Samuel Montembeault knows he’s going to have the busiest season of his career in front of the Canadiens’ goal. The goalie is taking every means possible to refine the smallest details of his game, even resorting to a perceptual-cognitive training technique. What do you eat in winter? Don’t panic, we’ll explain it to you…

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At the end of the Sun Life Pro-Am at the Videotron Center, Montembeault discussed the upcoming season with journalists and mentioned in particular that he had been working with “someone in Trois-Rivières for my eyes” in recent months.

This person turns out to be Doctor Philippe Croisetière from the Projet Hémisphère clinic, a chiropractor with expertise in neurology.

“We worked on balance, paying attention to internal GPS to better locate me on the ice. For example, we work a lot on balance with our eyes closed. It’s like a machine that turns in all directions and you have to be able to aim at targets without getting dizzy. I think it helped me a lot,” Montembeault described in his own way.

Sharpen reflexes

Hats off to Montembeault for his explanation, but far be it from him to swap his leggings for a lab coat. There’s nothing like a call to the doctor to try and see things more clearly.

“We want to make sure your nervous system is optimized, and when we talk about the nervous system, we’re talking about everything that influences decision-making,” summarized Mr. Croisetière, who has worked with athletes such as former pitcher Eric Gagne.

“We want to sharpen our reflexes and stabilize our less stable areas. We want to make sure that what he sees is really there and that he can do what he asks his body to do in a very efficient way,” he added.

A good student

Photo credit: Photo agency QMI, MARIO BEAUREGARD

The chiropractor assures that Montembeault is a diligent student of this innovative process that serves the cause of athletes.

“The collaboration with Sam is very open and wants to understand everything. I explain to him during each exercise why we are doing it and why I want to stimulate him. We are seeing big changes in the characteristics we have identified in him and I hope that this will also be reflected on the ice. “What we have seen is extremely encouraging,” noted Mr Croisetière.

The latter cited the visual depth field as an example, which can sometimes lead to perceptual errors in athletes.

“We often observe that athletes start to compensate with their more dominant eye at a certain depth. The other eye takes in less information and has a harder time perceiving depth effects. You may think someone is two and a half metres away from you, but in reality they are three metres away. In everyday life this is absolutely true, but for an elite athlete like a goalkeeper waiting for a shot it makes a big difference,” he noted.

The small details

With the clear number one spot and a three-year contract in his pocket, the goalkeeper is obviously using every tactic imaginable to help him in his search.

“It’s important to look for the little details, the split second that can help me,” he said.

“I really want to be consistent and give the team a chance to win every game. Even if I’m number one, that’s quickly lost. I always want to do my best,” he continued.

The D^R Croisetière talks about brain training with objective data, a new method for Montembeault, who is looking for every advantage to protect the cage behind a young team.

“It’s very effective to train, but it’s even more effective to do the exercises that are tailored to you. You can do squats all season and imagine that they will translate to the ice, but now we have a lot more knowledge,” concluded the man who worked with the Habs’ masked man.

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