeing it’s not that guys throw it all out right from the first
Puck that comes on net I think we’re see as as maybe they used to I think we’re now learning um to develop those skills so that we can you know now it’s not on the second save when we throw at the book it’s maybe on the third save so we
Develop that talent to be able to to hang in there for a longer period of time but still having that that athleticism to rely on when you need to well a great example of that Woody was markstrom in the dump in against the St Louis Blues in in game number five
That uh went off the linesmen if he’s not a great skater and a good athlete uh he doesn’t get a chance to get back and make the safe uh off uh off that weird R not just a Superman dive but like he’s actually like like he actually makes the
Save right he’s not it’s not a pure as much as it’s a desperation save he’s actually watching that Puck and getting that blocker up there and then the save on Robert Thomas when it was 3-1 a little later you know it’s interesting I think I think what we’ve come to learn
In all our conversations with NHL goal tenders and NHL goalie coaches is the foundation and the technical Foundation is important but if you don’t have another level and you don’t have that compete and you haven’t sort of built you can train it you can like all that
If you don’t have it you’re not playing and you need both and so it it’s a matter of but then the guys who go to it right away and all the time are going to struggle to be consistent so there is a balance there and you know I mean
Appropriate since we’re talking about Jacob arrom but you know when we talk about training and stuff I I would point to Ian Clark who and his interview on on the podcast what seems like forever ago um Tarter one of one of the key points to him was that you know like you need
All those elements a um but that in his case and he’s got a golender who’s who’s 10 um here he is one of the most you know highest regarded goalie coaches in the world you know up there in you know on that list and he does no coaching of
His son at that age just lets them go out there compete and and be structured and and stresses the need for that compete and we’re seeing it in marrom so I mean like anything in Goten you have to have a balance um but maybe maybe maybe we’re seeing that I don’t say the
Pendulum swing away from technique but maybe even more emphasis on having that layer above and beyond technique in order to succeed at the highest level you can’t get away with one or the other exclusively um but if you’ve got both in abundance you got a pretty good chance
You brought up the pendulum uh we discussed Corey Crawford and Jacob markstrom who have been involved in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for 2020 and then the other side involves the the teams that were not invited to participate in the 24 team tournament those seven clubs
And uh part of that is lenus olark of the Buffalo Sabers and Kevin Woodley had a chance to catch up with lenus at home in Sweden and it’s a great conversation it’s more than 20 minutes so uh put it on have a conversation and uh and just let it let
It roll enjoy this discussion I joke because Kevin said it was going to be 20 minutes ended up being uh close to an hour but uh this is a this is a great conversation about uh what lenus is seeing in the standle Cup playoffs uh motivating yourself during this pause
Because he knows the season won’t start on time at a traditional point of uh training camp and then uh just uh discussing a little bit about life and uh and leaning on your goal tending partner there’s a whole lot here it’s our feature interview on in Go Radio the
Podcast Kevin Woodley with lenus olar so lenus first of all I I think we want just catch us up on where you’re at catch our audience up on where you’re at obviously back home in Sweden for the summer and what this has been like the hardest part of being away from the game
For so long are you watching any hockey what’s what’s this process been like for you in the last couple months well it certainly it was a challenging time uh because we you go home you’re expecting that okay this might take one or maybe tops two months and I’ll be back and to
Play off the last of the season but when we as soon as we got the the memo saying that there it’s going to be a playoffs 24th team playoffs turns out we’re in 25th Place yeah it kind of it sucked in in in the sports kind of way but for me
Coming of an injury uh it has been a blessing so I’ve had I can just kind of Swift shift the focus as soon as we got the memo so can hey this now we can put this sort of thing with my knee and rehab and everything we can put it on a
Longterm thing we don’t have to rush anything uh I did six weeks in Buffalo but now I now I had the whole summer I mean I got home in the late of March and I’ve been working out almost I mean every weekday ever since uh just because of
How the craziness about this Co thing has been so it’s the if I would connect to uh or reconnect to the things that you asked me yeah the things that have been the hardest is probably the uh the motivation aspect to go out there and
Then okay yeah I got to have I mean I start 10 weeks earlier than usual and I’m gonna work out for three more months than usual so the whole process of like okay I’m GNA be stuck here working out not practicing with my team or anything
Like that so I have to kind of Dig Down uh pretty deep to find the motivation and inspiration but I mean I have I just came off my second season so it’s been uh easier than I expected have you had a chance to get back on the ice or given how long you’re
Looking at this break being is that something you even think about at this point uh I just hit the ice twice uh had a goalie Camp here with some Junior guys that I just helped out had the opportunity to uh try out the new ultrasonic ones with the stiff knee
Stiff knee um we can talk more about that later I’m sure um so but I’m I’m my schedule is that I’m G to hit the ice in September because there’s no real point for me to start working out three or four times on the ice right now because
It’s still a long way to go do you think about just I mean is it hard to look at how long it is like December 1st is the goal it might depending on how things go in the world it could be even later is that is that like you said the toughest
Part of this mentally is sort of even after all this time to look ahead and still see how much more time is left yeah but the good thing about it about it all is that I do have a two and a half year old kid so it enabled me to
Be with him for so much more and on a consistent basis that I’ve got to know him a lot more than I would have done beforehand so this is I mean I mean I’m having a blast here with him and just doing all the things that I wouldn’t be
Able to do uh beforehand or uh so yeah I mean if you look at the sports I would really like to be out there playing playoffs hockey and and everything but I I am sure that a lot of the guys that are in the bubble right now is
