Michael Reyderman was a center and, at times, wing, for the Northbrook Bluehawks for his first three years as a hockey player: one mite and two squirt seasons. As a second-year squirt, he had a lot of penalties, seemingly every game, mostly for roughing or checking.

            Reyderman was a grinder, a playmaker who enjoyed blocking shots. And he liked the position of goalie, especially for the gear and not having to do skating drills in practice. “I realized, if I’m much better at (blocking shots) than I am as a player, I might as well try out (for) goalie,” he said.

            So, Reyderman had a 30-minute sit-down conversation with his dad, Alex, who was skeptical. “He didn’t know much about hockey and didn’t think it’d be my kind of thing,” Reyderman said of their family conversation. “He thought I’d want to switch back to forward after one season and then we’d have bought all the (goaltending) gear for nothing.

            “But after my first season, I knew I was meant to play goalie.”

            Ben Stein was in his first season coach, as the assistant coach for Reyderman’s first-year peewee season. He would take slapshots on Reyderman from the hashmarks. Reyderman would stop most and always told Stein to shoot harder.

“That first year (in goal) was a lot more fun, getting to play the whole game as opposed to a shift, then sitting,” he said. “I continually improved and saw the improvements, which sold the position to me. Every time I stepped on the ice, I felt like I was getting at least 1 percent better.” 

Gymnastics from his youth also helped, he said.

Halfway through that peewee season, Reyderman knew he found his home, protecting the goal, especially since the position and the play “just kept getting more and more enjoyable every game,” he said. “That’s when I knew there was no way I’d be switching back to a forward position.”

Reyderman said “every now and then” he wonders what might have been if he had not switched positions. He’d probably be playing on the JV team, he said.

Instead, Reyderman is the star goalie for Glenbrook North, the workhorse of the Scholastic Hockey League (SHL), where he played 29 of 30 regular season games. He finished with a 2.02 goals-against average and .92 save percentage.

Reyderman started 29 of 30 games, the most of all SHL goalies. He was named the SHL Goalie of the Year, while Glenbrook South center Zack Freimuth was named Player of the Year. Freimuth said Reyderman is “a heck of a goaltender” and the league honor “was well deserved.”

“(He is) very quick side to side and makes it hard on us shooters,” Freimuth said. “He’s a huge component of GBN’s success and he’s only a junior.”

Stevenson head coach Dan Wood tagged Reyderman as, “one of the best in the state.”

“He is a massive part of their team,” Wood said. “They play really solid defense and he is a goalie who can make game-changing saves at any time.

“He (started) 29 regular season games in the SHL, meaning, he played against the toughest teams … and he still has incredible stats.”

Reyderman is one of the main reasons Glenbrook North finished the regular season with a 21-9 record. The Spartans, anchored on Reyderman, won their SHL quarterfinal round series, sweeping Saint Viator in the best-of-three. And Reyderman only allowed one goal in each of the wins over the Lions.

“He’s a competitor and loves the game,” York head coach Matt Boeing said of Reyderman. “Having him at the SHL All-Star Game (in early January), he’s a great teammate and the boys love playing for him.”

The 17-year-old Reyderman, who lives in Northbrook, said he was “very, very happy” to earn the Goaltender of the Year award – something he was motivated to receive after last season, which he said, “wasn’t really the best … it didn’t go the way I wanted it to go.” So, he spent last spring and summer focused on improving his play. He was driven to be, “the best in the league.”

“Last season, I was letting up three, four, five goals a game and I really hated that. It felt horrible to be in that position every game. I told myself I never wanted to be in that position again,” he said. “I was working out every day (during the off-season), was researching (ways to improve as a goalie) and was on the ice more over the summer. I took every moment of ice time that I could. I never just sat around and watched other people play. I tried to get as much net time as possible.”

He spent countless hours every week at a nearby LA Fitness with a big leg and glute approach, plus a lot of hip mobility because last season he had problems with his hips; they would lock up a lot, he said, “so I tried to get more mobile this year,”

His training for this season also included the team’s dryland training at Wood Oaks Green Park, including running up and down its sled hill 15 or 20 times per session.

“I’m able to play for longer durations without my legs giving out,” he said. “I feel more mobile and explosive this year.”

