Nashville, Tenn. – To get his career back on track, David Aebischer went deep.
No, he did not seek a psychiatrist or spend all night listening to Bob Dylan. What the Avalanche goaltender and pride of Fribourg, Switzerland, did was adjust his positioning in the net. For him, that meant playing a few inches deeper to the goal line.
He quit trying to make the first move on the puck and let it come to him instead. The simple change in technique and philosophy helped Aebischer set an Avalanche franchise goalie record of nine victories in January.
“I think it’s a fine line between challenging too much and not challenging enough,” Aebischer said after win No. 9, a 3-2 victory Tuesday night over the Minnesota Wild. “Most of the games I played this month, I was good at that. Maybe one or two games I came out a little bit too far. But other than that, it was much better on my part.”
Earlier this season Aebischer got into trouble by trying to outguess shooters, usually by coming out of the net trying to anticipate their shots. That left him vulnerable to being out of position on rebounds.
“With the way guys deflect the puck so well now, if you try to get the puck and he tips it, all of a sudden it’s by you,” Aebischer said. “There were a couple of good deflections (Tuesday night) where they hit my shoulder or hit my pad just because of good positioning.”
Aebischer sought the advice of longtime goalie coach Francois Allaire when things were at their worst. Allaire serves as a consultant to Aebischer and worked with Patrick Roy.
When Aebischer was a frequent healthy scratch, watching Peter Budaj and Vitaly Kolesnik start ahead of him, he refused to give up. With the help of Allaire, along with the Avalanche coaching staff, Aebischer worked hard to regain a technique that would restore his confidence.
Starting with a Jan. 3 victory over Nashville, Aebischer reeled off eight consecutive wins and enters February with confidence and maturity gained during the hard times.
When things were going badly, Aebischer made a point to shut out criticism in the media. He is tough on himself and did not want to read the words of others bashing him, too.
“I never read much,” Aebischer said. “I read, but not the papers. I might read USA Today because they don’t write about me. But that’s about it.”
Told the local papers write nice things about him on occasion, Aebischer smiled. “Tell me when,” he said.
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.
