Team Shutout

Life is tough…and so are Hockey Tryouts!!!

moe — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:32:21 +0000

OUT of the BLUE is a blog that provides insight and related resource information into all 5 Performance Components that will help cultivate Confidence and promote Character for continued development within the TSO Crease Control Training System.

Maurice (MOE) Tanel is the Program Director and Goals & Performance Coach of TEAM Shutout Goalie School. For further information on this or any other questions you may have please feel free to contact him by email at maurice@teamshutout.com

Character Qualities: I am always proud to champion the achievements of our students.

Now I am very proud to take this opportunity to acknowledge all those courageous goalies who had set their Milestone goals and diligently trained to give themselves the best chance to advance their level but didn’t receive the acknowledgment they were expecting in this years try outs.

Their achievement? The strength of character they have exhibited in not giving up and holding onto their dream. It’s this determination that makes us at TSO very proud of our committed students.

I have already met with some of these students to review the direction of their Spring/Summer training program. At the time of the interview, the sting was still lingering but the courage of focusing on the training process of their next Milestone goal was still there…and that is character.

I want to reiterate how proud we are of these athletes and I would like to leave all of our students with this inspirational quote…

“Don’t let anyone stop you from pursuing what you want to achieve. Life will test you to see how serious you are about pursuing a particular path. Sooner or later, you will face negative feedback, don’t let anyone crush your dream…”

For all the goalies who fell a little short on their Milestone Goal, I have attached below a Moe-Tivational version of the “Life is Tough” video with inspirational audio by Gary Racer.

Goals are not always achieved but that doesn’t mean you are a failure, you just gotta get up, stick to those Performance Goals and keep going…

“success has been and continues to be defined as, getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down”

CLICK FOR VIDEO LINK>> “Life is Tough…but Character will guide you through”

Sauve gets call to attend Canada’s National Women’s Program

moe — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:16:37 +0000

Hockey Canada announced last Thursday that 57 players have been invited to attend Canada’s National Women’s Program strength and conditioning camp, taking place May 2-6 at York University in Toronto, Ont. and Kassidy Sauve is one of 9 goalies to be invited to the evaluation camp.

At 15 years old, Kassidy will be the youngest athlete at the camp and, no different than her entire minor hockey career, she will be perceived by some as the underdog…not a chance…I think she will be a front runner.

Kassidy has always competed against the boys. Anyone who has been involved with Kassidy will tell you she is a competitor and I can tell you first hand that she holds that quality in spades. But, as much as she does have a ferocious compete level, her greatest quality is her desire to be prepared for competition. Kassidy always finds the time to improve herself…and this is what gives her the confidence to compete at a level that others may find difficult to handle. It’s her confidence in herself that I believe will be her greatest edge during the camp.

At such a young age her maturity and leadership shines through. When asked about the challenges of competing against the boys during the OHL Cup, she was quoted as saying…

“If someone really wants to do something, they can – There’s no doubt about it. If they just keep striving and keep working really hard then they might end up playing in the OHL Cup too and I hope another girl does later on.”

I want everyone to understand I have a lot of respect for all the athletes attending the camp, but if I am a betting man (and I am not) my money has to be on Kass. It’s just too smart of a bet…

For more articles and videos on Kassidy CLICK the LINKS below:
Female Goalie Steals the Show
Kassidy Sauve Just One of the Guys
OHL Cup interview by Open Ice Hockey

Breathe as an Anchor

moe — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:43:05 +0000

OUT of the BLUE is a blog that provides insight and related resource information into all 5 Performance Components that are required for a goalies continued development within the TSO Crease Control Training System.

The Mental Game: The pinnacle of performance is when the body and the mind are synergetic and are working together and cooperating. Keeping with our intention of staying ‘on the ice to read the play and tracking the puck’ is ultimate key to performance.

The synergy of body and mind cooperation lends itself to that state of mind that’s called the zone. Finding a way to settlethe mind after experiencing challenges during practice and competition can be a challenge in itself. And like any other skill, it can only be developed through training. A commonly used and effective method of achieving the synchronistic of the body and mind is through the use of Breathe as an Anchor.

Development Tool: Nicole Tanel of Yoga-Elite will share with the you the positive affects of yoga training and how it can develop the skill of maintaining focus while meeting the challenges of the obstacles of competition.

Using Breathe as an Anchor…

We all agree that breathing is important for our body, right? But what about our mind? Have you noticed that in times of real or perceived challenge your mind can lose it’s focus–it’s sharpness. After a demanding game, have you ever said: “Where was my head, what was I thinking?” When we are faced with an obstacle, we become “mess-able” and our mind lacks the clarity we otherwise would have had.

