Blackwood's Mentality Could Lead to Elite Status I FEATURE

TAKEAWAYS

Or, as a goalie coach once said, goaltending is 50-percent positioning, 50-percent reaction and 100-percent mental. And it's that mental aspect that separates the good goaltenders from the great goaltenders from the elite goaltenders.
"It's easy to fall in love with the guys that are big, technical goalies," Clemmensen said. "But you have to be able to read the game, have a feel for the game, tracking pucks that are always moving in and out of sight lines."
And some of those mental aspects related to the game - reading the play, anticipating, adjusting, angling the puck - are also strengths of Blackwood. Though the 24-year-old netminder does intend to improve upon them this summer and into next season.
"There is still a lot I have to work on with my game. The other aspect that I have to work on too is the mental side," Blackwood admitted. "Reading the plays, patience, and all that stuff too. Not just technical stuff, but all that stuff also. I'll be focused on working on that stuff this summer."
And while thinking the game is certainly a major component of the mental side of goaltending, it isn't the only factor. Goaltending requires a mental toughness to handle the pressure of a team's success or failure dependent upon you. A mental toughness to brush aside bad plays while remaining confident in your abilities is necessary to survive in the NHL.
Blackwood's mental strength has grown through overcoming adversity. Whether it was being sent down to the ECHL in 2017-18 with Adirondack or a tough stretch of games in this past season due to the lingering effects of a COVID-19 infection, through it all, Blackwood's confidence never wavered.
And Clemmmensen was with him the whole way
.
"He knows that he's not a guy that got here based on his talent (alone). He went through a lot of stuff just to get here," Clemmensen said. "I went through it with him. At one point he was in the East Coast League. So you're talking about all the things that he had to do, the foundation that he put in place and the belief that he had in himself."
The Thunder Bay, Ontario native was tested during the 2020-21 season. He started strong by going 4-1 to open the year, which included a 47-save victory at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. But his play took a dip following a COVID-19 diagnosis and breathing issues. But he never doubted that he would overcome.
"I have faith in myself. I know that when I play well, I can compete with anybody," said Blackwood, who has appeared in over 100 NHL games. "But there's that decent stretch there in the middle (of the season) where it was frustrating for me and everyone else. I wasn't playing great. I was trying to find my game again, battling a little bit of the post-COVID stuff. That was frustrating for me, as it was for a lot of other people."
But Blackwood persevered. Late in the season he started to play to his normal level, perhaps coincidently or not, around the same time that his breathing issues from COVID-19 subsided. Blackwood went 5-1-1 in the stretch run of the season.
"The end, I was happy with the last couple weeks," he said. "I'm just looking forward to turning the page to next year and getting a sense of normalcy with the schedule. I think moving forward it'll be good."

All the above traits are why Blackwood, a second-round pick (42nd overall) by New Jersey in 2015, has the potential to be a franchise goaltender. But another trait is what could make him not merely a franchise goaltender, but an elite goaltender in the league.
"His attitude," Clemmensen said. "He is one of the least cocky people that you know. He is not an entitled individual.
"He's never getting ahead of himself. He never thinks, 'Here I am. I made it. Now I'm done.' He's always pushing himself. He knows that there are other players out there that are better than me. And he thinks that."
Humility goes a long way in terms of perspective. But Blackwood isn't just content with being idle among the goaltending echelon.
"It's always pushing him to want to be the best that he can be," Clemmensen said. "He's always done a really good job of that, competing with himself and focusing on what he needs to do. Having that humility to get to the NHL, stay there, he'll always be pushing himself and driving himself because of that attitude that he has."
That drive is evident when asked where he thinks his ceiling is as an NHL goaltender, and if he's already reached his highest potential.
"I don't think I'm close to that yet. I have a lot left to really hit my peak," he said. "I'm not there yet. I have quite a-ways to go to realize my true potential."
Clemmensen calls Blackwood's inner drive to improve as a "growth-mindset." And it's the reason he believes that Blackwood has the capability to be among the top goalies in the league in the future.
"So you take his physical traits, that are very evident to everyone who can see, and add it to the mentality like that, that's the growth," Clemmensen said. "I see him improving a little bit and hopefully one day, and we all want it to be as soon as we can here, but that growth-mindset is one of the reasons that he can be elite one day."