Chalk talk with Bill Ranford and Rogie Vachon.

[moto67e]

Chalk talk with Bill Ranford and Rogie Vachon.


This was a special chalk talk that was put on by the Kings. We arrived at 6:15 through the VIP entrance and were directed to the Wachovia meeting room. At 6:30 Darryl Evans introduced Bill Ranford and Rogie to a group of about 30 goalies and goalie parents.

Ranford started out by explaining what his role was with the Kings. He said that his job was to manage all of the goalies in the Kings system including the kids in juniors. He said that he works about 15 days a month with the Kings and is always available when called apon. He mentioned Linden Rowat of the Regina Pats and how they would not make the playoffs this year. He also mentioned Martin Jones and how the Calgary Hitmen are battling for a playoff position and how impressed they were with his progress. He said that he mostly handles the junior guys by watching videos, but that he tries to get out to see them at least once a month. He said that they use video a lot
and is a great tool because it doesn't lie.

Ranford mentioned that when he was hired by Lombardi, Dean told him that his job was to get one of the Kings
prospects into the NHL within 3 years, they didn't have to be starting, but in the NHL. So with Jon Quick starting, he is ahead of schedule.

The other goalies that he mentioned were Zatkoff, Bernier, Taylor. They are pleased with all of their progress and that Taylor is one of the hardest workers he has seen and that he seems to play better in the AHL than he does in the ECHL. He said that Bernier is the most technically sound goalie in the system. He has also told Bernier that he needs to control what he can control, which is his play on the ice and not where he plays.


Ranford said that the things that they learned from Ersberg last year was his ability to absorb rebounds so well. He has now started to teach that style to the other goalies in the system. He really likes that Quick is so athletic but that he has tried to calm him down a little to keep him more in control and not all over the place. While we were talking about the NHL tandems, I asked him how did he get along with his goalie partners in the past. He said that they were always his best friends on the team and that they would push each other to be better. He said that the best way to get playing time was to battle hard in practice.

I asked him what they thought was a bad goal. he said that he has 4 levels of saves, A: Unstoppable, B: need a big save, C: mostly stoppable, and D: Always

stoppable. He didn't go into much detail about what each classifications meant, but I think you can get the idea.

I asked him about equipment ( yeah, I asked a lot of questions,lol) and if the he had any input to what his guys wore. He said that the team asked the guys to wear white equipment so that they look bigger in the net. He said that they saw what it did for Marc Andre Fleury and decided it would be a good idea for his guys. He did say that the teams buy the gear for the players and that although he always wore Vaughn, he doesn't tell his players what to wear.


Finally, someone asked him what it was like to play Jim Craig in the movie miracle ( all of the scenes in the movie of Jim playing was Bill). He said that it was a lot of hurry up and waiting. He said that his style was similar to Jim Craig's but that Jim was a little more upright. Bill played for Canada many times and found it weird to be wearing a USA jersey, but that it was cool to be in a Disney movie.

[chrono]

Cool post!

That must have been really something to have the opportunity to pick the brains of some really good goalies.

How about Vachon? Did he speak much? Were you able to ask him anything?

[moto67e]

Originally Posted by chrono

Cool post!

That must have been really something to have the opportunity to pick the brains of some really good goalies.

How about Vachon? Did he speak much? Were you able to ask him anything?

Rogie talked about the differences in styles now compared to when he played. I asked him if there were any goalies that play now that he likes to watch. He said no they all play the same way. He did say that Brodeur would be the only one that he would like.

[goalerjones]

Originally Posted by moto67e

Rogie talked about the differences in styles now compared to when he played. I asked him if there were any goalies that play now that he likes to watch. He said no they all play the same way. He did say that Brodeur would be the only one that he would like.

Sounds like Ranford did play-by-play, while Vachon did color...

Did you write your questions down beforehand so you'd remember them? Or did you just "wing it?"

And, was the session just a PR thing or was it intended to streamline the audience of goalies they hand-picked?

[moto67e]

Originally Posted by goalerjones

Sounds like Ranford did play-by-play, while Vachon did color...

Did you write your questions down beforehand so you'd remember them? Or did you just "wing it?"

And, was the session just a PR thing or was it intended to streamline the audience of goalies they hand-picked?

I had some things that I wanted to ask a head of time and just winged it. I could have asked about 30 more questions but thought that it would be too much. It is not everyday that I get to talk to a NHL goalie coach as well as a 2 time Stanley cup winner so I wanted to make the most of it.

In L.A. we don't have a sell out every game so they were using this as a way to get some more ticket sales. They sent out e-mails to past Fantasy camp participants and also through our local hockey governing body, SCAHA.( edit I didn't realize you from SoCal, so you know what SCAHA is. lol sorry)

I thought it was really a cool idea and hope that they have Ranford at the fantasy camp this year. And the Kings won so that made it even better.

[FRAM]

Big Ranford fan here. Thanks for sharing.