NHL as A Goalie

Question
Hi there,Im from Canada I Just turned 12 on the 15th of february.Im 5'3 and 106pounds.I love hockey and im a very fast goaltender.My dream is to make it all the way and it doesnt matter where i get drafted . im 1st year peewee what can i do to get to Junior! thanks helping my dream come true`Robert#30

Answer
Robert,

Do you know the what the difference is between a professional and a amateur?  Yes, it's the money...but what else?

The difference is only 6" between the ears!  If you think you can...you can.  If you think you can't...your right, you can't.  One of the main differences is that as a player like yourself, advance towards your junior years, friends are going to want you to do other things to pull you away from what you want.  It's call peer pressure and if you don't do what they say, you are a loser and they will gladly tell you so!

Professionals are where they are at in life because they over came the laughter, the ridicule from so called friends.  There is going to be a time where you will be confronted to skip practice to go on a date or go to the movies with friends.  Ask any professional and they will tell you that they did whatever it was going to take to make sure that they got what they wanted.  Movies and girls can come later once you are there.

There will be times when you will run up against a mental wall and you will want to quit.  You know those walls, they are the ones that say..."I'm too tired, I'm too small, I'm too fat, My back hurts, my head hurts, I don't have the right equipment, I'm not smart enough...blah, blah, blah.  The list can go on forever.

You have to surround yourself with a support system.  People that will help tell you when you are messing up.  DO NOT look for people that will pat you on the back and say..."Oh it's okay for you to quit, because when I tried, I could make it either...it was just too hard, it was too...blah, blah, blah!"

Stay away from people that will tell you that you can't make it.  Don't get pissed off when your parents remind you that this was YOUR goal...not their goal.  Don't get mad when mom says..."Did you finish your homework first, young man?"  You will not be able to get anywhere in life if you are not educated.  Trust me...I know.

Next, you will have to get as much ice time and you can squeeze into your already busy life schedule.  Skill level is directly proportional to the amount of ice time you use.  Next, you will have to work on several things that will make you even faster.

Are you ready?  Here it comes.  Back before your parents were born, in the early 60's the Russian's were so concerned on how they could kick our fannies (in everything)they tried to see if they could control us with there minds.  Doesn't that sound crazy...LOL.

But the truth is, they stumbled onto something that no one had ever thought about and that was with brain washing, you can control ones actions.   Makes sense doesn't it?  Well, look at people that strap bomb on themselves.  Crazy isn't it.

But the Russians found out that mind is like a computer, with the ability to control your actions and your life.  Then they found with most computers, you can actually reprogram the mind to do whatever you want to receive in life.  Yeah, sounds like mumbo jumbo, doesn't it?

Well, they took two basketball teams, one that actually practiced on the court and the other team in a dark room sitting on lazy boy chairs and listening to music.  After 6 months of this, they place both teams in competition on the court.  The team that was in the dark room, beat the other team by a large margin.  They didn't ever touch a ball, or walked on the ball court for 6 months.  Now, I know what you are thinking, but the results told the story.

Here's what they found out. They found that the mind works in two separate ways.  One while you are awake and the other, while you are a sleep.  The crazy thing is, the mind can not tell the difference between the two.  How's that for a..."what the heck!"

They found out that the mind works on the last 5 minutes while you are still awake, just before you go to sleep and it will work on that last 5 minutes for the next 8 hours.  So why not take advantage of this?

Here's what you need to do.  Do you have an iPod?  If so, with the last 5 minutes before you go to sleep, you lay down with your head on the pillow and you picture in your mind making the most ridiculous saves.  Saves where you will hear the crowd say..."holly smokes, did you see that!"  Now, every time you hear a beat of the base drum in the music, you picture in your mind making that butterfly save, glove save, blocker save, two legged pad slide, skate save, stick save, elbow save, split save, screen shot saves...you name it, every kind of save you can think of.  And this save had to be done with every beat.  If you let rebounds come out, you stop those too.

Okay, why?  If you do this every night before you go to bed for the next 30 days, you will see a major improvement in your game.  But the trick is to do it every night without skipping a day for 30 days.  If you skip a day...you will have to start over from day one. Plus, I want you to picture how it's going to feel to pick up the cup.  I want you to feel how heavy it is, how shinny it is, you drink (whatever) out of the cup.  See that cup in your house, eating M&M's out of it when it's your turn to have it at your house after you win it.

Every night...save after save.  This means is that for the next 8 hours, you actually will have the best practice ever.  Now, how will you know it works?  Dad will know when you are not doing this because, people will stop come up to him saying..."wow, what have you been feeding your boy, and can I have some for my kid!"

Now, DO NOT listen to music from the radio while you sleep.  Why?  Every 60 minutes they have news and the only news that they like to report is bad news.  We are making you into a world class goalie, not a world class serial killer, so don't listen to the radio while you sleep.

Last thing...when you go up there on the stand to receive your jersey from the Chicago Black Hawks in the first round, you say...Thank's Mr. Lopez!

Good luck and stay in touch!

Rob Lopez - CEO / Commissioner
Pass the Puck, Inc. / University Ice Hockey League - Mexico
www.passthepuck.net