HOW A ‘WHO CARES’ ATTITUDE HAS HELPED COOLEY THRIVE
Dec 18, 2023
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @Mossbrooks48
A team, or in this case, a player’s record, doesn’t always tell the full story.
Case and point: Amerks goaltender Devin Cooley.
The first-year Amerk and fourth-year pro owns a 5-2-2 mark through nine games this season, but struggled early on. Cooley opened the year with three October wins, but in some cases benefited from the team in front of him outscoring their problems. Then November came and Cooley hit a wall, surrendering six goals in back-to-back starts.
“I was just putting too much pressure on myself at the beginning of the year,” said Cooley. “I wanted to succeed so bad that I expected to dominate. When that wasn’t happening, I just felt like I went into a downward spiral.”
That spiral, along with the reemergence of veteran netminder Dustin Tokarski from injury, forced Cooley into a familiar role: the backup goaltender. It’s a position Cooley anchored last season in Milwaukee while backing up Nashville Predators’ first-round draft pick, Yaroslav Askarov, and again the year prior for Connor Ingram.
Cooley knew he needed to tweak something. His spiral wasn’t something he welcomed, but it also wasn’t foreign.
“I was getting really frustrated and letting myself get distracted. When that happens, I’ve kind of gone through a funk at every single level and it seems like every single year. I know how I perform in practice, and I know how I work, so I just felt like at some point things were going to turn around.”
He was right.
Cooley has strung together three strong starts in goal, including two pivotal games on Rochester’s recent road trip to earn the team three out of a possible four points, making 75 saves in the process. Over his last three starts, Cooley has gone 2-0-1, registering 107 saves while only allowing seven goals.
“I knew he was going to find his game because he works too hard,” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert. “Players that invest that amount of time on the ice, but also off the ice into their game eventually get it in a good spot.”
“I knew if I just got back to the basics and work as hard as I possibly can that things are going to correct themselves eventually. The last few games I’ve came in and just treated games like practice and it’s reflected on the ice which is nice.”
Cooley has gotten better as the season’s gone on, but so, too, has the defense in front of him.
“There were times earlier in the season where he may have been fighting it a little bit,” said Appert. “Part of that was us not being good enough defensively as well.”
“I think every game I’m seeing a lot (of pucks),” laughed Cooley. “I think my average shots on goal is like 37-38, something like that.”
It wasn’t just shot volume but shot quality as well that was affecting Cooley. The mental side of the game was taking its toll in those moments.
“I was letting myself get frustrated by that and the things that I couldn’t control. I’d be like ‘oh I can’t believe it, backdoor,’ or ‘oh, another breakaway.’ I think the last few games I’ve changed that mindset.”
Cooley has seen a shift in his mentality and focus over his last three games that’s earned him the starts and praises he’s received.
“I just decided to say to myself ‘who cares?’ My job is to stop the puck. That’s why I’m here. I’m here to make these saves and I can’t worry about anything else. Who cares what was going on? Who cares what was happening in front of me? Just stop every puck that I can. As soon as I switched that mindset and just stayed dialed in and focused, I started to feel a lot better.”
Last season was a career year for Cooley. He had his most games played (26), wins (15), lowest goals-against average (2.93) and highest save percentage (.906) of his AHL career.
His numbers may not currently line up with where he was a season ago, but guess what? Cooley has earned his team points in seven of his nine games played, so who cares?
The Amerks signed the Los Gatos, California, native for a reason. They believe in him, and now, Cooley believes in himself again.