HOCKEY OWN YOUR GAME
Basic Stance For the sake of our beginner goaltenders we will speak of two types of stances which are equally as important. skating stance A typical skating stance is that of Marc-Andre Fleury. The Jonathan Quick photo shows the main features with a strong ankle and knee flexion. The best way for young goaltenders to accomplish this stance is by A) doing multiple sports and becoming athletes first and B) strapping on their pads and doing butterfly ups on a consistent basis, making sure to alternate legs when getting up. knee bend ankle bend tilted torso attack hands Shot Stance Price s shot stance is very strong. His legs are wider then his movement stance and weight is more forward on his feet. His gloves are in front of his body but only very slightly. Notice how his stick is not perfectly flat on the ice, this will be explained in the equipment section under paddle length. While practicing this stance takes time, the biggest key is the weight on the balls of the feet before the shot is taken. The only way that goalies achieve this is when they are free of fear. Every single goaltender whom is forced to practice/train tries to impress their parents (beyond normal) tends to stay on their heels. Please do not push your kids. Instead build their passion with them. heel of stick on ice wider feet
Beginner Habits The following habits are of the utmost importance. As with any habit they take time to learn. The best way to speed up the process is to have a fun learning environment. Challenging Freezing puck with paddle down 1 2 3 4 5 6 Challenge: As a rule of thumb we want our goaltenders at the top of the crease at the time of the release of the shot. Competes until the end: Regardless of how unlikely the save appears, we want our goalies to give their best effort and do anything they can to try and get the puck. Freezes rebounds fast (use paddle down): We like the habit of always pouncing on the rebounds as fast as possible, ideally not plunging at them but rather keeping the rebound close to them to freeze it with ease. Strong at posts: We expect to have our goaltenders defend their posts and their crease. This is their home, it is up to them to prevent opposing players from coming in. Eyes follow rebounds ALL THE TIME: This is a golden skill that all top end goalies have at any age. The ability to always want to find to puck and keep their eyes on it. Skating: Bending and more importantly staying bent is an essential habit for a goaltender to form balanced powerful movements. As you can see on the Marc-André Fleury picture, deep ankle and knee bend are essential.
Simple Drills Angles Shooter: Shots are stationary. Shoot relative to goalie s level, or a little bit harder. Remind goalie to watch and freeze rebound. Put puck in empty side if goalie is off angle. Roof puck if goalie is too deep. Shoot a more stoppable puck if goalie plays it well. Pro Coach Tip If goalie is struggling with angles: Goalie: Must be at top of blue paint for shots 3,4,5,6. At his post for shot 1. About half way between goal line and top of crease on shot 2. Idea is to get them to learn a basic understanding of being centred and basic depth. Always follow and finish rebounds unless otherwise specified. Pro Coach Tip II If goalie struggles with Being Square: 1) Have goalie start in middle of net on goal line. 1) Take your stick and lie it in a straight line from the puck to the middle of the net. 2) Have him rotate his entire body slightly towards the 2) Take the goalie s stick and have him hold it on his chest from shoulder to puck until he is square to the puck. should, OR lie his stick down on the ground so it touches the tip of his toes. 3) Goalie should c-cut out straight and should be on target. 3) Show him that both sticks should form a T. Depth: Hold Top Of Crease Description: Place pucks accordingly. Skate in straight line and shoot. Play rebound until in or far away. Make sure to shoot at different depths, i.e shoot from blue line, hash marks,bottom of the circle etc... Goalie: Must not go inside blue paint, idea is to get them to learn to be comfortable staying out of their net. Always follow and finish rebounds unless otherwise specified. Shooter: Stay outside 1-1.5 stick lengths away from goalie. Shoot relative to goalie s level, or a little bit harder. Remind goalie to go after rebound. Roof puck if goalie backs up too fast. Shoot a more stoppable puck if goalie plays it well.
Simple Drills II high/low game Description: Place pucks accordingly. Have goalie start at top of his crease. Shooter shoots high or low. Goalie must stay up for shots above waist and must go down for shots below waist. Be sure to play the rebound before giving the butterflies. If the goalie does not do the appropriate move, he gets 1 punishment, on top of that if he doesn t follow the rebound well he gets an additional punishment. Punishments can include butterflies, various skating, stick handling drills... depends on time of year. Pro Coach Tip While keeping eyes on the puck is largely a state of mind more then a learnt skill, generally it is achieved while the goalie is having fun and does not feel pressured. It helps to point out that the high shots don t hurt. It also doesn t hurt to remind the goalies to follow the puck with their eyes all the way to their body. fun with shots Description: Place pucks near hash marks. Shoot any puck, if a goal goes in, shoot another puck right away, you are not to wait for the goalie to get set. Play every rebound as long as it is close enough to the net. If goalie freezes the puck then give him a little delay to get ready for the next shot. Adjust to goalie s caliber, the point is to have fun while challenging him. Goalie: Goalie is working on athletic ability as well as balance and agility. The 4 main points are: 1) to get the goalie to push himself while having fun 2) to get the goalie to be ready at all times 3) to always want the shot 4) to try and freeze the puck whenever possible 5) when a goal goes in, get up and get ready for the next shot!
