Episode 316 with PWHL Playoff MVP and 2025 World Championship gold-medal winner Gwyneth P…
[Music] It’s the middle of August as we are recording episode 316 of InGole Radio, the podcast presented by the hockey shop source for sports in Langley, British Columbia. And yet out my window, Kevin Woodley, it looks like it’s about October 15th. It’s brutal on the Lower Mainland. Darren is in Vegas where it is gorgeous and hot, but unfortunately that meant he’s on assignment and he’s leaving us to our own devices. He’s got the good weather. We’ve got mid-occtober, but we are going to make the best. You know what it feels like honestly going out today? Hockey weather. Hockey weather. Good point. Played last night. I’m like, it kind of felt like I was coming out of the rink in November. Well, don’t let Woody whine. I get to whine because I’m going to be stuck in this cruddy weather. Darren’s in Vegas 48 hours from now. Woody’s going to be in Hawaii and I’ve got wonderful British Columbia. The smoky skies, the forest fires are just up the road on Vancouver Island. But that’s okay cuz we’re here. We’re having a great time. We’re hanging out. We’re talking goalending. Our sensorina feature guest this week is Gwennneth Phillips of the Ottawa Charge in the PWHL. And I loved this interview, Kevin. Yeah, I didn’t know what to expect because I was kind of given a heads up like, you know, we get into the geeky stuff here on the Engle Radio podcast. We get into the minutia, the technical, the tactical. And I was warned that this is a goalender who very much just loves to go out and play. And so, you know, I didn’t know how the conversation would be different from some of the other ones we have, but I just found it so refreshing. Um, her approach, her openness, and sharing it with us. uh it doesn’t mean that there’s not value in all the other stuff. She’s the first one to say it, but for her, she has something that works and it doesn’t mean she’s not willing to try new things. I mean, it’s not like she’s not out there domining it. She has like there’s a lot of, you know, technical and things that she’s added to her game over the years, but just her approach to it, her mindset. Uh, wait till you hear the stories about what she did after the PWHL final where she was the PWHL playoff MVP and just basically dropping off the grid completely. There’s some great stories in there. There’s reminding me a little bit of the jersey over my shoulder to a lesser degree. Carrie Price used to talk about putting the pads away, not touching them, not looking at them, nothing until August. Uh, Gwyneth takes that a little bit a little bit further. So, fantastic interview. Uh, clearly a fantastic athlete and a fantastic goalender. gold medal winner for team USA coming off the bench. She tells that story, mindset, how she got through it, how it fueled the rest of her season. Just a ton of great stuff in here. Can’t wait for everybody to listen. We hear from parents a lot and they tell us that they are listening to the podcast in the car on the way to the rink with their kids. I love hearing from people. Parents, cue this one up for the next trip with your kids because as I was editing it, I would put it on pause. I’d run down the hall where my son is hanging out right now and I say, “You got to hear this piece.” And I’d tell him the little tidbit, have a good laugh together about how great it is and then and then I’m back to editing. So yeah, this is a great one for parents to share with their kids. We love hearing from those parents. Podcast atmag.com. We share them around the group. Have a little conversation about what you’re sending to us and it’s really really appreciated. So please, if you have a second and you’re by a keyboard, send us a note. Let us know where you’re listening. Let us know why you’re listening. We love hearing from you. And if you could take a sec and go subscribe in your favorite podcast provider, maybe leave a comment or a rating. It would mean the world to all of us. Okay, this week, let’s just get rolling, Woody, with Pro Reads presented by Visual Edge this week. What have you got? It’s a bit of a follow-up from last week. Yeah, we’ve got uh Eric Comry. And it had been so long since we’d had Eric on the Pro Reads that we wanted to go back to back. And for those that watched last week’s pro readads, yeah, he actually referenced he talked about making the decision to come across on his skates on last week’s pro reads rather than slide. And he actually referenced the save later in the season against Jack Eel. And I just happened to have that save queued up for our video session later on. And I figured why wait to get to it? Like he referenced it. Let’s go to it. Let the people that watch pro reads are trying to use it as a tool to get better. See the differences in these plays that he’s talking about. Why he comes across in a slide on one and on his skates on the other. So this time uh it’s another lateral back door pass. He’s identified the hands early in this case. What’s the difference between a one-timer on the back door or or off on the opposite side of a cross ice pass versus somebody who’s got to catch it across their body? How does that fuel his decision- making? and a middle net drive as well that influences how he pushes first a shuffle across before going into the slide and the difference between a shuffle and a T push in this situation and how it allows him to access that slide continuing in the same direction so much better than if he had opened up into a T push and had to close that that lead leg shift the weight back to the to the left side and push down into a slide. So, you see it all play out in video. Eric walks us through the things he’s looking for that lead to those decisions, and then he walks us through why those decisions allow him to make a very difficult save look pretty easy. Uh, it’s another great example of pro reads, which is all about helping you as goalies learn how to read and anticipate the game better. Not just in terms of what’s going to come at you, but in terms of how you set yourself up for it. footwork, movement patterns, decision making on what side of a screen, whether to slide or or push across up on your skates as Eric did in these last two. It’s all there in ProRes to help you read the game better. And Pro Reads, of course, is brought to you now by Visual Edge, which will help you see the game better. Visual Edge is a visual or eye and cognitive training tool based off of your computer using a pair of glasses that they send you. You can train just three times a week, 30 minutes at a time. You will improve your ability to pick up pucks through screens as Cam Talbot has told us. Your ability to see the puck, see the game, whether it’s a puck coming at you, convergence or quickly looking around the zone and spotting what’s going on, divergence in a much broader spectrum. So, they train all the different visual tools and as we’ve heard Jordan Bennington say, also help warm up the brain. He uses it every game day. Not just a vision training tool, cognitive as well. So, Visual Edge, if you’re a InGole magazine subscriber, check out ProRes. We’ve got a special discount code which will give you 20% off. It’s 10% if you’re not a subscriber using the code ingold. Check them out at visualedge.com. Proads in many ways the bread and butter of InGole magazine. It’s uh bringing NHL goalies into your living room in many ways to help you learn the game. Kevin and I every now and then get the chance to join up with other goalie schools and bring pro readads to them. This week I stopped by three different places central Alberta Goalending, Travis Hoy goending and uh and a shout out to the guys at True North Goalending uh up in Edmonton where I had a a good long session just yesterday. And it’s just so fun talking pro reads with young goalies, Woody, as I as I’m looking across this room, and to be fair, it was from a laptop camera in a large room, but looked like a pretty young audience. And I thought, how’s this going to go? And how it went was fantastic. Like the answers and the intelligence of young goalenders today that looked in many cases like they might be 8, 10 years old. And yet we have this interactive back and forth with the coach, myself, the kids talking about different situations, different pro reads. Uh if anybody out there is a coach or maybe you’re talking to your goalie coach, Kevin and I are happy to stop by your camp and and spend an hour with you. Doesn’t cost anything. We’re just happy to share the pro readads message with everybody. But the other thing that we love at InGole magazine, aside from ProRes, Woody, is gear. And you’ve mentioned many times that Bower is sort of the driving force behind the elevation and the second price point and how great it all is. And you’ve got another bit of second price point gear from Bower this week, right? The Bower 950 mask, which has got some redesign elements. And be honest with you, it’s been a little while since we shot this segment, so I can’t remember what they all are. We’re going to defer to Cam and and and this week’s video and refresh my memory. Not just because I’ve taken too many pucks off the head, but I’m a little fatigued today. So, I would like to remind you though if you’re confused by all the different price points. If you’ve got questions on what is the difference between a Bower 960, a Bower 950, a Bower 930, like as much as the brands have