Testimonials

Working with TGC was great because the teaching really helped with my fundamentals as a goalie which is key to learn in order to succeed in the future. In our lectures I also learned a lot about setting goals both for the season and the career! Thanks!

Having my sons at Shattuck and at The Goalie Club for the past years gives me peace of mind that their development is taken care of with the structure of the goalie program, and at the same time, being themselves in the way that they believe the position should be played. It's been a great experience for my boys.

I have been fortunate enough to work with Coach Des indivually and also through camp with TGC and cannot say enough about them. They do a great job of working with your strengths as a goaltender and helping you develop new techniques that you can use to help improve your game. TGC also had some good dryland training and nutritional advice to help you stay on top of your game. I would highly recommend working with Coach Des and TGC for any goalie, young or old, looking to take the next step in their game.

I have been training exclusively with Coach Des and The Goalie Club since grade school. From learning the basic fundamentals to advanced situational play, on and off the ice, Des has helped me develop into the goaltender I am today. A starting varsity goaltender in high school, a top performing goaltender in the State High School Championships, and now playing in the USHL - TGC made it happen for me!

Six years ago our daughter Lauren came home from school and announced that she wanted to play hockey, as a goalie. She also proclaimed that her goals were to play D1 and Olympic hockey. Pretty lofty goals for a 4th grader, especially since we knew very little about hockey and even less about goaltending! So we sought out training for her and an education for our family. As luck would have it, Des Christopher was running a goalie camp in our hometown. What an incredible experience! That camp gave our daughter the foundation she needed to pursue her goals. Over the past six years it has been truly amazing to watch our daughter progress physically and psychologically by working with Des and The Goalie Club staff. Their knowledge of this demanding position and their ability to connect and communicate with our daughter has allowed her to clearly understand what she must master to progress to the next level. If your child wants to become the best goaltender they can be, I strongly urge you to contact Des about joining The Goalie Club. It has been the best hockey decision we have made!

Since I started working with Coach Des and the TGC staff a few years ago my game has improved immensely. TGC not only stresses the importance of the basic fundamentals, but also adds the latest styles and techniques to make your game as successful as possible. They accept nothing but your very best, and their passion for the game will likely rub off on you as well. They also focus on developing the complete person as much as the complete goaltender, knowing that your success on the ice starts away from the rink.

The Goalie Club and Des Christopher have been a valuable addition to our hockey program at Shattuck –St. Mary’s. His approach to teaching the skills for the goaltender position are based on a solid base of fundamentals which is the same as we have for all of our players in our program. Our goalies have benefited from Des and his staff’s time spent with our kids both on and off the ice. I would recommend The Goalie Club for any goalie looking for professional instruction, from great people.”

Hi Coach-

I wanted to thank you for a great week at camp. Tighe always learns soooo much. Over the week of camp, I watch it all start to click and what he learned in one week with you was amazing. What really amazes me is he is able to take what you have taught him in one week and come back home and keep building on it. I tell everyone that your camp is worth every penny spent and then some.

I also wanted to comment on the atmosphere of your camp and thank you for it.  Like I said, Tighe learned a lot, but what was soooooo awesome was that Tighe finally got to experience goalie camaraderie last summer. You hear about it all the time, but it's just not in Montana. I watched all the boys at camp welcome Tighe with open arms. I believe they were all older than him (he said they were all 15/16+ and he was 13). They took him under their wings. They encouraged him (“nice save”) but also gave constructive criticism in a nice way (“try holding your glove like this”). I watched how this group of 12 boys just came together over the week and it warmed my heart to watch Tighe get to experience this camaraderie b/c it was something he has never got to experience.

He's continued building on what he learned this summer, grown about 2 inches and honestly playing great. Tighe has stepped up to the challenge and works his butt off. Again, your camp is worth every penny and then some!

Thanks again,

Hey coach

I just wanted to say thank you for helping me at camp a lot. I truly appreciate all the work you did with me to get me ready for tryouts. I truly think I'm ready for tryouts and I am confident that I will make the A team and win some championships.

Why TGC? It is simple.....TGC is simply the best when it comes to training all levels of goaltenders. My son has been training with Coach Des and the TGC staff for more than 4 years. Coach Des is amazing with the goalies. The first thing that I noticed is that Coach Des knows every student by name, where they play, and their experience level before they even step out on the ice for the first training session. It is apparent that many of the goalies are very surprised when he greets them using their name during the warm-up skate. Goalies respond to him because he takes a vested interest in "who" each goalie is. He communicates with each goalie, always building their awareness and self-esteem. Coach Des has a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with the students. The TGC philosophy is based on building on each goalies strengths as well as provide tools and alternative techniques to improve any weaknesses that a goalie may have, rather than dictate how a goalie should play. Coach Des carefully selects his support staff, ensuring that they bring the same personal focus when working with the goalies. He and his staff come thoroughly prepared each training session with a fun but challenging practice plan and they execute it flawlessly. The focus of each practice plan begins with skating and edge work (which is often overlooked by most other goalie training providers) and follows through with 4 or more "skill stations" where a drill to enhance specific skills are taught. The bottom line is we choose TGC because of Coach Des, his staff and quality training. My son would not be the goalie that he is without Coach Des and the TGC staff.

