Dusty Nickel
Senior Coach
Dusty is a MRU Cougar Alumni where he spent 4 years with the Cougars where he was a 4x CIS All-Canadian Academic-Athlete.
Dusty has been coaching and developing goalies for over 15 years. He has worked with all ages and levels of goalies from beginner to professional and Olympic level goaltenders. Dusty works with many of the minor hockey teams around Calgary and has spent years leading goaltending development programs for the local associations.
Today, Dusty is the EBUG (Emergency Goalie) for the Calgary Flames where he has the opportunity to train and practice with some of the best players in the world trying and applying the techniques he teaches at the highest level.
“My coaching style is high energy, high intensity, and fun. I believe in doing the simple things right, quality repetition, and not allowing bad habits to creep in your game through laziness, and then learning to apply these habits in dynamic situations. I believe each goalie is different in their learning style and I try to adapt to that by understanding goalies on a personal level. Each and every goalie is unique and what might work for one goalie, may not work for another. It's about developing tools and finding the best ones for each goalie. I seek to find ways for goalies to be efficient, smart and athletic. I also don’t believe in excuses. Find a way. Get the job done. And then do it again”