Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)
ghshockeyfan wrote:Here's another great story from the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/h ... index.html
Crease Is the Word
Ashley Nixon keeps up the tradition at 'Goalie High'
Posted: Tuesday February 6, 2007 1:03PM; Updated: Tuesday February 6, 2007 1:03PM
By Yi-Wyn Yen
BLAINE HIGH
Blaine, Minn.
During humid Minnesota summers Steve Guider oversees "goalie boot camps" at which players jump tires or trudge across four-foot-deep padded mats in full gear. Guider wants to be "the best goaltender coach around," he says, and these drills are among his favorites for building endurance and balance. Guider, 38, came to Blaine (Minn.) High in 1992, first to work with boys' goalies, and added the duties of girls' goalies coach in 1994 and girls' head coach in 2003. During that time Guider, a former Blaine goalie himself, has seen four boys and four girls become Division I goalies. His latest and perhaps his greatest pupil is senior Ashley Nixon, headed to nearby St. Cloud this fall.
Nixon, 18, excelled last June at USA Hockey's Junior National Olympic development camp in Lake Placid. Over five days of scrimmages, she didn't give up a goal until her 102nd minute and had a goals-against average (0.80) twice as good as anyone else's. At Blaine she has led the Bengals to a 15-7-3 record this season, including eight shutouts. She'll excel in college, Guider says, because "she plays her best against elite players."
Nixon, the daughter of Scott, a construction foreman, and Mary, a secretary, first tended goal in youth leagues at age nine. She now emulates the butterflying style of the New Jersey Devils' Martin Brodeur.
Of her exacting coach Nixon says, "We make fun of him a bit -- when he writes plays on the board, every letter has to be the exact same size." Scott Bjugstad, a former Blaine coach who played center for the NHL's North Stars, says Guider "gets results because he's relentless." But though she may sigh at the prospect of yet another drill, for Nixon it's a system that works.
ghshockeyfan wrote:http://www.startribune.com/526/story/953230.html
The puck stops here, year after year after year
It's more than luck that has allowed Blaine to produce nine Division I goaltenders in the past 14 years. Some great athletes had their skills refined by the philosophy developed and the drills devised by coach Steve Guider.
By Pam Schmid, Star Tribune
Last update: January 22, 2007 – 8:43 PM
Pipeline between the pipes
Prep Sports
Nixon
In his 14 years spent coaching goalies at Blaine, Steve Guider has figured out a thing or two:
Fundamentals rule. The mental game has as much to do with it as the physical. And outstanding goaltenders tend to be made, not born.
Guider can back up the last tenet nine times over -- the same number of male and female NCAA Division I goaltenders Blaine has turned out under his guidance. It's a stunning total for a single school.
Jim Moellman, who graduated from Blaine in 1992, was Guider's first success story. Ashley Nixon is his latest. A three-year starter with outstanding technique and a fiery disposition, Nixon is headed to St. Cloud State next season.
"It's hard to make a good goal-scorer; you can't create a Wayne Gretzky," said Guider, a 1987 Blaine graduate. "But if you have a kid who can skate and is athletic, you can make them a goalie. That's what we've had."
For the past decade, the Bengals girls' program has enjoyed an unbroken string of stellar goaltenders. Katie Beau- duy (1999), a four-year starter who played for Minnesota State Mankato, came first. Jody Horak (2001, Gophers), Kim Hanlon (2005, Gophers) and Nixon have followed. Guider also coached Dauphne Barnes, a 1993 graduate who played on the boys' team and later competed for Princeton.
"We've been pretty lucky," Guider said. "There's been quite a bit of talent that's come through here."
Guider has had something to do with it as well.
He spent nine years working with the goaltenders in Blaine's girls' and boys' programs before becoming the girls' head coach five years ago. While his duties have expanded, he hasn't strayed from his philosophy of developing goalies: Teach the basics, drill the heck out of them and set expectations sky-high.
Before each season, Guider tells his goaltenders the same thing: You must do everything possible to stop every puck, or you won't play for us. Instilling that attitude develops a rock-solid work ethic, he believes. He backs up his talks with a multitude of examples.
"He's taught me never to give up," Nixon said. "He's definitely a perfectionist, and he wants you to be that way, too."
Movement drills are another Guider trademark. Every day, for the first five or six minutes of practice, his goaltenders work on drills, inside the net and out. Guider has developed nearly 20 of them: shuffle drills, T-glide drills, backward push drills, drills that simulate breakaways and other game situations.
"To stop the puck you have to be able to move and be agile and quick," said Hanlon, the 2006 WCHA rookie of the year. "Right before every practice, we were always doing tons of different movement drills. They really helped."
Guider, who played hockey and football at Blaine, has picked the brains of NHL and national team coaches he's crossed paths with at Olympic development camps, symposiums and USA Hockey programs.
Churning out nine D-I goalies is "unheard of," Centennial girls' hockey coach Mike Diggins said. "But Steve does that good of a job with the kids he's gotten."
