NEWS PHOTOS RYAN MCCRACKEN - Gabe Curry (right) celebrates with Kayden Van Ham after scoring a goal in an all-goalie scrimmage at World Pro Goaltender camp on Friday at the Family Leisure Centre.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
World Pro Goaltending embraced the silly side of hockey during their camp at the Family Leisure Centre this week.
After putting in a solid week of development both on and off the ice, the camp’s 23 young netminders closed out the camp with all-goaltender scrimmage and subsequent shootout in a chaotic but wildly entertaining spectacle.
“We like to mix it up a little,” said World Pro coach Marcus Beesley. “Obviously we talk about the fundamentals, the details and all of that. But we believe that hockey is fun, that’s why we’re all here, and it needs to be fun to come to goalie camp. So at the end of the day we try not to take things too seriously. We obviously know when it’s time to work hard – and that’s the majority of what we do – but there’s a time and place to have fun too.”
Beesley added the camp features a handful of sillier activities, from its all-goaltender scrimmages to Martian hockey — a frenzied game of keep-away featuring coaches with sticks and nearly two dozen netminders scrambling to steal the puck without their paddles. While the primary goal of these activities is to have fun, Beesley says they all have training benefits as well.
“Whether you know it as a student or not, you do benefit from that,” he said. “Understanding the game, puck handling, communication, teamwork, agility, edge control – these are all things that you do get out of a silly game like that.”
Eleven-year-old Medicine Hat Hounds goaltender Kayden Van Ham says he had a great time competing as a forward without shedding his pads to wrap up the week of work.
“It was fun,” said Van Ham. “It was a good experience to go out and play around and have some fun.”
Beesley says the camp brought out some promising young netminders, like Grady Brost. The 11-year-old Duchess Storm goalie was born with a club foot, but he hasn’t let that fact hamper his game or his approach to training.
“It’s mostly just working hard and trying to do your best at everything,” said Brost, who was named one of the camp’s hardest workers and best sportsmen. “It feels really good. You just have to work really hard. It takes a lot of patience and work.”
Brost added it took him “a couple years to get used to having a bit of a weaker foot than everyone else,” but he never looked at the condition as anything more than one of many obstacles to overcome in the game of hockey.
“After I started working on it a little harder, it’s kind of like everyone,” he said. “Everyone has weaknesses and strengths, once you overcome them, then you work harder on every single weakness you have and it’s easier to do stuff.”
Beesley added Brost stood out in a number of ways, from his work ethic and upbeat attitude, to his undeniable skill between the pipes.
“His work ethic is outstanding. You can see that he cares, he listens really well. He wants to be a better goalie and he already is a very good goalie for his age,” said Beesley. “The club foot does not affect him whatsoever, at least as far as I can see on the ice. Whatever impediment that did give him, he’s clearly worked to overcome it and you can’t even tell.”
World Pro Goaltending’s camp ran the throughout the week at the Family Leisure Centre. While most of the 23 in attendance will likely remember the quirkier moments on the ice, Beesley says he saw a great deal of development from the region’s upcoming talent.
“We’re very impressed with their level of commitment and how hard they work,” he said. “That makes our job as coaches very fun and rewarding so we’ve been very happy with how the camp has gone.”
