Olivier Gauthier on San Diego

[fonziGG 1,071]

San Diego has been such a great city to be placed in during my development years. I really enjoyed playing for the Marlins these past 2 seasons. I hope I'm able to replicate my success here this season in wherever I do end up playing for the foreseeable future. Many people are talking about how I'm the best goalie in the VHLM but I don't let that type of noise get to me at all. I'm here to win games, I'm here to win a cup. I'm competitive and I want trophies. I don't care about my individual stats compared to my team's overall performance. Like yeah, reading my stats is nice but did we win the game? I could post a .987 but did we have a successful season? Those are the important things to me, overall.

 

We're first in the west, we're playing hard and we're a very tough team to defeat. These are things I'm proud we can achieve as a roster this season. Our forecheck is relentless and world-class in a way, due to our press. Reminds me of watching Liverpool in the premier league except, in hockey. We attack with menace, we're prepared to force teams into tight situations and make quick decisions. Whenever and if ever a team does break this press, I'm there to clean up the mess. This is my brand of hockey, and I can see that Prague is doing the same thing in the VHL, which excites me as it makes my job much easier as a goalie.

 

The coaching staff in San Diego are world-class. @Arce has been all over my training, making sure I'm getting individual practice before and after each team session. He's forcing me to think of every situation before it even arrives and honestly, that's the best type of coaching that you can ask for. I'd prefer to be prepared with a decision made already than having to make a decision. If you already know what you're going to do, and trust your teammates to be there no matter what, it makes me as the player feel more comfortable just making an action and knowing we're going to play it our right. The team is extremely well-coached to that point as if everything is well rehearsed in a way and we're in a play. It makes us hard to beat.

 

I feel ready to take the next step. I'm completely prepared for next season and while I know that, I'm still extremely focused on finishing this season with a trophy with San Diego. I'm focused for the playoffs, I'm prepared for anything to go our way. I expect us to go in hard for a playoff push. The players we have are all already prepared to go into a playoff series and are totally prepared for what could come. I'm excited and I'm mentally prepared to face anyone. I know we have the type of team to beat anyone as well. Time for us Marlins to prove ourselves.