As many of you know, I work as a part-time assistant coach for the Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team. Today the Gusties clinched the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoff championship with a 5-1 win. The victory earns the team an automatic berth in the NCAA National Tournament.
Read the game story here.
The field for the seven-team National Tournament will be announced Monday.
Yes, it was 30 years ago today that the U.S. Olympic hockey team stunned the world by beating the Russians in Lake Placid on their way to Olympic gold. I was in college during that game and we watched with great interest the tape delayed replay of the historic game. Do remember what you were doing that day? Click on the video to hear what Olympic goalie Jim Craig remembers about that magical game.
Congratulations to Zane Gothberg for winning the Frank Brimsek Award as the top boy’s senior high school goalie in Minnesota.
The Thief River Falls, Minn. native attended the Carroll Goalie School during his youth hockey days. We are thrilled that we were able to play a role in helping him develop his goaltending skills.
He also participated in Minnesota Hockey’s Dave Peterson Advanced Goalie Camp. I serve as a director of this camp that is held every summer in Blaine. The skill development program features 50 of the state’s top boys and girls high school goalies.
Gothberg has committed to continuing his hockey career at the University of North Dakota, although he was likely spend a year or two in the USHL. He’ll be presented the award on March 14 in St. Paul.
The five finalists for the Minnesota High School Girls’ Goalie of the Year have been announced by Let’s Play Hockey newspaper. The winner will be announced Feb. 28.
The five senior goalies are Kallie Billadeau, Hopkins; Michelle Bonapace-Potvin, Rochester John Marshall/Lourdes; Caitie Morris, Edina; Kaitlyn Rolando, Tartan; Marah Sobczak, Stillwater Area.
This year, two of the five finalists attended the Carroll Goalie School during their high school days. I’ve enjoyed watching these girls improve their goaltending skills through the years. I am thrilled they are being honored for their achievements both on and off the ice. They both have impressive resumes. In fact, all five finalists have outstanding credentials. I plan to be at the banquet to see who is named the winner!
Last year, Laura Bellamy of Duluth was named the LPH Goalie of the Year. She trained with us during her high school days and it was great to see her at the awards banquet in St. Paul. Laura is now a first-year goalie at Harvard.
Laura Bellamy at Harvard. Photo courtesy: Gil Talbot Photography
A photo from the Carroll Goalie School was chosen for the front cover of the new Michigan Hockey online magazine. The publication cover all levels of hockey in the Michigan area. How cool is that?
Word about our popular program continues to spread throughout the upper midwest.
Great publicity like this will hopefully encourage more goalies from the Michigan area and other parts of the country to check out the Carroll Goalie School experience!
During the Holiday Break, I took a nine-day trip to Italy and Switzerland with the Gustavus Adolphus women’s hockey team. (I am one of the team’s assistant coaches.)
The team took sightseeing tours of Milan and Lake Como in Italy as well as Lugano, Chur, St. Moritz and Zurich in Switzerland. It was a wonderful opportunity to experience different countries and cultures.
Our team played three exhibition games including one against the Swiss National Team, which will compete in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. The team also played a game at an outdoor rink located in the middle of the Swiss Alps. It was quite the setting!
To give you an idea of what the trip was like, I put together a little video blog. Click on the arrow to watch.
We are busy finalizing plans for our 16th season of offering goalie development programs. Wow does time fly!
As many of you know, our coaches are passionate about goaltending and helping kids! Our commitment to goalie development shows during every on-ice session. We continue to do our very best at helping goalies of all skill levels understand and learn the important techniques and movements used in today’s game.
In 2010, we will host our popular weekend programs for boys and girls at convenient Twin Cities arenas. The type of programs, with ice times and locations, will be available on our Web site in early February.
Goalie families will once again be able to register online for desired programs.Those who have been with us in the past know it’s a good idea to register early for best selection.
Happy holidays and the all the best in the new year.
Today we held our annual Holiday Break goalie clinic at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine.
We had a good turnout of boys and girls from Minnesota and Wisconsin who joined us for the clinic. It was great to get caught up with goalies we have worked with in the past and hear how things are going for them this season.
We also welcomed a number of new students to our program. Our coaches worked hard during the two hours to help each goalie make key improvements to their game.
Grand Rapids Arena
Today I traveled to Grand Rapids, Minnesota to conduct a goalie coaching clinic for coaches from various associations within Minnesota Hockey’s District 12. We spent an hour in the classroom discussing ways the coaches can break out of their comfort zone and provide goalie instruction during practices.
The group also went on the ice and learned first-hand what its like to skate and move like a goalie.
A couple young goalies demonstrated various goalie-specific movements, save techniques and drills. Then the coaches got to try to few of the skating/movement techniques. It was a good two-hour session, lots of excellent questions, coaches learning ways to help their goalies.
On a side note, today’s clinic marked the first time I was back in the Grand Rapids Arena since my high school days. I played for Edina-East and during my junior year we traveled to Grand Rapids to play the Indians, as they were known back then. (They are now called the Thunderhawks).
GR was the defending state champions and featured a star-studded line-up that included players like University of Minnesota Coach Don Lucia. I remembered what a classic arena the Grand Rapids facility was with all the banners hanging from the wooden rafters.
It brought back memories of how full the stands were during our game as fans packed into the arena the see the match-up between the Hornets and Indians. I also remember taking a puck in the head during the game that knocked me silly for a bit and caused a stoppage in play. We ended up winning the non-conference thriller 5-4 in overtime.
Grand Rapids captured their second straight state high school title a few months later. By the way, the championship team photo is hanging in the arena, complete with the names of players and coaches, and scores from the regular season, playoffs and state tournament. The also have pictures of some of their former greats on display like former North Star goalie Jon Casey and Olympian Bill Baker.
It was fun revisiting the site of one of the most memorable games I played in during my high school career.
One of the new goalie development services we are offering this year is becoming quite popular. The new service is called an individual game performance evaluation.
Here is how it works. I (or someone from my staff) provide a written evaluation of a goalie’s performance in a game situation.
This week, I watched games involving goalies at the U12A and PeeWee B1 level. I took notes throughout the games and then met with the goalies, their parents and coaches afterwards to discuss my observations.
Things I noticed and discussed included: rebound control, overall game awareness (when to go to bench on delayed penalties etc.), glove positioning, stance, following the puck with their eyes and where they positioned themselves in the crease area. These are some small, but important elements of becoming a successful goaltender that are often overlooked by most youth hockey coaches.
I hope to check back with these goalies in about a month to see what improvements have been made.
Send me an e-mail to learn more.
Steve is one of Minnesota’s top goalie instructors and skill development leaders.
He has 30 years of goalie coaching experience at the college, high school and youth levels.
Since 1995, the Edina, Minn., native has been operating the Carroll Goalie School in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Area.
As a goalie, he was an All-American for Minnesota State University, Mankato where he led the Mavericks to a
NCAA Championship. He was named a Top-10 Finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, presented to the best player in men's college hockey.
Steve was selected as MSU's Male Athlete of the 20th Century. He's also been inducted into the Mavericks' Hall of Fame. At Edina High School, he was three-sport letter winner (hockey, baseball, soccer). In 2005, he became the first goalie inducted into the Hornets' Athletic Hall of Fame.
Visit Carrollgs.com for more information.