Guider believes Nixon, a three-year starter who split time with Hanlon as a sophomore, might be his finest goalie yet.
Last year, she turned heads at the Junior National Olympic development camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., where she was the top-rated goalie in her age group with a .970 save percentage.
Despite her team's less-than-stellar defense this season, Nixon has a .939 save percentage. Out of her 12 victories, seven have been shutouts. Her finest game came against Blake, ranked No. 6 in Class 1A, when she stopped 44 of 46 shots in a 3-2 victory. Guider, whose team is 12-6-2, hasn't had to worry about his goalie for the past 10 years, but next season that will change. With Nixon graduating, his choices in net will be a raw sophomore and an even less experienced freshman.
"Until we get these other kids ready, we'll have to improve our defense," Guider said. "We can't give up the quality of shots we've given up and expect to be successful next year."
Pam Schmid • pschmid@startribune.com
i just brought up irondale because at the time they was very little talk of them. if you read through this thread i didnt say anything about Irondales goalie who is nominated. although if there was an ashley nixon fan club, id like to join it because she is a very good goalie and is more then likley to also have the title of Ms. Goalie. i just thought itd be nice if we could talk about some of the goalies i didnt know as much about. i was unaware that there was an "arena of competition", and im also unsure if the "Also, don't say things when your anonymus that you wouldn't have the courage to say to someones face" quote was directed towards me also, but i think the idea of generating a fan club is a very bad idea for anyone, especilly ashley. anyway, i dont think i know who you are "Butch" but im pretty confident we should turn a page on our relationship and become allies in the world or girls high school hockey talk regaurding the state of minnesota.Butch Horner wrote:This is as much an Ashley Nixon fan club as it is an Irondale fan club. In case I'm not being direct enough, that's for you "lovetopuck".
I think this forum should be for the positive flow of information and the advancement of girls hockey. It should not be an arena of competition. :evil:
Save that for the ice.
I think it's wonderful when any of these girls get recognition because it shows how awesome the "state" of hockey is.
I say good luck to all who are up for this and any other award.
Life is filled with winners and losers but only you can truly define which you will be.
Envy is a deadly sin, so try being happy for others once in a while. It's amazing how good it can make you feel. :D
Also, don't say things when your anonymus that you wouldn't have the courage to say to someones face.
Just my opinion, and you know who I am.
Go North Metro Stars! :D
Go Snipers and go Big Green!
well not to talk about irondale anymore, but their D Amy Udvig took a slap shot and fractured a girls foot so she couldnt walk or play for awhile. i'd like you to step in front of her shot, or Bacon of BSM. they probably have the hardest shots of girls names that i can remember.Willman21 wrote:
There shouldnt even be a ms. hockey goalie. the women cant shoot the puck off the ground or even get it moving 20 mph. I could stop there shots without pads!
And, there are women goaltenders that have played pro MENS hockey. I'm guessing that many of the posters on this board haven't played at that level.Willman21 wrote:
There shouldnt even be a ms. hockey goalie. the women cant shoot the puck off the ground or even get it moving 20 mph. I could stop there shots without pads!
I bet you could stop shots with your head without getting hurt. Boys shots too. NHL players shots to I'd guess. The puck would shatter into many pieces.Willman21 wrote:
There shouldnt even be a ms. hockey goalie. the women cant shoot the puck off the ground or even get it moving 20 mph. I could stop there shots without pads!
My understanding is that Nixon has made the initial NDP group and that we've added "at large" kids as needed. Some MN goalies made this list, but Nixon has been the only one that has consistently made it without being selected "at large" after-the-fact.mr. mudd wrote:If I recall correctly, Thunder's been to NDP the last 2 years also.... I heard she had a strong showing. Also went to Vermont with one of the MN teams and by all reports had a strong showing.
Should making it to NDP, or doing well in the off-season with whatever team, have ANY bearing on the voting? As far as their hockey talent and performance is concerned, which is the No. 1 criteria in selecting the winner, shouldn't it just be measured on how well you did in high school, with a strong emphasis on your senior year? If (theoretically speaking only) one of the other candidates had a slightly better hockey record but otherwise they were equal in the other criteria, should Nixon get the nod based on what she accomplished at NDP?ghshockeyfan wrote:My understanding is that Nixon has made the initial NDP group and that we've added "at large" kids as needed. Some MN goalies made this list, but Nixon has been the only one that has consistently made it without being selected "at large" after-the-fact.mr. mudd wrote:If I recall correctly, Thunder's been to NDP the last 2 years also.... I heard she had a strong showing. Also went to Vermont with one of the MN teams and by all reports had a strong showing.
I believe Thunder has shown well out East too. I believe Nixon has done as well or better though.
Re: Vermont - great tourney, lots of fun, pay your $$$ and know the right people and nearly anyone can go. Vermont isn't NDP.
All of these goalies in the top 5 are amazing. IMHO Nixon is #1 - or the best of the best. Take nothing away from the others however!
