The Ride To The Rink - Pressure is a Privilege with Coach Vinny Malts

🚨 Feeling the pressure before a big game? You’re not alone. But what if we told you that pressure is actually a privilege? In this episode, mental performance coach Vinny Malts—who works with NHL players and teams—joins us to break down how young athletes can turn stress into strength.

Together, we explore why pressure exists, where it comes from, and how you can take control of it instead of letting it control you. Coach Vinny shares a simple but powerful exercise to help players recognize their emotions, manage nerves, and perform at their best when it matters most.

🔹 Key Takeaways:

✔️ Why feeling pressure is a good thing—and how to embrace it

✔️ The “Angry Alex” exercise—an easy mental trick to manage emotions in the moment

✔️ How to recognize whether pressure comes from you or outside influences

✔️ The two voices in your head: the saboteur and the sage—and how to listen to the right one

✔️ Why learning to manage pressure now will help you on and off the ice

🏒 Whether it’s pre-game jitters, dealing with lineup decisions, or handling expectations, this episode is your mental reset before stepping on the ice.

🎧 Listen now, apply these tools, and take control of the pressure!

#TheRideToTheRink #MentalPerformance #HockeyMindset #PressureIsAPrivilege #YouthHockey

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Transcript

Lee MJ Elias [0:08 - 0:44]: Skaters and goalies around the world. Welcome back to another edition of the Ride to the Rink. It's Lee and Mike with you today, and we got a good friend here. Coach Vinnie Maltz is with us. Coach Vinnie has worked with some of your favorite NHL athletes. He works with NHL teams in the mental performance space. And what we want him to talk to you directly about on your ride to the rink today most likely is how to deal with the pressure, the pressure of the game, the pressure of the tournament, the pressure in the car, the pressure before the game, after the all of the pressure. How do you deal with it? Vinnie, I'll hand it over to you. Talk to the kids a little bit about pressure and some of the things they can do to alleviate that pressure. 