done a great job of streamlining and sort of tightening things up in terms of the SKs and the number of different products they have, there’s still confusion out there. Whether you’re a goalie, a young goalie, a senior goalie, or a goalie parent, there is no better place to get the answers to those questions as I’m about to than Cam and his team at the hockey shop source for sports. Everybody in the goalie department plays the position. You are not going, as much as it is a 35,000 square foot warehouse crammed full of all the latest in hockey, you are not headed to a big box store. This isn’t some high school kid behind the counter that maybe sort of might have played once, plays hockey, doesn’t play goal, can’t help you. Let me look it up. These are all passionate goalenders who understand the position, have been doing this for years. They will know how to an ask and answer the questions that will lead you to the gear you want, whether it’s for a 5-year-old, a six-year-old, or a 65year-old. So, make sure you check them out at the hockey shop. Hockey shop source for sports. Not just for the latest gear, not just for discounts on previous models. And the back to go back to hockey, back to goalie sale is on now. I almost said back to goalie school sale, but for expertise that you can truly take on the ice and will help make you a better goalie, find gear that works for your game, make sure you check them out. a hockeyshop.com the hockey shop source for sports in Langley. I loved how you described the distinction between the hockey shop and maybe some other stores where they carry goalie gear. Made me think of how the game has evolved. Woody, you know, you could go to a store that sells goalie gear and has a guy who kind of knows something about the position. You could play in an organization that has a coach that maybe sort of knows something about goalending. Or you could go to a great NHL organization that has an entire goalending department to direct the position from the bottom up. And the hockey shop has an entire goalending department that has your every need taken care of. It’s uh pretty cool. And leading up that department is our friend Cam, who’s going to fill us in on the Bower 950 this week. It looks like a 950, but the time is 950. There is a ton ton of new things in this, including a mystery never available before in the Bower 950 mask. Not what’s in the box this week, it’s what’s in the bag. Hidden away. Ooh. To show you at the end. So, let’s find out. Let’s get caught up. What’s new in the Bower 950? here at the Source for Sports Hockey Shop in Goalie Utopia with Cam and he is going to walk us through what’s new and improved on the Bower 950. For those of you that are like, “Okay, remind me. Bower 950 960 is the highest price point. 950 is the second price point along with enemy one up there. 9 960.” I need you to explain these things to me, Cam. Okay. So 950 is kind of like the second price point. Next generation down. Yes. Okay. And then 940 930, right? Which topic for another day. This is new for 2025. That’s correct. What are the new features? Well, first of all, as you can see, we have both white and black. Something wasn’t previously offered. Black has started to make its return into Bower’s lineup. Something that was cut a little while ago and now has come back. So, if you’re after a black helmet, don’t worry. 95 got you. Okay. But let’s talk about the actual helmet itself. So, what we are going to see on the inside very eerily similar foam package to that 960. One thing that I can’t drive home enough is that this is one of the best value helmets on the wall for sure. You’re getting a lot of prolevel features for that lower price point. Okay, so Crayon, new material for the 950 this year. Might remember Crayon from the 960 of a few years ago. So, you’re getting a new carbon damp or dampening enhanced material. Holy crap, that’s a hard one to say. Along with the fiberglass base for your shell, you’re getting poron in the cheeks and their deflence cloud technology. So, their other shock absorbing foam will all be in the crown of the helmet itself. So, this foam, I mean, obviously different. It looks like it’s encased. Um, no issues. We had some and this is a few years back. So previous previous generations with water being retained in the foam they’ve got the way this is all in case that’s not going to be an issue. So well listen folks like if you’re the kind of person that sweats a lot you’re playing multiple games and stuff like that. Yes. There is going to be water trapped inside of the foam. There’s nothing we can really do about that to a bit of a degree. The big thing is it’s not to the point it was before. Exactly. Exactly. Um cuz yes that was a little bit of a problem. DCT in the chin cup as well. A little bit of impact absorption there as well as the elasticity of their chin cup holder. Again, a prolevel feature that’s brought down. It’s just more of a comfort thing at that point too as well. Cage, same profile cage across the entire lineup. So, as long as you’re in senior, small all the way through large. It’s going to be the same cage for your 930 senior, your 940 senior, 950 senior, enemy one, 960, all the exact same cage. Okay, fit and feel. Is this going to fit on my head the way say I I no longer need the the 960 level protection or I’m looking at this and I’m like, man, it’s got so many features that are 960 I can live with this at a lower price point. I want to save the money. Is the fit the same? Correct. Size one to one. Okay. How many sizing options? So, three in senior and one in junior. What’s in the bag? New. Completely new for this season and completely new for Bower. That 950 has now been brought down into junior sizing. All the same features. All the same features. Junior style fit. It definitely is not fitting over your monstrous head. No, it will not. But great new option. Exactly. So, if you’re looking for that better level of protection, this has always been a little bit of a gap. You know, 940 is no longer cutting it. I want that step up, but that head size hasn’t necessarily caught up yet. Bingo. We have a great option for you now. This is fantastic. I, you know, been calling for for a little while now. And now available. White and black or is this one just white and black? Smaller cage. Keep in mind any of the Bower Junior helmets now share that same cage size. Again, something just available for you when we get into the aftermarket conversation. But, uh, that said, great, fantastic option. Okay. Bowowers 950 redone for 2025. You get a lot of new prolevel features carried down into that second price point. And as Cam mentioned, for the first time ever, a junior mask is available in the Bower 950. Cam, if they got any questions about it, where do they get you? 604589 8299 or 1800 567790. Try and see if we can get this on your head. That’s not That’s just not going to ow. It doesn’t fit Cam, but it might fit your kid. and it’s got better protection. Make sure you check it out at the hockey shop source for sports today. As I saw that Bower 950, and I think it’s fair to say the 960 is one of the iconic masks in the game today. It’s a it’s a look you see everywhere that people want. And that 950, I mean, if if you could have had that mask 5 years ago, 10 years ago, you would have seen it as the top mask in the game. That’s what Bower is doing again, bringing just those pro features down a level, little bit more affordable, and now with a junior size mask, too. It’s uh I would have been running for that 950 10 years ago. No, it’s it’s a good point. You know what, and again, we’ve given Bower credit for really we talked about this with gear, and it’s not just them anymore. Like other companies have followed the second price point would stand up to top level pro quote unquote equipment. And I should be careful cuz most of them call pro their second price point now anyways. But like NHL level gear from 5 years ago. So everything keeps getting better. Um we’ve got more options than ever before. And again I I would reiterate like sometimes we don’t know whether whether it’s parents or young kids, you know, we assume we need the best. And listen, if you can afford it, that’s great. But sometimes it’s overkill. Sometimes you really don’t. And there’s options out there that are going to be more than good enough. Whether it’s to make a save or protect your head, make sure you check out our friends at the hockey shop to find out which one’s best for you. I think you answered your own rant there when you called this gear pro. It might be the second price point, but you could probably play in a lot of this as a pro. Woody doesn’t want to say anything cuz he’s just shot down his whole rant and now he can’t rant anymore. And we have Woody speechless, but that’s okay. Coming up in a little bit, we’ve got our feature interview presented by NHL Sensor Arena with Gwyneth Phillips of the Ottawa Charge. But uh first we’re going to slide over and talk to the parents for a second. Woody, the parent segment always presented by Stop the Goending You the App. Yeah, they’ve got as usual the five things, five daily primers this week. And this week, I mean, how to get more ice time. Who doesn’t want more ice time? That sounds like good advice to me. So, Monday through Friday, you can walk through, watch quick one minute videos, quick tips on how to get more ice time this season. They got a great goalie clip on