Elite Goalies has put together an advisory board whose members bring expert insight to the field. Their knowledge not only of the mechanics of goaltending, but also of the scouting and recruiting process will help provide goalies with the information they need to create a profile that will accurately depict their abilities. The Elite Goalies advisory board will foster cohesion between players and recruiters.
Elite Goalies
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Advisory Board
Mitch Korn
Mitch Korn is in his 10th season as the goaltending coach for the Nashville Predators and in his 17th season in the NHL. He works with all netminders in the Nashville system, including those playing in Milwaukee (AHL), amateur leagues and Europe.
Prior to joining the Predators on July 23, 1998, Korn spent seven seasons coaching the netminders in the Buffalo Sabres organization, where he enjoyed great success while working with two-time Hart Trophy-winner Dominik Hasek. Under Korn’s tutelage, Hasek captured four Vezina Trophies and led the NHL with the best save percentage five times. Korn also saw Buffalo’s goaltending tandem (Hasek and Hall-of-Famer Grant Fuhr) capture the NHL’s Jennings Trophy (lowest team goals-against average) during the 1994-95 season. Besides Hasek and Fuhr, Korn also coached current NHL standouts Olaf Kolzig, Steve Shields and Martin Biron.
The New York City native has been employed at Miami University’s Goggin Ice Center in Oxford, Ohio for the past 27 years, where he has served in various capacities. He currently runs the university’s seven-week summer hockey school, along with his own goaltending and defensemen schools around the country. Korn also contributes regularly to several hockey publications including USA Hockey Magazine and Goalies’ World.
Korn began his college hockey career at Kent State University in the late 1970s and started his coaching career at Kent in 1979. He continued coaching the goaltenders at Miami University until joining the Sabres in 1991. Korn has over 31 years of coaching experience and is now in his 17th season as an NHL goaltending coach.
Mitch and his wife, Vicki, reside in Oxford, Ohio. Their daughter, Ashley, is a sophomore at Miami University.
Steve McKichan
Steve McKichan is entering his fifth season as Goaltending Coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
McKichan, 40, was a second-round selection, seventh overall, of the Vancouver Canucks in the 1988 National Hockey League Supplemental Draft. The native of Strathroy, Ontario spent three years at the University of Miami-Ohio beginning in 1986 and he made his professional debut in 1989-90 with the Virginia Lancers of the East Coast Hockey League. Later that season, he appeared in one game with the International Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals.
McKichan went on to play one game with the Vancouver Canucks in 1990-91. While playing with Milwaukee that same season, he sustained a neck injury that eventually led to the end of his professional playing career.
He plays an integral role by working exclusively on and off the ice with the goaltenders at all levels of the Maple Leafs organization. In addition, he scouts goaltenders that are draft-eligible and those playing in the NHL and American Hockey League.
Steve and his wife Tracey reside in Strathroy with their sons, Christopher and Jamie, and their daughter, Samantha.
Gilles Moffet
Goaltending journalist and publisher, Gilles Moffet, is the authority on elite goaltender evaluation in North America! Moffet has parlayed his goaltending experience in college (Merrimack, NCAA) and professional hockey into a career with Goalies World Magazine. Since 1996 Gilles and the Goalies World staff have been interviewing NHL goaltenders, evaluating goaltender styles and ranking elite goaltenders in the NHL, North American Professional Leagues, NCAA, US Junior Hockey and the CHL.
www.goaliesworld.com
Jukka Ropponen
Jukka has been coaching goalies at all levels of the game for the past 20 years. His analytical approach to the game and his progressive coaching methods helped him become recognized as the top goaltending coach in
Jukka is in charge of GoaliePro's development work and also participates in many specialized goalie clinics and events around the world.
Eli Wilson
Eli Wilson is entering his second season with the Senators organization, having been named goaltending coach on August 15, 2007.
The native of Maple Ridge, B.C., most recently worked with the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers for the last four seasons while also owning and operating his own company, World Pro Goaltending.
Wilson has trained a number of NHL goalies and prospects, including Senators netminder Ray Emery and 2004 draftee Jeff Glass. In addition to his efforts with Emery and Glass, Wilson has also coached and helped develop the likes of world-junior gold medalist Carey Price, who was named 2006-07 Canadian Hockey League goaltender of the year as a member of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans and the American Hockey League playoff MVP with the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Wilson resides in Ottawa during the season and in Calgary during the off-season.
Mike Buckley
Mike Buckley is president of Goaltending Development Services, Inc.
where he trains NHL, AHL and college goaltenders throughout the season and summer months. Mike played college hockey at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Following UMass, Mike played professionally for five seasons including time with the Atlanta Thrashers minor league affiliate Gwinnett Gladiators, and New York Islanders minor league affiliate Mississippi Seawolves.
Mike trains a number of professional goaltenders including Dan Ellis (Nashville Predators), Mike Morrison (Bridgeport Tigers/New York Islanders), Jeff Pietrasiak (Texas Wildcatters), Pete Vetri (Wheeling
Nailers) and college goaltenders from Boston College, UNH, UMass, Vermont, Merrimack, Brown, Northeastern, Quinipiac, UConn, Salem St., Southern New Hampshire, St. Micheal's, St. Anselm’s and more.
In addition to being president of GDS, Inc. Mike is also the goaltending coach for the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and director of goaltending for Pro Ambitions Hockey, where his curriculum is taught across the country at more than 120 locations. GDS also provides goaltending consulting to sports management groups, NHL
scouts, top Prep schools, Jr. teams and youth hockey organizations.
Through GDS, Mike also helps several top equipment manufacturers develop advancements in goaltending equipment.
MIKE VALLEY
Mike Valley is the Founder and President of Elite Goalies. As a goaltender Mike spent two seasons at the University of Wisconsin before signing a free-agent contract with the Vancouver Canucks. Mike enjoyed the hands-on benefits of working with some of the top goalie coaches in the game during his six years of pro hockey. His playing days were split between the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and the Swedish Elite League. Mike has a communication science degree at the University of Wisconsin.
Mike and his wife Holly reside in Madison, WI with their two daughters, Madeleine and Emily.
