Series #3: The "Flood Gate" Phenomenon Between The Pipes

Image: Snooke Photography

"Between the pipes"?!!

Take a look at the picture above. The red frame of the goal is constructed with a heavy 2 3/8 inch tubing made out of cold hard steel. In other words, cold, hard heavy pipes you do not want to slam into in case you decide to play ice hockey one day.

Mind you it's also drilled into the ice.

So, between the pipes literally means standing your ground in between the red frame — like what Malaysia's starting goalie (Azuma) is demonstrating above.

Hockey is a game of speed. Speed in skating, speed in hand-eye coordination, and most importantly speed in reaction. How fast can your mind react while you skate on a 2.9 mm thick blade, with a stick in your hand, a puck at your stick tape and 5 guys (or girls) coming at you?

The other thing about speed is that it fuels adrenaline in a player and eventually spark emotions. Not necessarily bad ones, but intense emotion, high enough to affect the entire game (in both good or a bad way)

Ice hockey players get emotional all the time, but the most emotional player in a hockey team is the goalkeeper.

The flood gate phenomenon is a collapse in competitive emotional control and mental re-focus. In actuality, the real flood gate phenomenon is when a goaltender lets in three or more goals, in a super short period of time.

Imagine getting scored on over and over again in less than 5 minutes, sometimes within 13 seconds. And yet in the midst of all that chaos, goalies need to be body-flexible and has to keep up with the constant puck shots from 5 different fast players, and pucks coming at them from all sorts of impossible angles.

In the end, its the way a goalie manages his/her emotions.

Here are some flood gate aftershocks that you will see in an ice hockey game. Now, I may be talking from a general ice hockey standpoint but Malaysia, or rather Asia, is never short of short-fused goaltenders. Mind you, the phenomenon strikes female goalies too. (Its really emotional out there.)

1. A goalie might fire a shot of the puck across the ice with anger.

2. Some will derail the goalpost and start swearing at themselves and even at their teammates for not defending right.

3. And some, will throw their helmets off, smash their sticks to the boards and even break it (with help from the pipes).

And then you'll see those who're able to re-focus, re-set, stay calm and collect themselves. The ability to do all of that is a personal thing and lots of refinement, lots of feedback and self-reflection.

Here's what you'll see a great goaltender do after all that puck shenanigan while in between the pipes:

1. Not letting the intensity get too high or too low.

2. Taking deep breaths, through the nose and out the mouth. It helps to reduce heart rate and regain emotional control.

3. Leaving the puck in the net for the referees to pick it up after being scored on. The indifferent approach to the goal.

4. Take a knee and have a drink to reset and re-focus (or spit).

5. Demonstrate great energy to prepare for the next battle

Everything from #1 to #5 is a process called positive reframing.

Goaltending is a special and unique position. Often misunderstood and quick to be judged, most times unfairly and excessively.

On March 27, I caught up with Azuma and Min, two of the few female goaltenders in Malaysia who shared with me a unique goaltending perspective and why it is one of the best positions for aspiring young girls and women to play in ice hockey.

As a former teammate, I've always wondered why they were — different than the rest of us.

They had their own goalie lingo, a different set of workouts, and the one thing I've always been curious about was how they dealt with defeat, especially when they are the last line of defense and all else fail?

If you're as curious as I was, read Why Malaysia Needs More Female Goaltenders

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About the author: If you were wondering who wrote this, I did. Yasmin Kamal. I'm a creative content writer, a travel blogger at yasminuurya.co, team leader and former alternate captain of the Malaysia National Women's Ice Hockey team, and a huge ice hockey fan (ok, I think it's pretty darn obvious).