With its 50th summer scheduled for 2023, Bertagna Goaltending has announced this will be the final year for the longest active goalie school in the country. Since its 1974 start at the West Suburban Arena in Natick, MA, Bertagna Goaltending established a high standard for coaching goalies of all ages. It is estimated that more than 12,000 goalies went through the summer program since the camp was first launched.

“It has been a great run and I have enjoyed every minute of it. But I think it is time to wrap up this part of my coaching career,” said Bertagna. “I hope to stay active – and relevant – with youth and prep hockey coaching. I still have the energy for that.”

The first summer camp was run under the auspices of the West Suburban Arena and had the legendary Yale and Olympic coach Tim Taylor overseeing Joe as he launched his own efforts. Bertagna credits Tim and Tim’s own goalie coach, Warren Cook, with providing the structure needed to get the camp off the ground. Cook had enjoyed a college career at Dartmouth.

“Warren and Tim were very generous with their time and knowledge and that is how all of this started,” said Bertagna.

Bertagna hopes that former coaches, camp attendees and even anyone who shot pucks at the camp will stop by on Friday, August 4 at the Burlington Ice Palace in Burlington, MA. He has booked an extra hour of ice following the conclusion of camp on Friday, August 4, and hopes to take an impressive group photo of all who come back for the celebration.

The camp has coached goalies from aspiring mites to future NHL greats. Among his celebrated students: New York Rangers Stanley Cup-winning goalie Mike Richter, BU’s Rick DiPietro and BC’s Cory Schneider, who went on to NHL careers; Chuckie Hughes, who led Harvard to its only NCAA title; women’s hockey pioneers Kelly Dyer and Erin Whitten, and so many others.

Joe’s work at the camp, coupled with a lifetime of writing about goaltending, has led to other high visibility jobs as a goalie coach. He was Boston Bruins goalie coach from 1985-1991 and served Tim Taylor in that role with the 1994 U.S. Olympic Team. He currently works with Governors Academy goaltenders in the winter season.

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Former NHL goaltender Mike Morrison will continue in a leading role in working many in-season clinics for Bertagna Goaltending. Mike, who attended Joe’s clinics as a youngster out of Medford, MA, went on to an outstanding career in prep school (St. Sebastian’s), college (the University of Maine) and the National Hockey League (Edmonton, Ottawa, and Phoenix.)

We have seen quite a few changes in the instruction we have offered for almost four decades. At first, we only coached goalies and our goalie clinics are still what occupies our staff the most. But even the goalie instruction has changed. Families are not content with limiting their instruction to a single week in the summer. They want help all year round. They might want to attend once a week instead of five straight days. With costs and busy family schedules, they might want a shorter clinic. And they want personalized attention. And so we have adapted to give familes what they want.

We also have worked to stay "current." With the addition of younger staff, recently out of college or professional hockey, we have made sure to stay up with changes in the game. Joe and his staff are available year-round for youth hockey organizations. We now offer a variety of summer sessions, Three-day, four-day and five-day options are available, as is a once-a-week option. We are also busier in the fall and winter than ever before. And each spring, we offer instruction for adult women hockey players (not just goalies) as interest in women's hockey has really taken off.

We hope you consider one of the many options we offer, all of which are designed to help you play better and enjoy the game more. The fact that we are in our 38th year is living testimony to what thousands of hockey players have enjoyed by coming to us for instruction.

Have Joe or His Staff Observe Your Game

Joe or a staff member will attend and observe a game and write up a detailed analysis of what you have to work on. To arrange for this service, contact Joe at j2b2hockey@gmail.com.