Andersen endures ultimate stress test from Navy SEAL training

VANCOUVER --Frederik Andersen's quest to feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations in the Toronto Maple Leafs crease this season actually began with a visit to Navy SEAL training during Hell Week to learn how candidates survive one of the U.S. military's toughest tests.

Arranged by Maple Leafs goalie coach Steve Briere and Andersen's offseason performance coach Scot Prohaska, Toronto's No. 1 goalie got first-hand insights into the mental battle of trying to stay awake for all but about four hours of a grueling five-and-half day stretch that includes 20 hours a day of physical training and roughly 200 miles of running. Candidates are in near-constant state of motion and stress and are cold, hungry and wet, so it's little wonder the Navy SEAL attrition rate is up to 75 percent.
Andersen focused on the methods used to survive and focus the mind in the midst of all that duress. He knows stopping pucks isn't life and death, even if it can sometimes feel that way in a market like Toronto. But he saw real value in learning how Navy SEALs train their minds and bodies to handle those moments, referred to as Emergency Response Programming.
"It's a way of training your mind to be able to take a second before you make your instinct reaction," Andersen said, "and it can be a way of learning how to get rid of stress and I think one of the key things that I took away from it was probably controlling what you can control."

Andersen was a bit hesitant to get too deep into specific training methods he took away from the experience, but made it clear he was better for having gone through it.
"I don't want to give away all the state secrets of the U.S. military," he said with a laugh. "I think some of the things that really helped for me is the emergency response stuff for when you can take a deep breath. And I've worked a little bit with breathing techniques as well, to either calm yourself down or get ready and get amped up a little bit. So that's another thing that I found that I benefited from. It might not be the same for everyone but it's different, small re-focusing practices that you can help to just reset and really realize what you've got to do."
That's why

during the Maple Leafs week-long break earlier this season working with XPT Life, an Extreme Performance Training lifestyle system developed by the husband-wife team of big wave surfer Laird Hamilton and former professional volleyball player and model Gabrielle Reece.
"That was one of the things actually," Andersen said. "It teaches you to gain your breath back in a very stressful situation. Obviously, you're not going to feel that same type of panic in a game but you will feel some sort of stress and that ice-cold water simulates a very stressful situation where you've got to focus to gain your breath back and just calm your mind down."
That work is not limited to off-ice extremes, however. Throughout a season that has seen him earn strong Vezina Trophy consideration with a 32-13-4 record, 2.57 goals-against average and .923 save percentage with 1,630 shots against (second in the NHL to Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, who has faced 1,639 shots), Andersen also has worked continuously on the ice with Briere to make sure he is comfortable in uncomfortable situations in the crease.
Andersen points to post integration as one example of their efforts. How a goalie moves into and off his posts is increasingly important with the rise in sharp-angle attacks and pass outs from the behind the net, and there are several ways to play it. Most rely to varying degrees on Reverse-VH, or RVH for short, when the goalie has his short-side pad down on the ice as he leans into the post, and uses the back skate as a rudder to steer around it and drive that seal against the post, but there are still variations even within this technique.

Andersen's preferred method was to seal the post with the bottom edge of his pad (called the toe box) against the post and the toe of his skate just inside it, while others prefer to place the bottom of their skate blade on the post, and some use the shin of their pad. Each has strengths and weaknesses, a balance between sealing the post and improved mobility off it.
Andersen used to spend most of his practice time trying to perfect his preferred method, but after studying the post-play habits of other top goalies and looking at sharp-angle goals with Briere, they realized perfect execution wasn't always possible, especially during scrambles. So instead of always focusing on his preferred method, they've tried to perfect them all.
"It's such an unpredictable game and when you set up drills in practice it's usually controlled and it's dialed in to working on a specific thing," Andersen said, "but what we've been trying to do is just work on a few different ways to do things.
"Let's say you have one thing you prefer that you do to a 100 percent comfortability and you're only at 50 percent on the other two, but if you can work the other two up to close to the same and feel 100 percent comfortable in every situation then you have really nothing to worry about, you just go out there and play."
They applied it to other areas, which Andersen believes also makes it harder to scout his tendencies because he often gives shooters a different look from the same location.
"It's a fast sport and it goes faster and faster," he said, "and if you can find a way to still make saves and feel comfortable when you're not perfect then you're going to a better chance of saving the puck, which eventually at the end of the day is what matters, right?"
Like the Navy SEAL Hell Week, it's about being comfortable in uncomfortable situations.