Struggling a little bit mentally uh especially being away from your from family and the kids yeah well said that’s well said um have you watched much of it and we’ve if you haven’t if you have I’d be curious what you think and if you haven’t like I I was running
The goalie numbers and it was it was kind of funny to hear some of the theories that were out there going into this I think a lot of non- goalie media said that goalies would struggle early to find their game kind of like coming off an off season and every year the
Numbers in October and November the same percentage drops around the league and the goals go up I always wondered if that was just because in October and November teams aren’t playing playoff style defensive intensity how how do how do you kind of see that when we see
Every year numbers dip around the league is that more about the goalies or you think that’s more about systems uh well I would I would suppose that if you look at it mentally I think rasque really put the the he said the great thing saying that it doesn’t feel
Like playoff hockey and take a guy like I mean Carter Hart who’s done tremendously for himself now during uh during this playoff or corpy Solo or any of those guys that hasn’t had a lot of playoff hockey in them beforehand I mean just think about it if you go out there
And you play in front of empty stands and it feels like you’re playing a pre-season game you’re a lot loser and you’re a lot you’re not as stressed out as you would have probably been if you had 19 20 F or 20,000 fans screaming at you when you’re playing in let’s say in
Chicago um so being in the same place just playing around I think it would be a lot easier mentally I can’t say for sure because I’m not there um but I’m I’m surprised that some guys did so well as as they have done um but I’m not I mean there’s been some tremendous
Goal tending that that’s for sure and I think that’s one of the things that we do so well during off Seasons or during this break that people actually stay put and they kept fine-tuning their game and it’s not like we have to be a part of a
Certain system to have our game work I mean if we our job is to stop the puck and we can work on our things in a in a different way than hockey like a forward or Dem man can do so but it all comes down to like you said playing playoff
Hockey and being ready and and not just go around their thing goofing off and so um just look at Philly like they’re flying they’re they’re defensively vied they’re doing a a heck of a job of keeping everything to the outside and just making the life easier than it
Could have been for for Carter I was just gonna say yeah to me like I think in the regular season you’re right some great points there to me I always wondered every year I hear it right oh the save percentage is down in October and November and I always wondered how
Much of is just because that that intensity that we’re seeing defensively like a team from the Flyers you don’t usually get that from teams in October you know what I mean sometimes it feels like it’s a little harder to get to that level in terms of execution and
Defensive intensity this it may not feel like playoff hockey in terms of the of the stands but at least some teams seem to be executing at a playoff level well certainly does that make sense yeah certainly I mean it’s I haven’t watched all the games but take for instance like you you
Never thought that Montreal or Chicago that didn’t really they shouldn’t even be in in the first round they go out there and and they beat their their opponents in the first round to to qualify in for for the playoffs I mean it’s just playoff hockey is is playoff hockey it doesn’t matter
If it’s this situation with the covid it’s it’s going to be different okay so let’s get to you now where like when I look at you know your Hockey DB Hometown is I’m GNA butcher this by the way but is it lugnvik a boy Sweden and is that
Where you’re at now I I got it boy see I need I needed the shortcut because I remember obviously covering the sadin and my first my first actually year in the covering the NHL was uh when the Canucks had training camp in Stockholm and I had to I was trying to learn how
To pronounce on and the twins just told me to call it ovic but I I didn’t have that shortcut for you so walk me through I I’m curious what it was like for you growing up I’m guessing that’s a smaller town um just I’m a smaller town yeah
It’s a that’s yeah it it it’s not it’s not a smaller town I mean as of now we’re we’re sub 300 people living there yeah that’s okay yeah that’s a that’s like a small neighborhood small neighborhood completely right I mean I had more people living in in my uh apartment
Complex a couple years ago it’s it certainly is small it used to be a little bit bigger uh when we had a running factories I mean during the 70s 80s people were actually living there um then things started to uh evolve and people start moving out and
Living moving into the bigger cities um but for me I mean it was just a a very Carefree World um we had a had a rink uh it was inside it was I mean we had still natural eyes it wasn’t any fancy stuff there were still our uh our Giant we’re
Standing there in the middle of the middle of feed just spraying water all around and we hand painted everything so wooden boards we had Nets uh behind it there’s no plexiglass or anything like that uh but the best part of it all was that it was never locked so me my
Brother who is four years older we we were probably we would always be there it it didn’t matter if we had a practice or it was a day off we would always be there just skating around never with my goalie stuff though because that was such a
Boring thing to do I was always skating around as a regular guy um but that just enabled me to kind of have that sense of having fun at all times and just enjoy it and we uh there was not a lot of things to do in in the neighborhood it
Was hockey in the winter and it was soccer in the summer and that’s it and everybody was just happy with so when did Goten become something that held your interest what age and what was that Evolution like for you because I think there’s you know we’ve heard it
From a lot of different guys um just the importance of going out and playing I mean at a time now where I mean goalies are sometimes in the position exclusively at the age of like eight or nine they’ve got specialty coaches I’m curious when you started when that
Happened for you and how much you credit your success to like you said the ability to just go out and play and enjoy the game at an early age versus having it so structured when did things shift for you and how do you think that environment played into your development
Um and and where did the love start for goal attending um well I I wanted to be uh so the thing was that growing up I was a I was a player I mean I was s shifting between the or forward all and and as a goalie all the way up until I
Turned 15 that was last year I was uh playing as a a forward and uh just started playing goang fulltime because that was what I was better at um so for me it it’s always been there I always loved the gear The Masks the whole Golding thing I always thought they were