Last weekend, my team went to Duluth for a tournament, pretty much our last tryout. On the last day of the tournament, they told me that I would the back-up for Varsity and starter for JV! Not many 7th graders can beat out a freshman, and back up for a senior! I owe most of my success to The Goalie Club! Thanks to all the staff that have helped me through my life as a goalie! With Thanks

Des, He is playing a lot better. He is staying in the ready position longer and his focus on the puck has improved too. We can see that he is more aware of where the puck is during practice and is not flopping around so much in front of the goal. They have their first game this week so we will see if more transfers to the game situation this week. Thanks for all of your help. It is a great experience for Khrystjan. He is learning a lot. Thank You.

Hi Des, Thanks for the training sessions in Hutch this season. It was very convenient to be right at our home arena...we loved that! The trainers were excellent as usual. Austin had to miss a few times due to scheduled Sunday evening Bantam games, but otherwise he was there every time that he could be. We are bummed that TGC will no longer be in Hutch for the summer camp, but understand it's because we won't have available ice at that time. So we will be siging up for either Eagan again or maybe Victoria. Also, just a side note. About 3 weeks ago, Austin was asked to play up on our JV team because our Varisty goalie got into a bit of trouble at the end of the season. We only have 2 goalies between our JV and Varsity Teams. He played 3 end-of-season JV games and did an awesome job. In fact some of the parents said they'd be petitioning for him to come back to JV next year. But he's only a first year Bantam so I doubt that will happen. He was asked on a Thursday night after practice to help the JV team out, and the next night he was in the net for a JV game against St. Cloud Cathedral with no prior practice with the team. He played an amazing game and they only lost by 1 and it was because the coach pulled Austin out the net to put another skater out & they scored on an open net. Then the following Tuesday they played in Delano (another top rated team) and he played very well again, and then almost had a shut-out on that last season game against Waconia last Friday night. In the last 6 minutes of the game, he made the initial save but then it bounced off his own team-mate's leg and back into the net it went. I was so nervous for him to play up but he's proved he can definitely handle it...we are so proud of him!...and it's all thanks to the four summers of TGC camps that he's attended and the help of your awesome coaching staff...he's on his way to being a great goaltender...Thank you!!

Des, The weekend at the Meltdown was fantastic and beyond everyone's expectations! The team she played with ended up taking 3rd place, not a bad accomplishment considering the team was thrown together for this tournament and had never practiced together! The first game was a little rough, as you can imagine with no practice time, AND we had to play the Blades first (they won the tournament). Conservatively, Mikayla faced over 20 SOG just in the first period, allowing 6 goals and all were rebounds as the defense just wasn't used to each other yet and didn't clear the puck. But the team finally settled down and the Blades were only able to score 4 goals on 23 SOG in the remaining 2 periods. She only wished she had one back she said, as one girl went short side as she was making her move to the post. She had not been rocked like that since she was a first year U8, so her confidence was a bit shaken. BUT both she and her team rose to the occasion, winning the next 4 games. Together they only allowed 3 goals on 43 SOG in 4 games with 2 shutouts! The 3rd place game was 7-0 pounding of the '02 Machine from Minnesota Made. Mikayla had a very crucial save late in the first period when we were up 2-0, a butterfly slide toward the center of the crease, catching and clutching the puck just as Grant had showed her last week. It was the save of the game in my opinion as it would have made it a one goal game and momentum would have swung in their favor. (Only wished I'd had it on video, it was a very sweet save!) Overall, it was a fantastic experience for her in net, and the training lessons she had leading up to this event were key in her preparation and success in this tournament. Thank you for arranging to have Grant work with her, the time spent with her at Shattuck was well worth the performance she had and the outcome she experienced was priceless.

Coach Des, I hope your year has been awesome! Another hockey season has come and gone - what a whirlwind! Since our last communication attached below, Jack tried out for the Squirt travel team, made the team, was the starter throughout the season, collected 6 shut-outs in a 45 game season, his team won the state championship, finished with a .893 save percentage, he was invited to play in the Big Sky State games this weekend, and has been formally asked to join the Montana Thunderblades (select team of 11yo's) for the 2012-13 season. To him, the success he had is no coincidence. Before attending your camp last August he was considering hanging up the skates because his confidence was so low. He firmly believes that everything that's happened is a direct result of what he learned at TGC. So he's coming back! Just need some advice: I presume that since he's only going to be 11 when he arrives and that he's been a goalie for 3 years that he should still enroll in the "Fundamental" camp? He believes that he still has many things from the fundamentals concepts to master that were taught last year. If so, would there be any additional advantage of going with a 2:1 ratio vs the 3:1? Much appreciated - looking forward to seeing you this Summer!

Coach Des, I just picked up Oliver at the airport he had the best time. Thank you very much he loved it and learned a lot, every night he would tell me how hard he was working and the new drills he has learned. This is the first camp he has ever been too. He can't wait until next years camp. Thanks again.

Thanks for the call, Gina really appreciated it a lot. Your much more than a Goalie coach for these guys and they are extremely lucky......

Des- Eryn had the BEST time and didn't want to come home. She said all the goalies, your staff and YOU were the nicest people she has ever met! And on top of all that - she said it was awesome and hard 🙂 Erika and Eryn became best friends along with a young man from Florida PRICELESS All the best till next summer.