Goalie Fingers Up Glove Position

Fingers up position for a goalie helps cut the trajectory of the puck when it is coming at you. The other benefit is that when a puck comes at his shoulder he can move more freely to snatch the puck out of the air. There are other benefits to the fingers up position which will be demonstrated in this video.

Goalie Positioning

Goal tending is the art of stopping the puck from going into the net at all cost. In this blog we will be looking at the different techniques of goal tending.

The butterfly technique became popular in the 1980 and is widely used today. The goalie stands with feet a little wider then his/her shoulders and the knees are held close together to form a inverted V shape. The goalie stays square to the shooter  and drops to his/her knees as soon as the puck is fired at them. His/her leg at this point should be out on each side and the five hole closed with arms tucked in tight to their sides. The advantage of this position is that when the goalie drops there legs are extended out and this covers the majority of the net. The biggest advantage is that you can go down fast and back up quickly in this type of form. Shots to the upper areas are the weakest part of the butterfly technique.


The stand up technique is when the goalie is in a slight crouch position in the net and he stays up instead of going down. In the stand up technique the goalie depends on his/her skating ability and talent to slide from one side of the net to the other side in a matter of seconds. The goalie must challenge the shooter by cutting off the angle and making the goal look as small as possible.  The goalie uses his size to cut off the angle of the shooter and creating a bad shoot. A stand up goalie must be a good skater and can skate out of the crease to make plays on the puck. He/she must be very athletic and move very quickly to make saves. The outside corners can cause him/her problems along with low shots because the bottom portion of the net is largely uncovered.


The hybrid technique uses a combination of the butterfly and the stand up techniques to stop the puck. The goaltender usually starts in the stand up position and then drops down when the puck goes from one side of the net to the other side. This technique is largely dependent on instinctive moves. He/she reacts according to what he/she thinks the shooter is going to do to get the puck in the net.

The flopper style is for goaltenders committed to stopping the puck at all costs. He/she must be a top rated athlete with tremendous quickness. He/she may use their body or they may flop around on the ice to get their glove, skate or anything else in front of the puck to stop it from going in the net. All this commotion frustrates the shooter so that he/she misses the goal.

These are just a few goalie techniques. The goalie should always decide what technique feels best to their way of saving the puck.

Goalie Leg Extensions

This video will show you how important it is to use a leg extention instead of a leg kick to stop the puck. The leg extention directs the puck to the corners and the leg kick puts it back in front of the  net, so it is very important to alway extend the leg instead of the kick.

Goalie Tips and Tricks 2.

Positioning is very important to a goalie he/she must always stay square with the shooter and never lose sight of the puck. In ice hockey the goaltender is the only player who can play in the crease until the puck has entered then it is fair game to all. They are also the only player that can fall on the puck, use their glove, and any part of their body to stop the puck from going into the net.

The goalie should stand on their feet as long as they can before going down this will limit the shooters options in scoring a goal. The best thing for a goalie is to try to catch the puck if at all possible. This prevents the puck from sliding bye or rebounding back for another shot. You might see a goalie tap his/her stick on the goal post. What they are doing is checking to see how much net is available and where they are positioned without looking so that they don't take their eyes off the puck. While watching the puck the goalie should check out the position of the blade on the opposing player. If the blade is open and slightly pointed upward the player is going to take the shoot. If the blade is flat or parallel to the ice the player is going to deke or fake you out.

 When the player is behind the net with the puck the goalie must stay close to the post closest to the puck with pads against post and stick at a 45 degree angle to deflect the puck when it is shot at them. The 45 degree will deflect the puck outward not up and toward the net. Drop to the butterfly position with the stick in the down position when being screened by the opposing player. This will increase your chances of seeing the shot and it will reduce the angle of the shot so the screening player can't deflect it.

Remember goalies you are to be in consent communication with your teammates. This will help them and you by telling them who to shut down first and that they are screening you out. Goalies have one of the hardest positions in hockey and it takes the team to win or lose the game not just the goalie.  More to come on ice hockey goalie tips and tricks. 

Goalie Tips and Tricks 1.

In hockey the job of the goalie is to keep the puck out of the net at all cost and to never take their eyes off of the puck so they can achieve this goal. The goalie position is a very demanding position due to the fact that their equipment is different and that it weighs more than their teammates. Goalies need to fast on their feet to be able to get up and down in a matter of seconds. They also have to contend with  pucks that are coming at them  at speeds up to 100 mph or more. Remember your goalie should always be considered the last line of defense in hockey.

The basic goaltender stance in ice hockey is with knees bent and weight distributed on the balls of their feet like in a squat. They must stay low and keep their body square with the shooter. This gives them the appearance of filling out the net. The butterfly is a goal tending technique in which the goaltender goes down with his/her knees together and the pads are stretched out in both directions with the player upright and square to the shooter. The stick should be on the ice between the pads.

 

Here is a demonstration of the goalie stance.

Stick on Stick Defense.

This video will show you how to play stick on stick defense by playing the man.