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Golden Rules of Goaltending
Copyright
© Jukka Ropponen 2000
Article
1/5
One
of the things I have always found helpful in teaching goalies
has been to break the game into a few basic rules that the
rest of the things can be grouped under. This makes it easier
for goalies to grasp your system and understand the philosophy
behind goaltending.
In
the next 5 articles I will explain my philosophy in this area.
This article is an introduction, and then I will follow-up
with separate articles on each one of the basic rules.
The
game of hockey has changed a lot since I started coaching
roughly 20 years ago and so have my basic rules changed during
that time. The game has gotten faster and players are getting
bigger and stronger. Rules and equipment have changed etc.
So how do I break
up the game of goaltending today?
Here are my basic
rules and introductions to them:
Rule # 1 Play
modern style
This
is my rule that basically means don't go down when you don't
have to and go down when you need to. Another way to call
this style is hybrid (i.e. it's a combination of stand-up
and butterfly styles and each situation in the game has different
requirements and may require different techniques to make
the save). I will spend a lot of time explaining this in the
next article as this rule is so vital. A lot of young goalies
really hurt their game when they are trying to adapt 100%
butterfly or almost 100% stand-up styles to their games.
Rule # 2 Control
the puck
The
goalie has to be an active participant in the game and puck
control becomes one of the key issues on helping his/her team.
There are several ways to control the puck and we will cover
them all in our 3rd article in this series.
Rule # 3 Play
your angles right
Our
4th article will cover the importance of correct positioning
and angle play. I will also explain "the science" behind them
and the importance of what the goalie does before the shot
is taken vs. what he does after the shot.
Rule # 4 Move
& participate
In
the last article, we will put a lot of these things together
and look how the goaltender should become more of a part of
the team game and contribute more than just stopping the pucks. |
The
following 2 photos are examples of some of our visuals we
are using in these articles. These are both from Rule # 3.
Here's
an example for you on the goaltender playing too deep in the
goal. The photo has been taken from the puck's angle.
In
here, the puck is still at the same position, but now the
goalie has come out of his net and the photo has been taken
from the shooter's (left) angle.
We
will explain all these issues on our golden rules articles.
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