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LA PRESSE: The man who programs Jakub Dobeš's brain (Google Translate) A man with a shiny head and a confident voice comes on screen for what will be an interview, let's say, different from the others. The man in question is Pete Fry, a mental trainer based in Vancouver, hence the late hour of the call. What makes him special: he works specifically with the guards, and Jakub Dobeš is one of his clients. Convinced of the correctness of his methods, he even offers a glimpse of them. "This is exactly what I do with Jakub. Can you stand up? Make sure you have room and imagine that you have a semicircle in front of you." Then he begins to string together words of encouragement. "Right now, you see yourself in your crease, you read the play well, the puck feels big, the game slows down. Your teammates are applauding you. You're a wall. "Let me know when you're feeling 10 out of 10." He admits that part of what he is trying to accomplish is "hypnosis". "I want to go into the subconscious. It's as if I love the goalie," he illustrates. A piece of magnetic metal will lift 12 times its weight. Demagnetized, he can't even lift a sheet of paper. » The Importance of Thoughts Fry himself has already worn the big pads. He was even drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the10th round in 1987, but never made it to the NHL or even the American Hockey League. "I think what I missed the most was the mental aspect," he says. Once I was drafted, I told myself that the Devils had good goalies in their system. What are my chances? They were negative thoughts. And the image you have of yourself in your subconscious, you will naturally be inclined to try to reproduce it. » If you're afraid to give up a goal, you're probably going to do that again. If you see yourself as a wall, you will be one. - Pete Fry He also tries to instill in his clients what he calls the athlete mentality. A mentality that can be expressed in several ways. "When my team took a penalty, I would get angry with the referee or my teammate," Fry said. Now, when the Canadiens are punished, Jakub is happy, because he thinks he'll have a chance to shine. The narrative is reversed. "Otherwise, when my team was controlling the puck in the defensive zone or in the neutral zone, I was like, 'Take it out, take it out.' And the picture in my head was that the puck was on the other end. But if we committed a turnover, I was down one play. Conversely, if Jakub hopes for a turnaround from his team, he will have a head start if it happens. » Jakub Dobeš has been working with Pete Fry since his arrival at the Laval Rocket in 2023. A routine caretaker Since turning professional, Dobeš has always been known for the attention he pays to the mental side of his game. Last October, he told La Presse that he prevented himself from going to dinner with his teammates the day before a road game, so as not to hinder his preparation. "On match day, it's more mental than physical. So if I have time to relax, I can conserve my energy," he described. "This part comes entirely from him. He didn't even want to have dinner with me the day before his game in Vancouver at the beginning of the season! Fry laughs. I notice such habits among some goalkeepers. It's a way to get certainty at a position full of uncertainty. One of my goalies, Easton Rye, has a ten-movie rotation that he watches before every game. It gives him certainty, because he knows the films by heart. » That mental strength clearly helped Dobeš in Thursday's win in Buffalo in Game 5 of the series against the Sabres, when he made 32 straight saves after giving up three goals on the first four shots. "He's very confident. He does a lot of work off the ice to make sure he's mentally ready," said Nick Suzuki after the game. Some of that mental work comes from Pete Fry, with whom he's been working since joining the Laval Rocket in 2023. It was on the recommendation of Marco Marciano, then goaltending coach of the Rocket, who was promoted with the big club last winter. From his first NHL win in December 2024, Dobeš highlighted the work he did with Fry, including using his "focus calories," he said. Their work is mainly done by videoconference, once a week, sometimes more. I do a Zoom for the pros, but often, his schedule doesn't match, so he joins a Zoom ith 13, 14 year olds. The young people introduce themselves one by one. T hen it's his turn: "I'm Jakub Dobeš, from the Montreal Canadiens!" - Pete Fry As our interview took place a few hours after the conclusion of the game in Buffalo, he obviously hadn't yet taken the pulse of his colt. But overall, he knows he is well equipped to deal with the pressure of the goalie position in Montreal. Pete Fry, for example, notes the importance of reversing the perception of a situation: "If Jakub hopes for a turnaround from his team, he'll be one step ahead if it happens." "It depends on how you conceive this pressure," he says. Jakub loves the fans, he wants to play well and they are part of what motivates him. I think he uses it to his advantage. That's why he was emotional [after the game in New Jersey in November]. And he took it out of his system. He was okay. I talked to him the next day, he laughed about it." After Thursday's win, Dobeš noted that he could have handled his body language better during the early game storm. This is precisely one of the keys noted by Fry for the future. "Sometimes a goalie who doesn't make a save will spend a few seconds thinking, 'I could have had it.' It's better not to have that feeling, but that's human nature. The important thing is that he regains his confidence before the next face-off. He must say to himself: "I am a wall, I am powerful, I am Jakub freakin' Dobeš." The recipe may not be for everyone, but it's obviously working with Dobeš this spring. Hockey30 reports/claims/imagines According to our information, Montembeault also had access to this type of mental support. He was offered Pete Fry on a silver platter. But unlike Dobeš, Montembeault never embarked on this approach. According to the Quebecer, he simply didn't need it.