OK, here’s a little story from practice today.
I arrived before the full team took the ice today, so it was just the goalies along with San Jose Sharks goaltending development coach Corey Schwab. It was really quite interesting watching Schwab working with Thomas Heemskerk and Kent Simpson, as it’s not often I get the opportunity to see the goalies working specifically with a goaltending coach for an extended period of time.
Well, about 10 minutes in Schwab pulls out this tool that looks kind of like a snow shovel, but one a clown would use — something blown up to ridiculous proportions. Turns out it was a tool Tips equipment manager James Stucky whipped up yesterday: a deflection board. Stucky took a wood plank and bolted it to the handle of a hockey stick. What they would do is one goalie would be in net while the other held this board against the ice at the far post, and Schwab would fire shots off the board to simulate deflections. It looked like a great drill, and apparently those deflection boards are quite common in the NHL.
Now this is where the power-play part comes in. Both Heemskerk and Simpson were scoring quite frequently with that device as it’s designed to create some wicked deflections. Maybe the new power play should consist of the backup goalie grabbing that thing and setting up at the far post. Or maybe it’s just a strong advocate of using a stick with an extra-large blade.
Anyway, the real note from today’s practice is that left wing Dan Iwanski’s knee injury suffered Wednesday is not serious. He didn’t practice today, but he’s only expected to be on the shelf another day or two.
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