Red Wings Needed to Make a Move

Chris Osgood did it last year, but this season he's near the bottom of the NHL in all relevant goaltending stats. A victim of a common physiological occurrence.

Often you'll see pro athletes achieve the pinnacle of their sport or sign the huge contract only to have their stats and overall contribution to the team, fall off considerably, immediately after. This is because physiologically they have achieved "it". They are at the top of their game, the best in the world at what they do.

THEN it happens....

They lose the drive to achieve because there is nothing left to prove, they have done all they can do. This is why championship are so hard to repeat at the elite level.

Only the very best are able to maintain the drive and desire to repeat their feat, but many are never able to come back and do it again, some simply fade away, after being the 'the best'.

So back to Osgood. Amazing run last year, did it all and won the Cup, but came back and has played mediocre, at best. He's also very near the end of his career and he will likely retire if something inside doesn't 'click' this summer and tell him he needs to do it all again.

Now what about the Red Wings? Best team in the NHL? Sure, even with bad goaltending. Capable of winning the Cup again with Osgood and Ty Conklin, not very likely - although they are good enough, they may just be able to pull it off, but my bet is "NOT".

Conklin has done a good job this year and has elevated his game enough that he can be considered a solid 2nd tier starter...but you seldom win without a top flyte, first tier starter, who can and will steal games for you.

So why didn't the Wings go out and get themselves a starter for the playoff drive? I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in the Red Wings GM meetings. He had to be looking and couldn't pull off a deal, despite what he said in the media.

It remains to be seen if they can do it and it will be an interesting ride in the playoffs for the Wings.

Now about those Calgary Flames....Some great pickups on deadline day and already one of the best in the game between the pipes, but absolutely no one to back him up if injured.

Fingers crossed that doesn't happen....

PuckMASTERS Shuts Down

PuckMASTERS in London has shut down and hundreds of their customers have lost their investment.

Let me be clear, PuckMASTERS is not PuckSTOPPERS, nor are they affiliated with our company in any way.



It is never a good situation when a business fails, the owners lose a substantial amount of money and customers walk away without the product or service they have paid up front for. People work hard for their money and no one can afford to lose it, especially in today's economy.



We'd like to do our part and offer to help out with special rates on any Puckmasters goalie clients. I'm not sure how we can do this, but we'll work on a plan to help those unfortunate folks out who got caught when the doors were locked today (Feb 10th 2009)



Puckmasters was a competitor, but oddly enough, our business INCREASED when they started, not at all what we expected. We respected their attempts to break into the market, although we didn't agree with some of the marketing tactics involving our own materials, but we'll leave that alone.



The market simply couldn't support such a venue, staff, rent, overhead, etc. This should have been clear in preparing the initial business plan, but they aren't the first to try something and fail.



We are one of the longest running goaltending schools in the world for a reason, we do good work, but we also understand the business and know that quality training is the focus...not a cool building and marketing. A good business knows what it does best and focuses on their core strengths, we have always done this and will continue to do so, while others fail.



These are tough economic times and the strong will survive. As cruel as it may seem, the 'thinning of the pack' will ultimately be better for the end user who spends their money with an expectation of receiving a quality product or service. As many fail, the leaders are the proven and strong who know what they do and do it best. You have our word, we'll continue to focus on the Training, not the 'package'.

We feel for those who have lost their jobs and money and wish them all the best in their recovery from this unfortunate event.