The Goalie Academy

08/28/2026

Check out upcoming events and activities https://conta.cc/4xf9vyN

Email from Loudoun Ice Centre September 2026 Ice Skating Learn to Skate Program Wednesday classes: * Basics 1-3 11:30am - 12:00pm. Practice time 12:00pm - 12:30pm * Adults (18+) 12:00pm - 12:30pm. Pr

08/23/2026

Upcoming clinics and Lesson availability

Email from Loudoun Ice Centre August 24 - September 6 Loudoun Ice Centre Training Availability New: Performance Training with All In Performance Mondays through Sundays For more information contact s

08/20/2026

Summer goalie camps are coming to a close with only one day remaining tomorrow. No rest for The Goalie Academy staff even after 115 goalies trained through camps alone this summer with all 1:1, 2:1, & 3:1 goalie-to-coach ratios! The regular season starts NOW!

08/15/2026

Our first newcomer for 2026! With a name like Bauer….welcome to Johnnie hockey Hunter Bauer!

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08/09/2026

Day 3 final takeaways from the National Goaltender Symposium.
Fantastic guest speakers in gold medalist’s Aerin Frankel, Jeremy Swayman, & the incomparable Jim Craig! Difficult to not be just a fan today.

Overall excellent symposium.

Still seemingly a bit of a disconnect between everything said in presentations versus our lived hockey reality. Many speakers indicated an emphasis on athleticism and that size isn’t as important as heart and compete level and athleticism.

But as well all know, size is likely the number one attribute looked at by scouts and coaches at every level. Early bloomers have a huge advantage in actuality.

In reality, coaches and scouts don’t know how strong and athletic kids are offf the ice and they don’t know how mentally resilient they are. Most evaluations are not taking any of that into account.

Along with development, the evaluation process in the US has a lot of improving to do.

08/08/2026

Day two takeaways from the USA Hockey national goaltending symposium in Boston. A continuation of the recognition that goaltending coaching and development needs to improve and with that many speakers recognized that the RVH is overused and utilized at the wrong time.

So speakers that recognized need for better goaltending development in youth hockey practices and discussion of the mental side of goaltending development were interwoven among presentations of the same over-thought and overtaught robotic goaltending techniques that have gotten worldwide goaltending where it is now with NHL goalies now averaging less than a 90% save percentage.

If goaltending development is going to change, then it is going to have to start with different concepts, and it may need to revisit some old concepts that have been dismissed for being old and outdated.

There was a lot of discussion about allowing Young and developing goaltenders to be athletes first. That is going to be one of the biggest hurdles, because kids are not developing athletically and cognitively the way they did in the past because they are not outside playing organic games and they don’t have unsupervised play. Therefore, where are these skills going to come from?

I was watching the Little League girls softball championships this week and you could see the adult coach calling in every pitch to the catcher who would then refer to the wristband to look at the pitch she was calling to her pitcher that came from the coach. This is no different than flag football where the kids wear a wristband, and the coach called each and every play to the quarterback.

Every sport for kids is now adult driven in every aspect and kids aren’t developing any play reading skills or any problem-solving skills so what really needs to be revisited is if we want our goalies to have these skills then where are the kids going to acquire these skills, because it’s not going to be in other sports, because those sports are also counting games won over player development. There first has to be a big change in the way kids learn play, and develop physically and cognitively.



08/07/2026

Takeaways from Day 1 of the National Goaltending Symposium in Boston.
The former director of goaltending for Sweden presented on the current state of goaltending and where it needs to go. He showed a graph of NHL save percentages, which has dipped below .900 for the first time in several decades.
He believes that this is not only due to the advances in hockey stick technology, but more to the training of players which has caught up to and surpassed goaltending specific training.
So essentially, he believes that goaltending training has to improve and develop.

I love the message, because it’s something that me and my colleagues have been talking about for years. That we are producing what this gentleman from Sweden called “goalie school goalies” that too many coaches are training technique and leaving it at that.

What’s most important is for goalies to understand a holistic approach meaning doing off ice training that is appropriate to age and skill level and avoiding training that athletes are not ready for.
In addition, cognitive training is increasingly important because kids are not going outside and playing on their own and developing cognitive skills on their own as they have in the past.

Play reading and timing and proper ex*****on of save selection is vital.

The book that Joe Bertagna and I wrote during Covid still holds true and seems even more relevant now.

These books are still available and I am happy to ship the book to you for $15 which includes the shipping anywhere in the United States. Venmo -Hersh and include the name and address.

04/29/2026

Checkout our May events and more
https://conta.cc/4sThyyp

Email from Loudoun Ice Centre May 2026 Ice Skating Summer Skating Camps STEM & Skating Camp June 29 - July 2 Figure Skating Camp July 20 - 24 For more information, please visit our website or contact