InGoal hosted our first online meetup on Wednesday April 1 (no foolin!) and it was a fantastic – and surprising – experience.  Not unlike the December launch of InGoal Premium, starting something like this always feels like a risk. Will anyone show up? Will the technology work? How will Woody’s home-made haircut go over?

To say we were thrilled with the first experience is an understatement. We announced the date and time deliberately late – just the day before. In part, we wanted a relatively small audience so we could work out the kinks and get the format sorted out before too many logged on. For those who missed out as a result, we apologize and hope the recording below will be some consolation. But this is only the first – there will be more!

So about those worries…well, people showed up! From minor hockey goalies about atom age right up to the NHL and beyond (we’re looking at you double hip replacement guys). The technology worked, mostly (more below)  and yes, Woody’s hair was on point.

Billed as a drop in, a few folks came and went as schedules required but most stayed the duration, in all more than 30 spent some time together yesterday.  Nobody (other than Hutch and Millard) was cajoled into coming on and yet, shortly after sign in, there was 3-time Stanley Cup Champion Bill Ranford of the Los Angeles Kings. Thank you Bill for surprising us and for being so gracious in answering other members’ questions. Bill was joined by Pittsburgh Penguins development coach Andy Chiodo who also shared his experience on fitting pads both literally and to your game. There’s a good chance both those answers will turn into a ProTip article one day, thank you gentlemen. Then there was the mysterious “Frederick’s iPad” with camera turned off for most of the session. Thankfully late in the call none other than Frederick “Freddie” Brathwaite turned on his camera and ran to grab one of his old gloves – with a diameter slightly larger than a serving platter – wondering if Woody could get Bauer to make him an Ultrasonic with the same specs.

We can’t promise our next Members meetup will include surprise NHL guests, but we can promise it will be soon. We enjoyed getting to chat with some of our fellow Members and look forward to the next opportunity soon – stay tuned!