In the latest episode of the InGoal Radio Podcast we catch up with Jean-Philippe Lamoureux as he prepared to head back to Austria with his young family for another season Red Bull Salzburg and his 10th season playing in Austria’s top professional league, the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga, where he is the reigning MVP after posting an eye-popping .946 save percentage last season. Lamoureux had immediate success in the ECHL and AHL after graduating from a standout career at the University of North Dakota in 2007-08, but left for Europe after just three seasons in North America and never looked back.

The only thing better than the story about why he left, which involves his boyhood idol Ed Belfour relaying how an NHL GM who signed him would probably never give him a chance simply because he is 5-foot-10, is the journey that has followed and experiences that helped him get keep getting better. The oldest of six siblings in a hockey family that includes US Olympic stars and gold-medal winning twin sisters Jocelyne and Monique, Lamoureux shares some of his lessons along the way, including early experiences with current Canucks goalie coach Ian Clark (“If he’s gonna carve me, i’ll give him the knife”), how early lessons on positioning and the recent emergence of box control have helped him thrive as a smaller goalie, the importance of visualization and flow state to his mental preparations, and a lot more. Lamoureux also touches on the goalie-themed children’s book his wife Kellie wrote (and a defensemen-themed follow up), and why he gives up half of his short offseason back home in the United States to coach other young goalies through private lessons and camps at JPL Goaltending, including an annual stop in Vegas. Lamoureux may not be the biggest goalie or a name everyone knows, but this interview is loaded with lessons that every goalie can benefit from.