How Valuable Is Game Experience?

Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008

Many goalies have had to make a decision between being the starting goalie at a lower level or being the backup goalie at a higher level. Looking back on the choices that I have made and the experiences that I have had, I would definitely have to say that being a starting goalie at a lower level is a much better situation for a hockey goalie to be in. Game Experience is far to valuable to pass up. Though your ego might take a hit temporarily, depending on the level that you are at it could be the difference between you playing at a high level later on and not. You should always strive to start at the highest level possible, but never sacrifice playing time if you don’t think you are going to start. If you or your child is a goalie that is still playing youth hockey and has to make the choice, it is important to keep everything in perspective and know that if you aren’t getting playing time, no matter what level it is, you are making a huge mistake. There are so many goalies who have been late bloomers and haven’t been picked for the top team (where they probably would have backed up) and ended up playing a lot of games and getting that game experience, and the result turned out to be that this goalie is used to playing in games and is a “gamer” who excels under pressure. If you haven’t experienced the pressure of playing in a lot of games, how can you expect to excel under pressure at the next level.