As a junior hockey franchise, the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets are known for producing a number of NHL-calibre defencemen.
But for several months now, one man has been trying to change that, and put Kelowna on the map with another defender: the goaltender.
In November 2021, general manager Bruce Hamilton brought in Eli Wilson to take over the reins as the team’s new goaltending coach, replacing Adam Brown.
“I’ve been around the game for a long time,” Wilson told the Rocket Report.
“I’ve got my own goaltending school throughout North America and we run camps and clinics during the summertime and see a lot of goaltenders.”
As well as working in the WHL for almost two decades, the former goaltending coach for the Ottawa Senators has tutored a number of NHL netminders, including Eric Comrie, Devin Dubnyk and Carey Price.
“I’ve had an opportunity to coach a lot of goaltenders that have played at this level and this league (WHL) and have gone on to play in the National Hockey League,” Wilson said.
Now the Rockets are hoping that Wilson can use his knowledge to usher in a new era of goaltending in Kelowna with the team’s current crop of backstops, Talyn Boyko and Jari Kykkanen.
“The biggest thing is fundamentals and really simplifying those fundamentals,” Wilson said.
“Rather than adding things to their game we try and take things away from it.”
Wilson says it’s all in an effort to achieve consistency between the pipes.
It’s a method that both Boyko and Kykannen say they are comfortable with, having worked with Wilson for a number of years at his goaltending camps.
“Right from the get-go I think he has been so attentive to every detail of my game, so committed to make me a better goalie every day,” Boyko said.
“He’s really detail-oriented, focuses on the little things and really gives you good habits and makes you a better goaltender,” Kykkanen added.