Behind Brad Marchand’s most recent suspension, Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry must learn to manage his emotions. No question, however, of excluding them completely.
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Calm off the ice, Jarry sometimes lets emotions take over during games. It was an incendiary statement that led Marchand to punch him in the head. “How about that stop *****?” he had launched at the place of the plague of the Boston Bruins.
“We love the emotion he brings,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It’s an important aspect for him to be as good as he is.”
But the work remains constant, at the Penguins, so that the masked man does not exceed the limit and that he is not distracted.
“You want to stay on the right side of that fine line,” Sullivan said. In the absence of emotion, it is difficult to be at your best. But if there are too many emotions, they can take over. I think managing your emotions and channeling them in the right way is a really important aspect of being a good athlete and being a good professional.”
Trust
This emotionality is now well known throughout the National Hockey League (NHL) and opposing teams are of course trying to take advantage of it. Thus, the importance of the player placed in the slot is increased in the opponents’ game plans.
The sequences during which Jarry nudges or strikes with a stick to protect his semi-circle are therefore numerous. He has already suffered nine minor penalties in 144 games in the NHL.
By his side during training, goalkeeping instructor Andy Chiodo has made it his mission to help the goalkeeper gauge his emotions. But ultimately, the Penguins trust him to handle the situation on the ice.
“How can we help him if the opponent crosses the line? We want to trust the referee. (…) And then the times when he expresses a little emotion on the ice and tries to make it understood that it is his territory, I support him and I trust him.
Jarry is 26-11-6 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 43 games this season.