Philip Gusson. And something new this week that I love, they’ve done drill of the week goalie clip. They walk you through a drill and then they walk you through plays featuring the goalie of the week, Philip Gustoson and the Minnesota Wild making saves that are directly related to the patterns established in the drill of the week. So, always great content coming from our friends over at Stopit Goendingu on Stopending U the app. And a reminder if you buy a subscription to stop at goalending you the app, not only do you get all that content, all that expertise led by Brian Dord and his 25 plus years in the game as a goalie, as a goalie coach, as a goalie scout, as a director of goalending at the National Hockey League, but you also get a subscription to InGole magazine, in goal premium, and all our great content included. It’s the best of both worlds, and you get it when you buy a subscription to stop it goalending you the app. Following up on last week’s discussion of gloves and when you need to get a new one, a reminder. We were talking about a junior goalie who was getting stingers and a parent who wondered if that glove maybe was done. It had a lifespan. Is it time to get a new one? And while we know that that certainly happens, we pointed out that as you move up, the shots are harder and and it will be time to go to an intermediate glove eventually. But I mentioned off the top that we love to hear from readers. And Christian Stikney wrote to us and said a lot of things that were great to hear, but one of the points he wanted to make about this segment was that if you do catch it in the palm, it always hurts. Well, couple of things I just wanted to respond to. I I shared with Christian directly, but it sounded like something good to bring up for everybody this week. Uh, well, I don’t completely agree that every time you get hit in the palm, it’s uh it’s going to hurt. I’ve definitely checked with a number of other goalies to make sure I’m not imagining things, but the point does stand. And I did make it a while ago about some other gear, Woody. I remember I think it might have been a chesty where I said, you don’t have to go out and buy gear every single time something hurts cuz sometimes it just finds a place and it does hurt and and that’s okay. Uh you move on. Goalies are tough. We’re good. But Christian also made the point that you do need to learn how to catch well. you’ve got to catch it in the pocket if you want it not to hurt. And he accepted that he is not perfect with that and went out and bought a padded glove and he even gave a shout out to Cam, which I thought that was great. But uh I think that point that it’s not always about getting a new glove cuz it’s hurting. It’s about learning the skill of catching the puck well. And I just wanted to give some reinforcement now about that because it’s the end of the summer. You’ve still got time. We’re all sort of as parents, I think, at this time of year, you get a little bit frantic. There’s only a couple weeks left in the summer. got to get that last bit of fun in with our kids and make sure we get that family time and school’s going to start soon. We don’t want to miss out. So, why don’t you go get a baseball glove or two and hang out with your kid and go play catch. I’ve said this before, but I’m just going to say it again cuz it relates to to the note we got. It’s not the same thing to just go bounce a ball off a wall with your bare hands, a tennis ball, whatever. You’ve got to learn to catch a puck in the pocket. And with a baseball glove, you’ll learn to catch it in the pocket as well. And mom and dad, you can go throw with your kid. Get a couple of gloves. Even if you feel nervous about it, maybe you didn’t grow up throwing a baseball around and you’re thinking you might embarrass yourself. Awesome. Great thing to do is to go out and show your kids you’re willing to take a risk to embarrass yourself so that maybe they’ll feel comfortable doing that at some point as well. So, grab a baseball glove, get out in the backyard, have a chat, turn the TV off. Good family time at this time of year is really important. and maybe those stingers won’t hurt as much as a result. Okay, I had another parent write in asking uh because their kid was going into his CHL draft this season and wanted some advice. We have gone over some of that before. We did have Connor Hellabuk’s agent Ray Petco on here couple of times, once as a feature guest, once as a parent segment guest at least. I will link to them in this segment when we do it. And I just wanted to share what I had responded to this note with. you probably don’t need an agent or an adviser, at least until you’ve been drafted and it’s time to look at that contract. Things have changed in the CHL quite a bit recently because of the whole NCAA changes and you probably need somebody with expertise to help you review that contract if it does come time to sign one in the CHL. But until you’re picked or unless you’re a high pick guaranteed of being picked, you probably don’t need that agent just yet. Now, to be fair, parts of this I don’t have as much experience with, especially with the changing landscape. And if you feel better having somebody represent you in your family, they might help you get a few extra junior opportunities than you might have had as your on your own, and that might help your child a little bit. I think that they’re capable of opening the door for some kids who are sort of on the bubble. But those top end kids, they’re going to find their way anyway. those kids who aren’t necessarily going to get drafted and they’re just playing and having fun. Let’s not overburden ourselves with with that. If price is an issue for you though, you can get to as many junior camps as possible. Talk to your kids goalie coach who hopefully has some connection with with junior teams and just go out there and get some experience. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to just go play. Go play. Go have fun. You don’t necessarily have to be chasing down an academy or an expensive AAA team. it’s very possible to make it without going those routes. And uh you know, we chose to keep our kid at home as we’ve told you before and things worked out for him. You’ve got to make the right family choice for yourself. Also, just don’t freak out about the CHL draft. It’s not the beall and the endall. The best example probably recently, Kevin, is Josh Ravensburg. And right, he was a first round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks. He was not drafted into the Western Hockey League. In fact, he didn’t play the top level of hockey in BC before he made the Western Hockey League. And uh he played sort of what a lot of people would consider to be a double A level. And I believe your recent guest Harrison Medigan also hadn’t been taken in the Western League draft. We’ve had lots of people like that. So, by all means, go enjoy the season, but don’t freak out. Go play. Go enjoy the game. It’s okay. There are options. You got to do what’s right for you and your family. And not a full bit here, Woody, but I did want to give a shout out to the parent on Facebook who was responding to the question about how to break in a chesty. And the answer was this. Have him sit in the bathroom with the shower super hot to create steam, maybe 15 or 30 minutes, then have him go vacuum. Got to kill two birds with one stone. I thought that was a good sense of humor. So, thank you very much to that parent um for sharing that with everybody who really made the point. You just got to get out on the ice, sweat a little bit. It’s going to break it in. But I do think it does make that point. It’s the back to hockey sale at the hockey shop right now. Go get your gear sooner rather than later so that you do have time to break it in, Woody. And I’ve got one more little parent thing, but I’m going to save it until the end of the NHL sensor feature interview. Well done. I like it. So, we’re going to get on to the NHL Sensorina feature interview. Uh Gwenna Phillips is with us and just sitting in the green room as Darren likes to tell us. But before we bring her in, we just have to talk about NHL Sensorina for a second. Her green room’s a camper in Yoseite, by the way. Yeah, that’s right. She’s in the green camper. I love that. As I mentioned already, this time of year is is tricky because as families, we’re trying to get that last bit of summer in. And and it might mean that there’s going to be a quick family trip somewhere before school starts. And you’re probably thinking, “H, I need to get ready before the season starts.” And that’s where NHL Sense Arena has been such a gamecher because no matter where you are, whether it’s at home, a hotel, could be a cabin in the woods with if it’s got decent Wi-Fi or a hot spot on your phone, and you can still get some quality reps in on the ice with NHL Sense Arena. And what I love, as you know, is that they’re always updating it. So, we talked last week about how they’ve added NCAA shooters, they’ve got NHL shooters, PWHL shooters. you’re seeing the best of the best and you can choose to follow the goalie advancement program this summer or you could jump into one of the training plans with a pro coach. You could just build your own program from the many many many drills that they’ve got in there. It’s just it’s almost endless goalending. And it might not be just exactly the same as being on the ice, but in some ways