Reyderman also scoured YouTube for tips to improve his game. He watched as many videos as possible from a variety of goalie coaches around the world, plus lacrosse goalie videos. And the more he played lacrosse, the more it paid off on the ice, he said, including last spring as a lacrosse goalie.

“I’ve built off of what I thought would work for my game because I am a smaller goalie,” said the 5-foot-8 Reyderman. “Many videos talk about goalies who are 6’1, 6’2, maybe 6’3. So, I had to find a variety of YouTube videos.”

Including many from Elite Goalies, a goalie training and development program that trains goalies from amateur to pro. The program is led by former NHL goalie coach Mike Valley, current pro coach Josh Robinson and Hockey Canada coach Pasco Valana.

Reyderman praised the tips he heard from Valana.

“He was a shorter goalie and talked a lot about controlling your movements, trying to appear as big as possible even when you’re not, and more. That’s what I really worked on over the summer,” he said.

When Valana heard about Reyderman, Valana said was “humbled” by Reyderman’s reaction to his videos. “It’s always great to see the impact, even in a small way for (a) goaltender,” Valana said. “I am honored that he felt that he was able to benefit from some videos I was involved in.”

Valana offered to send his goaltending book to Reyderman, along with his second book, due out in April.

Reyderman played 1,462 minutes during the 29 SHL regular season games, which was 150 more minutes than the second-most goalie, Eli Kamins of Glenbrook South.

Reyderman had three shutouts, only one behind Charlie Trapp’s league lead (4) for Loyola Gold.

“Our season went well, especially compared to last year. But there definitely were a lot of games that we’d like back, including some of the GBS games and the loss to Fenwick,” Reyderman said. “We’ve beaten all the teams in the league, so we know we can beat everyone. We’re not scared to play any team; we know everyone is beatable. Everyone is human this season.

“Personally, I had a lot of ups and downs. There were times when I had a really (long) win streak and felt confident in my game. But there also was a span when I lost three or four games back-to-back. It’s all mental, much more than physical, and I can attest to that. Games that I feel mentally strong, we end up winning. When I don’t feel too confident in myself, we’d lose more often.”

Reyderman said the first 5 or 10 minutes of the game are most important to him. If he’s solid during that stretch, he knows he will “feel bigger, pucks will look slower, and I can read the game faster.” Otherwise, he may overthink the game, and that’s the worst thing a goalie can do.”

Reyderman’s highlight this season was intertwined into the best and biggest game of the season for the Spartans. GBN came-from-behind to defeat GBS last November on the night before Thanksgiving – the biggest game of the season for both schools.

“I didn’t have a strong first two periods (against South) and we all were really down in the locker room (after two periods), obviously,” as South was winning 4-1, he said.

Three Spartans approached a dejected Reyderman in the locker room, including star forward Ryan Sandler. They told him: “This isn’t on you; it’s on us. If you hold us down, we’ll hold you down.”

Sure enough, the Spartans scored three in the third to force overtime.

Neither team scored in overtime, and Sandler scored the game-winner on the shootout as the Spartans celebrated their 5-4 victory.

“That is my favorite hockey memory, by far,” Reyderman said.

“We knew those first two periods weren’t how we were supposed to play. The team and I knew. We knew we had to score on them (in the third) and knew we could. Plus, if I had one big save early in the period that I then would be set, my team would trust me and I would trust my team – and that’s exactly what happened.” South came in on an odd-man break; Reyderman stopped a South shot and didn’t allow a rebound.

Minutes later, North scored.

The comeback had started.

“At that moment, I knew it was our game, that we were meant to win that game,” Reyderman said. “I like the fact that (the first two periods) didn’t exactly go my way, but we were able to bounce back, overcome adversity and win. That’s what GBN Hockey is all about.”

Now it’s SHL playoffs for the Spartans, with Loyola Gold in their way to the one-game Final. The semifinal kicked off Monday, February 12 with Loyola winning a 1-0 game in double overtime (the longest game in SHL history!), in Lincolnwood. Game two of the best-of-three series is Wednesday, February 14, starting at 7:20 p.m.

The Spartans face Lake Forest Blue in their first state tournament game on Friday, February 16, starting at 6:35 p.m., in Northbrook.

“I don’t think we’ve played to our true potential other than three or four games this season. When we get to that level, which we can, there’s not a team that can beat us. We’re playing at about 95 percent. When we hit 100 percent, I think we’ll be an unstoppable team,” Reyderman said.