Chris Dyson

Chris’ path has been anything but ordinary . Born with a congenital heart defect and at the young age of 7, he literally died many times over. He is written up in the medical journals of the world famous Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto, for having nearly 100 cardiac arrests in one afternoon. Requiring a pacemaker to be permanently implanted to keep him alive.

The following 10 years brought several more ‘incidents’ where pacemakers were broken, recalled (yes, recalled), or quit, resulting in more cardiac arrests.

Any medical practitioner will tell you, ONE cardiac arrest can cause brain damage and several in one day is pretty likely to leave you with some permanent damage. Yet doctors said there were absolutely no ill effects, no damage.

Despite these daunting circumstances, Chris had a desire to play hockey, as a a goalie. Despite all odds against this, he persevered. He wanted no special treatment or label, he simply wanted to play hockey and live his life as a normal person.

Now, he is sharing his story with others with the hope of inspiring children and adults to persevere and pursue their dreams. Chris tells other aspiring athletes recovering from life threatening situations; “If the goal is big enough and the will is strong enough, we can accomplish anything we set our mind to do, don’t let the fear stop you”.

He went on to create Puckstoppers Goaltending Services, now one of the worlds longest running goalie schools and goalie rental services, in 1988.

Chris has certainly not taken a normal path to his position as a professional goaltending coach, but as you can see, he has never really done anything ‘normally’