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SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | JULY 17, 2022
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Goalie camp teaches new netminders values BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
B
eing a goaltender on a hockey team can be isolating. Most teams only have two goalies on a team, and most do not have a coach specializing in goaltending. However, for one week each summer for the past 26 years, Behind The Mask hockey shop owner Randy Exelby has saved a sheet of ice so that goaltenders from around the state can receive two hours of goalie-specific instruction. “I’ve been to several camps in Arizona and out and this is definitely the best one for goalies,” said Henry Stratton, 14, who will tend the twine for Notre Dame Preparatory High School as a freshman this year. “The coaches really make you feel like you’re one of them,” Henry said, “and they don’t make you feel like you’re an outsider. They make sure that every person gets better and not just specifically a few people.” For five days, goaltenders started their
Randy Exelby talks to attendees in between rotations at the Behind the Mask Goalie School in Scottsdale. (David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer)
mornings by lacing up their skates, strapping on their pads, sliding their carbon fiber or plastic masks over their heads and taking the ice for 30-minutes of goalie-specific power skating – which some goalies have attributed to sharpening their game while ironically dulling their blades.
“I think the power skating is an important part of the position that a lot of goalie instructors don’t really go over,” said 14-year-old Aidan Mullarkey, who plans to patrol the crease for Mountain Ridge High School this upcoming season. “I like that this camp focused on that for
at least 30 minutes of each ice time and I think working hard, getting gassed and learning better edge work is a good part of this camp,” Aidan added. After carving the ice by making c-cuts with their feet, skating to lines on the ice where they would drop to their stomachs and recover and partaking in myriad skating drills, the goaltenders would head off to stations where they would face pucks slung by skilled shooters from and by a machine that shoots pucks as fast as 100 mph at one station. That was unanimously a favorite drill among the campers. “I definitely liked the puck shooting machine drill because it gave us a chance to react to some strong rebounds and make some nice saves,” Henry said. Although the puck machine station was a camp favorite, Exelby noted two things about the campers he saw stonewalling shooters this year. “We had a lot of younger goalies this year.
see GOALIE page 25
Scottsdale women’s group helps meals program BY ANGELA SIMS Progress Guest Writer
I
n Arizona, 231,429 seniors (14.5%) are threatened by or experiencing hunger. Arizona ranks 15th in the U.S. for food insecurity for seniors. Nationwide, 63% of seniors visiting food banks say they must choose between food and medical care, according to Meals on Wheels and Feeding America. Seniors’ mental and physical health are impacted when they face hunger and food insecurity. Food-insecure seniors are more likely to suffer from diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, heart attacks, asthma, and more. These statistics are troubling and heart-
Three unidentified Meals of Joy members hold an out-sized check and are flanked by, from left, Lauryn Wingate, Larry Cervarich, Stephanie Millner and Kim Tarnopolski.
breaking. Behind the numbers, parents, grandparents, veterans, our neighbors are
struggling to meet the basic needs of nourishment and nutrition.
Meals of Joy, a local nonprofit founded in 2014 by Larry Cervarich of Goodyear, is committed to addressing this need. It provides quality meals at a reasonable cost (or no cost, depending on income level) to seniors in the West Valley. These meals are delivered hot and fresh, directly to the homes of seniors, five days a week! Each month a menu is provided, and the clients can choose exactly which days and meals they would like to receive hot, to their doorstep, every week day. There is also an option to order a “Weekender Meal” that is delivered on Friday. Volunteers pick up the meals and deliver them to the seniors, providing a personal
see MEALS page 26
