By Steve McKichan /
This issue, we continue our look at the goaltender stance. Last week, we discussed the three basic stance depths. This week, we will talk about glove position, stick issues, and block issues.
Glove Position
Within our stances, the most dramatic changes we see, decade to decade, involve the position of the glove. In the early ‘80s, goalies would claw their glove in front of their body or carry it like it was ready to catch a puck dropped from the ceiling.
Of course everyone has a glove position they feel comfortable with and have had success with.
By all means use what works and what you are comfortable with. But bear in mind that as the shooters get better, you may need to adjust your glove position accordingly if you start to get lit up.
The glove needs to be held in a position that allows you the easiest path to make saves. This starts with the concept of palm squareness. The palm of your glove needs to be square to the upward trajectory of the puck. Holding the glove forward in your stance simply covers more net as well.
In these examples, we see clear examples of palms that are facing anywhere but at the puck.
We call this glove position the “yo-yo” as it looks like the goalie is just about to fire off a few reps with a yo-yo. A quick shot from a smart player and you will never get this gun out of the holster in time.
We have even seen goalies using a glove position like this, where the palm is actually facing the side-boards. It appears like the goalie is waving at their mother in the crowd.
Which way the fingers point is really an individual preference as long as your palm is square to the puck and your glove is actually held low enough to fill the net.
In some cases, goalies hold the glove so high when they use the finger up position that from the elbow up is actually filling space above the crossbar.
Stick Issues
As you move around the crease in your Movement Ready Stance, your stick needs to be flush to the ice. The entire bottom edge of your stick should be in contact with the ice.
Just like with your glove, you should meticulously keep your stick blade square to the puck as it moves around your zone. In addition to being flush and square, your stick should be centered in your stance filling your 5-hole.
We see some fundamental errors creeping into the game involving the use of the stick.
We see the goaltender moving around the crease with just the toe of the stick on the ice.
A quick offensive attack will likely catch the goalie by surprise and a greasy goal will be the result if it is directed at the heel area on the stick.
The stick should slightly lead your movements around the crease but should not be flung way out ahead of your movements or slashed around rapidly. The movement of your stick should be precise, incremental and very disciplined.
Another dangerous stick error is, when you use your stick ramped way back like a 9-iron, you create unpredictable rebounds off your stick and then other parts of your equipment. Pucks clip the 9-iron stick, strike the pad and land directly out in the kill zone.
As a rule of thumb, an intelligent goalie knows that pucks that hit your stick should never hit any other part of your body afterwards. Purposely ramping pucks up into your gut area is foolhardy.
Blocker Issue
The blocker, like the trapper, is a better weapon if it is held on a plane in front of the body for two reasons. It covers more of the net in a forward position and it prevents a common error we see frequently with your stick. When a goalie rests or locks their blocker to the side of the pad they make it next to impossible to keep the stick centered between their feet. The goalie has difficulty in maintaining proper stick discipline because of the blocker lock. |