Cool I loved watching I mean Peter Forestburg was one of the guys that uh was one my idol growing up and they always kind of they show the the Colorado game on TV so we put the V vhr VHS yeah the VHS we were taping it that’s right we were taping it and
That’s where I yeah we so that’s when I started to kind of okay I saw there was a lot of games against Detroit but I didn’t like Detroit because they were the the bad guys almost so I watched them uh Colorado play and obviously Patrick raw was the big guy there and
That’s where I kind of fell in love with being a goalie because because I always wanted to be as Patrick raw and then all of a sudden there was another guy that was playing this crazy type of goal tending that I felt like okay this guy
Is I want to be like him and it was Dominic hassk because we had the same helmet he didn’t have a mask he had a had a had a just a regular bucket almost and I had there for a long time so I felt a little bit connected to him in
That sort of way so that’s when I shifted away from from raw to uh to hassk and I mean when I started I turned 15 yeah I wanted to be I mean I wanted to be a pro I wanted to play professional I knew that I wasn’t the
Top top prospect or anything like that I mean when when we were 16 years old then we have you you have your first like national team camps for juniors I got cut off right off the start like I had I was not even top 100 away whatever it
Was just so many in front of me but still thought that hockey was fun I attended high high school whatever you’re College gymnasium and uh just played for fun and say hey if this worked out it works out if not I’m going to be a veterinarian and uh see it
Didn’t work out being a veterinarian so here I am being a hockey player well I’ve seen the corgis on Instagram so I I know there’s a love for dogs and animals in the family too so that that sounds like a good plan my I got a daughter
Here that would like to follow those footsteps both in terms of the Corgi and the veterinarian role um so I’m I’m curious the playing out for so long playing as a forward as a defenseman uh Bren H once told me that his dad wouldn’t let him go in goal until he was
13 or just goal and that he felt learning the game not just the position the flow the way that other players thought he felt that helped him as a goalie looking back do you think it helped you as a goalie having played forward in defense for so long as well
Sort of reading the game well yeah I think certainly that was one of the uh my bigger advantages uh because it’s it enabled me to become a lot more uh focused and uh analyze a lot so for me if I would just been a goal tender for all my years I would just
Been able to analyze myself and not analyze what’s going on in front of me uh because sometimes you can analyze yourself and you can say okay I should have saved that Park I should have saved that Park I should have saved that Park I should done this done that yada
Yada but sometimes you’re playing against Elite guys who’s GNA go top shelf from ridiculously angles that you think it’s sealed off you’re just GNA tip your hat saying like congrats like let’s move on and it’s nothing you can do about it and coming that took me a long time to kind
Of understand because I was so focused of saving every Puck and just I wouldn’t let anything go afterwards so I could let things go during the game but then afterwards when I was watching games I thought to myself I should have save that parck if I did this or I did that
And in life you don’t have the luxury to to do that sort of stuff so I just kind of started becoming a little bit more Carefree when it comes to my own uh analyzing is there anyone that helped you sort of come to that or did you come
To that realization yourself like is it’s sometimes it’s not easy we I know a lot of goalies that you know right into their NHL careers they they’ll admit after the fact that they were guilty of overanalyzing their game and and that that could become a weakness who who
Sort of helped you find that was that you on your own or did you have a a guide there no I I took the biggest step this year with B uh for for sure he he uh did a great job of explaining things in how he likes to watch stuff
And how he thinks about the goals and all the things when I was younger I didn’t really care at all so I had to kind of start analyzing because I didn’t have a play style I was just all over place there was no real analyzing thing going on but once you start getting
Stuff together and you’re using your legs in a certain way and you’re using a reverse and you have a game plan that’s when you can start analyz yourself and the game so I got to a point where I analyzing everything I was watching every shot I was watching every save goal
Whatever and it just started be become too much because it works maybe in the beginning when you’re a backup and you don’t play as many games maybe get 15 to 20 chances a year then you might have to kind of go in deep and watch everything
And and learn from it so you can go forward and play those minutes so but when you start playing those big minutes there’s no time to analyze stuff you just have to go with the floor and you start playing if there’s a uh a certain thing or certain uh movement that you’re
Struggling with you’re going to nail it if you start if you keep working on it in practice but you can’t just go in there in a game saying oh I wonder if I if I can do it today or if I us should St start using it if I take it away like
Those those thoughts can’t cross your mind because then you’re getting slow and you just have to adapt to the situation and not just get caught off just thinking that you might have to do it okay so you talked about uh some of your influences growing up and watching
Patrick W and watching Dominic hasik at what point did you and obviously Mike Bales last year and I know you’ve had some other Andrew Allen is a is a favorite guy of mine uh you had him in Buffalo for a little while and and different what point did like when was
Your first goalie coach was that when you got to moto or or when did you start to put those pieces together and not as you say just play all over the place well I had a gold I’ve had a gold tending Co for a long time when we were
Younger but not as like as a professional gold tending coach it was like a guy that was helping me so very oldfashioned you know just doing the old old stuff standing up um then I got to the Modo gymnasium and that’s where my like my real first
Goldie coach came in um he he sadly he he got fired uh after I don’t know maybe after one year of working with him he was also working with the with the big team and uh in comes Ian Clark clarky I I know clarky who uh
Was a you know clarky Vancouver guy well he’s not from Vancouver originally but in comes clarky um who had a close relationship with uh with Marcus nassin because they were in the same same team working together uh so he came in and he explained a lot of things he showed a
