Copyright Ó 2004 Jukka Ropponen

     In this short resource article with video examples, I am addressing the issue of non necessary blocking saves as many goalies have developed a style where they don’t really utilize their hands (especially focused this time on catch glove) to control the puck rather than just blocking it.

     First of all let’s think a little about what is causing this. The main reason seems to be the incorrect glove hand positioning, which is one of the most common problems for today’s goalies. By incorrect I mean that the hand/arm is too far back in 90% of the time. This is caused by several reasons, but there is one cause above others. This is the glove positioning in the blocking butterfly position. Several goalies are being taught this blocking butterfly technique and the catch glove positioning on it becomes a habit to them that they then utilize in all positions and saves.

In photo # 1, see how the catch glove is in front of the goalie and pointing out towards the play.

In this photo you see how the goalie has again, made the save in front of his body and controlled the puck. Click on Video 1 to see this save.

The last photo shows you another situation where the goalie is facing a hard slapshot from the top of the circle. Click on Video 2 to see the live shot. Notice how the goalie controls the puck and even starts to look at an opportunity to play the puck immediately after the save.