Blues host USA Hockey Silver Goalie education course

More than 50 goalie coaches from around the country — including three from Missouri — gathered in St. Louis for USA Hockey’s Silver Goalie Coach education course over the weekend.

The three-day goaltending clinic, designed to develop coaches and young goaltenders, was hosted by the St. Louis Blues and held at Centene Community Ice Center from Jan. 22-24. The program aims to have American goaltenders play 51 percent of the minutes played at the highest levels of hockey — specifically the NHL and PWHL — by 2030.

David Alexander, the Blues Director of Goaltending, also worked with coaches at the clinic on Saturday. Alexander joined the Blues in 2017 and has spent the last several seasons coaching Jordan Binnington — including during his Stanley Cup-winning run in 2019 — and Joel Hofer. Alex Cavallini, an American ice hockey goalie who most recently played for the PWHPA, also participated over the weekend. Cavallini serves as a youth hockey ambassador for the Blues and has attended the team's Girls Development skates and youth hockey graduations. Cavallini is the first goaltender in USA Hockey history to have competed for the United States on the U-18 team, U-22 and senior women's teams.

The event included more than five hours of on-ice goalie instruction, along with seven hours of off-ice classrom work. Coaches use the clinic to sharpen their own skills developing players, while 60 local goaltenders were able to sharpen their game on the ice.

In addition, the clinic provided nearly 80 players under the age of 8 with an opportunity to try goalie for free.

During Saturday's game between the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings, eight goalies participated in a second-intermission scrimmage at Enterprise Center decked out in full goalie gear. The goalies were wearing Team USA and Team Canada jerseys and pads to celebrate the Olympic Winter Games, which are set to begin in February. The goalie pads used in the scrimmage were replicas of Binnington's Team Canada pads from the 4 Nations Face-Off, while the Team USA pads were replicas of Cavallini's from the 2022 Winter Olympics.