The practice of yoga encourages it’s participants to develop a physical and mental practice. The act of setting an intention allows each person to create a single goal for their practice, and when our confidence or pose begins to waiver we mentally return to our intention, we call this an anchor.

By setting our anchor we can reign in our mental focus, and in doing so, let go of whatever thoughts or challenges enter our mind. In each practice breathing is necessary, but if we use breathe as an anchor, it can become a reliable way to capture focus and re-centre ourself in the present moment.

As much as people may believe yoga is about being bendy and twisty it is also about developing confidence, the ability to play, and gain mental-focus. At Yoga-Elite we call this being “un-messable” and we get there by developing an anchor–like breath–and returning to it to enhance our yoga or goaltending.

By using something so small and simple as breathe you connect your mind and body, to bring you into the present moment; instead of focusing and putting all your energy in what can’t be changed or controlled; the past and/or the future. Yoga is called a practice, because it is just that, a practice to bring you’re focus on the present, developing an unshakable, un-messable presents so that you can be powerful and put effort in what you can control and where you can be strong; THE PRESENT!

A quick introduction to the practice of Ujjayi (Fire) breathing:

1. Sit up nice and tall, breathe in through the nose deeply filling the diaphragm first (between the pubic bone and belly button) and the chest next. Imagine inflating your torso like a balloon.
2. For your first try, exhale through mouth letting the air glide over the tongue making a whispered “ha” sound. You should feel a slight restriction in your throat. Practice 5-10 times

Now repeat this same process but in place of breathing out through your mouth, breathe out through your nose, all the while you are still restricting the throat on a whispered “ha” sound. This sound will now sound like a Darth Vader-type breath. Who knew Star Wars and Yoga could mix? Repeat as needed.

“A healthy mind has an easy breath.” – Author Unknown

Nicole is the Head Yoga-Instructor of Yoga-Elite and facilitates the yoga training for athletes at the Varsity Training Centre in Brampton for TEAM Shutout Goalie School and Varsity Hockey School…ALL parents and coaches are invited to participate. CLICK HERE for Yoga Training package and program details.

CLICK the “Crease Control Training System” ICON for training system and other programs

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Pitcher’s commitment gets him OHL draft

moe — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:08:19 +0000

Eric Pitcher was drafted this past weekend to the Brampton Battalion of the OHL. He was the 17th pick in the 12 round.

The road wasn’t easy. Losses, blow outs, long losing streaks, questioning how the impact of all this would affect his draft year…you name the adversity, this kid saw it.

What Eric Pitcher was able to do was work hard to stay focused on the process and not the results. Was it easy…not a chance. But what he realized early in the season, after a rough start, was that all he could control was how he could be prepared for his games, and once he found that grove, he stood out.

By staying within his Goals & Performance Program and only trying to control his weekly short term ‘performance’ goals, Eric was able to stay in the present and control what he could control.

People that know me, know that statistics have to tell me more than the obvious. Here are some stats and what they mean to me…

- Eric’s team finished in 12th (last) place in the GTHL.
- Eric’s team managed to register only 4 wins during regular season play.
- No other goalie, whose team that finished in the bottom 5 of the GTHL Minor Midget division, was successful in getting drafted.

What this tells me is that Eric was able to understand that all he could control was his personal development and preparation for the next game. This allowed him to show the scouts that he had the skills to play the position.

I can’t tell you how proud I am of Eric’s season and the achievement of the ‘Milestone’ goal towards his hockey destination. The beautiful part is that the process of creating the roadmap to Eric’s next milestone starts again…we are looking forward to being a small part of helping Eric with the challenges of his journey.

Don’t focus on what performance results will get you noticed…stay focused on the execution process that will help reach your desired performance results.

Sport Conditioning Workshop with Maria Mountain

moe — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:24:34 +0000

The Sport Conditioning Workshop will provide conditioning tools that will help athletes compete at their highest level and reduce risk of injury.

Maria Mountain has a Masters of Science in Kinesiology and operates Revolution Condition workout studio in London, Ontario. Maria works with Elite Athletes of 14 years and older along with Olympic and Pro Sports Athletes.

Maria is passionate about what training approach works and the commitment required by the athlete. Her presentation will revolve around the importance of athletes working hard and challenging themselves, along with outlining the elements of a good program.

Come to the Sports Conditioning Workshop on May 5, 2012 and Maria will lay out a conditioning map and help answer questions like…

• Does the training program have different phases? Can your trainer name them for you and tell you the goal of each phase?
• Does your workout program have a Chest day?
• Does the program begin with lots of work on cleaning up movement patterns and training the stabilizers?
• Does you program have you sitting down to do your leg exercises?
• Does your workout program include a specific tempo for your lifts?
• Does your off-ice hockey training program include long steady cardio on a machine?
• Does your off-ice training program include workouts every single day of the week?

