Torenius speaks highly of Silovs but it’s not necessarily just about his skills. There’s a mental part of Silovs’ game that Torenius is impressed by.
“He has a great toolbox,” said Torenius. “He has length, he has explosiveness and he can make those saves outside of the regular package. He can make all those saves, that's for sure. But I think the most important thing is his work ethic and he's really coachable, I like his mentality.”
There are weekly meetings between Torenius and Vancouver Canucks Director of Goaltending Ian Clark. Torenius says that he sends video work to Clark every day as well as Torenius’ game reports, and then the two get together for meetings to discuss what’s next on the docket in terms of development for the AHL goaltenders.
“If there is something that Ian sees, he will text me or call me and we will talk about those things he sees,” said Torenius. “The back and forth is really, really great. He's been such a great tool for me and is teaching a lot of things from his experience. His mentorship, it's been awesome.”
Torenius also occasionally uses some tape from Thatcher Demko to show certain stances or post-integration moves with his goaltenders. Most of the video work is done with reviews on his own goaltenders but there are times when he will show them some Demko tape to help show how he wants to see a certain move be done correctly.
“I’ll use some Thatcher video for our guys because he's such a good example,” said Torenius. “When we had training camp, it was great for our guys to see how Thatcher works. The intensity Thatcher has, all the little details, is good for our guys to see on a daily basis and pick up. Thatcher is a big part of building our work culture. When we have such a great example here, of course, you want to use it.”
Aside from Silovs, the Abbotsford Canucks also have 6’6” Nikita Tolopilo patrolling their crease. The 23-year-old has a 5-3-0 record on the season and holds a .906% save percentage.
Tolopilo was the best goaltender in Sweden’s second-tier men’s league last season. He had a 2.10 goals-against average and a .924% save percentage to go with his 28-17 record with Södertälje of the Allsvenskan league.
The part of Tolopilo that impresses Torenius the most is his ability to stay calm and use his size to his advantage.
“You obviously like the size but I like how he has been taking some steps and making adjustments,” said Torenius. “He started to be more clean with his footwork. He’s started to get his pace up. He’s started to be better in traffic situations. The overall progress has been good. He's still taking those steps and adjusting himself to North American hockey. He has interesting tools and his calmness is impressive for sure. His calmness comes by nature and has been very coachable. I remember [seeing] pictures when he was a little bit younger, and he was a little bit all over. He has been taking steps and that shows also that he is a coachable guy.”
Both goaltenders are showing promise but are far from finished products. We’ve seen Silovs have flashes of success in the NHL and AHL but Torenius and Silovs are committed to working hard so that Silovs can sustain success instead of just having flashes of excellence. There are daily focuses on footwork, stance and shot reads while a lot of video work is done between the goalies and their coach to see where they can improve their game.
