Whether they will admit it or not, every goalie has superstitions. I have several of my own, and I’ll try my best to explain. For the most part, these are just psychological tricks we play on ourselves to help get us mentally focused.
I can’t honestly say when they started for me. They’ve just always been there as far as I can remember. I’m sure that each started after I played well, or I changed something because I wasn’t. Superstitions have a weird way of just creeping into your game. They glaringly stand out, though, when you forget them or think you don’t need it anymore.
The earliest one that I can think of is the need to get dressed in the exact same order every time. Sure, most of the process makes and ordered sense. You’re not going to put on your chest protector before your skates. It’s the smaller things like having to put on the right skate before the left. The leg pads have their own order too, as well as the straps on each. I will then stretch before finishing getting dressed. Then which arm goes into the jersey first. There’s an art form to that process alone, and you never fuck with that.
Then there are the on-ice superstitions. For me, most of these are during pregame warm-ups, but there are a few that carry into the game. I have to skate exactly two laps when I first step on the ice. My on-ice stretching has to happen in the exact same order. I start taking warm-up shots when there’s a certain amount of time left on the clock. I leave the net with one minute left in warm-ups to sit on the bench and visualize saves. Before the opening face off, I’ll skate to the hash marks in front of my net, face it and think about anything other than hockey. My water bottle has to go on the blocker side corner on top of the net.
Right before each period starts, I tap a specific letter of the alphabet into the ice inside the net. I have to bang both posts and the cross bar. During game play, I both sing to myself as well as have conversations with people that aren’t even there. Sure, a lot of this makes me sound crazy, but who hasn’t thought that goalies are crazy to begin with? I’m just proving it true.
It’s not just us scrubs that have superstitions. Patrick Roy famously would talk to his posts and never let his skates touch the center or blue lines (he would hop over them). Ron Hextall would bang on his posts before and after each period. Marc-Andre Fleury will tap his posts lovingly when they make a save for him.
One that I never got into, but a lot of players have is the same game day meal ritual. For me, it’s just fuel so I don’t care too much what I’m eating. Some players have to eat the same food before a game. It’s just another little mental checklist item that prepares you to play.
None of these superstitions will guarantee that I’ll have an amazing game. Even when I lose, none of this changes. For me, it’s about it all putting me mentally in place for the game. That ensures that I’ll enjoy the experience of the game itself. It brings a comfort and a consistency to the game I love. It helps me shed all the worries of the world outside the game and lets me be present within the world of the game for that brief time.