Between Two Worlds: Discovering New Realms of Goalie Development

by Justin Goldman, Chris Koentges (Foreword)

Justin Goldman, founder of The Goalie Guild and a regional goalie scout for USA Hockey, embarked on a four-month summer journey to Finland, Canada, and throughout the United States in order to discover new realms of hockey goalie development.

Traveling over 24,000 miles and scouting more than 250 goalies from May until September of 2014, Goldman was exposed to a plethora of different coaching methods, training environments, and tactical puck-stopping strategies. He had originally planned to write an in-depth comparative analysis of playing styles between North American and Finnish goalies, but as his exhausting summer journey continued, Goldman realized his research was opening the doors for something much bigger.

Loaded with science, research, personal experiences, and numerous interviews with some of the world’s finest goalie coaches, "Between Two Worlds" provides goalie enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds with a variety of unique perspectives on the current state of goalie development. It also brings you inside Goldman's mind as he attempts to create a solution to one of the biggest problems currently facing goalie development in the United States – a lack of a goalie coaching certification program.

Interviews in "Between Two Worlds" include the Jukka Ropponen (Founder of GoaliePro and one of Finland's most tenured goalie coaches), Hannu Nykvist (Director of Goalie Development for the Finnish Hockey Federation), Thomas Magnusson (Director of Goalie Development for the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation), Mitch Korn (Goalie Coach for the Washington Capitals), Corey Hirsch (Hockey Canada Goaltending Advisory Board), Jack Hartigan (Founder of FinnGoalie), Eli Wilson (Founder of Eli Wilson Goaltending), and many more.

614 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2015

Reviews

[Matt Nekoroski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though there may not be much to offer in this novel story-wise, (of course), this collection of nutritional, social, mental, and physical tips is an amazing follow up to Goldman's other novel that I had read earlier during this summer of 2015. The main point in this novel are the differences and similarities between the so-called "art" of Finnish goaltending, and goaltending in the rest of the world. However, what can be seen in between these points concerning similarities and differences are facts about what you can consume before and after workouts, games, etc, that aid in your overall performance and mentality. The novel also teaches the reader not to over-inflate their ego after making a new good saves or having a few good games, and to stay humble and credit others who aided the victory for your team. Overall, this book definitely aided my gameplay over this summer of 2015 and will hopefully continue to aid me as I resume my play this fall.