Mindset May NHL Skills Coach

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode today. My guest is Colin Muldoon and we're still in the mindset may frame. And I no better person to have than Colin. Colin is. He's a longtime hockey coach and not only that, he played Division 1 hockey. He was not going to take away everything here, but I think he was the first pick overall in the USHL draft. He was a heck of a defenseman, a heck of a coach, and we even coached together with Team USA at one time. Colin, great to have you here today.

Thanks for having me.

So we do a lot of stuff with like, entrepreneurs and different coaches. This is more on the sports side of things because let's share a little bit about who you are, tell the audience a little bit about you, a little bit about your backstory. Love to hear it.

Well, again, just for people who don't know, my name is Colin Muldoon and I, I grew up in a real small town, rural town, actually, the smallest high school that had high school hockey in the state of Minnesota. And that's that high school is in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota. And you know, the town is so small, we, we didn't even have a stoplight. But we, we had enough guys to, to make a team and got real fortunate, had a group of good athletes that I grew up with and we were pretty successful all the way growing up. And another nice thing that we had was the University of North Dakota was right down the road and both my parents went there and they signed me up for their training camps over the summer. So I got to work with the North Dakota hockey training staff and really learn the kind of cutting edge skills and skating skills and, and those types of things from coaches like Dean Blaze, who's in the Hockey hall of Fame now, and Gino Gasparini and Carrie Eads, who's the general manager of the Fargo Force. And just, you know, just having the college players that were there for the summer, I was kind of like a sponge and really took all that in and those techniques and then went back and tried to, you know, incorporate those during my season. And it really paid off over the years. And, you know, through youth hockey and then moving into high school, you Know, just, you know, I wasn't the most gifted athlete. I had enough talent, but you know, without incorporating the good training and, you know, the right mindset and those types of things, I wouldn't have had the ability to move on and play in the USHL and then get a scholarship from there. But, but yeah. So moving out of high school though, I went to the, to the USHL and you know, it was a big adjustment coming from a small town and you know, playing with the same guys all the way from day one. Now moving into a team with a lot of diff, you know, just players from all over the country just learning how to fit in in that environment. A lot more pressure, A lot more, you know, just pressure to win and pressure as an individual and you know, went through some struggles my first season and then was able to figure out how to, to handle those things a lot better and next year was able to become. Make the all star team in that league and get a scholarship and move on to Ferris State and played there and had a real good, solid, you know, career there and moved on and played in the minors for, for three seasons and you know, learned that, learned the ropes there was all that was all new too and learned a ton there and just how to navigate that and went from kind of struggling to, to ended up being a captain my last year and then, you know, on a real successful team and, and you know, that at that point I, I knew I wasn't going to move up. And I always said to myself, I don't see myself moving up then I'm going to try and move on to the next thing in life and got into coaching and coaching in North Carolina, which was by accident. I had no plan of being a hockey coach, but they were starting youth hockey here and just got roped in and next thing you know, within three years I was doing it full time and just helped start the Junior Hurricanes program. And we've been able to move a bunch of guys on to, you know, junior hockey and major junior and college hockey and, and we have guys playing professionally now. So that's kind of where I'm at right now.

So that's a good. In that town they had no stoplights. I don't even know if they're on the map, are they? I've never heard of that little town. I'm kidding you.

It's just a, it's a tiny little.it's you know, I think now the sign would say 17, population 1700.

So, so that, that is a small town. So. So you. So I wanted people to know. So that's the. That's. Everybody takes a different path and a different journey. And then I know that you had goals of working with players in the NHL, and you did. And this is where we're going to get into the mindset stuff, because I know you worked with the Carolina Hurricanes, the big. The big boys. You were running them when the. The team was on the road. You were taking some of the guys that were injured, putting them through some drills. How was that? Was that fun?

