Josh Blackburn hired as new goaltending coach at Detroit CoE

Total Package Hockey is proud to welcome Josh Blackburn to our coaching family.

Blackburn is joining the TPH Center of Excellence staff in Detroit as the program’s new goaltending coach.

Blackburn brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience to the TPH Detroit team. The native of Choctaw, Okla., spent four seasons as the starting goaltender for the University of Michigan before playing professionally for three seasons. From there, he worked as the goaltending coach of his alma mater for eight seasons.

“We are very excited to have Josh Blackburn join our TPH Detroit Center of Excellence staff,” said Dwayne Norris, director of hockey for TPH CoE Detroit. “He is very knowledgeable in his craft, from both playing and coaching at some of the highest levels of hockey. Josh is going to be a great asset to our staff, and he’s already establishing a close connection with our young goaltenders at the CoE.”

Blackburn played three seasons in the USHL with the Dubuque Fighting Saints and the Lincoln Stars before joining the college ranks. He was named the USHL’s goaltender of the year in 1998.

At Michigan, he backstopped the Wolverines to consecutive Frozen Four appearances in 2001 and 2002. Blackburn helped Michigan win two CCHA regular-season titles and two CCHA playoff titles, and he was named to the CCHA All-Rookie Team in 1999.

He finished with 92 wins, a 2.29 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage over four seasons under Red Berenson.

After graduating, he spent the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons in the ECHL with the Augusta Lynx and the Columbus Inferno. In 2004-05, he suited up for the CHL’s Corpus Christi Rayz.

Blackburn returned to Ann Arbor following his playing career to serve as Michigan’s volunteer goaltending coach while operating his own goaltending school in southeast Michigan.