It is now official…the Saskatchewan Hockey Association has appointed Mind The Goaltending as their official goaltending consultants. For many years MTN and SHA have been hearing about the lack of proper goaltending resources for goalies, parents and coaches and now the two organizations have joined forces to bring goaltender development to the forefront. The joining of resources only makes sense as Mind The Net Goaltending has been working over all five years of its existence to offer clinics to the various minor hockey associations throughout Saskatchewan. Due to MTN's already increasing visibility throughout the province they can now work with SHA to make goaltender development a bigger priority as this is an area, in Saskatchewan hockey circles, that has lacked proper support for years.

While helping goaltenders at the grassroots level MTN is the only homegrown goalie school for elite goaltenders with a focus on quality instruction not quantity of students. Just this last summer MTN worked with 7 of the 13 goaltenders, from Saskatchewan, that played in the four Western Junior "A" Hockey Leagues in Canada. While it is impressive that MTN worked with over half of the Junior "A" Goalies from Saskatchewan this past year it is alarming that only 13 goalies currently occupy the 112 goaltending spots across the MJHL, SJHL, AJHL and BCHL.

The new partnership between the SHA and MTN Goaltending is looking to be mutually beneficial, a key to any good partnership. SHA will gain strong, principled instruction that understands the newest training and instructional techniques in goaltending. The newest instructional strategies is something Saskatchewan hockey has needed for a number of years. The MTN Philosophy is based on the idea that goalies need as many "tools in the toolbox" to help them "keep the puck out of the net!" Basically, MTN believes there is more to goaltending than just stopping pucks but goalies must understand the game in all its aspects, not just the goalie's job. Mind The Net will benefit by gaining exposure right from the grassroots level to the elite goaltenders in the province and by gaining Hockey Canada resources which will add to an already abundant, private, resource library.

It is with mutual excitement that SHA and MTN are very pleased to make this announcement with the goal of making goaltending a strength throughout Saskatchewan and hopefully at the highest levels across North America.

Ian and Travis

www.mtngoaltending.com