If the Blackhawks ever put a mic on goalie Arvid Soderblom, their social-media staff might be confused by how much sound the recording would pick up.
Soderblom is generally a soft-spoken man, but when he’s locked in on the ice — particularly when a shot isn’t imminent — he talks to himself constantly. As he admits, it’s strange but effective.
“You usually keep that to yourself because it might sound weird,” Soderblom said sheepishly. “You don’t want to seem like a weird guy. That’s the rumor — all the goalies are weird. But it works for me, staying focused.”
Goaltending can be stressful because the spotlight can be so intense. Nobody can affect a given game as much as any random NHL goalie can. Teams regularly win despite getting outshot heavily because their goalie stood on his head — and vice versa, too.
But when the spotlight isn’t there — when the puck is in the offensive zone and goalies aren’t positioning themselves to make the next save — what are they doing instead? How are they maintaining their focus?
The answer is slightly different for everyone. For Soderblom, it involves repeating a few key points to himself.
“I have some stuff that I want to focus on every game, and I’m repeating those two or three things,” he said. “It makes it easier to narrow down your focus to some points rather than just having your thoughts wander around. [You] take control of your own thoughts.”
For fellow Hawks goalie Petr Mrazek, the answer involves watching and analyzing the play unfolding at the other end of the rink. His focus is seemingly more external, less internal, than Soderblom’s.
“You start tracking things that are happening around you, and try to rest a little bit,” Mrazek said. “[I’m] reading who is on the ice for the other team, [such as] if there’s a fourth guy coming late. I’ve always been the guy who will start to read the play early, and then you can sometimes know what happens before [others do].”
For any human, it can be difficult to stay completely in the moment, ignoring not only other stimuli but also life’s stresses and issues. For an NHL goalie, however, staying in the moment is crucial.
“It can take two seconds from us having the puck in the ‘O’-zone to a breakaway,” Soderblom said. “So when the play is going, you always have to be focused and on your toes. When the whistle blows, you can relax and take a deep breath.”
Sometimes waiting for that stoppage — and the chance to drink some water and mentally reset — can feel excruciatingly long, particularly during the marathon defensive-zone shifts the Hawks often struggle to escape. Goalies find themselves hoping for a timely offside call — although that’s not the only time they’re praying for that.
“Every goal I give up, I’m hoping for offside,” Mrazek quipped.
Mrazek and his underrated sense of humor have been invaluable for the Hawks all season. His actual goaltending has been stellar; his plus-7.0 GSAA ranked 18th among 65 goalies league-wide entering Thursday. His active, vocal communication with Hawks defensemen (during play) and coaches (during commercial breaks) is also appreciated.
Soderblom, meanwhile, has improved since Christmas, allowing three or fewer goals in five of his last six starts. But the direly offense-lacking Hawks have nonetheless lost all six of those games.
“It’s tough to feel like you’re doing your job and playing pretty well but you don’t get any results,” Soderblom said. “Where we’re at this year, we can’t be too frustrated about it. The scoring for us, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Coach Luke Richardson said Soderblom is much quieter than Mrazek around the bench, dismissing the contrast as simply reflecting “different personalities.” But little does he know how much Soderblom’s mouth moves behind his mask once he returns to his crease.
Mrazek dodges injury bullet
Early in the second period Feb. 19 against the Hurricanes, a rocketing one-timer by Jaccob Slavin caught Mrazek up high. He was visibly pained and uncomfortable for a minute or two afterward, at one point waving off a concerned referee.
“I looked the other way and let [the puck go] straight into my collarbone,” Mrazek said. “I just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with it, but there wasn’t any doubt about finishing the game.”
He skipped practice the next day and Arvid Soderblom started against the Flyers the day after that, but Mrazek made his third consecutive start Thursday, having thankfully dodged anything serious.
His perfect health has been a major factor in his individual success this season, and he very much wants to maintain that good physical feeling the rest of the way.
“You don’t want to deal with injuries, [since] I’ve been dealing with those the last few years,” he said. “But it has been a smooth ride so far.”
