Back on May 11 from 6-7 p.m. at AZ Ice Arcadia, we held our on-ice goalie Demo Day.

By 4 p.m., Bauer, Brian’s, CCM, True and Vaughn were set up. This gave the goalies an opportunity to see what demo gear they wanted to try out as well as to speak directly with company reps. BTM provided shooters to test out the gear. Over 40 goalies got on the ice to put the equipment through the paces, trying different brands and seeing what fits their game best.

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Bauer had Tim from Boston and Dan, the local rep, there. Tim is in charge of grassroots marketing and Bauer events across the country, including the Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament. For Demo Day, Bauer had numerous pairs of the new 2S pads, gloves, blockers, skates and sticks. I got a chance to skate on the 2S goalie skates and was absolutely blown away by the weight reduction on this skate. The goalies marveled at the weight and balance of the 2S goalie stick.

Brian’s sent Brad in from Michigan. He arrived with demo pads used by the University of Notre Dame and a set of AHL pads. This year, Brian’s brought more intermediate and junior gear as well. Brian’s just launched the OPTiK series to rave reviews earlier in the year.

CCM again sent Pete from Minnesota. Pete is part of the CCM Goalie Advisory Board and one of the most passionate goalies out there. You saw him on the ice with his running shoes on putting the goalies through movement drills to test out the pads. He is also second to none in providing the goalies with proper fitting and instruction. They also had Georgie from California. Georgie is part of the CCM Fast Team, whose job is to train staff and host and promote CCM events. Last and certainly not least from the CCM team is Scott, our CCM rep based out of Dallas. Scott is also the NHL pro rep for five NHL teams, including the Coyotes. All the Coyotes players in CCM equipment, sticks, skates and helmets have been fitted by Scott. CCM had a full line of demo gear from senior down to youth. CCM has been riding some great PR these days from longtime endorsee Marc-Andre Fleury. CCM held a raffle, with each goalie attending getting a ticket. The winner, Braedon, received a CCM P2 composite goalie stick.

Vaughn sent Doug from California. Doug has been our Vaughn rep and attended each of the 11 Goalie Days. Vaughn has some great new under protective padded goalie shirts – the best we have seen yet.

This was True’s first year at our events. True bought demo goalie sticks to our on-ice demo and skates for the goalies. True has taken the custom skate and goalie skate market by storm with their custom 3D foot scan. From the scan, a mold is made and a truly custom skate is constructed – a skate that takes into account all the contours of each individual’s foot.

Then came May 12 – the main event – the 11th Annual BTM Goalie Day. The vendors set up booths inside the Scottsdale store. The doors opened at 10 a.m., and the goalies poured in. Vendors had FREE swag to hand out. Each goalie that purchased something received a free raffle ticket. The grand price was a custom set of the new $850 CCM goalie skates. The winner was Marissa Forman. Over 100 goalies attended. As Tim from Bauer stated, “Did every goalie in Arizona come here today?” They are always amazed that our goalie events are some of the most attended in North America.

Wrapping up the day was the BTM employee and company rep BBQ out back of the store. The corn hole tournament was won again this year by the team of Dan from Bauer and Scott from CCM.

Huge thanks to those who attended!

Randy Exelby is the owner of Behind The Mask Hockey Shops.

(June 19, 2018)