From start to finish I don’t think this camp could have gone any smoother. By Friday, every single goalie had visibly improved from where they were on Monday. I have been shooting for a long time, and have worked many weeklong camps in my day, and I don’t recall ever coming off the ice on a Friday afternoon and being able to say to Andrew and Dan that every single goalie had made serious performance gains. This week Dan, Andrew and I agreed that this was the case.
So, with that being said, we have to ask ourselves, why was this camp so great? Here’s what I came up with:

• Goalies had an “I want to improve” attitude.
• Hard, disciplined off-ice work.
• Making every on-ice minute count, every goalie listened attentively, and there was no fooling around or disagreements.
• Attention to detail: Listening to the instructors and taking their advice
• Communication: No goalies were shy! If someone had a question for a shooter or instructor, they asked it.
• Team work: Goalies pushed their partners and I felt everyone on the ice was genuinely hoping that their camp mates improved along with them.
• Leadership: Many of the goalies stepped up and demonstrated that they were leaders on the ice.
• Finally, we all had a great time. Hockey is fun, and when you’re enjoying yourself the most it’s also likely that you’re playing at your best. Fun and performance usually come hand in hand.

As Andrew mentioned on Friday afternoon, I took this week off my regular job to come work on the ice with you guys. Lots of people have asked me why I didn’t go on vacation or use the days off to relax. My reason is because of you guys. You all made me very proud this week and I hope you all had as much fun improving your goaltending as I did shooting on you. Thanks to everybody for a great week. Now go to tryouts and show all the coaches the goalies you’ve become!
-Nick

Third year veteran and 7 year AMHD student, Goaltender Clarke Saunders has accepted a NCAA DIV I athletic scholarship to the University Of Alabama Huntsville located in Huntsville Alabama.

Clarke a native of Brockville Ontario has starred for the Braves for three seasons now the talented goaltender, had a dream when he joined the Braves to get an NCAA scholarship and with his hard work it has finally paid off.

Clarke will join the Chargers in the fall.

Congratulations Clarke.

Cody Reichard – Miami University of Ohio, Sophomore, Goalie, Celina, Ohio
Miami’s dominance in the CCHA this season was due to the fact no one could beat Reichard who went 15-0-2 in conference play while leading virtually every goalie category, allowing only 21 goals in 17 games.  Those efforts propelled him to number one in the nation in goals against average and third in save percentage.

• Currently is 18-3-3 overall – has 1.64 GAA – has .930 save percentage
• Has 5 shutouts – First Team CCHA all-star – Player of the Year finalist
• Finance major – Miami first in nation in team defense

Marc Cheverie – University of Denver, Junior, Goalie, Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia
An unbelievable year has earned Cheverie the WCHA Player of the Year honors and he is the national leader in save percentage, wins and shutouts while sitting second in winning percentage and third in goals against average.  Was the WCHA Goalie Champion with a 2.05 GAA and .934 save percentage.
• Currently is 24-4-3 overall – has 1.94 GAA – has .937 save percentage
• Earned 6 shutouts – All Tourney at Wells Fargo Denver Cup tourney
• All Academic with 3.5 GPA in Finance – draft choice of Florida

Instead, it has everything to do with the team’s unified approach. In the animal world tigers travel in streaks, and in the college hockey world this streak of Tigers is set to travel all the way to Detroit for this week’s Frozen Four.

RIT (28-11-1), winner of the East Regional, faces West winner Wisconsin (27-10-4) in the first national semifinal at Ford Field on Thursday (5 p.m. ET, ESPN2 HD). The second semi has Midwest champ Miami facing Northeast winner Boston College (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2 HD).

In this year’s group of teams that will play on the final weekend of the college season, there are three brand-name hockey schools that also happen to be No. 1 seeds and then there’s, well, RIT — a No. 4 seed (No. 15 overall) that wasn’t expected to have any season left to play.

The one that seemingly doesn’t fit in is also the same one that definitely doesn’t care whether anyone thinks it belongs.

No, these Tigers are having too much fun to get caught up in the moment — at least up to this point.

Prior to the East Regional final against New Hampshire, the RIT players (wearing their “streak” T-shirts) went through pregame stretching and warm-up drills underneath the stands at the Times Union Center. And despite the stakes, the mood was anything but quiet resolve.

The outcome was a thoroughly dominating 6-2 win over the Hockey East regular-season champs.

“We are focused on what we have to do,” senior goaltender Jared DeMichiel said. “Just because we’re having fun doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about the game. We’re loose. We know that it’s a game and you can’t forget that.

“If you’re tight, holding your stick, worried about what’s going to happen next, you’re not going to play to the best of your ability. If you’re having fun and just letting things happen and letting your talent and ability take over, you’re going to play at a high level.”

Based on the results, DeMichiel must be having a lot of fun.

The Avon, Conn., native, who admitted there was little interest in his services following his junior hockey career, has developed into one of the nation’s best backstops in his senior season.

A couple of weeks shy of his 25th birthday, the self-proclaimed Hartford Whalers fanatic (“I live for the Whalers,” he says), even though the club left his home state when he was 11 years old, has put up numbers that have gotten him some looks to play at the next level.

For the season, DeMichiel is 27-9-1 with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage. He leads the nation in wins and is fourth in GAA and eighth in save percentage.

The postseason story is even better. DeMichiel is 4-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .966 save percentage.

