High Performance Goaltending

Hockey Eastern Ontario

By Stefan Nichols

Importance of a Goalie Coach

• Every successful team has great goaltending

• You can’t do it all

• Goalies need weekly monitoring and maintenance

• Makes goalies accountable and allows for greater expectations

Modern Goalie Coach

• Should be current and up to date on modern techniques

• Able to work with various goaltending styles

• Aware of local Goalie schools and coaches

Modern Goalie Coach

• Available for weekly practices and home games

• Good communication skills

• Someone you trust and respect

Roles of a Goalie Coach The Goalie Coach Handbook 2010

http://squamishminorhockey.com/news_images/org_292/files/Coaches_Goaltending_

Handbook_2010.pdf

• Participate in evaluation and selection process

• Develop action plan based on short and long term goals

• Execute action plan through weekly practices and player meetings

Roles of a Goalie Coach The Goalie Coach Handbook 2010

http://squamishminorhockey.com/news_images/org_292/files/Coaches_Goaltending_

Handbook_2010.pdf

• Keep track of goalie specific statistics and monitor progress

• Run goalie drills

• Teach players goalie tendencies

• Find ways to integrate goalie specific skills into team practice

A Glance at Goalie Integration

• Plan each practice drill with a specific goal for each position

• Simply adding another shooting pile can often be enough

• Give the goalie coach 15 minutes of dedicated goalie time

Tryout Evaluations

Tryout Evaluations

• Ideally you will run a technical goalie session followed by numerous scrimmages

Technical session Scrimmages

Evaluate technical skills Evaluate tactical skills

Replicate challenging scenarios

Observe communication skills

Measure Goaltender IQ Evaluate ability to adapt

Compare different goalies executing the same drill

Evaluate off ice prep, dressing room presence, mental game

Integrate different shooting angles and options

Control team selection and place goalie accordingly

Control all predictor variables to eliminate bias

Keep track of stats for all goalies

30-40% of overall

60% of overall

Goalie Evaluation

• Control tryout Transparency depending on level (AAA vs JrA)

• Goalie coach should be heavily involved in selection

• Goalie coach should understand team priorities (playing the puck, rebound control….)

Goalie Evaluation

• Stats don’t lie, develop an easy to use document to track, shots, goals, rebounds, recoveries…

• Be fair to the goalies, release early and avoid head games

• Consider playing history: playoffs, tournaments, big games

Goalie Releases

• Provide feedback as often as possible

• Release based on skills not individuals

• Discuss affiliation possibilities

Development Plan

• Once the goalies have been selected the real work begins

• The goalie coach should use his or her tryout notes to establish a development plan.

• Contact Goaltending Consultant to get their feedback on goalie’s needs

Development Plan

• The Dev. Plan should be completed by the goalie coach and goalies with input from the head coach

• The plan should outline short term goals along with measurable criteria to gage progress

Example

• Goal: Sammy needs to keep his trapper forward to reduce shots to the top corner. In tryouts he allowed 5 goals high trapper in 140 minutes of playing time. In the next 160 minutes lets try for only 3 goals high glove.

• Moving forward, goalie practice and practice integration will revolve around high shots to the trapper side…

Suggestions for a good start

• Although the Development Plan should include areas of weakness determined in tryouts, it should also include the improvement of fundamental technical and tactical skills such as: – Positioning

– Stance and body control

– Proper save selection

– Depth

– Scrambles, screens, tips

– Rebound control and recovery

Positioning Depending on where the puck is in each Zone, positioning is adjusted to cover the “shape” of the net.

The shapes range in each Zone: “Narrow and tall” 1, 2, 10 and 11 “Wider and tall in 3, 4, 8 and 9

“Wider and shorter” in 5, 6 and 7

17

Source: Weiss Tech Hockey

Source: Pasco Valana, InGoal Magazine

Positioning

Determining angles is one of the most critical skills for goalies

Using reference points on the ice (diagram) will help goalies find the right angle

Positioning (being square) is determined by lining the centre of the goalie’s body (belly button) at the puck

18

Source: Weiss Tech Hockey

Fundamental Skills: Stance

19

Technique Why

Hands in front of body, elbows slightly off the hip bone

Helps maintain balance and covers more net

Feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart and knees bent at 80 degrees

Able to move with speed and power equally to left and right; too wide restricts movements

Body angled forward Helps keep balance centered and weight transfer forward

Chin tilted down Creates ideal head trajectory to track pucks and keep balance

Fundamental Skills: Stance

20

The goalie on the right: all balance points lined up. A proper stance is all about having balance. Balance comes from connecting points from the shoulder, through the hip, to the knee, and through the front part of the foot. The picture shows a direct line from the shoulder down to the foot. The goalie on the left: the balance points are not as well lined up. Legs are too narrow, gloves are too far back, meaning that balance is back on the heels, which throws balance off, slowing down every possible movement and reaction.

Skating

21

Split the crease in half to visualize two types of skating patterns for goalies: (1) Shuffles: short, precise movements that goalies use to help follow the play along

one side of the crease (2) T-push: long movement designed to help goalies move from one side of the

crease to the other, from the post to the middle or far side of the net, or from the crease to the far post

Skating Examples

22

Shuffle Straight line t-push Angle t-push Butterfly slides Butterfly recovery Powerslides Long recovery (with shot) Short recovery (with shot)

Source: Hockey Canada Player Development – Goaltending

Save Selections Butterfly: Knees tight together, stick is comfortably in front, elbows slightly off hips and hands out in front (like in stance)

23

Save Selections Leg extension: low shots slightly off the ice outside of shoulders. If the puck is on the ice, use stick

24

Save Selections Glove extension: mid- to high-shots outside of shoulders. Shots at mid- to low-levels can be executed in a butterfly or half-butterfly (leg extension)

25

Save Selections

Proper leg recovery: puck goes right, use left leg to get up. Puck goes left, use right leg.

Why? It’s the fastest!

26

Questions