The best goaltenders have something you can’t teach on a whiteboard.
They have to be able to forget.
Forget the goal that just went in. Forget the bad bounce. Forget the mistake in front of them.
Then stop the next one.
Eli Wilson has spent years trying to develop that mentality in goaltenders, including one who went on to become one of the best of his generation.
Wilson’s relationship with Carey Price began when the future Montreal Canadiens star was a teenager.
It lasted throughout Price’s 15-year NHL career.
“I basically worked with Carey his entire career, starting from the age of 18. He attended a camp of mine in Calgary, and then we continued to work basically every summer until the end,” Wilson told RocketFAN. “So long-term relationship, great student, super hardworking guy, dedicated and obviously a great goaltender, and over the years we became really good friends.”
Wilson was among the family, friends and hockey people invited to a three-day retirement gathering for Price this summer at a 30,000-acre ranch in Wyoming.
It was a long way from the Calgary rink where their relationship began.
For Wilson, there was never much doubt Price was destined for something special.
“I did, yeah,” Wilson said when asked if he believed Price would become as good as he eventually did. “He’s just one of those guys you don’t have to look for. He really stood out, and he always played well and always got better and, you know, the bigger the game got, the bigger he got.”
That last part is what Wilson wants from every goaltender he works with.
Wilson is entering his fifth season with the Rockets, but his work with goaltenders extends far beyond the WHL. He spent seven weeks this summer travelling to seven different locations for goaltending camps (https://www.eliwilsongoaltending.com/).
Decades of work with young goaltenders, including Price, have shaped his philosophy.
Rather than constantly adding to a goalie’s game, Wilson believes there is value in simplifying it.
“I think I had a little bit different approach, like take things away from the game, simplify it a lot, and just overall skill development technically and tactically and super open-minded on the ice at all times about everything that we did,” Wilson said.
Price was the perfect student for that approach.
“He was a great, great goaltender to work with as far as like a pleasure to coach,” Wilson said. “There was never any pushback, you know, kind of just barks and he bites, and it was, it was a lot of fun for me.”
Now Wilson sees many of those same developmental principles applying to goalie Harrison Boettiger, who enters his second WHL season with expectations considerably higher than they were a year ago.
“This year he’ll continue to do what he did last year, with some more detail in his game,” Wilson said. “We would expect that he’ll be one of the best goaltenders in the Western Hockey League this upcoming season.”
That is a big expectation for a 19-year-old goaltender.
Wilson believes Boettiger earned it.
“Last year, he improved a lot,” Wilson said. “He worked a lot on his technical and tactical part of the game and obviously the mental and emotional part of the game that goes with it.”
Wilson also liked what he saw away from the spotlight.
“He was a student in all areas, and I really liked what he did last year as far as his work ethic and being on the ice early and getting things done and taken care of.”
For Wilson, that is part of what separates a starting goaltender from the rest.
“You have to be a leader, you have to be competitive, you have to be your own drum and do your own thing and take pride in your game and all that kind of stuff,” Wilson said. “So all those things are super important to goaltenders and especially number one goaltenders at all levels of hockey.”
And a No. 1 goaltender has to be prepared to play.
“I think 50 games is the benchmark for a number one goaltender in this league,” Wilson said. “What we’ve seen over the years, the last few years in junior hockey and in the NHL, reduces that a little bit, but I don’t think there’s any reason why a goaltender at this level can’t play 50 games and really be a solid leader on and off the ice with the group.”
Head coach Derrick Martin will decide how the workload is divided between Boettiger and the Rockets’ other goaltenders, with Wilson providing input.
But there is one part of the job as a goalie that Wilson considers non-negotiable.
The ability to move on.
“Just stay in the moment, move past it, and stop the next [puck] one is my message or our message to our goaltenders,” Wilson said.
Wilson doesn’t spend much time deciding whether a goal should have been stopped.
“I don’t really measure goals and the idea that they’re good or bad goals,” he said. “I mean, all goals count up there for one as they go in or not, and we just really want to just stay in the moment and move forward all the time.”
Because the difference a goaltender can make over a full season is enormous.
“A goaltender, like a top-end goaltender, can steal 10 games,” Wilson said. “10 games is 20 points. That’s huge.”
Twenty points can change a season.
So can one save.
And after a goal goes in, Wilson wants his goaltenders thinking about only one thing.
The next shot.
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