Lot of things there was just a there was like a whole new world opening up for me with skate positioning knee positioning head uh movements shoulder movements all the like clove hands positionings all this sort of stuff that I love to kind of go down and dig deep in and just
Start like analyzing and use work on it was it was so much fun because it it enabled me to kind of learn that okay this is so much more stuff for me to learn and I have just scratch the surface and I I’ve gotten this good so
Maybe if I can use all these things and just soak everything up like a sponge when clarky talks to me maybe I can get even better and maybe have a shot at playing in the big team and uh two three years afterwards I I uh made my dream come true and then I
Play with a big team to give you the background Ian Clark’s also the guy that I learned go tending from cuz he used to have a magazine and that was where I first got introduced to it asked me to edit his magazine so all those things you talk about the details and the
Positioning and all that stuff I learned about gending for the first time in my 30s by reading all the different manuals that and editing all the different articles he wrote about all those specifics so I know what you like I know how detailed the in can be and it sounds
Like you really soaked it up and I think that’s important because not everybody wants to hear all those details no certainly not and especially if you talk to an older guy that maybe have a certain way of playing and haven’t been introduced to all this sort of stuff and
It’s a lot harder for them to to adapt and and involve from there uh takes a certain personality to to do that but for me as a young guy it was it was such a blast and me Ian really helped me evolve as a person also uh to kind of
Help me grow up together with what uh with the next goalie coach that came into the organization Mass swf um they they really helped me grow as a person and that help me grow as a goalie that’s great now I’m glad you said his name because I I’ve met I’ve
Met him a couple of times at different symposiums um but I still can’t pronounce it I butcher it every time so um from there buffalo buffalo drafts SE in 2012 um you start to make the transition over to to to North America a few years later um
What what do you remember of that transition who made it easier for you and you what kind of things did you have to change for the North American game sort of around that time and around that era smaller rinks a little bit what what else had to change what what was part of
That transformation what was the hardest part of that transformation for you uh well the I think the biggest change was definitely the schedule uh and the traveling uh I’ve done a lot of bus trips uh playing in SW up north in Sweden so that was not a a
New thing for me but we also flew when we flew to the southern or Southern countries Southern cities so that was easier um so coming into North America yeah there’s a there’s a language barrier um there’s the whole living situation so the more I got accustomed to and more adjusted to the American
Lifestyle and got to know the City the the staff players all the things that’s not really hockey related that’s when I thrived and that’s when I actually started playing better because I struggled my first year in the miners uh didn’t really feel like there was something for me it was I mean long
Long way home it was just me and and my now wife at the time coming in the second year we got some sweets uh in the team had neander for example another guy called Daniel and that made it a lot easier starting getting friends uh in
The in the team as well and we talked about it this year as well uh me in belyy that he he asked me all this sort of stuff of if I had a Kinder or a preschool setup or if I have how how’s my living situation and he really put an emphasis
On saying that if if everything is taken care of off off the ice it’s going to be a a a lot easier to perform on the ice because there’s no hesitation there’s no question marks that you might think that you put the away and that you’re not thinking about but they’re still there
And thinking about it I’ve talked to our uh mental coaches as well uh and they say the same thing these thoughts that you think that you don’t have when you go in to play a game they’re still there there are still apps running in the background draining your energy draining
Your focus so if you can erase them shut them down that’s that’s when it becomes easier to go play hockey because you just go out there and play hockey you don’t do anything else that sounds like great advice um what about working with a guy like Carter Hutton as well as a
Playing partner obviously a guy that we’ve known here at Engle for a while and had a good relationship ship with any lessons from him over over the you know since since he joined and became part of this equation I know he’s I know he’s a guy that thinks the game well as
Well and has a great attitude towards it me and Hut I I would say like from my point of view we have a great relationship uh it works on and off the ice um I think I’ve made him aware of some things that he wasn’t aware of before like equipment
Wise uh I might have opened Pandora’s Box when it comes to when it comes to that but for me it’s it’s been great having Huts right next to me in in my development just because he’s such a Carefree down to earth and he’s a great locker room guy and he’s just one of
Those guys that he wants to see have success and he he he loves to uh just being around the boys being around the team and and certainly he makes me appreciate uh being a NHL like a full-time NHL more just seeing him how he how he acts how he presents himself
And how he comes in every day just have a smile on his face and just go out there and having fun and makes me I mean it makes me relax a little bit more and especially coming in my first season my second season you’re a little bit tense
A little bit nervous you want to make do well for yourself and he’s just St n don’t worry about it like happens stuff like that and okay okay yeah you’re probably right and it’s just I mean we chat all the time when I when I get to the bench and we talk about
What’s going on in the game and like he just makes me uh more relaxed and calm during games also as well so we have a have a great relationship in in that sort of that point of view okay so I want to get to the gear
But I got one more I got to ask before we go there cuz I I got to hear about the how you how you fixed up Huts I also want to you know I want to hear about the St stabilis slide KNE on the
Ultrasonic um but I I do got to before I forget you mentioned hasik being a guy that you you know obviously that you that you looked up to from an early age or got to see on TV and maybe maybe try to emulate um you get drafted by the
Sabers obviously a legend in that franchise and I know I’ve seen him around maybe not a ton but I’ve seen him around the team here and there have you ever had the opportunity to sit down and talk goal tending with Dominic hasik and and ask him some of the questions I’m
