Featured Goalie December: Theo Tomlin

A fixture at our year round goalie training sessions, Theo Tomlin is a prime example of what focus, hard work, determination, and sacrifice can do for a goaltender’s game, and he has earned his achievement as Goalie Army Academy’s Goalie of the Month for December.

Last year at this time, Theo was about 3 months into having realized that goaltending was his passion and recognized a need to improve his technical and in-crease skating abilities.  Although playing for the West-End Hockey League’s house league atom B team enabled Theo to practice once per week, and play once per week, Theo had a desire to improve his on-ice abilities even further.

As soon as Theo became a frequent attendee of Goalie Army Academy’s weekly association goalie clinics for the West-End Hockey League, our coaches quickly learned the extent of his desire to succeed through his ability to listen, understand, and absorb many of the lessons from our goalie training sessions through this association’s dedication to goaltending development.  At this time, we understood that Theo had a lot of potential to reach ahead and play at a higher calibre, but that there was still plenty of work to be done.

Over the past year, Theo has attended many of Goalie Army Academy’s goalie training programs throughout the hockey season, spring and summer, and even opted for private lessons to help him prepare for tryouts once the pre-season approached.

Being within the Ottawa Sting’s territory, Theo tried out for the Major Atom AA team for the 2016-17 hockey season which resulted in him being released last.  Theo then tried out for the Ottawa Sting’s A team.  Everything pointed to Theo making the A team, that is until a goalie from another area of the city came into the picture.  Released from his own association’s A team, this goaltender also had something to prove.  Unfortunately for Theo, his efforts were not enough to sway the team coach’s opinion, and Theo was released last from the A team to the Ottawa West Golden Knights Major Atom B team.

Theo made a huge impression on the coaches of the Knights’ B team, and earned his place on the team.  Since making the Ottawa West Golden Knights Major Atom B team, Theo has continued working with our coaches at our weekly goalie clinics at the Minto Skating Centre and through Goalie Army Academy’s agreement with the Ottawa West Golden Knights association, our goalie coaches attend some of his team’s practices to work with him and his goaltending partner in a semi-private training environment.  Currently, Theo is ranked 17th in the league for his goals against average of 2.44, but he is trending in the right direction on a team which is in 9th place.

Over the month of December, Theo managed to win 2 of his 3 league games played and a goals against average of 2.33 for these 3 games.  In addition to his league wins, Theo has managed to rack up 4 shutouts in the month of December during league and tournament play, and recently earned a Player of the Game nod for his shutout performance on December 29th at Fred Barrett Arena during the Bell Capital Cup tournament.

In addition to his ability to seek out opportunities to take his game to a higher level, Theo Tomlin’s confidence, maturity, and great personality contribute to his on-ice and off-ice presence which makes our job as goaltending coaches so much more enjoyable.

Please join me in congratulating Theo Tomlin for his recent achievements and for being Goalie Army Academy’s Goalie of the Month for December.

Congratulations Theo!