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Stuart Skinner on working with a mental coach

23 Jul 2025 · 1 min

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Excerpt from a YouTube interview where NHL/goaltender Stuart Skinner describes struggling with anxiety during his WHL draft year, meeting a sports psychologist after a trade to Swift Current, and improving his performance by working on mental skills and inner focus. The clip includes brief gameplay commentary.

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My third year in the Western Hockey League, where I was kind of just. I was struggling pretty well the whole year, and it was my draft year as well. I was playing with a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear because you want to be drafted first, first round, and you want to be the first goalie. And fate actually had it that when I got traded to Swift Current, I actually met a sports psychologist. He's done wonders for me. So started working with him. Started working on the mental side of the game, working on things besides hockey, actually, that ended up really helping me with hockey. Really started focusing on myself inwards and what's going on inside and, you know, working on the anxiety, working on the fear and, you know, all that. All that fun stuff.
Astronaut A slap pass and a diving save by Skiller.