Blog

Too late to play?

· Steve Carroll

The other day I talked with a goalie parent who wondered if it was too late for his 14-year-old to start playing goalie.

My response was, too late for what?

If a child has interest in playing goal, in my opinion it’s never too late. Who knows how it is going to turn out. If possible, you want to give your children a chance to chase their dreams.

The key is for the parents and child to manage the expectations.

Will the late start affect whether the child makes their high school team? Maybe..maybe not…who knows..Should that be a goal in the first place? There a plenty of benefits for participating in a team activity regardless of what level they play at.

Maybe the teenager will fall in love with the position and continue to play the game when he is an adult. Again, who knows.

After our discussion, the parent emailed me back to let me know that he is going to let his teenager start playing goalie this summer and register for a team in the fall. He also added that he was going to enroll his first-year goalie in our summer camps to learn some goaltending fundamentals.

I think it’s great! I look forward to working with him! And I would guess he’ll be eager to learn!

 

Gusties advance to 2012 NCAA National Tournament

· Steve Carroll
Gustavus women's hockey team practicing for the 2012 NCAA Division III National Tournament played in Rochester, NY.

The Gustavus women’s hockey team advanced to the NCAA Division III National Tournament held March 15-17 in Rochester, New York.  They were one of four teams competing for the national championship. This marked the third straight year the Gusties qualified for the final four.

I am in my 12th year as the goalie coach for this team and had the opportunity to make the trip east.

We played the defending champions from Norwich University in the semifinals and lost a heartbreaker 4-3 in overtime.

The next day we faced off against Plattsburgh State for third place. After trailing most of the game, we rallied to take a 3-2 lead with just over a minute to play. Unfortunately, they pulled their goalie and scored the equalizer with ten seconds left and then won the game early in overtime.

Our team played well all weekend but lost two heartbreakers.

All in all it was a great year for the girls! They won their 9th straight MIAC playoff championship and finished the season with an impressive 24-4-2 record.

 

 

 

 

Gustavus women’s hockey win’s MIAC Playoff championship, will host NCAA quarterfinal game

· Steve Carroll
Gustavus women's hockey team wins 2011-12 MIAC Playoff Championship.

The Gustavus women’s hockey team will face UW-River Falls on Saturday, March 10 at 2 p.m. in St. Peter in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 NCAA Division III National Tournament.

The Gusties beat Concordia College last Saturday 4-2 to capture their ninth straight MIAC playoff championship. They are now 23-2-2 on the season.

Gustavus defeated the Falcons in the 2011 NCAA Division III quarterfinals to advance to the NCAA Final Four in Rochester, N.Y.

I am in my 12th year as the goalie coach for the team.

 

MN High school goalie of the year named

· Steve Carroll

The annual Ms. Hockey banquet was held today in St. Paul. It’s the event where they named the Minnesota Girls High School Goalie of the Year and present the Ms. Hockey Award to the player of the year.

The Carroll Goalie School banner was on display at the Ms. Hockey banquet in St. Paul.I had an opportunity to speak at the banquet and talked about my goalie school, which is a sponsor of the goalie of the year award, and the Gustavus women’s hockey team.

Minnesota girls high school hockey is a like a feeder program for our college team as 23 of the 26 players on this year’s team played high school hockey in the state.

The goalie of the year is Roseville’s Erika Allen. She led the Raiders to  runner-up finish in this year’s state tournament. I visited with Erika for a while after the awards banquet and presented her with a polar fleece coaches jacket from the Carroll Goalie School. Allen plans to play hockey next season for Bethel University.

Hill-Murray’s Hannah Brandt was named Ms. Hockey.

 

Talking hockey on TV

· Steve Carroll
Coach Carroll with TV show host Rod Simons after recording the interview.

As an assistant coach for the Gustavus women’s hockey team, I was invited to record an interview tonight with former KSTP-TV sports anchor for his TV show called GameON!

The show was taped at a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.

During the segment, which was called the MIAC Minute, we discussed the Gustavus women’s hockey team.

My brother Mike is the Gusties’ head coach and we also talked about our game against St. Mary’s where he collected his 200th conference victory.

The Gusties recently captured their 8th straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship. We will be the number one seed in the playoffs which begin next week.

The show airs on MyFox 29, Sunday, Feb. 26 at 10:30 a.m.

 

5 finalists named for LPH goalie of the year award

· Steve Carroll

Carroll Goalie School one of sponsors of this year’s award

MINNEAPOLIS ­­— Let’s Play Hockey newspaper has named the five finalists for the 2012 Let’s Play Hockey Senior Goalie of the Year Award, presented to the top senior girls’ high school hockey goaltender in Minnesota.

The finalists combine for a 1.32 goals-against average, a .941 save and a grade-point average of 3.61. The five finalists for the Let’s Play Hockey Senior Goalie of the Year Award are as follows, in alphabetical order (statistics through the end of the regular season):

Semifinalist                 School                       W-L-T         GAA         SV%         SO         College

Erika Allen                  Roseville Area         16-2-1         0.91         .956         9         Bethel

Madeleine Dahl         Edina                         15-4-6         1.57         .925         4         Union

Madison Denny         Andover                    15-8-0         1.27         .945         5         TBD

Gillian McDonald      Irondale                    18-4-2       1.29           .933        7         UW-River Falls

Taylor Neisen             Breck                         18-2-1       1.56           .945        5               TBD

The winner will be announced at the Ms. Hockey Awards Banquet on Sunday, Feb. 26, at 11:30 a.m., at the St. Paul RiverCentre. The Senior Goalie of the Year Award is sponsored by The Carroll Goalie School, Let’s Play Hockey, the Minnesota Wild, Shock Doctor and DCS Image.