it’s better. You can actually measure your reaction time, how your puck tracking is improving. You can tighten up your box control, things you would never really do out on the ice in one of your regular sessions. So whether you’re trying to use it to get sharp before triyouts or to keep your game dialed in, NHL Sensor Arena can be that extra edge you’re looking for. So check it out at sensorina.com and make sure you’re using the code IGM50 at checkout to save a little more. I would highly recommend the goal. Like it’s August 15th as we record. You’ve got two weeks for like three weeks almost for back to school. I’m guessing hockey is usually around Labor Day in terms of tryyous for a lot of these kids. That’s more than enough time to rip off, you know, a little bit here, a little bit there, and get through at least two of the three programs as we have. We’re working on the screen uh and the traffic management segment of the goalie advancement program. But I would I would recommend highly going through the shot release reading one, the angle mastery course. Like I think I struggle to see how especially for kids or us beer leaguers. It like anybody short of the NHL, how working on those fundamentals don’t make you better. And there’s still plenty of time to do it in virtual reality. Well, we know there’s NHL guys doing it, too. There you go. Okay, Woody, let’s go to the NHL Sensorina feature interview. We will get Gwenna Phillips to pull the camper over and get out of the green camper and come into the studio here in a second. I’d like you just to set it up for us. You gave us a little bit off the top of the show. I do have one request because in there you mention a couple of times PG. And of course, we don’t mean parental guidance. This is not a PG-rated show. Well, it is PG. It’s probably even cleaner than that. But, uh, Woody, who’s PG? Pierre Grrew, the goalending coach of the Ottawa Charge, former goalending coach of the Ottawa Senators. Uh friend of the show, as they say, friend of Ingoal magazine and Premium, um a guy who we’ve known for years, and he’s he’s now he’s now the goalie coach there. So, you’re right. I do reference him as PG quite a bit in the interview. uh part of that process for for Gwennneth has has been building the relationship with him and for him working with her as a very different athlete than her playing partner who’s now in Vancouver Emirates Mashmier uh from the Canadian national team. So, like I said at the top, this is not just an interview with the Isabel Cup M playoff MVP for the Ottawa Charge, even in a losing cause, kind of like Jagar with the Ducks way back when. And the good news for for Gwyneith and the Charge is that Jiggy ultimately went on to win his cup. So, he got his championship. It’s coming. Um, it’s not just an interview with a gold medal winner from the world championships and a and a goalender who dominated in her two seasons as a starter at Northeastern University like just posted rid like video game numbers like 955 say percentages absurd stuff. This is an interview with somebody who has a different approach who came to it from a different background who brings a different mindset to it and a really good reminder of the importance. We’ve talked about this with with other goalies of of being yourself in a position in a sport that sometimes dem demands conformity. Being comfortable with who you are and how you do things can be a big part of having success. And so there are so many great takeaways in this interview. As Hutch said earlier, you know, this is one to queue up in the car on the way to hockey with your kids. Frankly, given her nomadic nature this summer, I think it’s one to queue up in the car on a road trip before you go back to the rink. Well, here we go. Thanks very much, Woody. Gwyneth, come on in and uh have a sit down with Kevin Woodley. Really excited to welcome to the Engle Radio podcast, Gwyneth Phillips of the Ottawa Charge coming off a big season both for the Charge in the playoffs and the United States at the World Championships. Pressure packed right till the end, gold medal, coming in late. Like, you have had a season. How have you unwound since then? Well, I wouldn’t even say it was a season. And it was like 2 months of a whirlwind. But um since then I’ve I bought a camper in April and I went out for about a month out uh to California and just camped for like 20 days away from the game. How does your offseason like when do you get back in terms of getting that separation from playing and then bridging back into getting on the ice and and and back into the job now now that you’re a professional athlete? Yeah. So this summer looks a little bit different with the Olympics coming up. So like we just got back from national team camp um going back in September and once again in October and then rivalry series. So this summer’s a little bit more packed with training, but I think you know one of the things that’s made me pretty successful is I’ve always been able to really separate myself from the game and really take my time in the off season. So, um, you know, this year, this summer, definitely starting training a little bit earlier. Looks a little bit different because it’s so early. You know, we don’t want to cram too much, but definitely a little bit more of a bulky summer. When you are playing at the level you’re playing and at the intensity level you’re playing, how important is that to find a way to separate those two things and get away from the game for you? Yeah, for me it’s imperative. I you know there’s definitely some kids, girls, guys, whoever that they they want to live at their rank. They want to live in the gym. It’s not really my thing. Like I love hockey more than anything, but like I also love to do things outside. It keeps me fresh and I think it really helps a lot with my game, too. Like I think I’m not the most X’s and O’s kid. I’m I’m a lot of athleticism and I think I’ve developed that over the years. Um just doing like all the other kinds of sports and activities. What? Give me give me an example of we love to hear other kinds of sports and activities. We we love the idea of phys physical literacy. We’re constantly telling the goalie parent segment not to make them just goalies too early. What are the other what are the other sports? Yeah. So I mean I played player all through high school too in hockey but uh growing up played volleyball, track, little bit of basketball, little bit of flag football um lacrosse through high school, all kinds of stuff. And then in my old age, I’ve picked up like rock climbing, cycling, just like other things to get me outside of the outside of the rink. And I find that it’s really um refreshing. Where does goalending fit in that? Like at what point as you’re doing all these things do you start to narrow that focus? Actually, let’s rewind it even more. When did you get intro? Like when did you first become a goalender? What what drew you to that? You know, I don’t really remember what it was, right? Like a lot of people say, “Oh, it was the equipment. It looks cool.” I I just wanted to do it. Um, my parents super against it. Didn’t want me to have any part of it, but just kind of kept pushing, kept pushing until finally my parents caved. But I don’t I mean I I was a full-time goalie by the time I was like maybe 12. Okay. But I still played player for like my high school team cuz like it was like tier two or so. So like the it wasn’t like super competitive as a goalie, but as a player like I that’s where I was. So, I had I had I I kind of multitaskked. Okay. So, when you weren’t in the net, like how’d you manage that? Like, again, we love this. We love hearing this because we’re always like, you know, like like at 9 and 10, they’re like, “Hey, you’re a goalie and if you’re not playing today, you’re sitting on the bench.” Like, let them go play hockey and learn the game, right? Like, yeah. Is that what you were doing? Basically, if you weren’t starting, you were playing. Uh, well, so let’s I think when I was that age, like nine or 10, I think I played on like three or four teams. like we were just like boopping around. So I definitely was like goalie for one team and if I wasn’t playing like I was sitting like my other goalie was playing but I was like a full-time player on another team and then my third team I was like goalie or player. Just kind of depends on like what the other goalie was doing. So like I that’s kind of what I developed. And then in high school we all played club hockey and then high school as like where we train through the like the week. And so there were I think my freshman year there were three goalies. It was me, a girl a grade or two above and then like a senior. Okay. And we all could skate out and so we just kind of took turns playing goalie or player just based on like what we were feeling. So I that kept it fun for me. Like I said like it was tier two. Um there’s a couple like really strong players on my team that like went D1 but like overall the games were not super competitive. Um so like more fun to play player and like like learn different things. You’re playing all these different sports. you’re having success in different aspects of them. Are you completely selftaught at this point from a goalending perspective or are you because you talked about being a read and react and and not wanting to overthink things, but is it totally selftaught or did you start to get some