My Philosophy

Let's talk about the elephant in the room.

The simple, yet sobering fact is this:  only 1 in about 4000 kids will play NHL hockey.  That's one quarter of one tenth of one percent. To call it a long shot would be a gross understatement.

If that sounds bleak and depressing, I have good news!

Your child has a 100% chance of becoming at least one of the following:

spouse, parent, employer, employee, co-worker, community member, and contributor to society

Team sports have been proven to provide children with the skills necessary to develop into effective purveyors of the above underlined.  Skills such as discipline, hard work, sportsmanship, fair play, cohesiveness, and leadership all contribute to healthy, well rounded, and productive adults.

Integrity Goaltending Development's paramount focus is to develop those skills.

Mission Statement

If you had the chance to read my bio, I mentioned that I lost my passion for the game around age 15.  Playing house league hockey in an environment that was more toxic than nurturing led me to quit on the game for many years.  Yes, I still watched my beloved Oilers on TV, and maybe went to a Storm game every now and then, but the fire to play just wasn't there.

With that in mind, in this day and age of so many distractions and pressures on our children, how do we keep the passion alive so that we foster that lifelong love of the game?

I believe it comes down to two things:

     1) Hockey, first and foremost, needs to be   FUN!!

     2) We, as coaches, need to build CONFIDENCE in our children by providing them the tools they need to feel successful both ON and OFF the ice.

A coach must never forget that he is a leader and not merely a person with authority - John Wooden

To assist in cultivating and fostering a lifelong love of the game

So, How Do We Do That?

I believe the best way to achieve the aforementioned goals is to adhere to the following principles:

* Drills that have easily-remembered names

*Repetition that doesn't FEEL like repetition

* Progression of recognized drills

* Focusing on age-appropriate movements

* Setting realistic goals

* Encouraging a "goalie fraternity", where goalies of all ages and teams support each other

* Building core strength and dexterity

* Emphasizing essential skills vs. refinement

* Unique teaching methods (i.e integrating various objects into drills, special races, etc)

If you have any questions, or just want to "talk shop", please feel free to reach out