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The equipment managers at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa might have a look of confusion at training camp next week when they unload Braden Holtbys World Cup of Hockey goaltending gear and come across a bag with a fold-up acoustic guitar.Expected to challenge Carey Price for the No. 1 job for Team Canada, the Washington Capitals reigning Vezina Trophy winner has overcome disappointment and bouts of self-doubt to become one of the worlds top stoppers.More than anything, Holtby credits his mental preparation, which includes a game-day jam session on a portable guitar, for his meteoric rise to hockey stardom.I knew fairly early in junior that guys were going to be better than I was, Holtby said. I had to find a different area where I could push myself to the next level, and that was the mental game.Not everyone wants to put in that kind of work and not everyone wants to buy into it because its one of those things where youre kind of the weird guy when youre doing mental exercises. Youve got to get over that hump, and thats 90 percent of the reason Im here today.Holtby acknowledged that one of his greatest disappointments in hockey came as an 18-year-old when, despite being taken by the Capitals in the fourth round of the 2008 NHL draft, he was not one of the eight goalies invited to Team Canadas camp for the 2009 World Junior championships.Growing up, that was a huge goal of mine, to play on the World Junior team, Holtby said. It took me quite a while to get over that. Obviously, there was a little bitterness. It was one of those negatives I was able to turn into a positive. It was one of those points in your career where you can either use it as negative energy or put it toward proving people wrong.Holtby spent parts of four seasons with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, trapped behind Capitals goalies Semyon Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth and Tomas Vokoun, before bursting onto the NHL scene during the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs when he helped the Capitals upset the defending Stanley Cup-champion Boston Bruins in the first round.Holtby has been Washingtons No. 1 ever since and last season he tied Martin Brodeurs NHL single-season record with 48 victories, making him an overwhelming choice for the Vezina Trophy and giving him a leg up on Price when the World Cup begins on Sept. 17, one day after Holtbys 27th birthday.Im sure the coaches have a plan in place, said Holtby, a native of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. For me, its a huge honor just to be named. You look at the roster and youre pretty amazed youll be able to play alongside those guys. It will be a lot of fun and it will be amazing to see the atmosphere in Toronto, being on home soil. It will be pretty cool.Whether hes strumming along to the folksy rock of Bob Dylan, the island sounds of Jack Johnson or the indie rock of The Black Keys -- He can play awesome, and hes actually got a really good voice too, said Capitals backup goaltender?Philipp Grubauer?-- Holtby reintroduced music to his busy game-day routine last season.When youre a young guy coming in, you dont really do those things, he said, noting he taught himself guitar as a teenager. You try to blend in as opposed to stand out.Holtby said his affection for music was passed down from his grandparents, who were musicians, and his mother, Tami, who was the lead singer of Canadian country band Tami Hunter and Walkin After Midnight in the late 1980s and early 1990s.It kind of calms me down and calms everyone else around me, Holtby said. Game days can be pretty stressful and if you liven things up a bit and make it fresh, its better than sitting there by yourself waiting for the game.For a typical 7 p.m. game, Holtby will begin his preparations at 5:30 with a quiet 10-minute meditation, followed by hand-eye exercises in which he tosses a rubber ball against a wall. When the clock strikes 6, Holtby finds a place in the arena, often behind the players bench or in the stands behind the net, rests his chin on his goalie stick, and begins darting his eyes throughout the arena.Hes looking for things to focus on, said Capitals goaltending guru Mitch Korn, who coached six-time Vezina Trophy winner Dominik Hasek when he played for the Buffalo Sabres. Pekka Rinne would do the same thing in Nashville, but hed sit in his locker stall and find the O in a nameplate, then find an A. Like another player warms up his body, Braden warms up his eyes.Holtbys unorthodox eye exercises take place just before the arena doors open to the public, but he said the arena crew at Madison Square Garden seems to have caught on.At MSG they play some weird music, Holtby said. I dont know if its from the Muppets or what, but I think they wait to test their stereo system until Im out there.Moments before the puck is dropped, Holtby will rock to the rhythm of the national anthem, spray water on his thick mane, kiss the names of his children on his mask, then buckle up for a 60-minute ride.When he allows a goal, Holtby will break into another routine. Leaning against his crossbar, hell squirt water into the air and follow each droplet as it descends in front of his face.It started as an eye trick, Holtby said of the post-goal routine he began in junior hockey under the direction of sports psychologist John Stevenson. Sometimes when youre feeling a little