A one-of-a-kind hockey demonstration is coming to Juneau this weekend.<\/p>\n
Alaska-bred coach Steve Thompson will be holding a free one-hour goalie clinic Saturday on Mendenhall Lake. Thompson, USA Hockey’s Pacific District Goalie Coach-In-Chief, said he wanted to do something special to celebrate “Try Hockey Day,” slated for Saturday, and thought of a skating adventure he took while in Juneau in 2017.<\/p>\n
“We skated and went through the ice caves and from that point on I was like, ‘I want to do a goalie clinic on that glacier one day,’” Thompson said via cellphone on Thursday. “That is just something that is unique to the world.”<\/p>\n
Thompson is the founder of an Anchorage-based company specializing in goalie instruction, Alaska Goaltending Academy, and also coaches part time with the U.S. women’s national hockey team<\/a>. The Anchorage native played competitive hockey through college — spending four seasons on the Alaska Nanooks — before getting into coaching.<\/p>\n Juneau Douglas Ice Association goalie coach Andrew Wells helped Thompson coordinate the event.<\/p>\n “We just feel like this is Alaska and we have the opportunity to do something that you can’t do basically anywhere else,” Wells said. “We’ve got a glacier right here; it’s a really cool, fun thing to do for the kids.”<\/p>\n The event will begin at 1 p.m. and last roughly one hour. Free gear will be provided. To sign up go to bit.ly\/2EmJFRg<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Any kids that haven’t played goalie before or like the idea of it but haven’t had a chance to play, we’re going to provide gear for,” Thompson said. “And then anybody that has their own equipment and currently plays is also welcome. It’s just kind of a way to celebrate the game and try and get some new people interested in it.”<\/p>\n