Yeah, it was a lot of fun the first year I did it. It's very fortunate. That was the year that the Canes won the Stanley Cup. And the first guy I was ever on the ice with was Glenn Wesley. And he was a guy that I recorded on my old VCR back in the day when he was actually playing for the Boston Bruins. And I'd watch him do a few things on the ice and just his little techniques of walking across the blue line and those types of things, and I would take that and go down to the rink and practice those things, and next thing you know, I'm on the ice with them. And I was super intimidated, to say the least. And I. I told him that I kind of just kind of speak my mind, you know, just not afraid to say how I feel, you know, So I. And he just told me. He said, you just tell me what to do and I'll do it. And that's what I learned, what a. What a pro is. You know, a guy that's been, at that point had been in the NHL like, 17, 18 years, and here comes a young guy and, you know, and he. He didn't tell me what to do. He told me. He told me, you tell me what to do and I'll just do it. And that's. I learned a big lesson on my first, you know, one minute on the ice.

Well, that's exactly what I wanted to talk about. I'm glad you said that, because I was going to say that, because here's what I've learned with the players that even we had at the US Camps, and they might question you and, okay, why are we doing this? Or I hear people say, I don't like my coach. He's having me do this. Oh, this person isn't really good to me, this assistant coach is this. I don't believe in what he's doing. And you learn as a pro, especially at the highest level, that you don't ask questions if somebody's out there and it's okay. I'm not saying for people not to ask questions, but they respected you. You were out there.

You.

Your job was to get them back into plain shape because they were obviously injured or some guys, sometimes they don't take everybody on the road. Most teams do, but sometimes there could be a kid being called up and he's got to skate first with you or whatever the case may be. And they just say, okay, Colin, just show me what to do. And I've told people that over and over again. Like, that's the difference between a big league guy and then these younger players, which are not in the big league. They're always questioning things that must have been. You must have felt out of your element there a little bit.

Yeah, it was. Again, it just almost like instantly makes you think about how, you know, for me, anyways, how I did things, you know, like, you know, and it's. It's one of those things where, you know, when you're working with guys, you're supposed to be teaching them, but they're really teaching you just as much while you're working with them. And, you know, moving into, like, last season, I'm in the American League working with guys, too. And, you know, you see some guys that, you know that when they came in, that's their attitude is more asking for a lot of things and, you know, you know, not. Not having that Glenn Wesley attitude. And it really. It really set them back. But, you know, is what the positive note is when you see guys that go, they figure it out and then they say, you can just see it. They don't say it, but they. You can see it. It clicks. It's like, you know what? I just need to show up and do my job. And that's when, you know, I saw a couple guys in particular that are playing on the Hurricanes right now, and they figured that out, and now they're just like. They're just taken off. I mean, and, you know, it's really positive when you see guys figure that out. Just focus on you. Just do everything they're asking you do to the best of your ability and just trust them that these coaches know what they're doing.

Well, take us back to that. So people don't know. You were with the last year, the Charlotte Checkers. You would come down from Raleigh and work with a lot of their prospects. And that's their. Well, some people that don't follow hockey and their baseball. That's the Triple A team of the Carolina Hurricanes. It's the American Hockey League. One of the toughest leagues that I've ever been in, because the NHL was great. But when you're playing three games and three nights, it's a. Your mindset has to be in a place that, man, I have to be ready to play every night, because on that third night, sometimes you feel like, man, I'm exhausted. So tell us a little about that experience working with those minor league players and their mindset.