Sure you must have had when you were a kid no I’m sad that I haven’t gotten to that point yet it hasn’t it hasn’t clipped you know I mean he’s been there a couple times uh but I mean he’s busy with his stuff working for for the team
And I got my stuff and it just hasn’t been a a uh we haven’t solved it that sort of thing so I certainly want to have a sit down and just talk goaling with him because I think that would be a great opportunity to kind of go through his perspective because you know
Everybody is talking about how he read the game and how he saw it and but is that the whole truth or is there something else behind it I I’d highly recommend next time you get the you got to try I only had a couple small glimpses into it and it was it was
Mind-blowing some of the things that I think a lot of people assed were unorthodox just there was always a method to that Madness and it’s uh it would be a f I’d love to sit in on that conversation for sure so now let’s go to
Gear um first off how how did you like the knee um I think even talking to the guys at Bower they said like like we’ve had a lot of good feedback on it but I think you know openly they said not everybody not every guy is going to love
It so it wasn’t a thing where it was going to be an absolute we’ve seen some guys in the NHL adopt it right away vasileski lanquist talked to Ben Bishop recently and he was kind of trying both where’ you come out on it I know it’s only one session or or maybe two
Sessions in it but how’d you feel on it I sent a text message to uh the to Henry from B there um saying like feels like my regular pads after but so I had them for two sessions and they felt like my other paths that I that I were feeling
Like I felt confident in them after like one and a half two weeks regarding pulse Integrations and all that sort of stuff but with these pads it felt like I could go out there and play a game with them right away it was such a weird feeling
Because it’s it’s you’re so used to having gear that is becoming better and better as time goes by they’re they they don’t just click right off the bat you get a certain feel for him you put the the string or the the straps the velcro everything is kind of like okay how did
I do this how do I want it but with these pads this is the first time when I just just strapped them on on every place that I usually like usually do and they just felt great they felt like the certain there was a certain pop to them
They sealed the eyes real well um felt like the five hole especially was a big difference for me that I felt with the with the knees um be just because how stiff they were and that they it’s kind I haven’t really gone in to the whole I
Have to talk a little bit more with them and I have to look at it and see how they respond in maybe two or three weeks of consistent practice but for now I would certainly make the change I will certainly make the change if I stick with B nice now it’s it’s interesting
Because it it it it’s a totally unique idea you know me I’m I’m a goalie gear geek too so I love it when when companies try new things and try something different like that and and in theory it makes a ton of sense where did
Your love for the gear come from I mean you said you watched it as a kid but like and how did it evolve over time like did you have the understanding right away or have you built that up over the years or was there a goalie
That sort of sat you down and said listen you got to know your gear no it hasn’t like the the whole gear idea has has evolved for myself it hasn’t been really anyone from the outside uh except for my brother that we we always talk
About how guys look on the eyes but when I was talking to my brother it was more about the players like having uh certain gloves or or like their sticks or whatever we would always know when they switched so that kind of transpired into me looking at other goalies
And all of a sudden you have a guy like Dart who creates an huge amount of masks every year here back in the day he had I I for the guys that follow day or you’ve seen maybe some screenshots from his old website that’s where my love for for go
Tending and and masks like started I would always go out there I would go watch these mask and I would watch the photographs and I would see them in shl later on and I say okay that’s that guy because I didn’t know that guy because I obviously you don’t you don’t know the
Name of them you’re you’re kid but then all of a sudden you get this um you get this foot in into the door of the the goalie life and you have all these Pros wearing his his designs and it’s just becoming more and more like I would say I didn’t become a
Maniac but definitely a goalie gear nerd and then all of a sudden it got to a point where I think it was Marty turo who had the same kind of MK in Dallas with the Gargoyles on his ends who just that after that it exploded starting having like writing down
Whatever goal they were and whatever they used and if they changed anything and like what kind of sticks do they use what kind of tape job do they wear and it it got it to like yeah it was just I was focusing more of how the the guys
Actually looked on the ice than the actual score the game itself so that’s hilarious what um in terms of as much of its fashion and style matters and you’ve got a great look going with bow how much do you Tinker with the functionality like are you trying new things obviously tried
The the stabilis slide knee in the new ultrasonic have you tried have you tinkered over the years with other things and different setups and like you said when you dig into it are you looking at how it affects say sliding or how it affects that five hole are you
Really digging in on it each time or is it just try try a few things find out what you like and go from there for me it’s I me and and bar has had a very we have had a we’ve had a very good relationship ever since the the
Get-go um because they’re they have been very uh how should I say it patient with me because I know how certain things should feel and how I want them to feel and going into it like I I love the uh CCM rebok 580 glove that’s just That’s
My Style so but B didn’t have that luxury of having a glove that’s kind of the same so going into my first season they with bar I said hey can we maybe get something going and maybe have something that’s pretty similar to it and it took
Us maybe I mean almost the full season until we got to a point where I’m confident with this glove and because the thing is then you get you get sent a glove and then maybe it feels a certain way and then you get sent another one and it feels a
Different way so it got to a point where okay I got different gloves at all times because it was always something different and but now last season when we had the stock we had all the specs in in order it it was amazing how well it felt
Every time I got a new set of gloves or a gear just I mean I had the 50th Anniversary gear which was a completely different setup in glove wise but just because there was like a thicker padding whatever uh in that glove and having the
