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Copyright © 2004 Jukka Ropponen This video requires Windows Media Player
In today's game, it is extremely vital that goaltenders can effectively deflect shots "out of harms way", i.e. to the corners and out of the scoring zone. This is something that must be practiced at all times. In this video example, you see a low shot coming towards Zurich Lions' goalie, Ari Sulander, who goes down to make the save and uses his stick effectively in front of his pad to direct the puck, textbook like, to the corner. Notice that he is not using his stick to "flip" the puck in the right direction. Instead, he keeps it at the right angle and lets the puck's own velocity take it to the desired location. It is a very common mistake for goalies to try and overplay the puck with their stick and do a"flip" movement. This could cost the goalie as timing becomes much more difficult and in a lot of cases even a small mistake on timing the movement will cause a goal or bad rebound. I would recommend that you start practicing this whenever you have time. Start with slow shots and focus on the number of correct repeats. As you get better, practice with harder shots. |