Hockey Goalie Resource

I’m sure most of us have gotten caught up in a heated moment and said something to an opposing player in hopes of getting under their skin. There is also the hockey goalie out there who just talks trash just for the sake of talking trash. In my opinion I think every hockey goalie should keep the trash talk to a minimum, and here is why…

Our position takes so much mental focus if you want to be successful at an elite level. In the few times in my playing days where I let my temper get the best of me (and made a ’smart’ remark to the opposition), it always came back to bite me in the butt. The reason why it backfired on me is because once I made that remark, my focus shifted from helping the team to win, to focusing strictly on making sure that the player I was mixed up with would not score. Once you start saying “I can’t let this player score” it does two things, A. It makes you focus too much on that one player leaving you vulnerable to the other players on the ice, and B. You psyche yourself out and try to hard (yes there is such a thing as trying too hard as a goaltender…I’ll get into that at a later date though). There is the hockey goalie that can actually thrive on this type of behavior, one that comes to mind for me is Patrick Roy, but he was such a head strong, and for lack of a better word “cocky” hockey goalie, that it actually helped him and he would rise to the occasion.

My advice to you is that unless you fancy yourself a truly head strong and cocky goalie, you might want to steer clear of the trash talk because more often than not it will backfire.

With the anticipation of our new Stop Pucks Hockey Goalie Drills, we figured we would give you a little taste of one drill.

The “X” Drill is great for any hockey goalie to do during warm-ups for practice or games. This drill helps the goalie to get his or her positioning and angles down before taking shots. It is essential that the goalie starts the drill on one post with the heel of the skate inside of the post and then the hockey goalie must end the drill in the same position on the opposite post. This is meant to be done with precision and NOT speed. If the hockey goalie rushes through this drill without paying attention to detail the drill will be pointless. Its a basic drill, however, it is very effective for improving the goalie’s sense of where the net is without looking…which is essential for success! Repeat 5-10 times each way.

Key Points

1. Hockey Goalie is to start and finish X with heel inside post.
2. Stride out, shuffle across, pivot & stride back.
3. Stay low without moving upper body.
4. Weight on balls of feet.
5. Stick on the ice at all times.
6. Head up.
7. Don’t look for post, feel for it with glove