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It's the wrists Aaron.
You should be able to stand perfectly still. Not even so much as dip your shoulder or take even a 1cm step forward or even move your arms at all.Only by snapping the wrists you should be able to shoot the puck off the glass, even over it!
Once you get that part down, then "stepping into it" will add more power and speed, but 90% of the technique is with your wrists.
Remember, most right handed goalies must learn to shoot "left handed" which adds significantly to the learning curve i they already naturally shoot right handed.
Mistakes to watch for:
*Trying to use the shoulders/arms/torso to move the puck rather than the wrists
*Not keeping the blade straight through the target. In other words, you may be letting the blade turn to the side when it contacts the puck rather than keeping the blade facing forwards.
*Not following through
*Not having your side facing the target. You should have your side facing the target, not your front. Later, as you get better, you can get away with bad positioning like this, but for starters you should have your right side facing the target. Stand sideways to the target and look over your right shoulder to see where you want to shoot.
*Standing to far away from the puck. This is a big one. For some reason people think you should be standing far away from the puck and be "reaching" for it while you shoot. This is wrong. Your nose should almost be directly over the puck!
*Standing up to straight. If you read the above closely, you can figure you should be bending over slightly when you shoot. Don't stand straight up. And don't stand up as you shoot. Keep your body position still!
*Not re-reading the first mistake, because it's the most common one.
As for the glove, I "lock" the shaft of the stick just over the paddle in the groove in my glove between my thumb and index finger. I don't really "wrap" around the stick or "grab" it.
Good luck. We've all been there. And some of us still are. I just played against one of the better goalies in the area and even after 20 years of playing, he still can't hardly shoot or play a puck to save his life! As long as he stays in the crease he's fine! But man, he has NO business wandering!
Bernie
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