LZMW Yeti Coaches

Hockey Director and Varsity Head Coach Matt Gurklis is in his 6th season of coaching with Yeti Hockey.  This is his second season as a Hockey Director and Varsity Head Coach.  He has been a part of the organization for 5 of the last 6 seasons working closely with the JV and Varsity teams. Matt believes hockey brings more than just hockey for the players and works to push players both on and off of the ice.  He continues to push the players and the program to become more competitive and push past their limits each day.

Matt played his hockey career at the AA and Central States levels in the Park Ridge Northern Express Hockey Organization.  He also played  high school hockey for the Maine Township combined program in the IHSHL Metro North Division.  

Ryan attended Wauconda High School from 2017-2019, playing for the LZMW varsity team. After being named the captain his senior year and participating in the 2019 IHSHL All-Star game, he went on to attend St. Norbert College to study business administration.

Throughout 4 years at college, Ryan played for the D2 ACHA club hockey team and was an alternate captain senior year. While up north, Ryan also completed a season with the De Pere Deacons in the GLHL.

Since graduating in 2023, Ryan has been back home and a coach for LZMW Yeti.

P.A.D.S. is an instructional organization for ice hockey goaltenders that delivers comprehensive, professional and superior training to their student goalies of all ages and levels of play. Unlike the competition, P.A.D.S. takes a personal approach and builds trust with the goalies. We take a genuine interest in the success of all the goalies we train. This approach provides the goalies with the very best instruction, and superior results.

P.A.D.S. School of Goaltending was founded in 2009 and in a short time has grown to be one of the finest goalie instructional programs in the Midwest. We pride ourselves on bringing practicality, organization and structure to each session.

After years of observing, and coaching in drill laden clinics, we felt there was a more practical way to teach the goaltending position. As with most of the goalie clinics in the marketplace, there is a huge void in teaching game situations to the goalies. We felt the timing was right for a change and a different approach. By seeing the lack of game situation coaching only reinforced our beliefs that teaching the fundamentals through game situations are the keys to successful battle tested goalies. We believe in positive reinforcement through strict fundamental instruction, and building confidence through success. . . very simple, very effective.

Our entire coaching staff has worked with several organizations in the Midwest including College, Junior programs, Clubs (AAA, AA, A), high school, and house programs.

VISION

We will inspire and coach you through not only physical workouts designed to increase your overall athleticism and body composition, but also coach you through the mental skills necessary to increase your focus and make you a more competitive athlete.

COACHING

The coaching staff at TacticSP will be nothing short of extraordinary. Every coach will have received degrees in Kinesiology, Biomechanics, Sports Therapy, or Exercise Science and all staff will receive ongoing education of current topics, trends and research that will help keep us in the forefront of coaching. The coaching staff is dedicated to providing athletes with superior instruction, mentorship, and leadership at all times and at all levels. We will over-deliver and bleed passion to create an environment in which you can thrive.

YETI PARTNERSHIP

Tactic Sports Performance has created a specialized program tailored for the needs of our Yeti players. They have worked hard to develop training sessions that challenge players at every level and push them to compete in every aspect of their training. A combination of sports specific exercises, weight training, and plyometrics focusing on explosive power, balance, and control in order to compliment their regular on ice training sessions in order to push them to the next level of performance.