I am pleased to now officially announce that starting this season Bandits Goaltending will be the dedicated goaltending trainer for KVHA teams!   

Over the last 22 years, owner Stan Matwijiw has grown Bandits into one of the most recognized goalie schools in North America.  Bandits prides itself, not only for generating NHL caliber goaltenders (18 drafted into the NHL since 1999 along with 2 Stanley Cup Champions) but more importantly structuring a foundation for youth students to excel in life away from hockey by helping them to instill hard work and commitment.  Bandits utilizes the USA Hockey Goaltending philosophy and works closely with Brad Johnson, our USA MI Goalie in Chief.    We are excited to have the expertise of Bandits Goaltending in our effort to develop our teams and grow the association.   

Many teams do not have a dedicated professional goalie trainer, and this is one of the top things that we hear that parents want, and not just goalie parents.   Having a dedicated goalie professional will lead to better goaltending overall, it will attract goalies to KVHA, and help with goalie retention.    With confident and skilled goalies, the overall talent level on our teams will increase, allowing our kids to realize more growth and success.  Goalies are highly specialized and while our parent coaches do a fantastic job with them, it would be great to give some professional help to the teams that have not utilized a goalie coach before, or to those teams who may have gotten away from doing so.   This partnership will bring a new, fresh perspective and serve as a resource for trends and guidance as our goalies reach the next level and beyond.  

The Bandits trainer will come out to your practice twice per month on a pre-scheduled day of the week (M-Th).  Regardless of whether you have a practice or a game, the goalie trainer will be there.   During on-ice practices, they will work with the goalies as well as the day to day coaches to show techniques, helpful drills/ideas provide insight and more.    During the in-game review, the goalie trainer will watch the game and make corrective and highlight notes to discuss with the goalie(s) and coaches.    Each goalie will also receive progress reports and in person evaluations to discuss goals and objectives as well as achievements and shortcomings (on and off the ice) at certain intervals throughout the season.   Additionally under this partnership, our goalies, parents and coaches will have the ability to participate in sessions with a certified Sports Psychologist.  Additionally, during the season Bandits will offer clinics exclusive to KVHA goalies to help enforce what they are learning in practices while being with their peers.  This will allow our goalies to get to know each other, which will foster continued growth and development in an additional setting.   

To kick off the program, and to give all of our teams a chance to check out all that Bandits has to offer your goalies, KV plans to pay for two (2) of the initial team sessions.   

To learn more about Bandits Goaltending, please visit their website.  http://www.banditsgoaltending.com/#