Ian Clark, Goaltending Coach
Ian Clark was born in Vancouver, BC, Canada on May 12, 1966. He has become one of the world’s premiere coaches of the hockey goaltender position and is known widely for his technical knowledge of the position. He played junior hockey for the Penticton Knights of the BC Junior Hockey League and for the University of British Columbia.
Ian has dedicated his life to the innovation and development of the goaltending position and has developed the most comprehensive and consistently effective system of skill development. He has developed countless goaltenders currently in the NHL, Minor Pro, Major Junior, College and International ranks. His list of students goes on and on. It all started in 1992, when Ian founded the Ian Clark Goaltender Training Centre which was later renamed GDI (GDI-The Goaltender Development Institute Inc.). Under that banner, Ian has coached and mentored thousands of goaltenders from around the globe.
Coaching Career
Ian is currently the Goaltender Coach for the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets where he has been developing the skills of Sergei Bobrovsky, 2012-13 Vezina Trophy winner, voted by the NHL general managers as the best goaltender in the league. In addition, while in Columbus he has tutored Curtis McElhinney (runner up for AHL Goaltender of the Year in 2012-13) and Steve Mason (now with the Philadelphia Flyers). Columbus has begun to develop one of the game's top goaltending stables which not only includes the incumbents noted above but also prospects Anton Forsberg, Oscar Dansk, Joonas Korpisalo and Martin Ouelette. <bluejackets.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=69589>
From 2002 to 2010, Ian was the Goaltending Consultant for the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL. During that time he coached Roberto Luongo (Vezina nominee/Hart nominee), Cory Schneider (AHL Goaltender of the Year), Andrew Raycroft, Curtis Sanford, Jason Labarbera, Alex Auld, Dan Cloutier, Johan Hedberg, Dany Sabourin and Petr Skudra.
In other venues, he has coached Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury, Marty Turco, Devan Dubnyk, Josh Harding, Mathieu Garon, Ben Scrivens, Martin Jones and Brent Johnson amongst others.
In 2011, he was recruited by former Vancouver Canucks captain, Markus Naslund, to join him in developing an elite goaltending program in Sweden with MODO Hockey. He continues to travel regularly to Sweden, in a consulting capacity, working closely with MODO Hockey’s full-time goaltending coach Maciej Szwoch in this endeavor. The fruits of these labors have resulted in multiple NHL draft picks and some of Sweden’s top young goaltending prospects. The program advances the game of MODO’s elite, junior and youth goalkeepers, is used as a development tool for invited goaltending prospects from across Sweden and Europe and for the development of goaltending coaches throughout the country.
Previous to Vancouver, Ian worked with the NHL’s Florida Panthers organization, again coaching Roberto Luongo. To this stage, he has coached Luongo for over half of his NHL career.
He was the Goaltending Coach for the gold-medal winning Canadian Junior Teams in two consecutive years 2005 and 2006 (and silver medalists in 2003 and 2004). He was the Goalie Coach of record for the WHL Kelowna Rockets in 2004 when they won the Memorial Cup and for the runner-up Kitchener Rangers of the OHL in 2008.
Between 1999 and 2007, he produced training bulletins, manuals and videos on the goaltending position for Hockey Canada. He was also one of the architects of Hockey Canada’s National Goaltending Camp which debuted in 2007 under his direction.
Other published works include:
1. From the Crease- The Self Development Guide to Hockey Goaltending – From 1998 through 2002, Clark wrote this technical periodical which resulted in over 1,000 pages of technical analysis on the goaltending position. To this day, it remains the most comprehensive analysis of the goaltending position ever undertaken. 2. The Goalie News 3. The 10 Series of Goaltending Handbooks (available on Amazon.com): a. The 10 Quickest Ways to Improve Your Game b. The 10 Secrets to Great Rebound Control c. 10 Simple Tips the Pros Use
From 1997-2001, Ian was the Goaltending Coach for the Seattle Thunderbirds. His impact on goaltending in Major Junior hockey has included the coaching of seven CHL Goaltenders of the Year.