instructional help along the way? At what point do you add some of those layers of technique to all this athleticism? No, I’m definitely not selftaught. There’s a lot of people out there that have contributed a lot to my success. But when I was like 10, kind of starting to really get into goalending, my dad signed me up for like the midame district try out. I was like completely underage. Um, and you could tell like I was tiny and all these kids were like 12 and I was 10 or something. And there was a woman in the stands who kind of run Pens Elite and I guess she saw me and was like, “Okay, this kid has potential, but she has no idea what she’s doing out there.” Right? like I’d never had coaching at the time and I guess she found my dad and was like here here’s what you should probably do and so she kind of pushed me into the world of like women’s hockey for one like she was really influential in that and then also just like kind of convincing my dad like hey like this is a good idea to continue this like she’s decent at this and so around then I started like getting a bit more specific training and um in high school I worked with a goalie coach every like like every Wednesday or something I think once a week. So, not not not selftaught. I I can’t claim that. But I definitely I definitely started out just as talent with no like no systems, no idea what’s going on out there, just like pure athleticism, kind of doing whatever I should do out there. Okay. So, how as you start to get taught and and obviously transition into Nor Eastern and and playing college hockey, you’re going to get voices, I’m assuming, goalie coaches that want to add things, change things. How does Gwennneth Phillips find that balance between how she wants to play and how a lot of people are probably adding things? Like where do you just open mind try everything? How what’s your approach? cuz there probably a lot of goalies that some want all that and you know some don’t. Yeah. So I had the same coach all through high school which was you know really great. Obviously doing camps get different things get different ideas, tidbits of knowledge or whatever and just kind of incorporate them. Then when I went to college I was really fortunate my head coach at Nor Eastern Dave Flint is a goalie guy. Um, and he’s he’s a bit, you know, unorthodox and I think he really takes a chance on people, right? Like Aaron Frankle, who was there before me, she she’s a bit undized and people didn’t really want to take that risk on her, I think, and Nor Eastern was willing to and happy to, and she turned out to be like an absolute stud. So, um, I think he he was he’s really understanding and I think he he always was like, “Hey, I don’t want to change anything, but have you thought of this?” or like he he really drives home like he doesn’t want to change who we are at our core. He’s just going to like give different ideas and maybe like suggestions and if I want to incorporate that that’s great. Tools in the toolbox as we like to say. Exactly. Yeah. Can you give me an example cuz it’s funny cuz I I was told that you know and you said athleticism and a little more read and react but I don’t want to overdo it. It’s not like there’s not a foundation to your game. What would you how would you describe your foundation? I I think I’m sure I do have a foundation. Um it’s just like I I can’t put a finger on it. Like like if a coach is like, “Oh, why’d you make this decision?” And I could like rattle off things that probably went through my head, but like I just I can’t actually say what went through my head. Like if someone’s coming down the the wall in a rush, like I’m probably like, “Okay, I should go I should probably be like this this uh far out of my crease because they’re this hand and there’s this threat.” But like it’s just happening. It’s all instinctual. Um and I and like pretty Yeah. And I and like I’m a pretty fast lateral moving goalie. So like I kind of can I know that. So like I can kind of rely on that maybe bait a player a little bit because I know like hey I can definitely get over there. So like I want you to make that pass. Hey that baiting like again lost the lost art of baiting shooters. This is now you’re speaking my language here. Um that experience at Northeast. You talk about the coaching side of it. Uh, and you mentioned Aaron, like you’re behind her for the first three years. Every time you play, you have success. I think three shout outs in your first three. She’s having success. How tough not to play as much as obviously, especially as somebody who grew up playing all these different sports on the ice, active all the time. How tough was that? What was that relationship like? You’re both obviously at the at the World Championships when you win gold this year. Talk me through what you learned from her. or what you guys what did you learn together in all those years? I’m really I’m so thankful for the way my college career played out and you know through those first three years with Aaron like um you know I think we were great goalie partners. I learned a lot from her and um I don’t think we like we we were pretty far in age or like class and like kind of different groups within our team. So I’m I’ll be totally honest like we weren’t that close. Okay. Um, now fast forward it’s like six years or something and like she’s who I sit with at the bus with the national team. Like she’s one of my closer friends on the team and I I’m I’m so thankful for that relationship that we developed in Nor Eastern and now we have the amazing opportunity to continue it playing together on the national team and from a hockey perspective. You know, I said it like she’s she’s a little bit smaller, plays pretty unorthodox at times. Um just such an athletic goalie. Uh, so I’ve, you know, I’ve tried to take some of her her things, um, and incorporate that into my game as much as possible. Um, sometimes for the better, sometimes not so much. You know, I can’t do everything she can do, and I shouldn’t even try. But yeah, I’m really thankful to have done that and watched her for three years at Nor Eastern, see what it takes to be a successful goalie and then put that into my game. Did you talk a lot about it? Like are are you even like at at the World Championships like are like are you a come to the bench have a conversation with your playing partner person or you don’t want to be thinking like again as you said everything’s just instinctual out there. Yeah. It’s funny when I so like like I watched Aaron do everything for three years. So when I first started, I I just did what she did and I like I thought nothing of it. And then so when I went to the pdub and Mash was my partner, she didn’t come to the bench and chat and I was like, “Oh, it’s not what you do.” Like you can’t cuz she would stay in the net and like kind of stay focused and Aaron would come over and we’d have a little chitchat. And so then when I started, I’d come over the goalie and have a little chitchat and then new goalie partner and they don’t chitchat. And so I didn’t know what to do. But yeah, we I just kind of followed her along and did what she did and I thought that was the norm and it it it’s not. I guess you get the opportunity to start in your fourth year and just tear it up to go from not playing as much behind one of the best goalies in college hockey to becoming one of the best goalies in college hockey yourself. That jump cuz you’re probably facing a similar jump this year in terms of playing time and managing that balance between rest and minutes and your game. Um what what do you remember that? What were some of the key points? What were some of the hard lessons maybe along the way? Although, at least statistically, it didn’t look like you had to learn many. It was certainly a jump. And I think taking what I learned from there into my pro career has been really helpful. I think um everything’s amplified now. It’s just everything the game’s faster, harder on the body. So, when I learned in college how to take care of myself, recover um I have to do that four times harder in the pro level. Um, but again like really thankful for that cuz then I I I know how to handle myself at least a little bit and like I saw Aaron do it for three years. Um, so kind of have a good idea and that’s that’s still something I’m working on now is like how how to be able to play 30some high at level compete games with like plane rides in between and and stuff like that. Just managing the pro lifestyle. What what did you learn from Mash again? you you’re two different goalies in terms of how you prepare. Like I talking to PG I know she likes to like prescout like an NHL level detail and you don’t want to you don’t want that. You’re that’s not how you want to approach the game. How did you two feet off each other? Yeah. So me and Mash pretty different goalies um especially in the way that we approach the game, but um you know I still managed to learn a lot you know because we are pretty different styles. um kind of learning some control into my game that I could pick up from her because I I I tend to scramble a lot. Can you give me an example of like like just because everybody listening is a goalie, right? So like when you say control, is it like a containment positional thing? What are some of the if just one little taste? Yeah. Yeah. Like if there’s a rebound, maybe like a shot from the point, rebound in front, like I’m going to be doing