Nic ⚡ on Nostr: Hey Nostr, I just wrote an article on goaltending that explores PoW vs. PoS systems, ...

Hey Nostr,

I just wrote an article on goaltending that explores PoW vs. PoS systems, node centralization, and pump & dump schemes.

Hockey might be a niche topic, but the philosophical concepts behind the Bitcoin timechain are alive and well in the sport.

I saw this as a great opportunity to help my students understand ideas that we, as Bitcoiners, grasp intuitively, but that often seem complex to the general public.

Hope you enjoy it. I’ll be editing the article over the next week and publishing it soon for all goalies to check out.

quoting nevent1q…uwk5

The Pump & Dump Development Cycle

In the finance world, a pump and dump scheme involves artificially inflating the value of a stock—often through hype and misinformation—only to cash out at its peak, leaving others holding the bag. Interestingly, we’re seeing a similar pattern emerge in modern goalie development.

Thanks to the attention economy and social media algorithms, these "pump and dump" trends now play out regularly in goalie training. Gimmicks skyrocket in popularity overnight, gain traction across the goalie community, and then fade into obscurity just as quickly.

It was only a few short years ago that goalie coaches, development companies, and even national programs swore by the medicine ball. This surge came after an old video of Mitch Korn—then the goalie coach for the Washington Capitals—resurfaced online and went viral across goalie-centric social media. Overnight, nearly every goalie training account was posting clips of goalies doing movement drills while holding a medicine ball. The widespread justification? A strong core leads to stronger structure.

What was most surprising was how dogmatic the med-ball promoters became. If anyone questioned—or even gently challenged—the validity of their sacred gimmick, the response was often overly defensive. Some of the young teenage goalies we coach would ask these influencers a simple question about the purpose of the med-ball, only to be met with comically over-the-top reactions.

Back then, using a med-ball in every drill was considered revolutionary. If you weren’t doing it, you were falling behind. Don’t believe it? Go find the biggest goalie pages on Instagram and scroll back to 2018—you’ll see that the majority of videos featured goalies gripping a med-ball mid-drill. But fast forward to 2020 and beyond, and the so-called revolution quietly disappears, fading into irrelevance as if it was never meaningful in the first place.

Not long after the med-ball craze came the rise of Swivel Vision goggles—goggles designed to restrict peripheral vision during training. Almost overnight, they took over the goalie-verse. Major goalie influencers flooded social media with videos of athletes doing drills while wearing the latest “revolutionary” gimmick. If you wanted to improve your visual connection to the puck, Swivel Vision was marketed as the magic fix. And of course, if you weren’t using them in your training, you were falling behind.

Call 1-800-BUY-PUMP now—don’t miss out!!!

Then came the dump. Swivel Vision goggles vanished. Many reading this may have never even heard of them—yet for about a year, it felt like every goalie on the planet had seen or worn a pair.

These gimmicks are just like junk stocks. Each new iteration gets hyped with bold claims and flashy, eye-catching videos, making them seem like the next “revolutionary” breakthrough in goalie development.

But here’s the catch: these gimmicks don’t actually make goalies better, they’re built on hype—not substance. It’s all smoke and mirrors.

The Similarities to Pump & Dumps:

Hype Without Substance: Just like penny stocks pumped with empty promises, these training tools are heavily promoted but rarely deliver real, lasting results.

Artificial Popularity: Gimmicks are designed to go viral—short, flashy clips of goalie drills create a false sense of value.

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): Young goalies—and their parents—start thinking, “If I’m not doing this, I’m falling behind.” That emotional pressure mirrors the psychology behind investor FOMO.

Dump and Move On: When the results don’t materialize and the hype fades, the gimmick vanishes—only to be replaced by the next “can’t-miss” trend.

Just as investors lose their hard-earned money, goalies lose something just as valuable: time. Every minute spent chasing the next flashy gimmick is time taken away from mastering the foundational skills that truly drive long-term development and game-day performance.

The Proof of Stake Illusion

At the core of the Pump & Dump Development Cycle is a shift in how goalies and parents perceives what counts as “valid” development.

In blockchain systems, there are two dominant models for verifying what’s real: Proof of Work and Proof of Stake.

Proof of Work is grounded in effort and computation. Reality is established through energy, time, and measurable output.

Proof of Stake, on the other hand, determines reality based on who holds the most stake—essentially, influence and authority, regardless of real output.

The hockey world has moved away from a Proof of Work model—where progress is built through proper consistent reps and effort of real technical details—and toward a Proof of Stake model, where reality is decided by the loudest voices and biggest audiences.

In a Proof of Stake system, truth is defined by the biggest "holders"—those with the most influence, likes, and retweets. The logic becomes circular: “Everyone’s doing this, so it must be true and work.”

This social validation feels comforting—but it’s hollow, it isn’t real. It prioritizes perception over performance, and popularity over true progress.

Proof of Work, by contrast, is harder, slower, and less glamorous. It’s applying proper Direction of Movement, understanding the Vertical Corridors, how to manipulate space, ect. It doesn’t go viral, but it works because it’s real.

