colintimberlake.comTell her it wasn’t you…

TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
KIRK McLEAN

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who, throughout his NHL career, epitomized coolness under pressure and bringing his absolute best game when it mattered the most.

As much as Kirk McLean is remembered as the NHL’s last great stand-up goaltender, before the butterfly technique became universally adopted, he can also be recalled as having quite possibly the strongest mental game in league history. Few have had the ability to shake off a bad game, a bad goal, or to avoid roller-coaster highs from great performances the way Kirk McLean did, earning him a variety of nicknames over the years such as Captain Kirk and Kirk McCool.

Through his years of dominance from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, many considered McLean second only to eventual Hall-of-Famer and career wins and games record-holder Patrick Roy.

By the time it was said and done, Kirk McLean had twice been a Vezina Trophy finalist (1989 and 1992), had been named to the postseason 2nd All-Star Team (1992), played in two All-Star Games (1990 and 1992), led the league in wins (1992), games (1990), shots faced (1990), saves (1990) and shutouts (1992).

He also finished his career with 23 assists, a very impressive total for a goaltender, and was in the top 50 in career regular season wins (245) and the top 30 in playoff wins (34). He also retired as the record holder in pretty much every single-season and career goaltending category for the Vancouver Canucks.

He perhaps brought his finest performance of all in the 1994 playoffs when, as the reliable backbone of a team that included Trevor Linden, Dave Babych, Cliff Ronning, Pavel Bure, Geoff Courtnall, Tim Hunter, Murray Craven, Jyrki Lumme and Gino Odjick, he set a record that still stands today for the most minutes ever played in a single playoff year. With this record earned through regular immersion into nerve-fraying overtime periods, second place in the record books still isn’t even close. The same goes for the records he set those playoffs for shots faced and saves made.

Perhaps his single greatest performance came in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals that year, the opening contest against the highly vaunted Mark Messier-led New York Rangers. It was billed as something of a David-and-Goliath matchup, with the Canucks the clear David…especially in the series opener in Madison Square Gardens. With Kirk McLean stopping 52 of 54 shots in a spellbinding goaltending performance, the Canucks scored in overtime to win the game 3-2 and take a 1-0 series lead. Though the Canucks eventually lost the series 4-3 in a competitive final match, this game in particular is still revered as one of the great goaltending displays in league history…and it came when the stakes were at their highest.

INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO CLIP

Here we get to see ice water running through a man’s veins. Kirk McLean’s 52-save performance in Game 1 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals.

HAMMERING THE ANVIL…

Calves, calves, calves.

TODAY: CALVES (5-5-5 Tempo, 120 Second Rests)

SEATED CALF RAISE (5 sets)
180 x 10
225 x 8
270 x 6
270 x 5
315 x 4 / 270 x 1 / 225 x 1 / 180 x 1

STRAIGHT LEG CALF PRESS (INCLINE LEG PRESS MACHINE) (5 sets)
100 x 7
100 x 5
80 x 7
80 x 5
80 x 4 / 60 x 3

REVERSE CALF PRESS (INCLINE LEG PRESS MACHINE) (5 sets)
- 3-3-3 Tempo
60 x 12
80 x 7
90 x 6
100 x 6
120 x 5 / 60 x 5

HIGH-INTENSITY-INTERVAL-TRAINING (30 seconds 10 mph 5 incline / 30 seconds rest)
6 Rounds

TRAINING NOTES

Ugh, barely made it through what is considered a very light day. Focus!

BACK TO Index of Inspirational Role Models for Training