we catch up with Bob Essensa to talk about everything from a playing career that started, as so many do, as the little brother that was forced into the net and ended with six NHL teams over 12 seasons before becoming the Boston Bruins goaltending coach in 2003. The man they call Goalie Bob shares insights as a goalie who played in the "fear factor" era, when shots really hurt, and through the evolution to equipment that not only better protected you, but also pads that actually rotated in the butterfly. He talks about staying current in an ever shifting coaching environment, and working with a future Hall of Fame goaltender like Tuukka Rask, including all the questions and criticisms he gets from other goaltending coaches in the summer about Rask's preference for "shin on post" on sharp-angle plays. The answer is revealing.
In The Hockey Shop’s Gear Segment we speak with Cam about the PadSkinz, the easy-to-apply do-it-yourself way to change up your pad and glove colors and graphics if you find yourself changing teams for spring or summer hockey, and a perfectly timed segment given the NHL trade deadline left goalies like Jack Campbell doing the same to transform his Los Angeles Kings equipment into Toronto Maple Leafs colours.
Speaking of trades, Dad, Woody and Daren discuss the moves that happened -- and maybe more pointedly, some of the ones that didn't -- ahead of this week's deadline, as well as the EBUG heroics of David Ayres for the Carolina Hurricanes in Toronto over the weekend, and what it might mean for how the NHL handles similar situations in the future.