Salim Valji

Oct 28, 2026, 08:00 AM ET

CALGARY -- It has become almost routine.

Calgary Flames goalie Devin Cooley turns in a stellar performance, earns a live postgame interview and turns what's normally a cliché-ridden exercise into a soliloquy on modern sports psychology as seemingly the entire sports world tunes in.

Cooley's gems of late? First there was this on Oct. 18:

"The problem with me is that I have a lot of fun playing, but when I start having too much fun, it [takes] me from an unconscious goalie to a conscious goalie, and my conscious brain is really bad at playing goalie. I have to let my unconscious brain do the work, because it reacts a lot quicker."

And then a week later:

"I feel completely in control of my mind ... whatever my mind throws my way, I feel I'm in a good state to handle. ...Even when I go home. I go home, and I'm not really thinking about much. I'm just reading with my rabbit and not thinking about much."

Cooley was named the NHL's second star of the week ending Oct.…