And while he certainly lives up to the quirky reputation that’s often associated with goaltenders, he is also a team leader off the ice and in the dressing room.

“He probably should be wearing a C,” RIT coach Wayne Wilson said. “He is not afraid to speak up. He keeps us loose. He has a great, strong work ethic. He is invaluable right now.

“What you saw [in the East Regional] has been Jared throughout the whole year. He was there when we needed him. He made a lot of things look pretty simple out there. He gives us a lot of confidence as a team. When you are not worried about your back end so much, you can be more aggressive on the other end. He has done that for us. We’re very fortunate to have him.”

RIT hasn’t lost a game since Feb. 6 (5-4 at Sacred Heart) and given the double-digit win streak, it will be interesting to see if the week off between the regionals and the Frozen Four has any effect in slowing down the Tigers’ current run.

“We do have some momentum going our way right now, but at the same time it’s great to have a week off,” DeMichiel said. “It will give us time to heal physically and allow our heads to deflate a little. We need to get back out there and focus.

“We definitely know we’ve done some good things but the job is far from over.”

DeMichiel and the Tigers have a tall task ahead when they face a Wisconsin team that comes in with a nation’s best 163 goals and a pair of Hobey Baker finalists in senior forward Blake Geoffrion and junior defenseman Brendan Smith.

There’s no mistaking the pressure that comes along with playing in the Frozen Four, but the situation is somewhat different for RIT since no one expected the Tigers to ever take the ice at Ford Field.

“I don’t think we really know what we’re doing right now,” DeMichiel said. “I think it may take a month down the road, or maybe even years down the road, to realize what we’re doing right now. We’re living for the moment, having fun and just excited to play.”

Clarke’s stats this season have been spectacular.  He heads into playoffs with the best best goals-against-average in team history for a season, a 2.31 mark, the best save percentage in a season at .915, and career mark for goals-against-average as well.  He also has the most wins overall by a Braves goaltender at 81. Saunders now sits second in all-time wins in the CJHL (1961-2010).

Along the way, his Braves set a few records of their own, most notably posting the league record for most points in a season at 106 with Sunday’s win, and setting a new league record for consecutive wins at 26.

Clarke’s Braves now face Kemptville in their first round playoff series.

The goalies who achieved the most were the ones who really concentrated on getting better each week.  Every goalie that I shoot on Saturday mornings has loads of talent and potential.  Sometimes to reach your maximum potential you have to take hard look at yourself in the mirror.  Ask yourself: What is it that you need to work on?  What are your weaknesses?  Is your left side stronger than your right side?  These are things hockey players of all positions have to ask themselves in order to really optimize their potential.  Andrew and Dan help you all out with identifying what you need to work on every week, but there are some things that only you can understand about your game.  No matter how good you are, there is always something to work on-Joe Sakic constantly worked on his right over left leg crossovers throughout his career because he always felt they were a little weaker than his other side!  The players who can recognize what they need to work on, are the ones who improve the most.  I write all this because this winter I really noticed the goalies who were able to improve based on what they understand about their own game. When we all reconvene in the spring, I’m going to ask every goalie I see one part of their game that they think  that they need to work on.  Think hard about this guys.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’m going to talk about this past Saturday.  In the first session Emil and Jaret stood out.  You two really challenged the shooters to pick the corners with your great positional play.  Emil, your depth in the net was excellent this week, way to go!  (Do I need to mention that this a great example of a goalie who identified a weaknesses and made a slight adjustment to his game to drastically improve overall?)

In the 10:15 session Cole Ceci was amazing.  I was shooting VERY hard on him and he wasn’t intimidated.  Cole brought this session to another level, I would say he only let in about 5% of all shots.  Sebastian-you also had a strong session, great job.  I thought overall, this group had the best hour.

At 11:15am Leif and Jordan really built on the last time they were both in at Andrew Mercer Hockey Development.  In these two I saw a lot of confidence which resulted in some aggressive but smart play.  Although Leif and Jordan were near perfect, I have to give my goalie of the week (11:15am) award to Mitchell “Bones” Newman.  Mitchell is starting to really be able to implement his size into great play.  Earlier I wrote that it’s important to recognize your weaknesses, well It’s every bit as important to recognize your strengths.  Mitchell knows he’s a big goalie and he knows he technically very sound.  He used these strengths to stop virtually every first shot.  If you’re big and technically sound why give the shooter more shots then you have to?  Make the other team/shooter play into your strengths.  Mitchell gets this!!!

SO, when I see you all next not only am I going to ask you about a part of your game you need to work on, but I’ll also ask you for one of your greatest strengths.  I look forward to seeing you all soon.

-Nick

He definitely had his work cut out for him.  With his team up 1-0 with 6 minutes left in the 3rd, a big fight broke out, resulting in 3 of Cumberland’s top forwards being kicked out of the game and Cumberland playing the full remaining 6 minutes shorthanded (at times, 2 men down).  Gloucester came close at one point, ringing one off the crossbar, but Boudreau stood his ground, and his team put the game away scoring an empty net goal with 20 seconds left in the game.  What a great win!

Romeo’s stats from this season have been very impressive:

Regular Season:  8 wins (including 2 shutouts), 1 loss, 4 ties, GAA 2.20

Playoffs:  4 wins (including 2 back to back shutouts against the #1 team), 0 losses, 1 tie, GAA 1.48

Congrats!