Yeah, so, I mean, that. That was real really interesting because you don't, you know, it's always new. So you get these young guys and, you know, the first day or you're Again, you're like, kind of think, okay, what are these young guys gonna be like? And then, you know, you hear a lot of things that they're gonna be like this or that or whatever. And, you know, for me, it was a real positive experience, like, right from the. Right from the start. And, you know, the. They. These young guys, they just about all. I mean, they. They really want to do whatever it takes. And, you know, I was really kind of tasked with focusing. Like, I worked with a lot of the guys, but I really was really supposed to be focused on a couple guys that really needed work on their skating. And, you know, it. To watch some of these guys. Like, we had a guy, I'll say his name, Morgan Geeky. He's on the team now, and he's from Swan Lake, Manitoba, and never had skating skills, never, you know, had power skating, and he's just got just an amazing, like, hand strength and shooting ability and. And that type of thing. But his skating was behind, so they really wanted me to focus with him. And, you know, he's. He's a farm kid, and he actually could assign professional baseball, too. But, you know, here's a kid just very quiet and just doing things that he's never done before. And he's falling down in our first couple sessions, just. And, you know, I give him a lot of credit because he just, you know, stuck with it. He didn't. Wasn't worried about looking cool or. Or, you know, his ego getting bruised. He was focused on getting better, you know. And then another player that's really done really well is defenseman Jake Bean. He. He had a couple little hitches in his skating with pivoting and those types of things. And, you know, at first, he. He's a little bit more of a guy that I kind of had to gain his trust, that I wasn't going to try and do some drastic changes with him. You know, I just said, hey, let's just work on some things and, and when they happen, they happen in the game. Like, we're not. I don't even want you to think about it. Just, let's just work on these things. And, and then, you know, he kind of let his guard down and, you know, I think about two and a half, three months into it, you know, he came up to me and it was like, hey, the last game I, I caught myself doing, you know, you know, pivoting and, you know, and, you know, we were working on specific ways of pivoting and he was, he told me he was doing in the game and it really helped and helped him block a few shots of the stick and that type of thing. And so just those little victories are exciting and just, you know, earning that trust and, and, and then now, you know, just seeing these guys get called up and scoring big goals and doing really well and, you know, and just to be like a little small part of that, you know, it's pretty exciting and, and it's fun. It's just fun to help people.

Yeah. And if they didn't have that mindset to, to get better and you said the, the magic thing, those little things that we talk a little, a lot about. If they didn' chances are they're not going to make it because they need that as a player.

Yeah. Yeah. Because let's just, you know, only so many guys have that just blazing speed, you know. So, you know, most of these other guys, you, you know, as you know, you got to be very efficient in all your movements. And I know, I remember you showing me, like, you know, what you needed to work on. I'll never forget it. Like, you. We were on the ice the one time a long time ago, and you had me passing you pucks and you get that puck and just chip it up and over the defenseman's head like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I mean, I was like, holy smokes. I mean, you're like, so good at that. But that is a skill that is extremely difficult. But, you know, most guys can't do that. But you knew you had to do that, that just getting that, being able to chip that puck out when you're under extreme pressure from that defenseman coming in. And those are the little things right there. Like, if you, if you can't get the puck out of the zone, you're a winger, then you're not going to be playing. So, you know, a lot of guys don't want, like, chip the puck up and over was, you know, I'm going to go work on my shooting and you know, no, we need to get out of the zone first or you're not going to be doing any shooting. You're going to be on the bench. You know, so, you know, just those, those types of details for your position are just very important at that level.

Yeah, it's. And that's. Well, thank you for the nice compliment. But what happened was Scotty Bowman told me if I want to play in this league, they didn't draft me to score, they didn't draft me to fight, I'm too small. They draft me to win the one on one battles and always play on the defensive side of the puck and our zone and that puck doesn't get out one time, that might be the last time you're going to play. So what I did, I used to take thousands of pucks around the boards after practice. Like they say, repetition is your best friend. So I had like a Scotty Bowman, just like what you do with people. He told me what I needed. Then he said, if you win the one on one battles, you'll be great. Now in the neutral zone, you always got to keep your feet moving with your stick, always in the proper placement. So you could deflect pucks, knock pucks down and you don't want to run around. You have to play your position and keep your feet moving. Then in the offensive zone you go like crazy. You get always want to be on the offensive side of the puck and you have to win the one on one battles and not put your team in any jeopardy, not throw the puck from behind that and out in the middle. And if you're the third guy, you better be high. You're that safety valve and I want you to remember those things. And that's. I took that and I said, man, if I could work on those all the time and try to be the best at it. That's what I, what I did as a player. And I try to tell kids today I had one player, I was talent. I think you're more of a defensive player. And his dad says, oh no, he's an offensive player. How many goals you have? Two. Well, good luck, you know, Right. Good luck with that. But you said it earlier, it was funny how the pros are. And you brought me back to think when, when I was in Detroit I had a little hockey school and I wanted some guests to come out. So I had a camp and it was a real small camp and my father said, okay, you should get the ice after to train. So Most guys skate in the morning. So I, for some reason, the rink was closed in the afternoon that week and our hockey school started at 5 o'.

