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It’s been quite a year for University of Minnesota sophomore goalie Adam Wilcox. He’s been named the player and goalie of the year in the Big 10. He’s a top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award and a top five finalist for the inaugural Mike Richter Award, presented to the best goalie in men’s college hockey.

And now he has his team in the NCAA Frozen Four in Philadelphia.

I have had the opportunity work with Adam on several occasions. In 2013, he was a counselor at the Minnesota Hockey Dave Peterson Reebok High Performance Goalie Camp that I run every summer. He did a great job with the kids and have fun in that role. He also participated in that camp when he was a ninth grader in high school.

During his youth hockey days, the Carroll Goalie School was hired to work with Adam and the other goalies in the South St. Paul Youth Hockey Association. I remember him as not being very polished at that stage in his career, but you could tell he was an athlete and quite the competitor who worked hard during the goalie clinics to improve his skills. You could also tell he had the potential to be something special.

It’s been fun to watch Adam develop through the years and I wish him nothing but the best as he continues he career with the Gophers and eventually takes his game to the pro level. He’s a sixth round pick of Tampa Bay.

I was digging through some old photos the other day and came upon this classic. It’s a picture of me and my five brothers, all dressed in our Edina hockey jerseys in front of the net on our patio. The photo also served as our family Christmas card that year.

There are six Carroll boys and I was the lone goalie in the group, so that meant there was always plenty of shooters available to help me work on my game. I remember we had some classic battles in our garage, patio and driveway. And from what I recall, we used all kinds of different things for pucks including wooden blocks, sock balls, tennis balls, plastic pucks and spong pucks. It was great action.

Those unstructured games helped us develop our hockey skills, passion and competitive spirit. As it turned out, all of us ended playing varsity hockey for Edina-East or Edina High School. So for more than a decade, there was a Carroll on the Hornets’ roster.

Following our prep careers, the Carroll boys all took their talents on to college hockey. I played goalie for Minnesota State University, Mankato (Mankato State University), two other brothers also played for the Mavericks, while other brothers skated at Wisconsin, Michigan and Michigan Tech.

Years later, we all still involved in the game in some capacity. I run my goalie school and help coach the Gustavus Adolphus College women’s team with my older brother Mike, who is the head coach. Another brother is head hockey coach at New England College, while others are referees or youth hockey coaches.

My late dad was hockey player, coach and referee himself and obviously was instrumental in getting us started in the game.

It was a picture postcard setting as I skated out onto a neighborhood pond recently to give a young goalie a private lesson.

The 8-year-old was so excited about strapping on her goalie equipment and learning how to play the position.

First, we worked on the proper stance, including glove and stick position. From there we practiced skating “as a goalie” frontwards and backwards. And introduced to a handful of the lateral moevments that goalies use. She did a wonderful job.

After that, I shot tennis balls and mini-pucks at her to give her an idea of what it’s like to stop a shot. She was a quick learner and made a number of “big” saves.

I think the goalie had a lot of fun and so did I. She made noticeable improvements to her game during our 60-minute session.

I enjoyed helping her improve skills and it was a great day to be skating outdoors.

In my 14 years as goalie coach for the Gustavus Adolphus women’s hockey team, I don’t think I have ever experienced a more emotional locker room than I did today following our team’s 3-2 win over Augsburg.

The tears were flowing because it marked the final time one of our players would be in uniform as a member of the team.

Goalie Marah Sobczak, who made a remarkable and inspirational return to the ice last fall after being involved in a serious car accident two years ago, recorded the win in her last game as a Gustie.

She begins grad school this week at the University of Minnesota to start work on her master’s degree in civil engineering.

Marah is a physics major. When we were playing in the 2012 NCAA National Tournament, she won The Elite 89 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average among participants at the finals site of each of the NCAA’s 89 championships.

She has also been an instructor as the Carroll Goalie School and helped as a counselor at Minnesota Hockey’s Dave Peterson Reebok High Performance Goalie Camp.

