On any given night in the NHL there will be a few minutes when a team is on the attack and almost everyone is at one end of the ice.   At that moment, if you look down the other end you might catch a lone player sipping water while taking in the scene.  Do you ever look over to Varly or Neuvirth standing alone and wonder; what is he thinking right now?

I caught up with ice hockey goaltender, 2008 Miss Virginia, Tara Wheeler and asked her to share what it’s like between the pipes.  Tara is currently a news anchor with CBS19/FOX27 in Charlottesville, VA and blogs for On Frozen Blog. Follow her on Twitter at @TaraeWheeler.

What kind of mind set does it take for someone to play goalie? 

Goalies are a breed all their own. You have to be a little crazy to be OK with a puck flying fast at your face. But we’re also a fun group. Goalies all have different ticks and rituals but their mindset has to be consistent. So much of goaltending is mental: confidence, focus, consistency. Your biggest enemy is yourself. It’s tough to take it one shot at a time, not to look at the clock and think ahead, not to look back and dwell on a mistake. One of my favorite quotes about goaltending came from Jaques Plante:

“Goaltender is a normal job. Sure. How would you like it if at your job, every time you made the slightest mistake a little red light went on over your head and 18,000 people stood up and screamed at you?”

The current goaltenders for the Capitals have missed games because of injuries this year.  What are some of the physical challenges of playing in goal?

I had a lot of back and knee problems from playing goal just because of the hunched, squatting position you’re constantly in. Also, if you haven’t stretched well enough, it’s very easy to pull or tear a muscle when you go sprawling across the crease. It’s definitely tough on the body!

What did you do when you were in goal and your team was in the offensive end?

 The goalie is always talking. One of the most important roles is to communicate with their teammates when they’re at the far end of the ice. The goalie has a great perspective and can see the full picture. I don’t know if my teammates could always understand me while I’m yelling with a pie-hole full of mouth guard, but I rarely shut up when I’m on the ice. It’s also a good way to stay focused.

I’ve noticed that when a team is transitioning to offense goaltenders have little routines they do as the play comes toward them.  Did you have a routine?  What is the purpose?

 I skate back towards the net until my back touches the crossbar and then reach out and tap the post with my glove hand. The purpose of these little routines is just to re-set yourself mentally and spatially to get your angles right with the play.

Goaltender interference rules are very controversial in some circles.  What are your thoughts on the subject? 

One of the golden rules of hockey is that a team has to protect their goalie. Referees have to be strict with goaltender interference calls because if they let too much slide, it will cause a chain reaction of retaliation against the infracting team. As a goalie, I would never try to  make a risky move hoping for a goaltender interference call to gain advantage because if it went wrong and resulted in an easily preventable goal, I’d be 100% to blame. I wouldn’t want to take that chance.

How quickly can you tell that you “have it” or don’t on a given night? Can a goalie recognize that they are in a “zone”?

 I can tell pretty quickly. It’s hard to describe but you just feel it. You’re not thinking, you’re just reading and reacting and taking it one shot at a time. When you’re off, you know if pretty quickly too and it’s tough to get back on. That’s why a coach will usually pull a struggling goalie instead of trying to force the player to get their act together… even the best goalies in the world have trouble regaining their focus when their game is off.

Do you notice the crowd while in net?

When there’s a big crowd and they’re excited, I can feed off their energy… but as for hecklers, I never really notice them while I’m in net. If a goalie lets themselves be distracted by the crowd, they need to be pulled. You can’t pay attention to the crowd and the game at the same time.

Which is scarier after a tough loss, a hockey locker room or pageant dressing room?

Locker room! With a pageant, you’re just competing with yourself, and in the pageants I’ve competed in, I’ve been good friends with many of my competitors. So after a pageant, the only one let down was me and I had only myself to critique. After a tough loss in a team sport like hockey, everyone is going over the game in their heads trying to figure out what they did wrong and what they could have done better because the whole team is hurt, not just one person. It’s a lot tougher because you’re not just competing with yourself, you’ve got a family, your teammates who have been working together for one goal so it’s much more devastating if they don’t achieve it.