Clock.

It was just a two hour. It was our first one. So it was like a two hour skate. And then I had the ice from seven and nine. So I invited a few people. Warren Reichel, Brad Belland, Glenn Featherstone, a lot of guys that played at the high level. Then I invited Sean Burr. Well, Sean Burr said, I'm going to bring some guys. Well, Steve Yzerman, Fedorov, a bunch of guys, Kosar. I said, joe, please don't hit me. I was scared of Joe at that time. And, and it was funny. And I said that we're going to play. So then Steve Iserman said to me, as we're skating around, he says, are you going to put us through drills? I go, me? He goes, yeah, you just put us through some drills. I don't know if the house. Okay, guys, we're gonna do the horseshoe. I didn't know, you know, when you're 20 years old, I'm going to put Steve Eiserman through drills. They just did the drill. And I said, what else do you want to do? He goes, I don't know. It's your practice. You run it. I said, okay. So I ran the rest of it and Fedorov is out there. I go, hey, Sergey, anything you want to do? He goes, no, you do what you want. We just skate. I said, okay. Like, it was funny. And I learned even. Man, these guys are great. Then I have kids at the hockey school that are 13 and 14 saying, oh, no, I can't do this. I don't want to do that. So it's funny when you said that, it brought back great memories.

Yeah, that's, that's exactly it. And that's what I would say is, you know, I'm sure you probably, I mean, obviously you had no idea what was going to happen there. But like, the next time, if you knew those guys were going to come out, that you learn pretty quickly, like, really what. The main thing you have to do is just, you have to be prepared. Like, because these guys don't want you figuring things out really on the fly, you know, you gotta, you just gotta have a good plan. And as long as you keep them going and, and you can see by their body language, like, you know, if, if the things you're doing are clicking with them, you can just see, like they really get into it. Yeah, so that's, that's the key. I Think. And you know, I, last year I ran the captain's practices because the head coaches, you know, the regular staff, they can't be on the ice until a certain date. And so I had about 25, 26 guys by myself out there and I'm running like. And I got to keep all these guys moving. And I remember the, the intimidation factor came back because all these guys come in, it's just me with no help. And I was like, you know, I got Jordan Stahl, he was a captain, just looking at me, waiting for me to tell him what to do. And I got my board and I'm thinking, don't screw up how you draw this board up or they're all going to be looking at you like, you know, so I, I was pro. I did lots of practicing, drawing up that, those drills at home before I went to the practice because I was not going to make a fool out of myself in front of all those guys. So it's just, it's all about preparation. They just want to, they just want to get moving and, you know, and get to work. So.

Yeah. Well, I'll say it again. I'll say this. I told you this many times. We've talked for many years. I loved coaching with you with the team USA when we did the top kids in the country. And it was fun, it was enjoyable. You and I, they. I was the. You and I were both co coaches. I had no head coach or any. And we just had the kids and we wanted to work hard. I'll never forget it. That. And I don't believe in line, but I have to, we have to be real on the show. We don't use bad language. I don't believe in lying. But the funny thing was because the whole part of the camp there was for the kids to develop, we had to, like I said, the top kids from Honey Bake to kids in Chicago and all over the country. Right. And I remember we were, we were coaching together and we were losing and we always had good teams, but not that that mattered. We just were dealt some, you know, out of, out of the teams they picked. I mean, we had a lot of, some of the Michigan kids with the kids from, I think, I don't know, Maine. And so we had some really good kids and it was, we were losing. And you said, what are we going to do to get him excited? I said, hold on. I said, I got something. I pulled it out of my hat. I went back and I said, kids, what's going on here today? Because we didn't believe it. We had the same model. We didn't yell or scream. And they looked at me, they said, I said, what's going on? I said, I was just talking to the Team USA Olympic coach up there and he asked me, when are these guys going to start playing? And all the guys, oh man, they all got ready to play. I think we ended up winning that game, which was funny, but it's, you know, as a coach, we don't want to lie, but I thought it was funny that, you know, we got our kids going. You remember that?

