Colorado Avalanche goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila implemented a new training method to improve his players’ puck awareness by having them wear restrictive eye gear.
“We’re doing some stuff with blocking the vision now as the camp started. These goggles that narrow down your vision, make it hard for you to track passes and pucks,” Alexandar Georgiev said after the final day of training camp Sunday.
The 28-year-old goalie said he has not used virtual reality in his training – as some other NHL goaltenders have – but this exercise was a challenge.
“It’s different. It’s definitely more challenging, especially like the drills we do, you know what the plays are but it helps focus on scanning, scanning before the shot, tracking passes better so just a little more challenging,” he said. “Hopefully once we take those off, it makes it easier.”
Credit: Jesse Montano, Guerilla Sports
The Bulgarian native spent some time in Finland this offseason, which he said he has done the last few summers, and hopped on the ice with a few NHL players to get some practice in – including taking shots from his teammate, Mikko Rantanen.
“They have a group of NHL pro guys skating so I jump on the ice with them and get some quality shots. It’s pretty good program out there,” he said.
While the training gear is new for Georgiev to start this season, he did not change much in his offseason conditioning.
“I tried to jump on the ice a little more this summer. Once the season starts, it’s not always a chance to work too much in practice,” Georgiev said. “It’s a lot of travel and a lot of games, so I felt this summer I could use some extra ice and tried to do that.”
Head coach Jared Bednar said he plans on both Georgiev and Justus Annunen playing in two-and-a-half to three exhibition games each but not necessarily the entire game. The first preseason game is against the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena on Monday at 7 p.m.
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