How to tie pads Equipement There is a lot of variation from pad to pad but here is our base recommendation. The lowest strap is often tied under the skate. If you choose to do it this way just make sure it is not too tight as it will prohibit ankle flexion. We like our goalies to tie it behind the boot of the skate. The ankle strap should also be tied relatively loose for the same reason as above. Next up is the calf strap. Some pads have a great Velcro system in which case if the Velcro is tied tightly then this strap can be loose as well. If there is no Velcro near the calf (there should also be one around the knee) then you should tie this strap snug around the calf. This is done to prevent the pad from shifting everywhere while not affecting mobility. Any straps around knee level and higher are more or less decoration and should be tied extremely loosely. Most professional goalies don t even use these, they are so useless. Please be sure to wear hockey socks, they add a protective layer between skate blades and a goalies leg. Also be sure to invest in knee pads one your child decides that he will remain a goaltender.
stick size Equipement Long gone are the days where the stick s blade should be down flat on the ice while the goalie is in his stance, the reason behind this is A) goalies no longer make 5-hole saves standing up B) doing this locks the blocker hand and at higher levels will be exposed C) the bigger the paddle the less the goalie needs to bend and the harder it is to control. The chart below is a guideline. To me the best measurement is: while in the butterfly, with pads on, stick blade ~18 away from the pads, heel of the blade covering the 5-hole. The goalie s elbow should be slightly bent and should line up an inch or two under his sternum. Pad size
getting dressed 1 Attaching pad laces to skates 2 Tie 3 to 4 knots so as to give the skate some room to maneuver. 3 Loop laces through first hole then pass around the front of the skate. Keep lace firm. This guarantees the laces won t slip under the skate blade. 4 Go through the hole in the back of the skate. Hold laces firmly. 5 Bring laces to top of skate. *We want to ensure these don t come undone during a session as it is both dangerous and annoying. Tie laces up on top of the skate. Make sure to do 3 double knots.
Learning to Win I have some good news and some good/bad news for you, the good/bad news is you as a parent are the most influential in terms of your child s success in hockey as in life. The good news is we are here to help. The earlier you can teach your kids these essential skills, the better off they will be. Help your child understand that it is a TEAM GAME. They won t win every game and it s normal to be off sometimes, it happens. Doing this will help your child be a more consistent goaltender as there is strength in team work, he will also be less hard on himself when he is off his game thus being able to battle through and not give up. Proper sportsmanship: There is strength in doing the right thing i.e instead of smacking your stick because of a bad call, have them understand bad calls happen. This will help your child be able to stay focused longer. If a teammate is weak or messes up, rather then blame them and make excuses, be ready to make the save and help them out. Encourage healthy competition: If another goaltender has a great game, rather than tear him down, tell your son he did and that he can play just as great. It s good to want the best for others even if you are playing against them, think about it, if they did great then it challenges you to play even better and vice versa. Concentration: When only receiving 5 shots in a game it is only normal that your child has problems focusing. Rather than telling them to be ready (will only add pressure), in a calm tone, talk to your child on how he can improve his concentration. Suggest to him to watch his teammates cool moves, nice passes, or even check out the other goalie and see what neat saves he s making. Realistic expectations: If your child gets overly down after games, let them know sometimes good goals go in, even bad goals go in, we want to stop them all but it won t always happen. If he plays on a weak team, let him know it is good to want to win, that he should continue to strive to win but in reality his team is a lot weaker then the other teams so he might not win a lot of games and that is ok. Accountability: If you catch your child constantly blaming everyone else, now it is a good time to be stern with them. Let them know that while it is a team game he still has his roll to play. Explain to your child, that when they can t freeze a rebound the defenceman does his best to clear the puck. The same should hold true the other way. Build conidence, but don t over exaggerate: Tell your kids what you were impressed about in their game. Obviously if they had an off game then you don t want to b.s. them. To the same extent, don t dwell on what they didn t do well. Feel free to ask them what they thought, if they don t feel like talking about it, respect their decision.
Learning to Win Build self-esteem: Tell your children how impressed you are that they are applying what they have seen in the clinics to the games. Even more importantly, notice things they did well that they didn t learn in camp and tell them how impressed you are that they did that on their own. Sense of deserving: Crucial to you child s success down the line is the amount to which they believe that they deserve it. If there is nothing else you chose to take from the article, please take this. Enforcing the idea in your children that doing their best and enjoying themselves is enough to deserve to play at the highest level and be dominant. Passion: Watch the Canadians play together without multitasking. Let you child have the odd late special night to watch the game. Go out and play with your kids on the streets, outdoors, in the basement. Have fun with them! Get over always having to teach them something, always trying to make them perfect. Have a real life showdown between Carey Price and Sid the parent Crosby. Communication: Please be aware the tone you take while talking to your children about these aspects will greatly effect the impact it has on their receptiveness i.e. if you are over serious or stern they will likely shut you out. If you are laughing while telling them, they won t take it seriously. If you are dictating, you will get obedience rather than respect. If you over worry you will create self-doubt. Worrying about their feelings being hurt after a tough game and rushing to make them feel better will teach them there is something not normal with having a bad game. The ideal is to be genuine and compassionate with them. We know these are obvious to most of us, but you would be surprised how often in the moment we know something and act otherwise.
at home We are often asked what can my child be doing at home to become a better goaltender. The truth is, if they are being physically active then they are already doing all they should be at this age. As we will see below, the list of activities are extremely simple, but very important in developing athletic goaltenders. The key is to remember to have fun and build the passion with your children. Ages 8 and under: Be sure to do multiple sports. -Swimming: is a great way to build leg, core and upper body strength while enjoying yourself on a warm summer day. -Baseball: while not the most exerting sport, it works on hand eye co-ordination (especially catcher) while not necessarily over focusing on it. -Soccer: get cardiovascular benefits as well more co-ordination The list goes on. These activities don t necessarily have to be other sports. Family bike rides, hiking, skipping, hop scotch, juggling, pitch and catch, going up and down with their pads in the basement, playing ball hockey with mom or dad (for fun!).