I remember that you told them that. Just that that was the first one and then the second one was. So they did get going a bit. And then between the next period, then you came in and you said, I was just talking to the Michigan coach and he was saying this is the first game he's watched. And he said, you guys are the hardest working team he's seen all week. And, and you guys like see what happens in one period. And then they were all looking around the room and they were all jacked up. And after that it was, it was, it was all over with. They were buzzing out there, flying around. It was hilarious. I was like, hey, that's, that's, that's a good kind of lie, you know, just to. But hey, by the end of the weekend though, yeah, there were plenty of scouts there watching them. So it definitely, yeah, it was, it was all good.

I bet. You know, all these kids, I don't know, I'll end it with this. And then. But this was. I'll never forget this. I don't know the kid. We had so many kids come through and I should know the name, but all of a sudden this kid comes in and the team, the usa, Team usa. Doctor said he can't practice today. He just flew in from North Dakota. He has bleeding ears and he can't go on the ice. And he's, he's, he's a little dizzy. So I told the kid, you can't get dressed. So anyways, we go on for the warm ups and we're skating around and I see this kid skating around. He's flying during the drills, hitting players, and I go, colin, look at this kid. This kid's gonna be like our captain. This kid's gonna be great. And then after I go in the room and I want to talk to the kid, he takes his helmet off. It's the kid that had the bleeding ears. And the kid that was, that was not supposed to skate. I said, you're not Supposed to skate. What's going on? He goes, you will never keep me off the ice. I will do anything I can to be here. I'm here to win. And I'd have to have a broken leg. Before I stopped playing, I said, okay, I'm going to pretend I didn't. You know, I'm going to get myself in trouble, but keep it going. I can't remember who the kid was, I'm sure.

Here's the funny thing about that. That's. That was Mario Lamoru. And he. You didn't know this, but he went on to play at North Dakota for four years and he was a heart and soul guy. If he wasn't the captain, he was wearing the A for sure. And his sisters are the, the two Olympians that you know. The one got the game tying goal and his other sister got the winning goal to win the gold their first or to win the gold medal in the last Olympics. So big time hockey family and their dad, I used to skate with him in the summers. Pierre Lamoure. And he was a goalie for North Dakota and crazy intensity. But the whole family is just like that. They're very, very super intense and great competitors. And Pierre, actually the Pierre Jr. Is now the head coach of the Fargo Force, so.

Well, there you go.

You're a good scout. You, you know what you're looking at you, you figured that one out pretty quick.

Well, that's funny. And it was funny because we were in, I remember we were in the dorms and the kids were loud and I said, okay, let's tell them they're going to run at night and I'll run with them. And I don't want to run. I'm already done with hockey. I'm not going to sit and go for a run at like, at like 10 o' clock at night. So I go in the room and I said, okay boys, guess what? We're going for a run. And you're not supposed to punish kids that I probably changed my way of coaching today. More the old days. You don't want to punish somebody and train them. I said, guys, if you don't be quiet, we're gonna go for a run. Everyone be quiet. And that kid lamer, he jumps out of bed and says, okay coach, let's go. I go get back in bed. But Colin, it's great having you. It's always great talking. You give so much. I know you're also a on ice coach and an off ice coach. Is there an email, is there a website where can people get in touch with you? They want to learn more about you.

Okay. The best is to email me. It's skate sk the number eight. Then my name. C O L I N M U L D o o n mail.com skate colin muldoonmail.com yeah, because I know you're.

Doing mindset work away from the rink and then we'll put actually you up on the Hartman Academy. I love you, buddy. It's always great talking to you. Thanks so much.

All right. Thanks, Mike. Always great talking to you.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Mike Hartman Show. If you're enjoying what you've heard so far, please feel free to rate, subscribe, and leave a review on your preferred podcast listening platform. We really appreciate that effort. We'll catch you in the next episode of the Mike Hartman Show.

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