I have enjoyed being Marah’s goalie coach. Her positive can-do attitude, work ethic, desire and determination are unreal. I wish her continued success as she begins a new chapter in her life.

 

 

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to meet defender Anne Schelper, who was recently named to the 2014 U.S. Women’s Hockey Team that will compete in Sochi Olympics next month.

The St. Cloud, Minn., native was a member of the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team at the time when she came to Blaine to help out as a “shooter” at the Minnesota Hockey Dave Peterson Reebok High Performance Goalie Camp I was running.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that Anne was not like the typical college hockey player who helps at the camp.

She was totally into her role and had fun using the time on the ice to work on her shot while challenging the high school goalies. Anne ended up helping at several of the sessions that summer shooting hundreds of pucks.

She also did a great job of connecting and interacting with the goalies. In fact at the end of camp, she gave away her shooter’s uniform to one of the many participants who asked for it.

I’m positive that the desire and determination that Anne showed that weekend helped her along the way of achieving her goal of wearing the red, white and blue in the 2014 Olympics.

I wish Anne continued success! And won’t that be great if she scores a goal or two in the Olympic Games.

 

 

 

We are pleased to announce the launch of the newest, updated version of the Carroll Goalie School website. We hope you like it and find it easy to navigate.

We are excited about entering our 20th year of providing high-quality skill development programs for boys and girls, ages 7-15.

In 2014, we are offering nine camps at five different locations. Our popular camps will be held at Blaine (Schwan SuperRink), Richfield and Eagan plus new locations in White Bear Lake (Sports Center) and Lakeville (Ames).

Like we have offered in previous years, a majority of our camps will be held on weekends (Friday night, Saturday and  Sunday mornings). We are also offering a new format this year for one of our advanced camps with ice times on Monday and Thursday evenings for two consecutive weeks in September.

Our camps tend to fill quickly, so you are encouraged to register early for best selection. We look forward to working with your goalie in 2014.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Coach Carroll at info@carrollgs.com. 

 

A new shutout wall that recognizes goalies who do not allow a goal during a game is featured in weekly issues of Let’s Play Hockey newspaper and online.

We are thrilled to be co-sponsoring the wall along with our partners from Brian’s Custom Sports.

“We think this is a great way to honor goalies who post a shutout,” said Steve Carroll, director of the Carroll Goalie School.

When a goalie records a shutout, team manager, parent or coach should email the following information to editor@letsplayhockey.com: Goalie’s name, team name, level of play, opponent, shutout date, total saves, final score and mailing address.

Submitted shutouts are listed in the paper and online on the paper’s website.

One goalie will be randomly chosen each week to win a Carroll Goalie School jersey and Brian’s t-shirt.

Excellent, inspirational article in the Stillwater Gazette about one of the goalies I have the opportunity to coach at Gustavus Adolphus College.

On Tuesday, Oct. 15, the 2013-14 hockey season starts for the Gustavus Adolphus College women’s team. That date also marks the beginning of my 14th year as the team’s goalie coach. The players and coaches are anxious to get back on the ice after last season’s heartbreaking finish.

In 2012-13, the Gusties posted a perfect 18-0 record in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. We beat Bethel and Concordia in the MIAC playoffs to advance to the NCAA Division III National Tournament. In the national quarterfinals, Gustavus beat UW-River Falls 2-1 to move on to the Final Four.

In the semifinals, Gustavus faced off against Elmira College. The Gusties played really well, outshooting the Soaring Eagles 41-26 only to lose the game late in overtime 4-3. It was our first loss of the season.

The next day, we came back for the third place game and even though we battled hard, we came up short, falling to Plattsburgh State. We finished our amazing season with a record of 27-2-1.

This year our first game is Saturday, Nov. 2 when we host St. Mary’s in a nonconference game in St. Peter. Everyone is looking forward to that date.