Brandon Bussi’s Advice for Goalie Parents Starts With a Notebook
Fresh off a Stanley Cup win, the Hurricanes goalie credits his dad's summer-camp notebook habit in one of the feature stories inside InGoal's 2026 Coaches & Camps Guide
- Take a notebook to every goalie camp and write down the drills — not to grade your child, but to learn them yourself and run them all season.
- Brandon Bussi's father Rob, a former goalie, used summer camp notes to coach his son's teams with current, relevant drills throughout the year.
- Goaltending evolves quickly enough that coaches who played junior even five to ten years ago may be running outdated drills without realizing it.
- A second NHL goalie's father filmed every drill at a summer camp in Finland, then rebuilt his son's game over the winter using that footage.
- Rob Bussi made a deal with his son before buying him goalie gear — a story explored in full in InGoal's 2026 Coaches & Camps Guide.
Brandon Bussi just won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes. But long before there was a Cup day to plan, there were summer goalie camps on Long Island, around North America, and beyond, including at Stop It Goaltending, where we bumped into Bussi training just last week. And the most important person in the rink wasn’t always the one wearing the gear. Sometimes it was his dad, up in the stands, writing in a notebook.
In “Don’t Just Watch the Camp, Study It,” one of the feature stories in InGoal’s 2026 Coaches & Camps Guide, Kevin Woodley tells the story of how Rob Bussi, a former goalie who coached his son growing up, turned every summer camp they attended into a season-long training plan.
I would attend goalie camps in different places and he'd come with me, and he'd have the notebook out, writing down the drills, not necessarily how I was doing in them, but writing down all these drills. Then come the season, he'd be the goalie coach for my team, and we'd be working those same skating drills, same shooting drills.
Hear it in his own words, from InGoal Radio Episode 209.
A Lesson for Every Goalie Parent
The notebook wasn’t there to grade Brandon. It was there because his dad was learning too, copying down every drill so he could run the same skating and shooting work all season as the goalie coach on his son’s teams.
The full story digs into why that habit matters more than ever: goaltending evolves quickly enough that even well-meaning coaches who played junior five or ten years ago can be running outdated drills without knowing it. There’s also a striking parallel from another NHL goalie whose father filmed every drill at a summer camp in Finland so they could rebuild his game over the winter back home, and the story of the deal Rob made with his son before he would ever buy him goalie gear. We won’t spoil either one here.
It’s a great read for any goalie parent, and a natural companion to our Goalie Parents Hub.
Go Deeper With Bussi on InGoal
Born Jun 25, 1998 · Sound Beach, New York, United States — Undrafted
| SEASON | GP | W | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 39 | 31 | 2.47 | .895 | 2 |
| CAREER | 39 | 31 | 2.47 | .895 | 2 |
Bussi has shared a lot of his game with InGoal readers already:
- Pro Reads: rush depth, recoil, and aggressive routes (members)
- Pro Reads: sharp angles, net drives, and pop passes against Dallas (members)
- Pro Reads: breaking down a down-low attack (members)
- Pro Reads Part 4: a full film breakdown (members)
- Pro-Tips: how letting go of perfection fuelled his NHL-record start
- InGoal Radio Episode 209: the full conversation