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Thatcher Demko's eager to raise his game another level, is eyeing Olympics |
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If you're looking for something to get you fired up for the new Canucks season as we wait for Pettersson and Hughes to get signed and training camp to begin, I highly recommend this podcast interview with Thatcher Demko from InGoal Magazine:
Local goalie guru Kevin Woodley goes deep with Demko for more than 30 minutes, talking about how his game has evolved so far and where he hopes to go from here.
He starts off by talking about how his game has changed during his two years of working with goaltending coach Ian Clark — how they had to break down his game in order to build it back up and how he has learned that there's "a difference between flexibility and mobility" when, initially, he couldn't get into some of the positions that Clark was asking for.
It takes tremendous trust to make big changes like this when you're already well into your professional career. Demko said it helped that he and Jacob Markstrom met Clark at the same time and went through that first year together.
As you may remember, after signing his own five-year contract extension in March, Demko went to bat for Clark when his job status was up in the air as the end of the season approached.
"I knew that this guy was the best thing that I could have around and he was going to be the guy that was going to get me to where I want to go, which ultimately is the best goalie in the league," he said.
Demko also talked about how excited he is by the opportunity to compete for a spot with Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
"I mean, the Olympics are a big deal, man," he said. "It's an amazing opportunity if you're given it and it's definitely something I take a lot of pride in, playing for my country. I always have and I always will.
"Obviously, I want to take care of my job here. That'll kind of just play itself out, but definitely something that has been there on the radar."
I met Demko for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, when he was the third goalie on Team USA at the 2016 World Championship. He didn't see any game action; Keith Kinkaid and Mike Condon split duties as the Americans finished fourth in the tournament despite a brilliant senior-level debut from Auston Matthews. Demko has also worn the Stars and Stripes at the U17, U18 and U20 levels. At the 2019 World Championship in Slovakia, he played two games as backup to Cory Schneider, but Team USA fell in the quarterfinal to the stacked Russian team that featured Ovechkin, Malkin, Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, Kaprizov and Kovalchuk at the top of the lineup.
When it comes time to pick rosters for the most prestigious international events, national team organizers tend to look fondly at players who have answered the call in the past — which Demko has clearly done.
His main competition on the U.S. team for Beijing will be Connor Hellebuyck — who has three World Championships on his resume and was named best goalie in Prague in 2015, when Team USA beat out Jaromir Jagr and the host Czechs for bronze. He was also on the roster for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, but didn't see any game action.
John Gibson will also be competing for the job on Team USA. He got into two games with Team North America, and was a darling of USA Hockey as a youth, winning gold at both the U18 and U20 tournaments.
In 2013, the year the Sedins won gold in Sweden, Gibson posted a 1.56 goals-against average and .951 save percentage as the Americans grabbed a bronze medal. But despite the Anaheim Ducks' playoff misses in the last three seasons, he hasn't been back to Worlds since.
And while he isn't getting much help in Anaheim these days, Gibson's personal numbers have also fallen off in the last two seasons. Now 28, his average save percentage for his NHL career is still a solid .917. But after he shared the Jennings Trophy with Freddie Andersen in the 2015-16 season thanks to a .920 save percentage and 2.07 goals-against average, his personal numbers ballooned to a 3.00 GAA and .904 save percentage in 2019-20, then 2.98 and .903 last season.
So — not only has Demko put in the time with USA Hockey, I'd say he's coming into the season with better recent results than Gibson. And if he plays up to his lofty personal expectations, he has a legitimate chance of challenging Hellebuyck for the No. 1 job on what should be a very good American team.
In the interview, Demko also talks about his mindset when he was called into action in the playoff bubble last summer after not playing in a game in six months, and how Braden Holtby's laid-back approach to the goaltending job this season served as a welcome counterbalance to Jacob Markstrom's extreme focus.
"Marky's a pretty intense guy, and I think I needed to see that side of myself through him that year," he said. "Then, last year was a great year for me to learn how to kind of relax a little bit, and find that balance.
"Especially when I started playing a lot of games in a row, I'd come in after the first period, maybe I'd let in a goal, maybe let in two. I was kind of feeling like that's just not really my night, like I'm kind of fighting it.
"When you start feeling those things, there's a lot of tension in your body, because the thought in your head is like 'Oh, I'm not feeling it. I've got to work. I've got to kind of raise my level.
"I would just ask Holts in the hallway, 'Man, what do you got for me? You know, I'm feeling this. I'm like, I feel like I'm lost out there, feel like I've never played a game.' And he's like, 'Yeah, when I feel like that, for me, I try to take it down a notch.'
"And I'm like, "Wow. That's the opposite of what I figured. I'm like, 'You gotta try harder.' And he's like, 'For me, I try to just relax and try less hard.'"
As an example, Demko cited one particular game against Montreal, where he got the 'relax' pep talk from Holtby after the Canucks fell behind early, then the team rebounded to win 2-1 in the shootout.
I like hearing that Demko has been able to add elements to his game from both of his previous goalie partners. I wonder what he'll pick up from the very experienced Jaroslav Halak this season?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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