Hockey Goalie Tips
When I was younger and was obsessed with making it to the next level, I read something out of a book that said that the great Russian hockey goalie Tretiak would constantly be bouncing a racquetball whenever he was walking outside in order to keep his reflexes and his hand eye coordination sharp. I thought this was a great idea and decided to do the same. For a while I carried a racquetball around in my pocket, but it was a little big, so eventually I bought one of those cheap little bouncy balls. It was perfect because it fit into my pocket and it was also very small so you had to focus more on catching it. It might sound like a stupid little tip, but I really think it helped…give it a shot and you might notice improvements in your own hand eye coordination.
Gone are the days of putting the worst skater in net and telling he or she that they can just stand there and stop the puck. Too many times in my life, I have heard somebody say that “Goalies just stand there”. This is a complete myth! The hockey goalie needs to be just as good if not a better skater than anyone else on the ice. Any successful hockey goalie will tell you that you need to constantly improve your skating if you want to make the step to the next level whatever that may be.
It is very important to make sure that you motivate yourself to improve your footwork when you are not taking shots. Ice time is very expensive and if you are serious about becoming a better hockey goalie, you need to make the most out of your limited time on the ice and whenever you get a chance work on your shuffling, forward skating in your stance, backward skating in your stance, and pivoting. In the near future, I will be posting a few different drills that can really help you to improve your skating…so stay tuned!