Reaction and visual-perception training was an important factor in both goaltenders’ success, and Francouz described how immediately that preparation translated onto the ice. After specialised drills, he saw the game with remarkable clarity.
"I felt as though the game had slowed down by 20%. Everything seemed easier, and that’s how I measured it - I knew it was working," Francouz recalled of the effect of visual training, which was often followed by severe mental fatigue.
The Czech goaltender had been developing the foundations of his coordination and reflexes since childhood, when he would spend countless hours at home throwing and catching a ball. He viewed those informal training sessions as the building blocks of his later career.
"I had a small hockey stick at home. I would shoot a rubber ball against the wall and catch it. As a boy, I must have done it a million times, and I feel that it formed part of my future success," Francouz said in an interview with Cech.
Francouz’s later decision to ignore the warning signs from his own body ultimately brought his career to a premature end, even though he reached the very top with the Avalanche and celebrated winning the Stanley Cup.
It was only with the benefit of hindsight that he fully realised what he had demanded of his body.
"Looking back, I can’t understand at all what I was capable of doing to my body. I feel as though I was almost hypnotised at the time," the Czech goaltender admitted.
After winning the Cup, he was no longer willing to mask his problems with injections, while the lack of satisfactory answers about his health issues accelerated his decision to hang up his skates.
The full television version of this episode of the Big Pete documentary series will be available on CANAL+ Sport and the CANAL+ streaming service in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Poland, Myanmar, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania and Hungary, as well as on SuperSport in South Africa and Switzerland.