Goalie Bias

How many times as a leader must you decide which team member gets the opportunity to shine?  And when you don’t get to select all the players on your team, what’s your attitude towards the ones you didn't select? You’re an influence on performance, right? Think for a moment about how your attitude supports or destabilizes a key member of your team.

My husband plays men’s league hockey twice a week. These are friendly beer-buddy teams and most have played together and against each other for years. They cycle in new young talent as late-teen “boys” become brash enough to skate with the old dogs. My husband is a player/coach/manager for both of his teams as he’s the guy who confirms the roster and texts everyone endlessly on game days to make sure enough guys show up, thus avoiding forfeit. His teammates often call him Reg – as those associated with hockey know the blue-eyed player/coach from the movie Slapshot – a famously mentoring hottie called Paul Newman. I believe the nickname fits my guy, in a lot of ways, not the least of which is my husband’s ability to put away hard-boiled eggs. 

This morning Reg was telling me about last night's game.  I’m often asleep when he gets home from his twice-weekly games, as they generally start at 9:30 or 10 pm. And what with the food and beer after the game, his arrival home is quite late.  I usually ask about the outcome as he crawls into bed, but last night I was sleeping soundly. So this morning we had a proper conversation about it.  

Seems the Bulldogs’ normal goalie, RJ was out for the week. Reg had been working to find a replacement. The backup he usually calls, a young gun "rink rat" who had helped them win more than once, had already accepted a fill-in slot with Empire Auto, their opposition in last night’s game. Less a rivalry than a one-up-man-ship, these two teams duked it out in the finals for last season’s championship – a game that happened only a couple months ago and ended in a last-second-of-overtime winning goal by the other team. I was at that game and it was a sad night, until the beer started flowing. 

Still looking for a goalie for last night’s game, Reg reached out to the league president at the rink. Unresolved until suit-up time, the Bulldogs learned that their goalie for the evening was a thin, “whiney” 22 year old who played terribly the last time he took the net for them. Despair may be too strong a word, but Reg was disappointed. They intended to show Empire who the real champions were tonight in this replay of last season’s final game. Alas, in that moment in the locker room, it wasn't meant to be.

But that goes to show how, in hockey, as in life, you cannot let previous loss or poor performance get into your head. As a matter of fact, you must quickly “move off” a bad shot in one moment of play or you could get very hurt by a puck that’s coming your way in this next moment of play. “So it goes” to quote Kurt Vonnegut Jr at every death of dignity. Reg rallied the troops and gave them the “you got this” speech that really none of them needed, but appreciated nonetheless. Reg has been known to motivate the guys with a “let’s f#ckin’ do this sh!t” as the team takes the ice. 

Now, not being at the game, I can only imagine it. A block of ten grown men, sure they were going down but faithfully bringing their best anyway. And bring it they did. With excellent scoring and surprising goalie skills from someone who could have been written off – the final score of 9 to 3 favored the (under)Bulldogs. And there you have it: never assume someone’s past performance will tell you all that much (really) about what they will do in this moment, especially when you show a little faith by doing your best work beside them. So, take that to your next team meeting, leaders. That’ll make a difference in the outcome, for the game and the season.

 lilaplevy, © February 2014