I didn’t use the uh a game ready and the practice glove was wearing maybe like something in between but it still felt great because the whole the mold for the hand and how they a shape of was feeling great so if you put in extra uh stuffing or padding it didn’t change
How the glove felt so that was a great great thing now uh couple more because it’s been longer than I said i’ take you but I really was curious about gaming I know you’re a big gamer um now I say that from a place of ignorance I I’m not
A gamer so I just don’t I don’t know that world at all um but how how what what do you about it how could does it help you with Goal tending in any way do you think it can what how is it what what role does it play in your life now
Lenus and and can it be a a positive role in terms of whether it’s just an escape from go tending or there actual things you think in terms of cognitively and and reaction time and things like that that can translate um for me I see it this way um
I’ve played uh computer games and all this sort of console games ever since I was young it’s always been a huge part of my life um and I still game a fair amount uh not as much as I used to now when when I have have a kid so but for
Me it’s I have a certain way of of seeing it so for for instance I I always play computer games on a game day um just because it it makes me uh but like you said it’s it keeps me away from the goal tending part keeps me away
From from life it keeps me away from uh being worried about what’s going to happen next because I’m so focused on doing playing my game so I don’t think about the game I GNA play later on at 7 o’clock and that was the thing when I I
Struggled with as well I I didn’t play um computer games at a certain point in my career and I felt I was getting so nervous because I started thinking about the game so much worrying about the game so much so being an a guy that analyzes
And thinks about the game a lot it it it this thing that I’m doing and what works for me is is just creates calmness in in in my life and in my game um so and another point is that the games that I play uh for the guys that know it is is
A game called Dota 2 and you play with a team and there’s a lot of thinking going on at all times it’s not just a a shooter game like uh Modern Warfare or Counter Strike or say OverWatch for the people who knows it it’s not just a
Straight up go there shoot this guy and be done with it it’s it’s a more uh specific uh think that it’s a mind game for 25 to one and a half hour you never know it it depends on what how how close it is so you always have to be sharp you
Always have to think about your next move kind of like chess you have to kind of have a game plan you have to follow through if you don’t you’re screwed you’re done and you go next um so that helps me too to kind of analyze all the time what’s going on in
Front of me and then adapt to it kind of like as a go tender that you can’t just think that he’s going to go top shelf because he might make a pass or so but you have to adap you have to analyze adapt read it and then go from there
Have you used any like virtual reality things specific to the position uh we’re seeing you know obviously the goalie sense Arena now where you actually strap paddles on on gloves and blockers and it’s like playing a game or even some of the simpler ones like neurot tracker or neurot trainer where it’s multiobject
Track like have you ever used virtual reality or computers on that side of things for mental training or or just pretty much on the computer game side of things um I’ve done some um some eye works uh which uh which helped me to a certain point um but then it for me it
Was so the guy that we that we worked with um I I’m sorry if you’re if he’s hearing this I can’t I can’t remember his name now uh he did a great job with me and Huts I think he still works with Huts as
Well um so the things that we did uh it went well I certainly felt a difference but then again it was just another thing to do it wasn’t it was another thing to think about it was another thing to always have with me to to games I have
To do this I have to do that and it almost caused me like it caused a stress in itself uh because we it might have been a a good way to kind of put time away during like practice hours or whatever to do it but I mean you’re with the team
You’re going to do what the team does you’re not gonna sit there by computer doing ey workor training when the other guys are lifting in in the gym you’re GNA do lift in the gym and you’re going to do your stuff and you have all these sort of things that it didn’t really
Pan out to do be a thing for me to keep working on but I’m still very I’m still very thankful for the for the work that we did because it certainly open up juggling for example I never was a juggler before but now I juggle almost
Every day nice so that just that again I guess it’s that fine line alienist like between the things that help you get ready and maybe too much can be overwhelming if you have too many of those things and I’ve heard that from other goalies over over the years too
Where the routine gets so complex they add so many parts to it um that it can become a negative it can become overwhelming become exhausting there’s so many different things they would have to do by the end of it exactly and I remember now I’m just gonna pull it in
There uh he’s on Instagram as well his name is Josh Tucker and he runs troll Focus Vision I was going to ask if it was Josh it’s Josh great guy great guy great Swedish he’s been to Sweden a couple times so don’t take lesson from him when regarding to Swedish but he’s a
Tremendous guy so give that guy a follow whatever uh he certainly has a a good thing going on yeah no we’ve worked with him as well last one then do you take a lot of pride in the rise of Swedish School attending uh we we’ve obviously you know you mentioned Josh being over
There we have some other people we work with Maria Mountain who spent times over there um obviously had the the pleasure of speaking with Thomas Magnuson on the podcast in the past and I’ve I’ve been blessed to get to meet him a few times and always a pleasure to talk go tending
With him do you take pride uh in sort of just how well things have gone for Swedish go attending during your career and and what do you think are some of the keys to it I think that we we do a great job of how we see the game and how
How detailed we are in the game the only I me it’s it’s a very like go thing is such a complex word but one of the things that we might might do wrong is that we focus too much on our on Sweden we focus on what works here uh in shl in
The national team big ranks whatever and how we play the game so for all I mean if you for I mean there’s not a a lot of Swedish go tenders that go overseas that just takes the spot in in the in the National they have to go through the miners and get