The goalie coaching world is leaning dangerously toward a Proof of Stake model, where truth is decided by who has the loudest voice, the biggest follower count, or the most viral post—not by the actual development of goalies.

Certain goalie coaches and development companies act like staking pools. They band together, amplify each other’s content, and promote the latest gimmick as “the future.” It gains momentum not because it works—but because those with social capital say it does.

Meanwhile, the ones chasing real development—those grinding reps, analyzing video, building strong habits—are engaging in Proof of Work. Their progress may be slower, quieter, and less photogenic—but it’s real.

Young goalies, caught in the whirlwind of hype, often confuse popularity with effectiveness. Instead of trusting tangible progress—like rebound control, positioning, and reads—they look for quick fixes approved by the dominant “stakers.” This creates a feedback loop where what’s most seen becomes what’s most trusted, regardless of merit.

Beware of Node Centralisation

In blockchain systems, a node is a computer that participates in the network by validating transactions and maintaining the ledger. In a Proof of Stake (PoS) system, not all nodes are equal—some hold significantly more influence than others.

Unlike Proof of Work (PoW), where power is earned through energy and time, PoS blockchains assign validation power based on how much stake—usually in the form of crypto tokens—a node holds. The more stake a node has, the more say it gets in determining what counts as a valid transaction (i.e., what’s considered real or true on the ledger).

The largest nodes essentially become powerful gatekeepers of truth. They validate more transactions, earn more rewards, and in turn grow even larger—amplifying their influence over time.

This creates a feedback loop—big nodes get bigger and gradually dominate the network. While the system appears decentralized, in reality, a few major players control the decision-making process—essentially, they control the narrative.

In the goalie-verse, those dominant nodes are the influencers with the largest online followings. Their “stake” isn’t crypto—it’s likes, shares, and perceived authority. They win the attention economy not because their methods are proven, but because they’ve accumulated influence.

Their word becomes truth—not through results, but through visibility. The system tilts not toward quality, but toward whoever plays the popularity game best.

Proof of Stake systems are artificial. Proof of Work systems are real.

Constant Panic & Forking

Blockchain systems experience what are called forks—points of divergence that occur when there’s disagreement over the direction the network should take. The chain splits, and nodes must choose which version of the truth to follow.

There are two types of forks:

Soft forks, where changes are backward-compatible but still alter how the system operates.

Hard forks, where the split is permanent, and nodes must fully commit to one side or the other.

In the goalie-verse, forking happens when a coach abandons their development plan in response to external pressure—usually from a high-profile influencer or a sudden wave of hype claiming that a certain technique, tactic, or “flaw” urgently needs fixing.

Rather than staying the course and continuing to build on their goalie’s existing progress, some coaches hit the panic button:
“Henrik Lundqvist says there’s an RVH pandemic? Scrap everything—we’re switching to overlaps, starting now!”

That’s exactly what happened during last season’s playoffs. One of the biggest nodes in the goalie-verse—the King himself—declared an “RVH Pandemic,” and the ripple effect was immediate.

At the time, many minor hockey goalies had wrapped up their seasons and entered the off-season development phase. But regardless of what they were working on, once the “RVH Pandemic” was declared a national emergency, most goalie development companies on social media jumped ship and shifted their focus entirely to overlaps.

Suddenly, no one dared post videos of goalies working on RVH drills—it was radio silence.

This was the goalie coaching equivalent of a hard fork: an abrupt, sweeping shift in philosophy. Not driven by evidence or long-term trends, but triggered by a major node—in this case, a high-profile influencer—staking a public position.

But what’s the problem? If there’s a pandemic, shouldn’t it be addressed?

Loss of Continuity: Goalies lose momentum on what they were mastering. Instead of progressing, they’re constantly rebooting, never fully developing any one skill.

Confusion: When the “truth” shifts every few months, trust breaks down. Goalies start second-guessing their instincts and get stuck in a cycle of hesitation.

Influence Over Evidence: Just like in blockchain, too many forks fragment the system. Development stops being about what actually works—and starts revolving around what’s trending.

Good goaltending development is like a well-maintained blockchain: consistent, auditable, and grounded in real work. Coaches should absolutely stay open to evolution—but not at the expense of abandoning the layers of complexity they’ve spent months or even years building.

At some point, coaches have to ask themselves:

Are we evolving with purpose, or forking out of fear of being left behind?

Stability isn’t stagnation. It’s the foundation that allows real, long-term progress to take root.

Don’t Be The Bag Holder

In financial pump and dumps, someone always ends up as the exit liquidity—the person who buys in at the peak, just before the crash.

In goalie development, that’s the kid chasing every new fad, hoping for a shortcut. They’re not improving—they’re reacting. Constantly starting over. Never building anything real.

If you’re a goalie, a parent, or a coach, ask yourself:

Is your development plan built on Proof of Work—or are you just trusting the current “stakeholders” to define what’s real?

Because in the long run, only the real work compounds.

Nic ⚡ (nprofile…8nqq)