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I also use Bryan's method. His point about the shooter not seeing the net is a primary objective of mine. When the puck is in the other end I am usually standing at about the bottom of the circles and I'll actually skate forwards to the hashmarks when I see a potential breakaway. Good backwards skating skills are necessary of course and I just do my best to stay in front of the shooter (Ooops-I mean PUCK) until the shot comes at which point I butterfly or stick a leg out or whatever. Of course if you commit too early, your back-door is wide open and he'll skate around you. And if you skate slowly, he'll just move wide and skate around you too. On a breakaway you MUST stay in front of that puck and time the shooter's advance all while staying centered in respect to the net.
For what it's worth, I more often find I make the save at near the top of my crease rather than near the goaline. I like to believe it's because the shooter ran out of patience and knew he must get the shot off even though he doesn't see a good target.
10 common mistakes goalies make on breakaways:
1. Centering to the shooter- not to the puck.
2. Committing to a save before the shot (guessing)
3. Too far back in the net to start with- thus not playing the angles
4. Too far back in the net at finish and the goalie either stops the puck but he's inside the net or the puck trickles through but of course ends up over the goal line.
5. "telegraphing" the intention to poke check (Don't move your hand to the top of the stick as he's comming down if you want to poke check. The stick should just "shoot" from your normal position to maximize the surprise effect)
6. Losing concept of where the center of the net is if the shooter wanders wide. (I.E. the shooter may wander to a bad angle and actually draw you way out of center so you no longer are in front of the net. When he shoots and you think it went wide but you look over your shoulder and you are actually not even in front of the net at all!) Learn to use the markings on the ice to determine where you are. If your right foot is lined up with the left face-off dot when the skater is moving wide to your left, you are probably already closer to the left goalpost than you think so adjust your leftward movement so you don't start floating off behind the goal line!
7. Not staying square to the puck and the rebound from your body goes into the net (also happens if you are too far back in the net)
8. Not keeping stick flat on the ice
9. Not immediately recovering position after the save.
10. Moving the stick in a side-to-side motion while skating backwards rather than keeping it in front of the 5-hole.
Bernie
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