For details and registering information CLICK THE POSTER>>>

Team Shutout Goalie School and Golden Glide Fitness will host the Sport Conditioning Workshop on Saturday, May 5th, 2012 at the Golden Glide Training Facility located on the second floor at Chesswood Arena in Toronto, Ontario.

For all registrations call 905-860-1111 or e-mail info@teamshutout.com

What Performance Isn’t…

moe — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:15:49 +0000

The Mental Game: An athlete’s performance is commonly judged by the effectiveness of their results in competition. When evaluating an athlete’s game performance, the tendency is to evaluate that performance with a ‘subjective’ measuring stick such as a win or loss and goals scored against.

Developing effective performance in a young athlete however, isn’t just about the win or goals against.

That’s not to say that these are not important performance results…they are; but an effective evaluation that can be used to improve performance must include an ‘objective’ process. An athlete needs to stay away from focusing on what performance will get him noticed and stay focused on the process that will help reach his desired performance results. This starts in training and fosters the mind set of staying focused on what will help to reach the desired results that will carry over to games.

Many young athlete’s become focused only on these ‘subjective’ results and become discouraged and frustrated when falling short on these expectations. To learn how to perform well in competition requires an awareness of training needs in practice.

Here are a few examples of what Performance isn’t…

Performance isn’t always consistent. It can be under achieving and flawed just like people and life itself.

Performance isn’t always confident. Part of improving performance is recognizing this, taking a close look at where our doubts really come from and then doing our best to see the best in our game instead of assuming the worst.

Performance isn’t without obstacles. It’s about creating and maintaining an awareness in our training needs and working towards improving.

Performance isn’t a display of perfection….

Performance doesn’t fail because we mess up from time to time. It fails when we fail to accept that we are not perfect. Acknowledging this doesn’t mean condoning it, it means recognizing that performance isn’t perfect and its a natural human tendency to make mistakes.

Don’t focus on what performance results will get you noticed…stay focused on the execution process that will help reach your desired performance results.

CLICK the “Crease Control Training System” ICON for training system and other programs

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Maintaining focus on the PROCESS and NOT THE RESULTS will improve performance

moe — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:20:47 +0000

OUT of the BLUE is a blog that provides insight and related resource information into all 5 Performance Components that are required for a goalies continued development within the TSO Crease Control Training System.

Maurice (MOE) Tanel is the Program Director and Goals & Performance Coach of TEAM Shutout Goalie School. For further information on this or any other questions you may have please feel free to contact him by email at maurice@teamshutout.com

The Mental Game: As instructors, our biggest challenge is guiding young goalies to stay positive with themselves during their training.

Most of our training drills contain one or more key elements that invariably finish with a shot on net. In those drill situations where the puck goes into the net, even if many or most of the key elements in the drills are executed well, the common response from many goalies will be frustration or anger. Because of this final result of the drill (being scored on), the goalie views the drill from the position of failure.

Performance is never perfect and important to remember…especially during training.

Failure is an important element of development. Young athlete’s need to be encouraged to assess their performance, both during training and after games, from the perspective of the process and creating a positive awareness of their training needs.

In order to improve performance, a goalie needs to focus less on the performance results and more on the process. This starts during training and will continue by fostering the mind set of staying focused on the training needs that will maximize preparation for desired performance results.

Don’t focus on what performance results will get you noticed…stay focused on the performance process that will help reach your desired performance results.

Sidney Crosby Uses PROCESS Goals CLICK HERE for full story

Dr. Cohn’s advise to parents is…

“The biggest challenges sports kids face are fear of failure and perfectionism.

Many different types of young athletes are afraid of failing….

One personality type that’s especially prone to fear of failure is the perfectionist.

Parents of perfectionists and kids who are afraid of failing—and there are a lot of young athletes who fall into these categories—need to help their children and teens understand why they’re afraid of failing.

They need to help them focus less on the score or win, and more on the process.

What’s more, parents need to take a hard look at their own behavior.
- Do they expect their sports kids to be “perfect?”
- Are they critical of every mistake?
- Do they have super-high expectations for their young athletes?

These attitudes will likely contribute to sports kids’ fear of failure.

To read the complete version of Dr. Cohn blog on

Helping Sports Kids Boost Their Performance by Overcoming Fear of Failure (Click Here)

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2012 OHL Draft Prospects show Character, Maturity and Leadership

moe — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:44:56 +0000

Our congratulation goes out to 5 of our Minor Midget AAA students who have been identified by OHL Central Scouting and are eligible for the upcoming 2012 OHL Entry Draft.

Character, Maturity and Leadership are important personal traits in meeting the challenges of any life experience and these 5 young athletes have shown an admirable development in all of these these qualities.

