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Goldman: So the playoffs is just game 83? That’s brilliant. Backstrom: “Yeah. It’s the same game, but I mean, if I want to look back after 82 games, I want to make sure that every day, I’ve been doing everything as well as I can. If I’ve done that, I can go out there in the playoffs and play relaxed. I don’t have to worry about something I should have done differently.” Goldman: So did it take you a while to come to understand that key mental lesson? I know you have a lot of international experience, but I also know a lot of these things are easier said than done, especially at an elite level. When do you feel like you put all the pieces together mentally? Backstrom: “I don’t know if I have all the pieces together yet. I think it’s something you learn about every year. Sometimes you think you’ve figured everything out, then you learn and realize you haven’t. I think that’s a good thing. It’s a fun thing to learn more about yourself, and to learn more about the game and the ways you can improve yourself. When I was younger, maybe around 20, coming from Helsinki, there were two big clubs and the biggest games you play are against your rival. So for sure you start to think about how these are bigger games. But at the end of the day, they’re still two points. So when I was younger, for sure I realized these were big games and I had to do this or that to win, but then by doing that it usually screwed me up. I can’t point to a year or a game exactly, I think it’s something that just gradually happened during the early years. Every year you get into different situations and you get into bigger games. Or maybe you have a situation where your team has been losing a string of games in a row, and then you’re in a big game for a different reason, because if you lose, something happens to the coach, or to some of the players or whatever. Or maybe you’re two points out of a playoff game and if you win, you get in. So I think it’s all these experiences that happen through the years and the act of going through them that really helps put the pieces together. It’s something hard to imagine, or to think too far ahead about what will happen. It’s just something that happens and you live with it. Sometimes your preparation works and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, usually you stop and look at what works and what didn’t and go from there.” Goldman: One thing that really intrigues me about the elite goaltender is how you guys manage pressure. Everyone faces pressure in their everyday lives, but for you guys, it’s so different because you can’t control a lot of the aspects of what happens. Can you reflect a little bit on how you handle pressure for the readers? Backstrom: “It’s still something you’re trying to handle when you get older and you try to handle it a different way. When I was younger, that pressure came from outside, from other people. Now that I’m older, the pressure I feel is from the inside, from putting it on myself. That’s been a big change for me and my mental game. When I was 18 or 19, I was playing for HIFK, and in that first year I was a backup to Tim Thomas. I played good in about 20 games, so the next year, they promoted me to be the starter, but I got hurt and I started to doubt myself. The exhibition games didn’t go as well as they should, and Tim had some problems as well. But I think at that time it was a lot of the pressure from the outside that I let affect myself at that point, and suddenly hockey wasn’t fun and I wasn’t doing well. I think for sure that was a point in my career where pressure really affected me. It still sucks that it happened, but I’m glad it did happen at that age because I learned a lot. I think everyone handles pressure differently, and like I said, my pressure comes from inside now. But there’s still a couple of things worth mentioning here. First of all, the biggest thing for me is the way I prepare. If I’ve done everything as well as I can do to mentally and physically prepare for a pressure-filled game, I don’t need to feel any of that internal or external pressure, because I’ve been doing everything I need to do. Secondly, sometimes pressure is good to have, because it pushes you to go further, as opposed to being satisfied with something less.” Goldman: So you were able to differentiate between external and internal pressures as you got older. What kind of internal pressures were you putting on yourself? Backstrom: “I think it came more from the desire to win. But to win, I have to push myself to be a better goalie and to improve my game and to do everything every day as well as I can. I think that’s the expectation and pressure I put on myself. My goal is that, every day I go out there, I should be as prepared as I possibly can be. Never give up, fight for every puck, and enjoy it. I think all of those combined is the pressure of putting high expectations on myself. But not a day should go by where I’m not trying to improve myself. Every day I go out there on the ice, even if I feel tired or have all these different feelings, I put them aside and get the best out of me every day. That is something I expect from myself now, and that’s the internal pressure I put on myself.” Goldman: When you have a lot of success every year, you’re seen as one of the best goalies in the world. So how do you handle the expectations you have for yourself from the external forces, the fans and the coaches? Or do you try to block that out and consider it more of a distraction? Backstrom: “I think it’s a little bit of both. It got to a point where now I have a select group of people whose opinion I really value and trust, and I know that they are honest with me and want me to be at my best. So it’s not that I go out there and listen to the whole world and care what they think of me or my game. It’s more that I know there are a few people where I talk honestly about myself and the game and how I feel and play, and those opinions are the ones I really care about. I don’t go out and read every newspaper article, I just care about having my select group of friends helping me, and I trust those people. One of the lessons I’ve learned in life is never getting too high or getting too low. If you go out there and listen to all the people talking about you, it’s easy to get too high and too low. But if you have a few people who follow you for a long time and you really listen to them, it’s easy to stay even-keeled all the time.” Goldman: One of the main lessons we want to discuss in this book with elite goalies is how you guys are able to live and play in the moment. Can you explain what you personally mean by playing in the moment? Backstrom: “It’s having a short memory and never getting too high or never getting too low. As a goalie, almost every day I tell myself that there’s only so much I can do. I’m just one of the 12 guys out there. A lot of things could happen and go wrong and it’s going to affect you. I think understanding how to play in the moment comes with experience and it comes with time. Sure you want to go out there and stop every puck, but sometimes it hits a guy’s pants or skate and goes in. You can’t do anything about that. You can’t be a mind reader, and you can’t see into the future. That’s something I learned along the way. During a game, it’s easy to move on from making a good save, but when allowing a bad goal, that’s something I had to learn how to move on from. You can look at the replay up on the screen if you’re not sure, and I’ll often try to see if there’s something I could have done differently. If I couldn’t, I forget about it, and then after the game I’ll go back and look at it again. It’s not always easy though, because every mistake is up there, and everyone will see it. But it’s a part of the game and part of the challenge, and as a goalie, it should push you, because you don’t want to make those mistakes again. I don’t know why, but it’s funny that sometimes I think it’s good to have a bad game or lose a game because that’s usually when you stop and think about what you did wrong. When you have a good game, it’s easy to move on. To live in the moment, I think that comes from just learning about yourself, and learning to know that there’s only so much you can do. I never met a person that could change the past, and at the end of the day, that’s hockey.” Goldman: So many goalies, especially younger guys, you can visually see how affected they are by giving up a bad goal. They tense up, they stop breathing, everything about their demeanor changes. They’re so confident one second, but everything changes. Backstrom: “I think for a goalie you have to look at it this way. If you let in a bad goal, are you actually any worse of a goalie after that? No – you’re the same goalie, shit just happens. If you make a nice save, does that automatically make you a better goalie right away? No – it’s just one save and part of one game. So bad goals and bad mistakes are just a part of hockey. Look at other NHL goalies – we all have different ways of reacting. Some of us drink water, some skate to the corners. For younger goalies, you just have to figure out your way to forgive yourself and forget it. Take a sip of water, forget about it, and make sure you are ready for the next shot. It’s not that it just happened, but it’s how you react to it and how you take the next step that matters. Are you going to let it bother you, or are you going to stand tall?”