lost, your vision starts to shake a bit when youre trying to focus for too long on the puck.One of our tricks is to zone in on something really small and focus on that, and it kind of brings your eyesight back into focus. It reminds me to focus on the next shot.Korn, who has seen Holtby win more games in consecutive seasons (89) than any NHL goalie since Brodeur (92 wins in 2007 and 2008), said he was so concerned with Holtbys idiosyncrasies that it was one of the first discussions they had when Korn joined Barry Trotzs staff in Washington two summers ago.I asked him about the routine and whether it was too much and whether it wore him out, Korn said. His response was, I control my routine. My routine does not control me. It was the right answer and I never brought it up again.Holtby said that while he would like to lead Canada to a gold medal in the World Cup, his primary focus is preparing himself for the 2016-17 season, where the Capitals will try to build on last years 120-point season and finally reach the Eastern Conference finals.My main goal through all of his is to make sure Im prepared for the season, he said. Thats No. 1 and itll never change from No. 1. I get to spent a month practicing and playing with the best players in the world and if I can use that to my advantage to be a little sharper for the start of the season, that would be a good thing. Vans Old Skool Sale . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. Vans Shoes Sale . Goals from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller extended Bayerns unbeaten run to a record 37 matches. "This record is incredible," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. http://www.vansshoesclearancesale.com/vans-sk8-hi-clearance/sk8-hi-reissue.html .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Vans Old Skool Cheap . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. Vans Old Skool Clearance . With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The judge who has presided over Jerry Sanduskys criminal case for five years issued a sternly worded order on Friday removing himself from the former Penn State assistant coachs appeal.Judge John Cleland said he was taking himself off the case because Sanduskys lawyers have raised objections to Clelands role in a December 2011 meeting in a hotel the night before Sandusky waived a preliminary hearing.The defendants attorneys have impugned the competence and integrity of essentially everyone associated with the grand jurys investigation into the defendants conduct, the defendants trial and conviction, and these post-conviction proceedings, Cleland wrote . Now they have chosen to impugn the integrity of the court itself.Cleland said the accusations against attorneys, judges, jurors, investigators and victims were outside the bounds of the legal profession and should be reviewed by the state board that handles matters of lawyer discipline. Sanduskys appeals lawyer, Al Lindsay, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the state attorney generals office.Sandusky, 72, was convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and is serving up to 60 years in prison. He has previously lost a round of appeals to the state Superior and Supreme courts and is currently seeking a new trial under the states Post-Conviction Relief Act, which is limited to claims of constitutional violations, newly discovered evidence or ineffective counsel. His appeal involves all three types of claims.At issue is a meeting held at the Hilton Garden Inn in State College the night of Dec. 12, 2011. It was attended by Cleland, Sandusky lawyer Joe Amendola, state prosecutors Joe McGettigan and Jonelle Eshbach, and District Judge Robert Scott, who had been appointed to preside at the preliminary hearing sccheduled for the next day.ddddddddddddIn an account he issued in May , Cleland wrote that his appointment to handle the matter as a common pleas court judge, made after all the Centre County jurists had recused themselves, included administrative oversight for the site of the preliminary hearing. He said he was having dinner in the hotel when Amendola and prosecutors asked to meet with him and Scott.It surprised him, Cleland wrote, to find out the topic was an agreement to waive the hearing if prosecutors would not seek higher bail if more charges were filed. Sandusky did waive the hearing, which he now argues was a mistake because his lawyers lost a chance to pin down witnesses and learn details about their version of events.Cleland said neither he nor Scott had any role in negotiating the agreement made between Amendola and the prosecutors. Amendola has recently testified that he proposed the deal to McGettigan to keep his client out of jail and that it was explained to Cleland and Scott rather than submitted to them.Cleland pointedly objected to a characterization by Sanduskys lawyers in a recent filing that it was an off-the-record night time meeting and that Sanduskys absence from the hotel conference violated his due process rights.Counsel has argued not only that the meeting between the lawyers and Judge Scott and me was unethical, but has also cast it in tones that would lead one to believe it was somehow sinister, Cleland wrote.He also said, in a footnote, that hes studied the 34 issues Sandusky has raised and concluded that no grounds raised in the petition merit relief.His order asks court officials to request another judge be appointed to replace him. ' ' '