Caroll Goalie School becomes a sponsor of LPH Senior Goalie of the Year Award

· Steve Carroll

I am pleased to be one of the sponsors of this year’s award. Many of the semifinalists have trained with us at some point during their high school careers. Our 2012 girls high school session is Oct. 26-28.

MINNEAPOLIS ­­— Let’s Play Hockey newspaper announced today the 10 semifinalists for the 2012 Let’s Play Hockey Senior Goalie of the Year Award, presented to the top senior girls’ high school hockey goaltender in Minnesota.

The 10 semifinalists combine for a 1.59 goals-against average, a .933 save and a grade-point average of 3.66. The 10 semifinalists for the Let’s Play Hockey Senior Goalie of the Year Award are as follows, in alphabetical order (statistics through games of Feb. 1):

Semifinalist                         School                          W-L-T          GAA     SV%     SO       College
Erika Allen                          Roseville Area               15-2-1         0.96      .953      8          Bethel
Madeleine Dahl                   Edina                            15-4-6         1.57      .925      4          Union
Madison Denny                   Andover                        14-8-0         1.28      .943      5          TBD
Tori Herrmann                      Elk River/Zimmerman     17-3-3         1.48      .929      4          Saint. Mary’s
Tara Hoverstad                    Blaine                           11-9-3         1.84      .930      4          TBD
Gillian McDonald                 Irondale                        18-4-1         1.22      .936      7          UW-River Falls
Katie McLain                       Anoka                           21-1-2         1.53      .940      3          TBD
Allie Morse                          Park                             9-9-1           2.50      .916      0          TBD
Taylor Neisen                      Breck                            16-2-1         1.63      .943      4          TBD
Samantha Scobee               Mound Westonka          16-7-1         1.93      .934      3          Saint Benedict

The five finalists for the Senior Goalie of the Year Award will be named in the Feb. 9 edition of Let’s Play Hockey with the winner announced at the Ms. Hockey Awards Banquet on Sunday, Feb. 26, at 11:30 a.m., at the St. Paul RiverCentre. The 10 semifinalists for the Ms. Hockey Award were also announced today. The five finalists for Ms. Hockey will be named in the Feb. 16 edition of Let’s Play Hockey. The Senior Goalie of the Year Award is sponsored by the Carroll Goalie School. Both awards are sponsored by Let’s Play Hockey, the Minnesota Wild, Shock Doctor and DCS Image.

In addition to on-ice talent, criteria for the Let’s Play Hockey Senior Goalie of the Year Award include academics, community/extracurricular activities, citizenship and coachability. Past winners: 2011 Julie Friend (Minnetonka), 2010 Kallie Billadeau (Hopkins), 2009 Laura Bellamy (Duluth), 2008 Alyssa Grogan (Eagan), 2007 Ashley Nixon (Blaine), 2006 Allana McCready (Centennial), 2005 Johanna Ellison (Cloquet/Esko/Carlton), 2004 Emily Brookshaw (Hill-Murray), 2003 Robin Doepke (Chaska), 2002 Amber Hasbargen (Warroad), 2001 Jody Horak (Blaine), 2000 Shari Vogt (River Lakes), 1999 Katie Beauduy (Blaine).

Other awards that will be presented at the banquet include the Ms. Hockey Award, which goes to the top senior in girls’ high school hockey, as well as the Minnesota Girls High School Hockey Coaches Association’s Coaches of the Year, and All-State and All-Academic Award winners for the 2011-12 season.

For more information on the Ms. Hockey banquet, call Let’s Play Hockey at 612-729-0023.

Goalies must be focus of association clinics

· Steve Carroll

The other night I was at a rink to conduct a private goalie lesson. Since I arrived early, I walked over to the other rink in the complex to see what was going on.

What I saw was an association goalie clinic in progress. And I was not impressed as it seemed to be unorganized and the goalies were not the focus. It looked like the drills were designed to entertain the shooters more than they were to help the goalies improve their skills.

The players were skating all over the place, joking around with their buddies and shooting pucks off the boards.

At one station, they worked on breakaways. Several players lined-up to participate. When someone scored, that player went off on some wacky goal scoring celebration much to the delight of the other players in line. The goalies, by the way, were not given any instruction as to how to stop the breakaways.

I felt bad for the goalies with the way they were being treated at what was supposed to be a special night for them.

Goalies must be the focus of association skill development clinics. They should not be play time for the players who volunteer to help as shooters.

 

 

2012 schedule now posted

· Steve Carroll

I know many of you have been asking about this, so I am pleased to announce that our 2012 schedule of camps has now been posted on our website.

Lots of goalies at the Carroll Goalie School.

2012 marks our 18th year of providing goalie development excellence for goalies of all ages and abilities.

We are excited about this year’s schedule and look forward to taking the ice to help goalies improve their skills.

This year, we have added new advanced session at the Super Rink in Blaine and will be offering a weekend camp at Eagan Civic Arena in July, which is a new venue for us.

I encourage you to review the schedule and register for the programs that best fit your child’s needs.

Our schedule is available at www.carrollgs.com.

 

 

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