back flips out there to save the puck and she’s going to do like the small littlest adjustment to just get to where she needs to be. And it’s like, yeah, I could have done that. You’re right. Like, I should probably do that. And so, definitely trying to pick up that from her. Like, just the, hey, like I can just like move here to here. I don’t have to backflip there. Like, so yeah, I mean, I’ll be doing the splits for like no reason and I don’t need to do that. And she doesn’t do that. So, learning that from her and like, you know, she’s played pro hockey for a few years, so she knows what it takes off ice, too. So, just kind of seeing her manage that has was really helpful. then she had my back, was a great goalie partner when she got hurt and I had to take over. You know, she’s battling injury but being so supportive of me. Uh just, you know, learned a lot about, you know, what it takes to be a good teammate from her as well. Okay, so the back flips on the recovery, they look good and they and you’re obviously they’re working for you, but and I know that’s an exaggeration. It’s not a back flip. We’re not we’re not going full hashic out there. Although there’s a good story about how the old barrel roll was actually a technical thing um from Dom himself. But do you see value like when you’re when you’re looking at those things? Are you looking at like hey like I got to play my way but also like hey this might when you talk about wear and tear and managing your body like a little efficiency might might get me through the year with a few less bumps, bruises and all the things that come with back flips. Absolutely. Actually that lesson was hammered home in the past like month or so. So, I’m definitely definitely going to carry that with me. Um, yeah, it’s an efficiency thing. Get there point A to point B faster, more controlled, make the second save, but it’s also a maintenance thing. Like, every time you do the splits for no reason. It’s one extra split like, and didn’t need to do that hurts the groin. So, yeah, there’s there’s a lot there’s a lot to be done in that realm for me. All right. And do you still approach it like a learning process? like you you had such a good first year and obviously this the world championships and the gold medal but do you still approach it like um the tools in the toolbox still open to to trying new things and what are maybe some of the things PG talked about you talked about Aaron and and yourself not being the biggest goalies managing traffic. Yeah, I mean everything’s a learning experience. um just coming back from camp, we were there for like 10 days. Uh and we were talking about all kinds of stuff, working on things and yeah, like even getting new tools in the toolbox. Um you know, you you think you know everything, but there’s always something to be learned or like something to be corrected. Um like we were working on kind of tips in front and like instead of sliding just kind of like offc center dropping which is like yeah I knew that but like did I because I’m not doing it and and so just you know hammering things home um I think is really important. What was what was camp like 10 days you said it’s Olympic year it’s a big year um lots of competition lots of how how was the Jez I almost said vibes. How are the vibes at camp? I can’t believe I just said that. vibes were good. Um, everyone everyone’s everyone’s like friends. Everyone wants to make everyone better and and it’s really funny to see like how, you know, aggressive and pu how much we push each other on the ice and then, you know, when practice is over laughing it up, you know, that I think that’s what kind of makes an elite athlete is the ability to kind of separate the two things. But yeah, I mean every, you know, everything’s cranked up a little bit. It being an Olympic year and everyone was going hard and practices were high intensity, high movement, and everyone’s really taking care of their body cuz, you know, it’s August. PWHL season doesn’t start till November, so we got some time. But, you know, we all had to be kind of at a certain level. Uh so you know it was a lot of fun and you know really grateful to be a part of that and like learn like there’s there’s no better hockey than when you’re playing with your national team and it’s it’s so fun cuz like as someone that’s competitive like every puck is like do or die with everyone out there. So it’s like everything’s a battle. There’s always parts of practice and we ask this of a lot of goalies. Always parts of practice that aren’t necessarily for us as goalies, right? And that’s part of the job. public. Sometimes you’re a target. Sometimes it’s three on’s against the best players in the world like a national camp. How do you approach that to to sort of find that balance? And I guess again the athleticism probably and the competitiveness comes in. But are you do you do you pick little points and try and work on them or you just go out and compete? Are there moments where you’re doing both where you pick a drill to do one thing, pick another drill to do another? Yeah. So US team, we we love a good threeon overline rush. We do them all the time and it’s tic-tac-toe. So, it’s hard. Like, I’ll see I know it happens to me. I can see it in my goalie partners. It’s like, oh my gosh, that’s the fifth back door tap happen in a row and it’s and it’s frustrating cuz like we we do want to make those saves. Like we know it’s unrealistic to have a threeon, but like we’re really pushing to have those saves. So, yeah, like one of my things is control. So, like if that is the back door, I’m not going to like reach and like do everything I can to make that save and practice. I’m going to be like, “Okay, if I can just practice this controlled back door slide, like at least then I’m getting in that into that like the muscle memory and then I can get faster on it.” So that way I’m not making this a desperation save, I’m making it a controlled slide and then like I can incorporate that later on. So just kind of like yes, like that is a back door tap in, but right now like maybe instead of tearing my groin, it’s still early. Like I work on pulling that backside leg in and making it like a butterfly slide. Sounds like something like it’s funny when you talk about that sounds like something you’ve been working on like that control. Yeah, that’s exactly it. And and so so sh like again goalies everywhere. Share details. Give me details on like what what your when like you’ve had all this success and it’s like okay I want to I need to get that backside leg in. What what are your focal points to be like get better at a more controlled back door slide, not goalie 911 every time. What what things do how do you break that down? I think the first thing is just like accepting that you might get scored on, right? Cuz like that’s that’s a big thing. You’re making that desperation save because you don’t want to get scored on. And it’s like, okay, but if I can make this a controlled slide, I might get scored on today and tomorrow, but maybe by the third day I’m getting a toe on it and I can just get like that much faster at it. Um, and then you kind of have to accept like once I start making that save, like if there is a second save like to be made, like I can do it cuz now I’m not in a desperation mode. And like I think my goalie coach at na the national team is like she’s very encouraging of that and she realizes like that’s that’s okay. It’s okay to get scored on if you’re working on things to get better and to be able to not get scored on later on. I I love that. Um advice on coming in cold cuz you did it on the biggest stage. Well, second biggest stage, right? I guess the Olympics, but world championships are a big deal. biggest rivalry in in hockey, Canada, USA, on the on on the women’s side. Aaron gets hurt in the third period of a gold medal game. What’s the mindset? How do you achieve how do you how do you come in and have the success you had? Like like if other goalies are like, “Hey, like nobody wants to be on the bench, but when you are and you got to come off, how do you do it?” Yeah. I don’t think there’s a lot of profanity going on in my head. I was pretty I’ll be honest like I was I was nervous realistically I’d only played a game and a half at Worlds. Not a ton of experience under my belt. Close game. And I I just like I knew like you know this was it. Do or die. I was going to have to step in. I was like in my head begging. I was like please Aaron get up. Please Aaron get up. Like I can’t be the reason we lose. Like you got to get up. And I watching that hit, there was no way she was getting up. So I just kind of the way that I I almost, this sounds so bad, but I just accepted my fate. I kind of go out there and I just decide to like have fun. There’s only so much that I can control. Couldn’t really get warm in the 2 minutes that happened in between. So I just kind of decided like, hey, I’m I’m just going to go out there and give it my all. Um, you know, I’ve been in this experience a little bit going in cold. your adrenaline kicks in and you’re kind of ready to go. Definitely some aches and pains after that game because, you know, it snaps on like this, but you just kind of have to go about it your own way. And that that’s kind of that experience helped me with the rest of the pro year um that followed. Just kind of knowing this was my approach for this game. I’ll carry that on into other