Goaltending in hockey has been said to be the toughest position in all of sports. You’re the last line of defence, you can be all on your own, and your mistakes end up on the scoreboard.
Because of that, former pro goalie coach and local sports icon Tom Hedican believes there needs to be some element of fun brought to teaching the position.
“Don’t put a whole lot of pressure on goalies, it’s already a pressurized situation,” explained Hedican on a recent episode of the new Goalie Resiliency podcast on YouTube.
“I’ve always said goaltending is the only sport that can win and lose the game by itself. If you stand on your head, and you have a great game, your team can have a very poor game and you can still win. Team can play great; goalie plays poorly and you can still lose. Let them have fun, let them play other sports and if they can get coaching, that will be a big factor.”
Hedican, who was inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, didn’t always have dreams of being a goaltending coach, however. the former University of Guelph netminder had studied journalism, and even had a job writing in southern Ontario. However, his mind was never far from the blue paint.
“I was working with the London Knights at the time, I was part-time with them and full-time with the London Free Press. I just found when I left work and was at the arena, I was happiest, so when the opportunity came to move back to my hometown of North Bay and in the OHL full time, I jumped at it.
“The team the year before had won the championship and we had 17 players returning so it seemed like a dream scenario, it did not turn out that way. We were out in the first round, so I did two years with the Centennials, then I did a year consulting in the pro leagues in Europe, but then I was rehired by the Knights. After that stint, we won our division and then I was rehired by North Bay.”
Through that return stint, Hedican had the chance to work with some top tier OHL talents like Alex Auld and Andrew Penner. While in North Bay, Auld was selected to team Canada for the 2001 World Junior tournament, and won a bronze medal. Both goalies eventually caught the eyes of NHL teams, with Auld being drafted by Vancouver and going on to an NHL career, and Penner signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets, before forging a solid minor pro career.
“Alex was extremely intelligent, a straight-A student. A measure of intelligence to me is you’re book smart and common-sense smart, and he had both. Lots of good questions,” Hedican said on Auld. “Andrew was the same, and extremely talented, phenomenal athlete. Alex the year before did not have a good experience in North Bay, so he was hesitant to come back to North Bay, so when Mike Kelly and I took over he was our first call.”
After the second go around with the Centennials, Hedican packed his bags for overseas, where he had the fortune to work with an up-and-coming goaltender named Cristobal Huet. Although the story turns out well for the netminder, the first chapter is a little rocky.
“It was not an easy situation for Cristobal. Lugano is owned by a billionaire and a very rich team, and there were only four imports who were NHL guys, so when Cristo came along the fans and media were like ‘who is this guy?’ they wanted him gone,” explained Hedican. “After the first ice session the president was in the coach’s office and asked for my analysis. He wanted to get rid of him right away, and I said ‘I think he’s going to be ok, he’s raw but young’ and we ended up winning the Swiss championship, and he was a phenomenal athlete in goalie equipment.”
While Hedican was eventually proven right, Huet’s path was not conventional to a lot of other hockey players growing up with NHL dreams.
“People think when he’s French that he’s from Quebec, he’s not, he’s from France. He’s the only player from France to win the Stanley Cup and only one of two to play in the NHL. It was by fluke that Dave Taylor, who was GM of LA at the time, was in Davos, watching a Davos player, and saw Cristo pull off a 3-1 win. I kept talking to Cristo and he thought I was crazy. He said nobody in France thinks of the NHL, but I said you have to dream big. He ended up being an NHL all-star in Montreal, he led the league in save percentage, and ended up with the Stanley Cup.”
Eventually coming back to home soil, Hedican decided to trade his knowledge for charity, founding the Coach4Food campaign, one that was adopted in many different communities across North America. He says, the inspiration came from “The Boss" Bruce Springsteen.
“I got the idea from Bruce Springsteen doing work with the New Jersey food banks, going in there on and stoking shelves, and unloading trucks so I thought I would trade my coaching for food,” he said to the hosts on Goalie Resiliency. “Even with the novices we were doing pro drills, we would simplify them a bit, and Cristo was generous enough to fly up from Montreal and meet with all the kids and coaches. We ended up raising almost 1.5 million pounds of food for food banks in Ontario.
“I am certainly glad I got off my rear end to do something for the community. I had to look myself in the mirror and I thought I had to do something.”
“I only have good things to say about Tom, such a great man, and that shows what kind of a guy he is,” Huet said to Bay Today’s Chris Dawson at the NHL Winter Classic in 2009. “Gives a lot of time to do that and time is precious, and he’s doing a great job of that and a great coach that helped me a lot throughout my career. It’s good to be a good man sometimes.”
And while Hedican’s last goaltending protégée has retired in Nate McDonald, the former goalie finds himself working to develop the next wave of netminders with the North Bay Battalion. Something that draws high praise from Hedican.
“He reminds me a little bit of Alex Auld, very cerebral, good person. Hard working, listened, asked good questions, and wasn’t afraid to try new things. I think Nate will do very well in that position.”
Lastly, Hedican has a few closing remarks for young goalies who may be reading this, or watching the podcast.
“Work ethic. If you’re trying to get to the OHL or beyond, at some point you’re going to come head-to-head with somebody else who’s maybe done more work than you. If you out work those people, your work ethic is going to take you a long way.”
Goalie Resiliency can be found on YouTube on the Goalie Resiliency channel. Check out the video below:
