By Jeff Patrus
Sports Writer
Goodrich’s Brad Smith saw a need and decided to do his part to help fill that need.
Smith, 19, a senior goaltender in his third year with the Goodrich High School varsity hockey team, spends part of his time offering goaltending lessons to aspiring goalies. Currently, he has three students he works with ? one of them is age seven, while the other two are age 10.
Although he has taken a break from his lessons while competing for the Martians, Smith said he works with the youngsters once per week for up to 1-1/2 hours per session.
He said he has talked to others who have complained about the lack of local instruction available for young goalies. ‘For younger kids, there’s no one around locally to teach them,? Smith said.
In addition, he said he ‘definitely? would like to coach hockey in the future, emphasizing he would especially like to work with younger goalies.
Smith said he bases his lessons on what he has learned from the Jon Elkin goaltending camp in Toronto, which he has attended the past two years.
‘It’s the best goalie camp I’ve been to,? he said. ‘I teach them (the youngsters) everything I’ve learned there. I teach them the basics.?
Smith said he has some fond memories from the camp, including meeting Boston Bruins goaltender Andrew Raycroft (one of the goalies Smith said he patterns his own style after, along with Jose Theodore of the Montreal Canadiens), and learning some of the Russian language from several Russians at the camp.
‘It’s a pretty cool experience,? he said.
Smith has spent the past two summers competing for the Flint Junior Generals, a team geared toward players ages 16-20, although they have a couple players up to age 22 on the team. He said the purpose of the Junior Generals is to provide a platform where players can catch the attention of college scouts.
Although he said he is thinking about playing for the Junior Generals again in the summer of 2006, he said he does not know what his plans are at this time.
Smith is the son of Jack and Nancy Smith of Goodrich, and has one younger brother, Tyler, 16.