It has been an exciting 2011-12 season for all 5 of these Minor Midget AAA goalies who have worked hard and have met the challenge of small adversities along the way.

We are very proud of their level of commitment and discipline, which has earned them the acknowledgment of the OHL Central Scouting and have been added to the draft eligibility list for the upcoming OHL Draft on Saturday April 7, 2012.

We would like to recognize these fine young goaltenders…

<<< Michael Bergman – 1996 AAA
Hometown: Clarington, Ontario
Plays for the Minor/Midget Clarington Toros of the OMHA.

Nicholas Caranfa – 1996 AAA >>>
Hometown: Brampton, Ontario
Plays for the Minor/Midget Brampton Battalion of the OMHA.

<<< Nicholas Whelan – 1996 AAA
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Plays for the M/Midget Mississauga Senators of the GTHL.

Eric Pitcher – 1996 AAA >>>
Hometown: Caledon, Ontario
Plays for the M/Midget Markham Majors of the GTHL.

<<< Kassidy Sauve – 1996 AAA
Hometown: Whitby, Ontario
Plays for the Minor/Midget Whitby Wildcats of the OMHA.

Great effort by all these young athletes and always remember…

…“Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it, piece by piece — by thought, choice, courage, and determination.” –H. Jackson Brown-

We are confident that these athletes have benefited from the Strength of our Program and it has given them the feeling of control over Maximizing their Potential

JOIN our TEAM and Discover the “Winner Within”

Sport Psychology Workshop with Dr. Alan Edmunds, PhD

moe — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:37:06 +0000

Mental Performance expert Dr. Alan Edmunds, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Western University. Dr. Edmunds provides sports psychology training for elite individual athletes in many sports.

Hey Hockey Players – How would you like to play your best hockey more often? How would you like to feel supremely confident before, during, and after every game? How would you like to feel like you are always getting better during and after every practice? How would you like to play every game with no worries?

To find out how you can improve your mental game and improve performance come to the 1.5 hour interactive Sport Psychology Workshop that will include descriptions of:

- How mental focus is acquired and sustained
- How confidence is built and maintained
- How sport-specific skill improvement plays a vital role in competitive focus and confidence

Athletes will learn how to structure and implement their own approach in order to make themselves mentally tougher. This will allow them to more frequently access their full potential on game day.

Team Shutout Goalie School and Varsity Hockey will host the Sport Psychology Workshop on Saturday, March 24th, 2012 at the Varsity Training Centre located in Brampton, Ontario.

(CLICK HERE for More Workshop INFORMATION)

How distractions can negatively affect performance

moe — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:03:57 +0000

OUT of the BLUE is a blog that provides insight and related resource information into all 5 Performance Components that are required for a goalies continued development within the TSO Crease Control Training System.

Maurice (MOE) Tanel is the Program Director and Goals & Performance Coach of TEAM Shutout Goalie School. For further information on this or any other questions you may have please feel free to contact him by email at maurice@teamshutout.com

…Just this week I was working with one of our young AAA goalies involved in our Goals & Performance Program.

He had e-mailed me his Short Term ‘Performance’ Goals that would he would be using for the week to create awareness in his training and work towards helping his game performance.

Other than the fact that they needed some minor adjustment to give more definition and clarity to his goals, he was pointed in the right direction in his training awareness needs.

Let me share with you this young goalie’s Performance Goals…

1. Stay clear and calm on identifying the release to better Track the puck from point of release to point of save selection. (Mental Game)

2. Maintain clear mind to read the play (Mental Game) and execute strong and controlled pushes to maintain effective positioning of centre and square on the puck (Technical Skills & Tactical Strategy).

3. Identifying rebounds that result from Blocking Strategies that are required on In-Tight plays to better recover and re-position to puck rebounds. (Mental Game and Tactical Strategy).

I wanted to share this process to highlight how vision is so closely connected to a goalie’s performance. The vision required to track the puck and read the play has a strong connection to the Performance Component of the Mental Game. Technical Skills and Tactical Strategy are very important but how an athlete can deal with the distractions can affect his vision that will impact the Read-Plan-Execute cycling process of the Performance Sequence.

The mental distractions that impact concentration will affect a goalies ability to maximize vision so to develop a ‘Clear and Calm’ energy in a goalie’s Mental Game is crucial.

To provide further insight on how distraction negatively affect performance, I have attached below a link to a recent Blog by Dr. Cohn…Concentration is key to excelling in sports. When kids aren’t  focused on what they need to do to perform their skills,  performance suffers. Then your athletes are unable to perform  in the “zone.”
Not coping effectively with distractions can really hurt your  athletes’ performance in sports…
Distractions come in two forms–outer and inner…  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE