World Renowned Goaltending Schools > Why Us?

Looking for a school where you’ll work your butt off, improve your game, confidence, technique and ability, yet still have FUN?

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I’m very proud of our team and the quality, consistent goaltending instruction we deliver. When you enrol in a hockey, goaltending school or training session you are paying for results. And we deliver them!   The emails, letters and cards that we regularly receive from our students as well as their coaches and parents telling us of the results and success they have had, is truly gratifying to our instructors and myself, but more importantly, it proves that our methods work! Spending money for an ice hockey or goalie school is always a risky venture, so please take some time and do it right. Our goaltending site is quite extensive and offers more information on our services than you are likely to find on any other goalie site of it’s kind. Compare What We Will Provide To The Other Hockey Schools You Are Considering - Make an Informed and Wise Choice All of OUR goalie instructors must attend a Coaching Certification Program, BEFORE teaching on the ice. NO unqualified 'fill in' instructors! You get quality goaltending instruction at all times. We present a very limited number of ice hockey training programs. This ensures that you will receive consistency in teaching with only qualified certified instructors. Established in 1988, we are now in the top 5% of goaltending schools, in the world, for continually running programs. We’ve been operating goalie schools and Goal Scoring schools in Canada, Europe and the USA for a long time, so we know what we are doing, we aren’t a ‘fly by night’ school. Only well run schools have a track record this long.  Check the competition, if they offer many locations…ask who is running them and how experienced are their instructors as GOALTENDING COACHES. Is each location owner operated and supervised? What is their philosophy? With many traveling ice hockey schools you get inferior instruction from ‘high school’ kids or local ‘coaches’. This is not professional or effective and often-improper techniques are taught. Each station will be staffed by one of our certified instructors. You get quality, consistent instruction from one of our professional goaltending or shooting coaches. Experience and dedication for consistency and proven teaching methods. Years of goalie instruction experience breeds an understanding in dealing with every situation and working with each student at their level to develop them to the best of their own ability. Our ice hockey goalie and shooting instructors genuinely care about student development. Progressionary program that is adaptable to the needs of each student. To effectively teach, steps must be broken into small understandable components, most schools do NOT do this effectively and the result is that the student cannot learn to their full potential. We make sure you understand the “how and why”. Our low student to instructor ratio will often include TWO instructors PER STATION! More instructors equal more quality teaching time. More ON ICE instruction than any other traveling ice hockey school in the US or Canada. More ice time equals more teaching time. Please make sure when you are comparing enrolment costs that you take into account the ice time offered, ice is very costly and is a big part of a schools price. Attendance from over 16 countries. Students travel from around the world to attend our goaltending and shooting schools. They do this because our training works, it’s that simple and isn’t that what you want to pay for? Training that works! Instructors for around the world. Our goaltending and shooting instructors come from varied backgrounds and this provides our students with a unique opportunity to learn a variety of techniques and share their experiences. Many of our instructors take time off from their higher paying ‘day jobs’ to instruct. They do this because they love what we do, they aren’t in it ‘for the money’. Specialized OFF ICE training personnel to maintain organization and ensure that our on ice instructors focus on the most important job...instructing

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From: Chris Dyson

Sunday: 4:56 PM

Dear Goaltender, Parent or Coach

You’re here because you are looking for a goalie or hockey school to attend, you have likely looked at many websites, flyers brochures and talked to everyone you know about where to go. All the websites and flyers say “we’re the best”, all you’re friends say “where I go is the best” but they have probably only been to a couple of schools, so of course it was “the best”, they don’t have much to compare to, do they?

Everyone claims to be “The Best”.
How do you know which to choose?

First get the FACTS!

 Here are the Facts about Puckstoppers

Established in 1988

One of longest running goalie schools IN THE WORLD! 

 Students from 16 countries have attended

Year round operation

Regularly sold out in Canada, US and Europe

Thousands of satisfied customers

Years of CERTIFIED instruction experience

By now, you have already noticed that our approach is unlike any other you will find. You are about 30 seconds into our schools ‘sales pitch’ and it is clearly and vastly different from any other site you have seen. That's because we ARE different.

First and foremost you want to compare schools and know what it is you are really looking for. If you are a parent and looking to send your child to camp so they (and more importantly YOU) can have a week off, we are NOT your school. Please move on to another website. That may appear to be blunt, but we don’t want you to waste your money or time and have an unhappy child, so we’d rather tell you upfront that we are not a ‘babysitting school’, where kids go to play games and hang out with their friends and the hockey is just another pass time. Not that there is anything wrong with this type of school, it’s just not what we do. Students that attend our programs have to want to be there to develop their hockey skills and for their own reasons, not that of their coaches, parents or other outside influences.

Our Goaltending Schools are designed to push students, and push them pretty hard. Depending on which program you choose, it may push the student to their limits and hopefully beyond.

FACT –Goaltending is mentally & physically demanding, you have to have the desire to succeed, and a thick skin sure helps.  We can provide you with the expert training to develop your game, but you have to provide the desire

Again, this may seem harsh, but goaltending is a very demanding position, both mentally and physically and a good goaltender has to have a VERY strong desire to improve and succeed as well they must have be mentally tough. We help build mental toughness but the desire must come from the player and cannot be forced onto an individual.

FACT – Talent isn’t the key, desire and work ethic IS!
 
Please don’t mistake what I’m saying here, talent is NOT the mitigating factor, I have personally worked with many students who didn’t have half the talent of their counterparts, but went on to have MUCH more enjoyable and successful ‘careers’. This can EASILY happen if a player has the desire within themselves. So if you (or your goalie) aren’t the most athletic, talented or best goalie on the ice, don’t worry, as long as you WANT it bad enough and have the mental toughness to endure the pressures of being a goaltender, we can help you achieve your dreams.

Now that I’ve scared off a few prospective customers, let me try and brighten your outlook. One of the reasons students love our programs, is because they have FUN at them, sure, as I already said, we’ll work your butt off and push you to the limit, but we make it fun at the same time.

FACT – It has to be fun and enjoyable, if it’s not, it is nearly impossible to motivate someone to give you 100%

If it isn’t fun, you aren’t likely to have the will to endure the program. Our instructors understand this and are always trying to lighten the stress level whether it is with a smart comment or practical joke on another instructor, we have fun and so do our students!

You have already taken the first step to success by not leaving our site. Some of what you have already read IS designed to scare off a few potential customers because we do not want to take money from those people who aren’t serious enough about their skills to commit to work very hard to achieve what they desire. If you are serious and understand that to improve you’ll have to bust your butt, and it that it won’t all be easy, you’ll do well at one of our programs and we hope you’ll join us at one of our schools or sessions. If you aren’t committed at this level, please move on to another school site.

Before you can make any decision on where to spend your hard earned money, you’ll need to know a lot more about our school and what we believe in, so read on and I’ll do my best to tell you about us. Make sure you do your homework and compare what we offer to other programs, before you make the final decision on what school or training program you’ll be attending.

FACT – Puckstoppers is an Elite level Canadian based school, established in 1988, offering various programs

FACT - There are IMPOSTER SCHOOLS using our legally registered & Internationally recognized name, BEWARE of  this kind of deceit

Puckstoppers is an elite level school and since our Canadian inception in 1988 we have always been committed to providing great instruction from experienced and dedicated coaches, while still ensuring a fun and positive attitude throughout our programs. We are NOT one of those 'cookie cutter' schools with a long list of locations, operated by untrained, inexperienced instructors. You need to be wary of those! More locations doesn’t mean better training, in fact it can often lead to instructor burn out or the hiring of under qualified or fill in instructors.

FACT – You must have experienced, certified instructors, who are there for the benefit of the students, not their own

We always have 50 to 100 years of instruction experience on the ice, at ALL times, not counting our Head Instructor. We encourage you to look over our instructor list and the experience level that our staff has attained. Each station is taught by an instructor with a minimum of five years of coaching experience and certification at our mandatory Coaching Clinic. Just ask the competition if they can guarantee that! Even our Junior Instructors are clearly identified on the ice with different colour uniforms and do not lead instruction until they have completed our intense training program and 2 years of on-ice Instruction Apprenticeship. We want you to know who the Junior Instructors are, we don’t know of any other school with enough integrity to do this.  

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FACT – Quality instruction wins over ‘name & ego’, EVERY time

The group of instructors we employ is unprecedented in the hockey school industry. We don’t bring in a bunch of ‘big name’ pro athletes to impress students and visitors. We would rather hire qualified, caring, professional instructors who adhere to the Puckstoppers Curriculum, and have been teaching our goaltending system for many years. Do you really think a million dollar pro cares about your development? Sure there are a few who really enjoy giving back to the game they love, but for the most part, it’s an ego trip or another source of income in the off season. We have also found that students tend to be more focused on the ‘big name’ than the actual instruction, in many cases.

FACT – Our instructors are pro’s in their own right, most with 10 to 20 years of instruction time under their belts. Several of our instructors have been with US for 15 or more, years. That’s dedication!

When we’re asked, “who are your pro’s” my answer is always “our instructors are our professionals”. We believe in spending our money on what matters most to the development of our students and that is clearly good instruction. Think of it this way; Bob Hartley (Stanley Cup with Colorado), Pat Burns (Stanley Cup with NJ Devils) and Scotty Bowman (most Cups & winningest coach ever), were never ‘big name’ pro’s, but they sure can coach, can’t they?

Our core group of instructors all believe that continuity in teaching is a must for student development, this should be very important to a potential school shopper because inconsistent teaching will only confuse and frustrate a student. Many other schools bring in guest ‘big name’ instructors or hire unqualified coaches. This leads to inconsistent and non-productive teaching as students struggle to grasp several different viewpoints on the same topic.

FACT – Instruction must be consistent, fun, progressive and aimed at building confidence. Only an experienced instructor can deliver all these components

Our instructors show genuine concern and take pride in seeing each student develop. It is their desire to improve on weaknesses and build strengths, while making the program enjoyable & exciting. Again, making tough situations and drills ‘fun’ as well as understanding what each student requires as an individual is a challenge that only an experienced instructor can achieve. Anyone who’s reading this and has children will understand, working with kids requires a large amount of patience and diplomacy, dealing with the fragility of a goaltenders confidence and helping them through difficulties on the ice requires even more of an understanding and expertise than most people can even comprehend. Remember a good part of goaltending is confidence; an experienced coach or instructor understands this and will help build and develop it. An untrained instructor will not understand this to be a very large part of the job.

While you are shopping for a school, always ask one key question; "how many years of coaching experience will be on the ice, NOT COUNTING your Head Instructor?" You'll be amazed by the response, if they'll even give you an answer. The reason I suggest that you to ask the question "without the Head Instructor" is because most (although not all) schools employ a Head Instructor with a decent level of coaching experience, and then hire a bunch of kids, locals or friends to fill in.

FACT – The experience level of ALL of the instructors is the key to a great school, one experienced coach won’t cut it

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from someone who attended a school only to find their ‘instructor’ was a high school kid who was playing at a lower level than many of the students they were supposed to instruct.

FACT – I’m embarrassed and maddened by what goes on in the hockey & goalie school business and you should be too!

We even know of one big name school that employed a Head Instructor with only 6 months of on ice playing time and several local high school kids as his main coaches! Their entire on ice coaching staff had less experience than one of our Junior Instructors. This happened in the Southern US, where we guess, they figured the local folks didn’t know enough to notice…that school was dead wrong and folded that particular location the following year, but they remain as a very strong force in the goalie school market. Don’t fall for the glitzy marketing!

FACT – You and I work hard for our money and we don’t want to waste our precious time on an inferior product. Don’t get ripped off

We find it sad that someone could take money for this and call themselves a professional school, yet it happens every day. I personally find it absolutely amazing how many people out there call themselves ‘goalie coaches’.

FACT – Because someone has played goal it doesn’t make them capable of instructing. Inferior instruction is actually worse than no instruction

To be a true goalie coach/instructor, you have to understand the intricies of the position and how saves are created as well as having a very strong knowledge of today’s game, which is always changing and developing. Playing goal 10 or 20 years ago, certainly does not qualify someone to be a coach, much like speaking English doesn’t make you an English professor or even capable of teaching basic English. Honestly, I'm sick and tired of watching people be taken advantage of and misled by people calling themselves ‘goalie coaches’. You can find so many "experts" out there that you’d almost think anyone can coach goalies, it just ain’t so, trust me.

FACT – Not every goaltender has the physical or mental capability to play like a pro, developing a style based on actual ability is far more effective.

Speaking of coaching, we also firmly believe in making our students better by teaching a wide variety of save techniques. We DO NOT believe in 'clone training'. No two goaltenders have the same ability or physical conditioning and their style and technique should be developed with the aim of making them better within the realm of their own ability. We also pay close attention to new developments and trends in the game and alter our teaching methods to be in tune with the game TODAY.

Students must be taught to use all the tools of the trade and not to always use the same move on every shot. We have used this philosophy since our inception. It’s obvious that different situations dictate different save selections.

FACT – Statistics prove that not every goaltender is effective when forced to be a ‘clone’. Martin Brodeur says it best

By forcing a developing goalie to play specific style that may work for an NHL goalie (one of the 60 best athletes at his position, in the world) is simply wrong. Recent quotes from 3-time Stanley Cup champion Martin Brodeur only reinforces that our thinking is correct.

MARTIN BRODEUR, 3 Stanley Cup Championships in 6 years, on pace to become the winningest goalie of all time, holds the record for most 30+ and 40+ win seasons, NHL Rookie of the Year and Vezina Trophy winner; SAYS: “I went to the Allaire (butterfly) school…I picked up some things…it just wasn’t me…I have tons of respect for the guy …there are different ways of playing…everything was always the same…I only butterfly a little…I started to take a lot from different goalies and try to incorporate some stuff into my game…my former goalie coach always told me not to do the same thing…you are going to get beat the same way…when a player doesn’t know…you create some hesitation…and that works for a goalie”.
Quotes taken from Goalies World Magazine and The Hockey News 

<CLICK HERE to read our views on Martin Brodeur and goaltending in today’s game>

We have been doing this for a very long time and since our Canadian inception in 1988 London Ontario based Puckstoppers Goaltending Services has taught literally thousands of goaltenders from all over the world, at our schools in Canada, Europe and the USA.

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FACT – Students need to know ‘why’ they are being asked to change, without this information there is no incentive to make the change. A great number of schools do not understand this

Our programs are proven to be successful because of our strong commitment to improving each and every student. The MANY compliments from our students, parents and coaches, are a great source of pride for our instructors and myself and prove our system works. To be successful, we feel that each 'how to', must be accompanied by a 'why' explanation. Far too many schools try to put as many students through their programs as possible, without considering that the students cannot grasp new concepts without knowing why they are being asked to do something. They are much more receptive to learning or changing if they understand why they are being asked to change, this is the same for all of us, but it is a small point that is usually overlooked at most schools. We explain every step of our training in detail and this helps achieve results that others cannot.

To understand goaltending, you have to have played the game, our program is professionally designed by goaltenders and each drill is designed and intended to assist in the development of each student's natural ability, mental preparation, reflexes and basic fundamentals while at the same time developing much needed confidence.

FACT – Goaltending Instructors must wear equipment to properly demonstrate and instruct. Ask potential schools if their instructors wear goaltending gear while instructing

I absolutely hate it when I see a school where the ‘Goalie Instructor’ isn’t wearing goalie gear. To instruct, you need to be prepared to demonstrate. To do this, you need to have on the proper equipment. A ‘Goalie Coach’ is not necessarily a ‘Goaltending Instructor’, the two positions are clearly different. At a goalie school, you should be working with GOALTENDING INSTRUCTORS who are also coaches. On a team or at higher levels of play, the ‘Goalie Coach’ will generally define problems and help an experienced goaltender work through them, but in a school environment, an Instructor will show and work along with the student to develop technique. Being unprepared to do this is ridiculous.

FACT – Many schools offer “goaltending programs’ simply so the players will have ‘targets’ to work with. Be sure to ask how much ‘specialized’ training time you’ll receive

While shopping for a goaltending school we strongly encourage you to select a school that specializes in coaching for goalies specifically. Generally hockey schools that offer goalie programs use the goalies as 'targets' to teach the players. You will often see a hockey school advertise a specialized ‘goalie program’ within their regular curriculum. They may even advertise a specialized ‘goalie coach’. But look at their instructor list, there is usually only one or two ‘goalie coaches’ and a whole lot of ‘other’ instructors, meaning that those few ‘goalie coaches’ will float around and see the goalies for a few seconds at a time, while the players are blasting pucks at them and running their own drills.

FACT – You are buying time. Make sure you are buying time that is used for the purpose you expect it to be used for

They may even offer a specific ice time, usually an hour a day, for the goalies, but at best that’s only five hours over a week and a few seconds of instruction, at a time, as the school is running. Don’t waste your money for this kind of training it simply isn’t effective or cost efficient. If I were to run a generic hockey school program, I would invite goaltenders to attend a NO COST, this is how it should be, if they are going to use them as targets, they should be able to attend for free.  But many schools have the gall to charge the goalies even MORE, because they get ‘extra attention’. I hate to see folks waste their money on this kind of trickery.

Our goaltending programs are dedicated to teaching goaltending, while we do run our Shooting & Accuracy school for players simultaneously with portions of our Essentials course, we have carefully meshed these two programs so that students are taught the same theories but from a different prospective. We employ specific shooting coaches to teach technique and our goalie instructors teach the shooting students what to expect the goalie to do in a game type situation. In short, players learn what a goalie will do and how to score more goals. The goalies learn what a player is apt to do and how to stop them. Interlocking the programs was a natural, shooters are there to work on a very specific part of their game that can only be done in this type of situation and because they are learning accuracy they are able to benefit our goaltenders with specifically targeted shots.

FACT – Integrity is key to success in any business

But…we are a goaltending school, first and foremost, so we offer our Shooting students the same amount of ice time, or even more than our goaltenders receive, at a DISCOUNTED price. And in keeping with our statement above, when we run a specialized ‘shooting session’ we invite selected goalies to come out at NO COST. Keeping our customers informed and being upfront with our advertising is how we like to do business.

FACT – Select the program that best suits your needs and you’ll get more from it

I invite you to look over all of the programs we offer and make a wise decision on which course is best suited for your needs and abilities. We have restrictions in place on some of our schools because we have learned from experience that they aren’t suited to some ages or abilities, please trust us when we have a restriction in place, it’s there so you won’t waste your time and money on the wrong school, and we won’t bend the rules.

Puckstoppers is my business, it’s not run by a bunch of office staff or contracted out to local people who use our name, it’s my company and I want to personally guarantee that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure our schools are true to what we represent in our advertising and literature. You have my word on this.

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Don’t sign up for ANY school until you ask yourself these questions Do I want to have the best possible training? Do I want to improve my game by a large margin? Do I want to have fun while I work hard?   Do I want to spend my money wisely? Make a list of what you want from the school you attend Make sure you write down all the positives and negatives from EACH school you are considering attending Weigh the positives and negatives and eliminate programs as you go through this exercise Remember to use the things you have learned here to help you make an informed decision **WE KNOW WE’LL SEE YOU SOON** ; > )

FACT – Signing up for one of the Puckstoppers programs is like having your own professional goalie coach. If you don’t sign up, you’ll be missing out on a great experience and some awesome training.

Please remember that to maintain the quality instruction we demand, we only offer a very limited number of programs and locations, and we sell out early. So DO NOT HESITATE, please complete the application form and get it in to us ASAP, or you could miss out on attending the best program available.

Because we are recognized as a world leader in the field of goaltending training, major equipment suppliers regularly approach us to take them on as sponsors. We literally turn away far more companies than we allow to be involved with us. Our sponsors supply us with about $10 000 worth of gear that is awarded to deserving students over the course of the year.

Prizes are awarded based on merit, our instructor’s get together several times over the course of a school to write evaluations and discuss which goalies are worthy of prizes. They base their selections solely on work ethic, progression and dedication. Talent and ‘best goalie’ are NOT part of the selection process. Many schools award prizes in these categories and it simply isn’t fair, we believe in rewarding students for their hard work. Students should not attend a school because of the awards offered; they are merely a reward for hard work, and not THE reason to work hard.

FACT – On ice awards should be given out based on merit

Each student attending one of our training programs over the course of a calendar year is awarded ONE ballot for every $50 (or less) spent on training with Puckstoppers

Our instructors will select an overall prize winner from each school ($200 value), and those winners are then entered into a final drawing at the end of August for our Combined Schools GRAND PRIZE ($500 value). A runner up winner ($100 value) will also be selected from each school

Each overall school award winner will also receive 10 additional ballots to go into our year-end drawing for our RANDOM prize draw ($400 VALUE). Runners up will receive 6 additional ballots for the RANDOM DRAW