Archive for July 11th, 2008
This drill is to emphasize recovery and body control. There is a shooter set up at the backdoor and the goalie is set at the top of the crease square to the faceoff dot. The shooter has a pile of pucks and when the shooter slaps the stick on the ice, that is the signal for the goalie to drop down into a full butterfly, recover to his or her feet, pivot and make a sliding pad save from a shot that the shooter takes. It is important for the shooter to give just enough time for the hockey goalie to get across, but not so much time that it is easy for him or her to make the save. We really want to focus on control with this drill, it can be very easy for a goalie to start to lose control over his body and his positioning and we want to avoid that.
Key Points
- Controlled butterfly and recovery.
- After recovery, hockey goalie must find the puck with eyes.
- Then goalie pivots into a sliding pad save trying to get
all the way to the far post with his or her skate.
Check out this video that was on the Discovery Channel that shows how goalie pads are made. Pretty interesting stuff for anybody who is interested in hockey goalie stuff.
When I started playing more competitively I found a few techniques that really helped me to get my game face on and focus for the game that lie ahead. It is very important for a hockey goalie to get mentally prepared for a game…this isn’t often the case for the rest of the team. Goalies require special time to focus by themselves without any distractions.
A good way to get yourself prepared is to go some place by yourself in silence, close your eyes, and visualize yourself making every possible save that you can make. Visualize glove saves, blocker saves, pad saves, butterflies, pad stacks, desperation saves, etc. Also visualize yourself making smart plays with the puck, controlling rebounds, and most of all visualize yourself winning the game. This might sound dumb, but you have no idea how powerful your mind is and thinking positive will do wonders for your game and your confidence.