Adjusted to the playing style the smaller rings and what comes with it there is basically just I mean h lanquist who goes in there and and takes a job for himself and that kind of says a lot because I mean we have the fundamentals we have the details down to
It but we’re just using them in in a wrong in a wrong way I would say uh lot of reverses that are in in my mind unnecessary there’s more to post integration than than rivers and so that’s one of the things that I I tried to talk about when when I’m working over
Here with younger go is that just because there’s a lot of young guys that’s stop competing if they if you have a drill when they have to go post to post on their knees and they they miss with the toe bar and and he just
Kind of gives up and I’m I always ask him like why are you giving up like are you going to give up in the game and that mentality that the North Americans have of not quitting once hits the fan is still something that we have to learn and not focus on just technique
Because I see guys now that are 13 14 years old that have better technique than I have but if they have better technique than I have how come I still save more pucks during a practice than than they do yeah and it’s there’s a lot of things going
Into it and then you have other guys that are my age who are um I would say not technically sound or stuff like that or let’s just take for example in in the NHL we have a whole bunch of different guys who stops the pucks and they stop the puck in all
Different ways there is no goalie in in this league there are exactly the same you have Bishop who plays a certain type of game you have boski who plays a certain type of game got pekar who plays a certain type of game got me who plays another
Type of game so everybody we’re looking at all these guys how they do and what they do well but at the end of the day you have to focus on yourself and at the end of the day also it’s not about how you stop the puck is if you save the
Puck did you save the puck that’s what matters because that’s that’s our job our job is to stop the puck and and nothing else I don’t care if you’re if you throw yourself there and you catch it with your teeth if you do it well that sucks for your well it’s good for
Your dentist sucks for you but that’s just how go thing is adapt evolve all those sort of things it’s one of the things we love about the position lenus there’s no one way to do it there are no absolutes it’s got there there’s so many different ways and and I love that
Perspective and I can’t thank you enough for taking this much time to share it with us I know it’s late there uh back in Sweden uh and I’m taking away from your evening after the little ones gone down to beds but so I just wanted to
Make sure I said thank you very much both from myself but from our audience on inle Radio podcast uh I know they’re going to love hearing this conversation and and thank you so much for spending so much time with us no worries man I can keep Rambling On by Golding for at
Least a couple more hours you hit me up a question so I got an answer for them but that’s my answer if you guys like it or not that’s up to them perfect you know what you know I’m going to take you up on that we’ll definitely have you on
As a returned guest for hours two and three of Lena alark on goaling thanks again uh best of luck the rest of the summer enjoy that time with the family like you said and uh and we’ll talk to you soon thank you guys for having
Me that was that that was a really cool uh neat interview uh lenus is so forthcoming and and calm casual just uh I love his town 300 how do you say that that the town’s name oh you’re going to put me on the spot I can’t I can’t I
Can’t I can tell you Hey listen I can tell you where he I’ll just insert it I’ll just pull it from the clip and insert it again lugnvik had a boy I I appreciate that H listen it took me years because he ended up playing in modotto and that’s where the sadin are
From and obviously my first training camp with the kxs was in Stockholm as I mentioned to lus and so I had to learn it was their first Camp too how to pronounce or OIC where they played and that took me forever so don’t ask like 300 people orang ski is a tough one
That’s a tough one because they intimidate when you look at it if you just say it it’s a lot easier than looking at it and saying it and so lenus is a lot shorter but no less it it’s no less difficult to pronounce I thought
You were going to have to say that you struggle with modotto yeah you know I mean some days I do Darren some days I do so on the topic of Swedish go tending uh we have Robin leoner and Jacob marrom uh posting great performances in the in the
Stup playoffs and then there’s the the F flip side of just uh the continual Evolution so where are you it’s interesting to me that you know Lena talked about Swedish goal tending and how you know maybe in his mind at times over there it was a little technical or
Too technical at times um he didn’t mean it to be critical we talked about it afterwards but just you know an honest assessment of maybe that pendulum we talk about you know heading into that interview we talked about that pendulum that maybe it had swung too far to one
Side and and and he is one of his idols was Dominic as yes anything’s going to be technical yeah the antithesis of uh of technical you know foundational goal tending although there as we said there was always a method to the madness with dom
Um but but I do think that um you look at markstrom like we talked about the compete he has when you look at laner he’s talked about being able to play it different ways about you know relying on reads about being a little more patient and not as aggressive and letting play
Come to him about playing an entirely different way behind the Chicago Blackhawks earlier this season in a run and Gun mold compared to how he did behind the lock it down no rush chances New York Islanders so um you know again I I think the foundation is important um
But you have to add layers on top of it and that’s probably where lenus was going there and I think that’s fair to say that both laner and markstrom have done so uh throughout their careers you know and and frankly markstrom relied too much on athleticism early in his
Career it’s not a coincidence that he’s had this rise in the past two years after remaking some of the foundational elements within Clark what uh do you think of this uh the in bump that we’ve given our friends Carter Harts had a fantastic playoff and uh number one seed
Philadelphia Flyers in a position to as we record this eliminate his Idol Carrie Price uh Jake Allen uh back in the fold with the with the St Louis Blues and getting starts well I think we might have given Jake Allen the in goal bump because there’s three different pieces
With uh Jake Allen up on Engle premium right now and he uh seems to have taken over the Reigns as the starter for the blues at least for the moment U so we’ll call that the bump although it felt a little uncomfortable yesterday when we emailed out to 45,000 people or so um
