Aspen Junior Hockey extends its gratitude to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Men's and Women's goaltender coaches Justin Johnson and Andy Kent.  On Thursday night, both coaches concluded a free three-day goalie clinic sponsored by Aspen Junior Hockey.

About the Coaches:

Justin Johnson has been a hockey goaltender for over twenty years. He grew up playing in the Blaine Youth Hockey Association through High School where he set school records, participated in a State Consolation Championship, and was elected All-State Honorable Mention in 1999. After two years of competing at the junior level, Justin went on to play at the Division I level for four years with the University of Minnesota's Golden Gophers where he was selected for the 2003 WCHA All-Tournament Team, and was a two-time National Champion in the years of 2002 and 2003. 

Justin graduated from Minnesota in 2005 with a major in psychology and was a member of the WCHA All-Academic Team, a U of M Scholar Athlete and a three-time recipient of the Donald M. Clark Community Service Award, for his active role within the community. 

Post graduation Justin has authored the training manual Game Day which is an interactive and completely customized preparation manual for hockey goaltenders. In addition to Game Day, Justin has contributed his expertise to numerous publications including the USA Hockey Goaltending Coaches Manual, Let’s Play Hockey, VYPE Magazine and Goalies’ World Magazine.

Justin currently serves as USA Hockey’s Minnesota District Associate Goalie Coach in Chief and is in his fifth year as the goaltending coach for the U of M Men’s program. During his tenure as a collegate coach, which includes three years at St. Cloud State University, he has coached Hobey Baker Finalist Bobby Goepfert, Patty Kazmier Finalist and Olympic Bronze Medalist Noora Raty. In addition he has coached NHL Draft Picks Jase Weslosky, Dan Dunn, Alex Kangas, Kent Patterson and Adam Wilcox. Justin’s on ice coaching experience also includes over 13 years with various camps including US National Development Camps. 

Over the years Justin has developed an ability to work effectively with goalies of all ages and athletic goals. Because of Justin's highly competitive and elite athletic background and also his personal experiences overcoming adversity in his athletic career. His ability to combine expert understanding of the demands of goaltending physically and psychologically gives him the edge in working with goalies of all ages and backgrounds.

Andrew Kent grew up playing youth hockey in Lakeville, MN. Graduating from Lakeville High School in 2002, Andrew went on to play junior hockey with the Twin Cities Northern Lights, where he was selected as an All League Goaltender. Kent continued his playing career at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

Kent was a four-year letter winner at Augsburg, playing from 2005-09. Kent is listed among Augsburg’s all-time top 10 in career saves, career save percentage, and career average saves per game. Kent was an M.I.A.C. All-Conference award winner in 2007 and earned M.I.A.C All-Conference Honorable Mention in 2009. He was also an assistant captain for the Auggies as a senior in 2008-09. Kent graduated from Augsburg in May 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration and a minor in management information systems.

Kent coached in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Games for the Women's Finnish National team. Along with coaching in the Olympics Kent is currently the Goalie coach for the U of M Gophers Women’s hockey team. Under his watch with the gophers his goalies have broken numerous records and received many awards. As a coach with the gophers he has also won back to back NCAA National Champions in both 2012 and 2013. Kent returned to Augsburg College in 2013 and currently serves as the goalie coach for their men's team. Kent started coaching with MEGA in 2010 and during his tenure he has also served as the boys' goalie coach at Roseville High School and consulted with various teams, associations, and camps ranging from the youth levels up to Professional Goalies.

Andrew has taken this extensive experience, both as a player and as an instructor, and developed some of the most effective techniques for developing both young and experienced goaltenders.