games, too. Nerves are okay, right? like it’s how we manage them and finding a way to manage it and saying I’m just going to go have fun like that feels like a pretty that feels like a win to me like in terms of from a mindset standpoint as much as you might not have wanted all the profanity. Yeah. I mean there’s I kind of knew it was a do or die situation and that’s kind of my personality is how I approach things is like hey like I can do the best I can do. I’m just going to have fun and that’s usually when I play my best so we’ll go at it like that. Is that the mentality you brought in? Um Mash goes down playoffs. You’re you’re like into the end of the season and into the playoffs like it’s your job. First year rookie PWHL just go have fun with it. Yeah, pretty much. Um so during that US Olympic game or gold medal game, sorry, my goalie coach Otto was watching it and he kind of said like he could see my mindset which was like a like I’m trying to think like ah screw it like let’s just have fun. He he said he could see that. Um, hey I know PG. He probably could. Yeah. And so he was like he he saw that and he was like, “Okay, like now I know how to how to go like react, how to how to work with you, right?” Cuz he was with Mash and like it’s all X’s and O’s and analytical and he was kind of trying to do that with me, but then he he saw it click and he was like, “That’s not how she functions. That’s not how she works.” And so going on to the rest of the season, he was like he could kind of repeat that mantra, which was like a screw it, we’ll say. and um just like that’s how we work together and it and it clicked and so like having having that kind of good relationship with my coach and then kind of building that same type of relationship with my players that under that mentality I think really helped. How were you approaching the X and approach at the beginning? like was that a little difficult you got having sort of Pierre being on a bit of a different page with Mash and having to learn your game and how to approach coaching you. Was there a process there were obviously this was a big moment getting through it, but was it tough? Like were you strugg struggling at all with the approach to that point? I I don’t think I knew I was struggling. I mean we’d sit down and we do pre-cout and like kind of tendencies of the other team which I’m not going to say is a bad thing. I think it’s a great thing to know like the other team’s power play, but like that’s not really my game. Like if I don’t know even what our faceoff plays are. Like if you’re going to tell me their face off plays in the ozone, like I’m going to be like kind of fixated and then I’m that like for me like I’m going to worry too much about that and not worry enough about like just making the save. And I think that was kind of the stumbling block that we were kind of getting stuck on. And so then, you know, once he saw that switch at Worlds, the amount of video we did decreased. And I’m not going to stand here on this podcast and say, “Don’t watch video. Do what works for you.” But we definitely we definitely did less because that’s just not my game. Like I’m not a study, look at the books, know their plays. Like I’m just kind of like going to go off vibes. Okay. Okay. I got to say vibes are good in goalending. And this is fine, but the whole I’m not a study person. I did need I did need to mention like you you you’ve got an engineering degree from Nor Eastern. You didn’t just go to school to play hockey. Yeah. So I studied in college but not at the rink, I guess. No, I mean it just the the distinction there, right? Like this is just this is just how you approach the game. Yeah. Yeah. No, and I do think it’s different from a lot of goalies, but you know, you just got to find what works for you and so far it’s been working for me. All right. What was your takeaway from the playoffs? like you said, it did work for you. And as much as you’re playoff MVP and I can go back to a lot of different playoff MVPs that lost and they that can be a bitter pill to you’re you got individual success, but the team didn’t quite get there. They’re all in overtime. You know, that’s a mental roller coaster. How’d you manage it? Yeah, I mean, like you said, bitter pill, but I think that whole run just kind of gave me a little bit of confidence. Um just like you said like rookie going in kind of mass went down right while we were starting to battle for playoff contention and I mean I I didn’t I didn’t know like I knew it it was going to you know be a close run and I didn’t have a lot of games playing with the team and I think we were kind of off to a rocky start. Um, but just kind of like building that relationship and that that trust with my players, I think kind of in return give me a lot of confidence. Like if I can see that they’re relaxed, you know, they trust me behind them, then I kind of get a little bit of confidence. Um, so just kind of building that rapport and then leading into playoffs that turned into like a little bit of confidence and like I got more comfortable. I I showed myself that I could compete at this level and I think that’s going to be really helpful for next year. I think um you know it’ll be hard not to have Mash to support me and to learn from her. Like now I’m you know the Ottawa Charge goalies are all pretty young. I think we’re all going to be 2000s which is a bit scary but um you know I’m going to have to find that leadership in other realms with like Brienne Jenner and stuff but it’s going to be weird not to have kind of that backbone goalender with me. When you talk about building confidence in teammates and seeing confidence, any advice? I mean, obviously stop the puck in games is a big one and and build that confidence that way, but are there things you can do as a goalender in practice to help sort of make sure your teammates are feeling good when you’re back there? Yeah, I just think building that relationship on the on and off the ice was really important. I think when I was the backup, you know, I was a little bit timid, not myself, just cuz I felt like, you know, it’s a little bit of an outsider. And I I don’t think that’s a good approach. I don’t think you should ever limit yourself, but that’s that’s just what happens to me. That’s kind of what happened with Aaron, too, when I was in Nor Eastern. Like, and I think but once I’m in that starting role, I get a little bit more like confident, which and and I I kind of build I work on those relationships a little bit more and become closer friends with the girls. And I think that can be done when you’re second, third string, whatever. But just the way that I am, like I’m a little bit more reserved. But I think, yeah, once I kind of started having the confidence to be a little bit more myself and build those relationships, crack the jokes, have more fun in practice, I think that that bridge kind of bonded between me and the rest of the girls, and that that really helped build that that connection and that confidence in each other. The summer camper, you walk me through how I I I do need a little taste of because as soon as that ends, are you like, I need to just get away from hockey. I’m going to get a camper and I’m going to go camp. You said West Coast, so California. Yeah. I don’t know. I’ve always like done random things, but I love driving. Yeah, I love driving. So, I was like, “Oh, I’m just I’m going to buy a camper and go out west.” And so, I bought a camper and I went out west as soon as the season was over. And yeah, like I just kind of used it to decompress. Like, you know, hockey is a lot of fun, but can be a lot like a lot of stress. And everything for me was like ramped up at the right in like April. like I was just kind of cruising by and then like things snapped and all of a sudden like I was under a lot of stress and so I think I just kind of needed to hit the hard reset and for me I guess that means like disconnecting from all things hockey internet I mean I was out like I didn’t have service for most of it for how okay so you’re a professional athlete so you got PR guys asking you to do interviews with clowns like me all the time How disconnected are we talking here and for how long? Uh, well, it’s actually a funny story. I hiked up a mountain and I I didn’t have service for the few days and I hiked up a mountain and I got like one or two bars and just by chance and I get like a million texts and I guess I had missed the expansion draft and free agency. So, I’m getting all these texts from like people being like, “This girl’s no longer on our team. This girl’s no longer on our team. Like, this girl’s on our team. This girl’s over here.” I’m like, “Oh my gosh, my phone’s blowing up.” Cuz I just went like two or three days without service and now all of a sudden like all these things are unfolding and like the league is getting so shaken up and I just was like, “Ah, airplane mode. Like I can’t deal with this right now. I’m on top of a mountain. That’s the only reason I have service. Like I can’t deal with this.” Yeah. The lesson there can’t be don’t climb too high. Yeah. Like once you hit like you’re up in the sky, stop. Just turn back around. So that happened and like there was one media thing and so I was in Yoseite and I was like, “Okay, I’ll like I’m walking on a path. I have some service and then it declined.” So then I walk back to where I had service on a hike and I’m just like standing