The compilation of Carter Hart material sort of celebrating his back-to-back shutouts uh went out a little later in the day than we’d hoped and it was uh promptly after a few people started receiving it that Montreal started started scoring a few goals last night so I hope that wasn’t the end goal sort
Of anti-bump there Woody any thoughts on that one I think I think that Carter har is far too mentally strong to be worried about our email to uh a bunch of goenda acting what he’s doing on the ice I I think we’re safe well and we were good
Enough to send it later in the day so we wouldn’t be reading it in the stall before he went out on the ice yes right that’s very nice you guys uh you guys have an opinion you guys have an opinion on elain Vino planning on taking Carter
Out oh my gosh but then after the goal after the goal was called back putting him back in after a conversation it was one of those awkward moments that’s exactly how I described it I had a coach text me saying that that had happened and I just all I could write back was
Awkward well and after years of elain vgo here in Vancouver talking about process not results pretty odd to see him go away from the process and make a decision like that based on the result yeah unless unless he’s just got such regard for Carter’s mental strength
And you know sometimes we do say to goalies you’re not getting pulled because of your results or your process it’s the team results so you could sort of argue there I’ve already shaken up the team because they can see what was going on there and now I’m saying to
Carter you’re my guy um and there was a conversation so I’d be interested to know what he said um but it really was awkward and if you’re not a mentally strong goenda has that that hook just about set um that would be really uncomfortable well hey he gave he gave
Him the hook the game before the back-to-back shut out so if anything we’ve seen Carter prove that you know he’s has no problem shaking that off and coming back the next night y Truth uh Jake Allen taking over for Jordan Bennington what he well I mean listen um
Jake Allen had a hell of a season 927 save percentage um you know and we we’ve done a story at in goal premium already on Jordan Bennington and a lot of people sort of saw his Raw numbers drop to 912 and say hey sophomore you know sophomore
Slump and and that wasn’t the case um his adjusted numbers courtesy of clear side analytics put him top five top six in the NHL Jake Allen was up there as well just didn’t play enough minutes to sort of qualify for in that sort of starters mold but in the minutes he did
Play the adjusted numbers were even higher what’s interesting to me and we’ll have an article Paul Campbell’s going to take a deep dive into the numbers on this how much better and and maybe when you’re only playing as often as Jake did it it can be the team you’re
Playing the situation but for whatever reason his expected sa percentage is like significantly like 0.13 higher than Jordan Bennington in other words the team played better defensively this season statistically with Jake and so I thought that was interesting with that change there both of them have had excellent years Bennington just didn’t
Look like Bennington in the first couple of games and so you understand the decision especially when you have a guy like Jake behind him I think you know beyond evaluating it I love the lessons that came from Jake Allen’s season and that was one of the features that we
Wrote uh this week at engal premium was sort of going back to the conversations I had with him in early November coming off in October where he played three games in five weeks one two of them but his numbers were like 855 sa percentage like from the surface looking at that
You’ve played three times in five weeks the other guy’s on a rule you’re barely getting to play your numbers your raw numbers are terrible and he came into Vancouver and talked to me about all the trust he had in his game and how everything was there and he felt good
About it the next night he had a good night in Edmonton and he rolled from there to a career best save percentage season and now he’s in the net for the Blues in the playoffs and I think there are a lot of really important lessons there for young goalies especially young
Pros too to not get caught up in short-term results again unlike Elaine vgo the other night perhaps focus on the process and not the results if you start chasing changes in your game based on three or four outings and when that little round you know vulcanized rubber
Disc can bounce so oddly um you I’m not saying ignore bad results but but really understand like is this a function of how I’m playing or is this just one of those stretches all goal tenders go through and don’t always sometimes we Chase change for the sake of change when
Things aren’t going well and rather than sticking with our foundation there’s a valuable lesson to me in in the way Jake had such faith and trust was his word in his foundation early this season and how he has been rewarded for it ever since Woody I I’d love that piece that you
Just did um between outings on the surfboard out there in Tofino you’re still thinking go tending I thought it was a fabulous piece and as you just said it’s a good lesson for young goenda I mean that brings us back to the interview with Jonathan Bernier where he
Talked about the very same thing having to learn about uh process over result and I think that piece she did this week Woody sort of embodies what we’re trying to do at in goal because it applies to absolutely everybody in the go tending Community a pro can learn from those
Lessons a young goal tender will learn from those lessons goal tending parents you really need to read that article and think um about how you’re interacting with your son or daughter and evaluating their performances and supporting their development more important than anything um as you see them going through their
Ups and downs and and coaches it’s great for you as well just to to learn about how you’re evaluating your athletes and and again supporting them in their development so love that piece Woody thanks it’s uh been a a great uh episode uh and this inle radio the podcast from
Sweden to the West Coast of Canada down to the desert uh the vik Kings know all about uh big Journeys and long Journeys and we’re seeing a couple of them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs right now and lenus hoping to get there one day himself uh
We’ll let you get back to the surf uh Woody as we ride the wave of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs on inle radio the Podcast
As we work through the first round of the NHL playoffs and discuss the goaltending we have all enjoyed seeing thusfar, we are joined this week by an extended feature interview with Buffalo’s Linus Ullmark.
The Buffalo puckstopper joined us from his summer home in Sweden for an insightful and honest look at development, the state of Swedish goaltending, his own preparations for an uncertain season ahead, the new Bauer Ultrasonic gear he has just had on the ice fo the first time and more.
