Food For Thought From The Pro Hockey Goalies
Just as there are good defensemen and bad defensemen there are good goalies and bad goalies. With both the good games and bad games there is a goalie that has a role in the outcome. So here is some food for thought from the pro hockey goalies.
Training is important to every position on the team but it’s especially important to the goalie because of the weight of the equipment. The goalie’s training goes far beyond on ice training. Goalie’s need to get into the gym and do some weight training so that the weight of the equipment doesn’t slow them down, and they also need some good cardio workouts.
The stronger you are the lighter that goalie equipment feels. A goalie also needs to have strong but flexible legs in order to recover from those saves. That means you are going to need some very specific training to accomplish strength and flexibility!
Your job as a goalie is very specific. You need to focus on the puck and the man that’s got the puck. On an odd man rush you need to be concerned with the situation and the guy with the puck because you don’t want to get caught overextended. It’s important that you and your defensemen communicate really well because the defensemen should be cutting off the pass while you handle the wide angle shot.
If you are coming out to challenge a shooter remember the sharper the angle is the less you can come out. If the shooter is wide you don’t need to come out very far to be effective and if you come out too far you’ll get nailed through the back door. If your shooter is in the middle you should be at the top of the crease. Of course that said hockey is fast and the moves aren’t predictable so idealism really only belongs on paper with this game.
Skating ability is really important to a goalie because combined with balance and speed it makes for a top notch goalie that’s difficult to penetrate. To help develop your agility and balance do cross overs in practice. Believe me it’s darn tiring to do wearing your goal pads but boy is it worth the effort!
You also need to get good at anticipating. It’s one of the keys to stopping incoming pucks and always take the shortest route back to the net. The ice is so good these days that bad balances seldom happen so you can almost be sure that the puck will follow the boards.
Traditionally goalies were always taught to stand however this ideology is changing and that change began with goalies like Esposito and Hall who played a butterfly style.
Statistics have shown that 90% of all goal shots are on the ice or a foot above which means the butterfly style makes good goaltending sense. That’s why it’s becoming much more popular especially with the young goalies.
Hockey goalies are a special bread of players. It takes a great deal of stamina, perseverance, and skill to be a pro goalie. Are you up to the challenge?
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