Coach Vinny Malts [0:44 - 8:00]: Yeah, exactly. Well, first thing that kind of comes up is the pressure is a privilege. You know, I always. I kind of love that quote of how it is. And I think that's the one thing that any player, you know, performer should recognize is the very fact that you feel pressure is. That's unique in and of itself that you get to participate in a game and you feel this feeling of pressure. The reason why that's so unique is because as you get older, from a developmental standpoint, that is going to help you so much in life. And I tell guys all the time of like, you know, any player that's listening, as you get older, what you recognize is one weekend of hockey is like one year of regular life, especially high pressure hockey. It's incredible how many emotional things go off and you're dealing with and you're figuring it out and you're adapting and changing up and recognizing it. So, you know, that's the first part is recognize that it's not going to be for much longer. Enjoy the process while it lasts, that you're going to feel this thing of pressure in a weekend playing a game. And, you know, enjoy that. Learn to enjoy that. Learn to appreciate it. It may not always feel good, but. But the recognition is, the first step is that we get to feel pressure. And when you get older, you're not. Once we all end up in men's league and when you end up in men's league, it's not the same anymore. You're going to miss what actually happens those days. So that's, you know, that's the first thing. You know, the other part, when you talk about the idea of pressure, of how to handle it. So most players, what they're dealing with is emotional pressure, right? It's what happens is I Get this idea in my mind of what's going to happen in the future. You know, what's happening right now. Why am I not in the power play? Why am I not a pk? Why am I not playing the first line? And so, you know, the first step that I always tell players or that we work on with them is to recognize your own narrative and your own story is your own story. So step one is being aware of, oh, I'm having this reaction about this situation of when I'm playing, but is somebody else having the same reaction? Is somebody else on the team? So you might be in the same position, third line, or, you know, fourth or fifth or, you know, deep pairing or a goalie or backup, and, you know, can you take it in your mind and go, you know what? I'm viewing it this way. Here's how I'm interpreting the information. Does somebody else view it differently? Is that a possibility? So that's the first thing, is that recognizing in your own mind is that you're creating a perspective, but then does somebody else have the same one? Is someone else seeing it the same way? And what we're trying to do there is you're trying to basically create the cracks of. It's all a story, it's all a narrative in our heads. And so when I see the idea of pressure, it's induced by your own mindset, it's your own idea, it's your own perspective. Whether it's ideas that have been fed to you by your family, by coaches, that you have around you, by social media that you've been watching, a lot of it does come from what you're interpreting, from outside information. And if you really stop and think about that, well, where did you get that idea from? Why do you think that pressure, that idea came to you? Where did it come from? Is that something that you think about or is that something you heard somebody else say? Is that something that somebody else is making you think about? And if you could take yourself to that place and really recognize, is this something that I just hear from elsewhere? And most of you that are listening, you'll think about it. And you might even be sitting in the car right now looking at your parent, or you might even, like, think about a teammate right now that, like, yeah, you know what? I heard them talking about this team that we're going to play today, and they're all freaked out about how good they are. If you start to really pay attention, you're going to start to recognize that a lot of times it is Coming from an outside source, it's not coming from what you're naturally thinking about. So that's one of the first steps that I encourage a lot of the players to make sure is that you're recognizing that a lot of these ideas of quote unquote, what pressure is, is that coming from what you believe and what you think, or is that coming from an outside source, you know, from culture, you know, from other people around you that are infusing that into you? And then once you kind of recognize that that's going on, now it's your responsibility to recognize, okay, what are the triggers that are happening of when I hear that said or when I think of that idea, am I able to catch it in that moment? And so one exercise I'll give you guys that, you know, that I enjoy, that I think the listeners might be able to institute is, you know, they call it the ego role exercise. We use this with our players. So mine, as an example is Angry Alex. Right? Angry Alex. All I do is I ask a player, okay, what's your initial when you think about your emotion under pressure, what's the thing that gets to you? What's the thing that kind of grabs at you? That. What's the emotion that you feel initially? And so it might be frustrated or sad or whatever, but we'll use angry, right? So the player might say, I get angry. Okay, great. What's a letter? You know, what's a name that starts with the letter of the emotion? So if it's a angry. What's a name that starts with letter A that you can think of that just comes to mind? Okay, Alex. Great. So now you think of Angry Alex. That's the emotion that you feel, and that's the name that you just gave it. Well, now give it a color. What color do you see when you think of Angry Alex? Well, red. Great. So now when you think of Angry Alex? Red Image. What do you see as a image or character? What kind of comes to mind? Oh, like one of those fireball coming out of the hair emoji guy that kind of comes out with all this stuff. Okay, great. So now you have this image, this fireball emoji. Red. Angry Alex. Awesome. Now, what your job is, is what are the triggers of when Angry Alex comes out? Out. What are the things that are happening? Is it something that's happening in the game? Is it something that's happening when you're. You're in the car with your parents? Is it something that's happening from. You saw a teammate get Picked up for a select team or whatever it is, what are you noticing creates that image and creates that angry Alex comes out. And now what? Your job is to realize that that is just a part of your ego. It's just a part of you. We all have it. Every one of us on this call, right? Everyone that's here in the car listening, we all have it. So admit it, that you have it. But then as a tool, what's been great is I've had NHL players all the way down. There was Division 1, all the top players. And I only preface that because they laugh when they think about their angry Alex. When they're in the moment and they catch the trigger, they actually start laughing in those moments sometimes. Or they'll get in their heads and it'll say, daddy, man, telling me this stupid exercise. And that'll take them there as well. That'll take them to that place where it's a pattern interrupt. But the idea is that you own that. It's a part of you. It's your own perspective. But separate it and realize there's things that are triggering the pressure of the environment that's creating that emotion and take that and say, oh, that's just me. It's okay. I'm okay with who I am. And now I have an exercise that I'm going to use that's going to allow me to say, well, this is when it happens. Right? For me, as examples are with my kids, I know, hey, at the end of the day when I'm at low capacity and I'm tired, I have to be careful that when the kids are misbehaving with my wife and saying things that I don't snap on them and angry Alex comes out because they're upsetting Mommy, right? 

Lee MJ Elias [8:00 - 8:02]: Or I'm guilty of that sometimes, man. 

Coach Vinny Malts [8:02 - 8:27]: Yeah, exactly. Or, you know, one of the players, they're not listening about something. And, you know, I know that I've said this to them now multiple times, and I've talked to them about this a dozen times, and they still can't figure it out, right? So I know for myself that these are triggers that can happen, and I'm aware of it. And because I'm aware of those triggers, I'm able to balance it out and recognize and be prepared and ready for angry Alex to potentially come out. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:27 - 8:28]: Right? 

