Peak Performance Goaltending
Peak Performance Goaltending · Digital Guide
The Crease
Mindset
An NHL Goalie's Mental Playbook
For young goaltenders and the parents behind them
I'm not writing this book because I was the best goaltender in the world. I'm writing it because I lasted 16 years as a professional goaltender without being the most talented guy in the room.
What kept me there was the six inches between my ears. I want to give you what nobody gave me at fourteen. Not a motivational poster. Real tools.
The Crease
Mindset
Peak Performance Goaltending · Digital Guide
An NHL Goalie's Mental Playbook
For young goaltenders and the parents behind them
· The Loneliest Position in Sports
· How to Flush a Bad Goal
· The Backup Mentality
· Building a Pre-Game Ritual
· Identity Beyond the Scoreboard
· The Car Ride Home
· + 5 more chapters & worksheets
Curtis McElhinney
2× Stanley Cup Champion · 12-Year NHL Veteran
$25
PDF · Instant Download
✦ 11 Chapters✦ Goalie + Parent Sections✦ 4 Worksheets Included
12-Year NHL Veteran | 2× Stanley Cup Champion | Goalie Coach & Mentor | 11 Chapters | 4 Worksheets
the story behind it
The goalie nobody
expected to last.
176th overall. Sixth round. Multiple stints on the waiver wire. Nobody in that draft room was calling me a future NHLer — and they weren't wrong to doubt me.
In January 2017, Columbus put me on waivers after I let in four straight goals against the Rangers. I sat in my house for twenty-four hours. Silence. Then Toronto claimed me. Six weeks later I was making saves in meaningful games. Two years after that, I lifted the Stanley Cup. Then I lifted it again the following year.
None of that happened because I was the most talented goaltender in the room. It happened because I spent sixteen years building something that doesn't show up in a stat line. It's mental. It's internal. And it's completely learnable.
Whether you're a goalie trying to figure out why a bad goal follows you into the third period, or a parent watching your kid spiral in the car on the way home — this book is for you. All of it. Every word.
Inside the Book
11 Chapters.
Real Tools.
No Filler.
Each chapter ends with a Crease Coach Action — one exercise for the goalie, one for the parent. Four printable worksheets included.
1
the loneliest position in sports
Why goalies think differently — and why that's not a problem to fix
Every other player on the ice can hide behind a bad shift. The goalie never can. This chapter teaches you to stop fighting that reality and start building systems to carry it without being crushed.
2
the reset button - how to flush a bad goal
Compartmentalization is a skill, not a personality trait. Here's how to build it.
The four-step reset ritual built over 16 years of professional hockey — the physical cue, the breath, the one word, and eyes up. Practice it in low stakes before you need it in high ones.
worksheet included
Pre-Game Ritual Builder
Reset Ritual Design Sheet
Goalie Identity Statement
Monthly Season Check-In Tracker
3
The Backup Mentality — Staying Sharp When You're Not Playing
Most goalies practice being ready. Very few actually are when the moment comes.
The mental trap of minimum investment mode. Why the backup who prepares every day like a starter is the one coaches always come back to when the door opens.
4
Building a Pre-Game Ritual That Actually Works
Rituals aren't superstition. They're a system for arriving ready.
Before Game 6 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals I went through the exact same routine I used in October. The ritual makes the extraordinary feel ordinary to your nervous system. Here's how to build yours.
5
Identity Beyond the Scoreboard
Save percentage is a stat. It is not who you are.
The goalies who tie their identity to outcomes are building on something that will betray them. How to build a process-based identity that holds up through any stretch of bad results.
6
The Car Ride Home — A Chapter for Parents
What you say in the 20 minutes after a bad game shapes your goalie more than any coach ever will.
The neuroscience of why post-game coaching doesn't work. The four most important words you can say. The 24-hour rule. The questions that open a goalie up instead of shutting them down.
Handling Pressure from Coaches, Parents, and Scouts
7
External pressure is part of the position. Here's how to stop letting it run you.
The control circle exercise. How to separate technical content from emotional delivery when a coach is yelling. Why performing for the audience instead of competing for the play is always the wrong move.
8
The Long Game — Mental Toughness Across a Full Season
The goalies who survive a full season aren't the ones who never struggled. They're the ones who had a plan for when they did.
The three mental phases of a hockey season. The monthly five-question check-in. What the 2020 NHL bubble taught me about mental toughness as a resource you have to actively replenish.
9
Communication in the Crease — Running the Defense from Your Net
The best goalies aren't just shot-stoppers. They're the eyes of the whole team.
Positional, situational, and emotional communication. Why goalies who communicate consistently are almost never scratched — regardless of recent numbers.
10
The Off-Season Mental Reset
How to properly close one season and open the next.
The four-part end-of-season review: the honest audit, the debrief, the carry-forward list, and the let-go list. The body heals on its own. The mind needs deliberate work.
Building Your Support Team — Who You Need in Your Corner
11
No goalie makes it alone. The team behind the team matters more than most people realize.
The four people every serious goalie needs — and why a parent can't also be the technical coach without diluting both roles in the process.
who is this for
For the Goalie.
For the Parent.
All of It.
Every chapter has two sections — one written directly to the goalie, one written directly to the parent. Because both of you are part of this.
Whether you're a goalie trying to figure out why a bad goal follows you into the third period, or a parent watching your kid spiral in the car on the way home — this book is for you. All of it. Every word.
Competitive Goalies Ages 12+
Who are technically solid but mentally inconsistent. Who let bad goals bleed into the next period. Who want real tools — not a pep talk — for the hardest position in sports.
AAA · Midget · Junior · College-Bound
Athletes serious about the next level who understand that what separates them from the goalies ahead often isn't technique. It's what they've built between their ears.
Parents of Serious Goalies
Who want to understand what the position actually demands — and how to show up for their goalie without adding to the weight they're already carrying in that crease.
PDF · Instant Download · $25
The Crease Is Waiting.
Let's Build the Goalie
Who's Ready For It.
Follow @mcelhinney_c30 on Instagram for weekly mindset content, drill breakdowns, and behind-the-scenes goalie development. Or pick up the book and start building today.