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JUNE/JULY 2020 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 7 110 k There are approximately 110 sled goalies across all levels of USA Hockey. tioning, save selection, rebound con- trol and recovery. Given the unique challenges of playing the position in sled hockey, primarily that goalies use their hands to propel themselves around the crease, these veteran goal- ies have adapted the information to move the position forward. "We wanted to make every sled goalie feel they have a chance to develop as well," Thompson said. While the current national team netminders show no signs of slowing down—Cash is 31 years old and Lee is 33 — developing the next gener- ation of sled goalies is important to the U.S. keeping its gold-medal streak moving forward. "We receive a lot of praise for the success the sled program has had over the years," said team general manag- er Dan Brennan. "But let's be honest. We're not great GMs and great coaches without Steve Cash. We're so fortunate that even though he's been on the team for 15 years he's only 31. "The great thing is he's still pretty young, but we need to see what the future looks like." P HEN IT CAME TO DEVEL- OPING a curriculum to help sled hockey goaltenders improve their skills, Steve Thompson and Dave Caruso didn't have to look far to find a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the position. You could say they already had money in the bank. As in Steve Cash, who many consider to be the best goalie to ever play the position. Along with his U.S. National Sled Team teammates Jen Lee and Mike Blabac, Cash is helping to write the playbook for other sled hockey goal- ies to follow now and into the future. It's part of USA Hockey's drive to improve the information and edu- cation used to develop goalies at all levels and disciplines of the game. "When it came to improving our goaltending curriculum, we felt strongly that two projects need- ed to be front and center," said Thompson, who is the ADM man- ager for goaltending. "One was to have more female leadership among goalie coaches and the other was to establish a means to coach and develop more sled goalies." The curriculum closely follows that used to train able-bodied goalies that focuses on six fundamentals of the position: stance, skating, posi- NET GAINS 3 U S A H O C K E Y N E W S , P E O P L E & P R O G R A M S PHOTO BY Harry Thompson O F F THE D R AW Sled Goalies Help Write The Book For The Next Generation w k Jen Lee, left, and Steve Cash, right, discuss the finer points of being a sled hockey goalie with Lehigh Valley Phantoms netminders Alex Lyon and Felix Sandstrom.