Coach Vinny Malts [8:28 - 9:04]: So those are things that, when you think about the idea of pressure that I hope that, you know, you align with and you understand that these are the realities, right? You have to understand that a lot of it is Coming from environmental of ideas that you've gotten. But then how do you interpret those ideas? And then if those ideas are really grabbing at you, here's a tool that you can use. Just recognize it's just. It's just normal. It's a. It's a narrative, it's a story. But what are you doing to recognize that? If you can just diffuse that story by recognizing you are who you are, you're a human being, you work on that, you can actually develop that muscle and get better at recognizing how to deal with pressure by utilizing that. Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:04 - 10:53]: I think it's also important. This is great stuff that kids listening. Your emotions are indicators. And I think that's something else that kids. You got to start to realize it's okay to feel whatever you're feeling. But they're usually like an antenna going up in your mind of, okay, hey, you're feeling something. So another tactic, right, Vinny, is acknowledge you're feeling something and maybe ask the question, hey, what emotion is this? Because I think when you're young kids, you don't always realize you're experiencing an emotion. You're in it. Right. And. And this doesn't just have to do with negative emotions like anger or scared or nervous. It's positive emotions, too. Excitement, elated, like recognizing what you're feeling. And then I always like to follow that up, Vinnie, with, what do I control in this situation? Right. So acknowledging, okay, I'm nervous, that's. That's a humongous first step, is just acknowledging that feeling, then asking the question, what do I control in this situation? So to your point about the parents talking about the big ranked game against the top team in the league and the outcome in the rankings, well, what do you control over that? The answer is usually nothing, not much. Just basically your effort, your mindset, and how you prepared for the game. And if you can stay in control of those things, that helps to. To, you know, move some of those emotions or quell those. But you're absolutely right. Well, I call them saboteurs. Right, in your mind, right, that you have the negative thoughts. They're super duper normal kids. We all have them. Any adult who tells you that they don't is lying. All right? We all have them. And then there's also a sage voice, too, which is what many you're talking about. Like, oh, let's think about this maybe a little more rationally. You said they laugh at their negative voices, right? Like that's. That's what control over this looks like. 

Coach Vinny Malts [10:53 - 10:53]: Exactly. 

Lee MJ Elias [10:53 - 11:29]: And then I'll also say one more time, too. Kids, you gotta understand this. You can work on this. You'll never really master it to a point that it doesn't happen. Right. You have to continually work on it throughout your life. And that's. That's not to get grandiose, kids. That's part of the grand journey. You'll find about that later on. All right, But. But at your young ages, it's about just identifying those feelings, asking those questions, maybe even making that alter ego, the angry Alex. I love that right. Of. You're not going to control me today. Right. So those are some of the things Mike, I. I took the whole time. Do you have anything that you want to add to this? 

Mike Bonelli [11:29 - 12:36]: No, I think this is just the first step. If you're listening to this, to, like, a journey of really thinking about how you can control all these variables that you really can't control, you know, so just. Just learn how to. It's such a great tool to leave this, like, little seminar here and take it with you and then go research, go to Coach Vinny's, you know, social media sites, see all of the great content that's out there, and then just keep building on that content and building on finding your way, you know, to overcome a lot of this anxiety and fear and pressure and just turning into a place where, you know, it's not pressure and it's fun and. And. And Vinnie, you know, you. You spoke a little bit about, you know, the privilege of pressure. I love that. Because so many kids don't. Don't get an opportunity, they. To be in situations where it actually might mean something to them, their family, their coaches, their peers. So it's really cool. Embrace that. Learn how to deal with it. And again, you're. You're young enough to research it and then build on it and just be, you know, the best person you can be in this environment. 

Coach Vinny Malts [12:37 - 12:40]: Yeah, well, make it your own. Make it your own. Exactly. 

Lee MJ Elias [12:40 - 13:04]: We'll end this one on what we'll call it step zero. Gratitude. Be thankful that you get to play the greatest game in the world. We all believe that to be true. All right, kids, that's gonna do it for this episode of the Ride to the Rink. No matter where you're at on this journey, just know we believe in you. You should, too. Okay? You got to believe in yourselves just as much as we do. Enjoy every second you get to play this game. Have a wonderful time. We'll see in the next ride of the rink.