Where does Jonathan Bernier go from here?
Toronto goaltender’s struggles are well documented, however, sports psychologist believes there’s time to turn things around
He has lost the confidence of his coach. He has lost the confidence of the fans. He has, perhaps, even lost confidence in himself.
The question now is: What’s next for Jonathan Bernier?
“The easy thing to say is: ‘What he needs to do is win a game,’ ” says former goalie Marc Denis, now a broadcaster with RDS. “Then, everything is forgotten and he can move on. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
“As soon as you start questioning yourself, there’s no margin for error. When you’re a goalie, you’re done. You’re basically cooked when doubt creeps in. It’s too late. Doubt has crept into the coach’s mindset. Pretty sure it’s trickled down to playing mind games with him.”
It has all gone downhill quickly for Bernier, the only player remaining from last year’s squad who has yet to get out of the funk from that distaste- ful season.
He hasn’t won a game all season, and has ceded the No. 1 job in the Maple Leafs’ net to James Reimer and watched as third-stringer Garret Sparks got a shutout in his first game in the NHL.
“If I’m Jonathan Bernier, I restructure my thoughts,” said Paul Dennis, a lecturer in sports psychology with the University of Toronto. “It’s on me to prove to the organization, my teammates and the fans that I’m not who they’re alleging me to be. I’m going to prove them all wrong. I’m going to stay long after practice and work on my technique, spend a lot of time with my goalie coach.
“I’m going to watch video of when I was on my game, replay it over and over again on my mind, to help build up my confidence. And, if I’m Jonathan, I’m going to view everything that’s happened to me as a challenge, not as a threat to my career.”
Bernier would seem to be the third- stringer now. Sparks will start on Wednesday in Winnipeg if Reimer is unready to play.
Bernier’s numbers are terrible: 08-1, with an .888 save percentage and a 3.28 goals-against average. What might have made matters worse, at least to both Denis and Dennis, is that coach Mike Babcock called out Bernier publicly.
“I don’t think it’s a physical thing at all,” Babcock said Monday. “You’ve got to help the guy fix it. But at what expense? You can go with him every night, it’s easy. But is that the right thing to do? I think we did quite a bit of that.”
That was Babcock being Babcock: blunt. He probably said the same, or worse, to Bernier in a one-on-one. But going public won’t help, said Denis.
“I do believe things get settled internally much better than they do in public,” he said. “Usually things get settled faster, quicker, more efficiently when it’s done within the four walls of the dressing room or coach’s office.”
And on the sports psychology side: “It takes shaken confidence and makes it worse,” Dennis said. “He has a frequent reminder of how little faith the organization has in him.”
Denis, who went through a downward spiral of shaken confidence that doomed his career, believes the next few weeks are critical for Bernier.
“I couldn’t stop a beach volleyball,” said Denis. “That was in Tampa. Took me a long time to get back from that, almost two full seasons to get the confidence back. Then it was too late for me, my career was over.”
Denis believes today’s goalies understand just how replaceable they are, at least for short-term fixes. In a way, what Sparks did in a fantastic debut is just the continuation of what other goalies around the league have done, such as Mike Condon in Montreal or Andrew Hammond in Ottawa.
“There are a lot of good goalies,” said Denis. “Every single goalie in the American Hockey League could come up and pitch a shutout tomorrow. The challenge nowadays is to be consistent, do it over and over again, be a No. 1 goalie for years. That’s tougher to do.
“Coaches have a tendency of asking the question: ‘What have you done for me lately?’ It’s not like it used to be. It’s not: You’re my No. 1 goalie set on Game 1 and will be there at Game 82.
“Now it’s: ‘You’re the No. 1 goalie tonight. By the end of the night, if you’re not my No. 1 goalie, we’ll play somebody else tomorrow.’ Coaches and management have that mentality because there are so many good goalies.”
As a sports psychologist, Dennis believe Bernier must stay positive. He said Steve Thomas used the power of positive thinking to revive his career with the Maple Leafs.
“Steve relived those moments in his mind when he was the go-to guy, scoring game-winning goals,” Dennis said. “Once you live those moments in your mind, they’re more likely to come back to you.
“The alternative is, if you keep focusing on what you’re doing wrong, you get that downward spiral of despair. It’s really hard to get out of.”