Alex Westlund (born December 28, 1975) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

who is now working as a coach. He is the former goalie Coach for the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL.

Playing career

Raised in

Chatham, New Jersey "The Chathams" (, ) is a term used in reference to shared services for two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey, United States – Chatham Borough, New Jersey, Chatham and Chatham Township, New Jersey, Chatham Township. The two a ...

, Westlund played prep hockey at Chatham High School, starting in goal as a freshman, and at the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a Private school, private, coeducational College-preparatory school, preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Local government in New Jersey, unincorporated community of Lawrenceville, New Jers ...

, earning him a spot in 2010 in the New Jersey High School Ice Hockey Hall of Fame. He attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

from 1995 to 1999, earning All-America Second Team honors. In his final year at Yale, Westlund won the William Neely Mallory Award, "given to the senior man who on the field of play and in life at Yale best represents the highest ideals of American sportsmanship and Yale tradition", according to the Yale website. He left Yale holding several all-time school records, including wins, saves, and games played. He was also presented with the

Ken Dryden Award The Ken Dryden Award is an annual award given out at the conclusion of the ECAC Hockey regular season to the best goaltender in the conference as voted by the coaches of each ECAC team. The Ken Dryden Award was first awarded in 1996 and every year ...

for the ECAC’s best goalie of the year. Westlund began his professional career with the

Dayton Bombers The Dayton Bombers were an ECHL ice hockey team located in Dayton, Ohio. The team most recently was in the North Division of the ECHL's American Conference. The Bombers originally played at Hara Arena from 1991 to 1996. The team moved to the Erv ...

of the

East Coast Hockey League The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

during the 1999–2000 season. His career includes stints in the IHL, ECHL, AHL, in Russia, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, Croatia, and China. Westlund would also play for

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at the

2004 IIHF World Championship The 2004 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship was held between 24 April and 9 May 2004 in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic. It was the 68th ice Hockey World Championships, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Qualifi ...

as the third goaltender, although he didn't have any ice time, his team would win bronze.

Coaching career

He has been working for Pro Crease Goaltending since January 2013. In July 2015, Westlund was named goalie coach of German side

Augsburger Panther The Augsburger Panther are a professional ice hockey team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, DEL. The team is based in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. They play their home games at the Curt Frenzel Stadion. Founded in 1878, the team's name was Augsburge ...

. Prior to the 2016–17 season, he joined the staff of Medvescak Zagreb of the

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

as goalie coach. On July 8, 2022 he was hired to be the goaltending coach for the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

under new head coach Derek Lalonde. At the conclusion of the

2024-25 NHL season A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

, the Red Wings announced they were parting ways with Westlund.

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westlund, Alex 1975 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American expatriate ice hockey players in Austria American expatriate ice hockey players in China American expatriate ice hockey players in Croatia American expatriate ice hockey players in Germany American expatriate ice hockey players in Slovakia American expatriate ice hockey players in Slovenia American men's ice hockey goaltenders Amur Khabarovsk players Charlotte Checkers (1993–2010) players Chatham High School (New Jersey) alumni China Dragon players Cincinnati Cyclones (IHL) players Dayton Bombers players Detroit Red Wings personnel EHC Black Wings Linz players Hartford Wolf Pack players HDD Olimpija Ljubljana players Heilbronner Falken players HK Poprad players Ice hockey coaches from New Jersey Ice hockey players from New Jersey KHL Medveščak Zagreb players Lawrenceville School alumni Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Milwaukee Admirals players Sportspeople from Flemington, New Jersey Sportspeople from Morris County, New Jersey Toledo Storm players Trenton Titans players Worcester IceCats players Yale Bulldogs men's ice hockey players