It was was quite the turnout at the USA Hockey Level 4 Coaches Clinic held recently in Bloomington.
More than 260 youth hockey coaches from throughout Minnesota and several other states were in town for the clinic.
I was invited to lead an on-ice goalie coaching clinic for the group.
Here is how it worked. They divided the coaches into four groups. I had about 65 coaches at a time for 30 minutes each. I started by showing the coaches the basic goalie stance with proper glove and stick positions.
After that, I demonstrated common goalie skating movements including forward and backward c-cuts, shuffles, t-pushes.
It was then time for the coaches to try the various movements. Across the Olympic-sized ice they went in groups of 20. It was interesting to watch them try to skate like a goalie typically does. Some coaches figured it out, but many of them struggled with the assignment.
But the bottom line was, it was a powerful learning experience for all the coaches who seemed to enjoy learning some of the tricks of the goalie coaching trade.
Hopefully they will use what they learned when their season gets underway in a few weeks.