there. Yeah, I can I can hear you. Can you hear me? Like kind of trying to make it work. But I did say I did request to not have a lot to to do cuz I wanted to be pretty disconnected and I I was like there was not a lot to be done to reach me. I love it. Well, it makes me appreciate the fact you’ve taken more than half an hour of your time today in in the midst of what is still the offseason despite the national camp starting. So, um, I really enjoyed this and and I know, like I said, I knew you coming in that your approach was maybe not like the goalie geeks that we often have on, but there are good there are good lessons here and it’s good for for kids to hear that there isn’t just one way to approach this. And so, thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us today. Yeah, of course. I know it’s a bit unorthodox, so, you know, maybe don’t take everything from me. Maybe make sure you guys are out there and you’re reading plays and watching film, but have fun with it. Well, considering our bread and butter on our website is Pro Reads, we do appreciate that. Yeah, that’s fair. Kevin, the one that stood out for me, I mean, there were lots of good pieces in there, but the first one that I made a note about, I think every goalender should listen to and take to heart, and that was her take on threeono drills. because so many goalenders complain about how this isn’t realistic, this isn’t fair, I’m going to get hurt, and she actually turned it on on on its head because she’s a self-identified back flipper out on the ice throwing herself everywhere. If ever there was a time to be doing that, it’s in a threeono drill when you have to do everything you can to make a save. And instead, she accepted that there’s an excellent chance she’s going to get scored on anyway. So, why not test her limits in control with structure? I just thought it was beautiful advice. Yeah. There. And there’s a ton of it, right? Like from personality stuff. We talked about coming into it and being yourself to Yeah. For as much as we talk about I love the back flipper term. I’ve got visions of Hashic doing a barrel roll as she described, you know, playing out a rebound. But understanding that you can still be that, but embrace things that will help you become more efficient in her case because she’s about to go from not playing much to playing a ton down the stretch when Mash got hurt to being the number one in Ottawa with a very young goalending department. So, um you know, even if even if that’s your preferred style or something you never want to take out of your game and and why would we, right? That reactive element, that dynamic, the stuff that gives you another level and another layer. But still recognize that there are times where maybe not going to that as soon as the sequence might preserve the body, might allow you, as she said herself, I’m going to get to that first one on the back door extended, but do I have a chance on the next one? And so there’s an awareness there built within that dynamic nature that there are times where you have to leave, you know, you have to leave the car doors closed before you open them wide wide open and call 911. But what a what a better time to try that than on that threeono drill. And what a great mindset of hers to say you have to accept it’s okay to be scored on. And that’s that’s tough for young goalenders to get to that. It’s tough for any goalender to get to that point. Okay. I said I had a little extra parents bit after that one and I was making notes as she was talking about playing on three or four teams growing up and I loved it. As you know, I think it’s awesome that she was a player on her high school team. And I can’t tell you lately, Woody, the other thing I wanted to address in the parent segment was the number of posts I’ve seen recently of teams looking for a goalie for this season. And we’re not just talking U7 here. We’re talking U15, U8, multiple levels of the game, all sorts of places across the country, across North America. And and that’s just really sad. And we know that Hockey Canada and USA hockey are trying to do things to improve the way we support goalenders, the number of people that are playing on goal. But here’s my soapbox rant that you’ve heard from me before, Kevin. Let kids register on multiple teams if they are a goalie at one of those levels. Right now, at least in Hockey Canada, you get carded on a single team and that’s it. And yes, you can AP up a level if you for a few games and so on. But in order to support the growth of the women’s game in Canada, we allowed girls to register on a female team and on a boys team. Great. Awesome. Why don’t we do the same thing with goalenders? So, if you are a double A goalie, you might not have the skill to be a double A forward in those days you’re not starting. So, how about let them go play on a on a recreational team. Or how about the AAA player who’s a great athlete who maybe doesn’t want to take the chance on being a goalender gets that chance to experiment at a lower level. And and I know it’s not easy because what we don’t want to do is get a kid who’s passionate about goalending. Losing a spot on a team because the AAA forward decides to come down and he’s just such a great athlete, he dominates and and so on. There’s got to be some control around it. But let’s have some discussions about getting more kids to try being goalenders by allowing them to be on multiple teams. Well, part of that is getting rid of some of the stigmas. And we joke about a lot of it, too. But honestly, like it’s it’s gotten a little to be a little too much. And we’ve turned off, you know, not not an entire generation by any stretch, but we’ve turned off a lot of parents who are the decision makers in the family around the idea of playing goal because of a lot of those negative stigmas. And you’re starting to see it. And we we heard about this when we were at the USA hockey symposium. Like they have a shortage. And I think a lot of people are naive when they think that Canada doesn’t cuz I’ve heard lots of examples. And it seems like more and more and more over the past three seasons we have teams up here that don’t have goalies. And if you wonder why, it’s how we treat them. It is. It is. It might also be related just to the expansion of the game. And and I mean by that there are so many more options for kids to play sanctioned teams, unsanctioned teams, different leagues, different places, and it’s not hard for them to find players. And you can field a team without 18 or 20 players, but you need your goalies. So as these options diversify themselves, it’s more important than ever that we have goalies for these teams. So let’s let’s make it happen. There’s goalie shortages at Beerly, too, Hutch. Let me tell you, I feel like I could play like it’s August 15th and if you check my phone, I could have played every night this week. And when you did show up, your team still thought there was a shortage of goalies. That’s fair. I’m just kidding. You always do that to yourself. I’ve watched Woody play. He falls every now and then, but he’s a heck of a goalie. And my next mask is going to be Woody from Toy Story. And the quote on the back is going to be that’s not flying, except instead of flying, I’ll say goalending. That’s falling with style. Nice. Excellent. What a great way to finish the show. I think we’re just going to leave it there, Woody. Our thanks to the hockey shop source for sports uh out in Langley in the hockeyshop.com, to our friends at Visual Edge, NHL Sense Arena, and Stop goendenning the app, and of course to you out there for listening, for commenting, for writing in. We always love hearing from you. And we hope you all have a great week in goal. [Music]
Episode 316 of the InGoal Radio Podcast, presented by The Hockey Shop Source for Sports (https://www.thehockeyshop.com/) , features PWHL Playoff MVP and 2025 World Championship gold-medal winner Gwyneth Philips.
In the feature interview presented by NHL Sense Arena (https://hockey.sensearena.com/store) , Philips takes us back through a whirlwind rookie season in the PWHL, including coming off the bench for injured college teammate Aerin Frankiel in the third period of the gold medal game and how it jump started her late season and playoff run with the Ottawa Charge after starter Emerance Maschmayer was also injured. Philips, who went off the grid camping shortly after the season ended, also talked about finding balance on and off the ice, including between her athletic — sometimes acrobatic — style and times when efficiency is the better choice, and shared great advice on how to approach the parts of practice that aren’t greta for goalies that runs counter to that style, plus so much more.
In the Parent Segment, presented by Stop It Goaltending U the App (https://www.stopitgoaltending.com/app-download/) , we continue to empty the mailbag, answering questions about catching pucks in the pocket, preparing for draft season in various leagues, and Hutch gets on his soapbox to talk about goalie shortages.
We also review this week’s Pro Reads, presented by Vizual Edge, which features a second straight entry from Winnipeg Jets goalie Eric Comrie on key factors behind skate-or-slide decisions.
And in our weekly gear segment, we go to The Hockey Shop Source for Sports for a closer look at the updated Bauer 950 mask.
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Philips interview begins about 30:49