Jonas Hiller

Jonas Hiller is a goalie for the Anaheim Ducks.  He was born in Switzerland in 1982 and played for Davos of the Swiss Nationalliga A, one of the better European hockey leagues.  While Hiller was with Davos, the team won the Swiss national championship in 2002, 2005 and 2007.  In 2004 and 2006 they also won the Spengler Cup.

The Anaheim Ducks signed Hiller as a free agent in May 2007.  In his first game, the Ducks defeated the Kings 4-1.  Hiller allowed only one goal on 23 shots in a noteworthy debut.  The Ducks now felt that Hiller was ready to become the full time backup goalie to starter Jean-Sebastion Giguere.  During the 2007-08 regular season, Hiller appeared in 23 games and posted a 10-7 mark with one overtime loss.  He had a 2.06 GAA and a save percentage of .927.  He did not appear in the playoffs that season.

During the 2008-09 season, Hiller appeared in 46 games, posting a record of 23-15-1, with one shutout.  He had a GAA of 2.39 and a .919 save percentage in the regular season.

The Ducks finished 42-33-7 and were the 8^th seed in the Western Conference.  They faced the Sharks in San Jose in the opening round.  In game 1, despite his lack of NHL playoff experience, Hiller looked as cool as the other side of the pillow, making 35 saves and clinching a 2-0 shutout.  In game 2, Hiller again came up big, making 42 saves while a tough Ducks defense held their ground against a very good Sharks offense.  The series then shifted to Anaheim and the Sharks, behind two power play goals, beat the Ducks 4-3 in game 3.

In game 4, Hiller and the Ducks again came up big, with Hiller shutting out the Sharks 4-0 shutout and the Ducks offense hitting on all cylinders.  With a 3-1 series lead, the series returned to San Jose and the Sharks took full advantage of the home ice, beating the Ducks 3-2 in overtime.  It was a particularly tough loss for Anaheim, as they had scored 2 third period goals to force the game into overtime.

The Ducks closed out the series with a 4-1 win in Anaheim in game 6.  Hiller was again outstanding, stopping 36 shots, while the Ducks offense had three different scorers on the night.

The Ducks then took on the Red Wings in Detroit.  Although Hiller played well, Detroit took the first contest by a score of 3-2, with the winning goal bouncing off Hiller’s glove in the last minute of regulation.  In game 2, Hiller stopped a career-high 59 shots, but still gave up 3 goals to send the game into overtime, where the Ducks won on a rare goal by forward Todd Marchant.

Mental Training for Goalies, Grab an unfair advantage