Playing a forward who's moving laterally on his forehand ???

How do you guys handle a player who's on his forehand and moving out of the slot and into a more tight angled shot (i.e. the face off dot area.)

When he's on his backhand, I like to stay a little behind his movement and give him that outside angle shot, then shut the door real quick once he gets past a certain point, chances are his backhand's not gonna really give you any hard times anyway.

But how do you handle a guy drifting out wide when he's on his forehand. Do you guys let him get a little ahead to tempt him out of the slot area, or do you try to play him square? The forehand's a harder shot to handle from a wide angle because he's way more likely to put it up stairs on you.

Any advice?

[daemyn75]

I like to stay centered on the puck and the center of the goal and try not to drop down too soon so if he top shelf it you can stop it. Play out and agressive if it is only him on a break away and be cautious if there is more than one.

[Bernie]

This is going to be a terrible explanation but I'll try.

First, you must stay centered to the puck! That's the easy part. You always do that!

The second thing, though, is a little tough to explain. You have to play the angle right on a guy moving laterally. But if he is moving laterally, the angle is changing constantly as he moves to or away from the center of the net. And the "finished" product will look like you've made an arc rather than a straight line as you followed him across.

Let me explain this way. Say he starts at the wall on your right and skates a straight line through the faceoff dots across to the other wall. You would start off near the right goal post and as he skates across, you of course move across as well, but you also must move OUT to cut the angle as he gets more to the center ice. As he passes center and again starts getting close to the other wall, you still keep moving to the left of course but you also start "fading back" closer to the left pipe so he doesn't see your back door. As he approaches the wall you should again be deep in net near the post. Again, the motion is more arc-like.

Bernie

[daemyn75]

GEEEEEE Bernie you know how to make a guy feel small lol

[Bernie]

Oh, sorry Daemyn- I didn't mean to step on your toes. Your post is also quite correct but I wanted to elaborate on this arc motion because many goalies don't know about it.

We've all had a million of those zingers where the guy skates across the crease and as you follow him he shoots BACK from where you just came. You look over your shoulder and the whole net is there- wide open. You were caught flat footed and out of position.
This "arc" technique really prevents that from happening because you're always playing the angle. Also, it prevents him bursting with speed and beating you on the side you're already travelling because as his angle gets worse (he's moving more to the side of the net) you are "arcing" your motion back to the post to seal off the bad angle short-side shot. A big mistake is some goalies would probably actually follow this guy all the way across to the faceoff dot- or even the wall! That makes you easy to beat as hell! You have to pull off him at a point and remember to play the angle which means going deeper in the net after a point!


Of course, as daemyn said, go down too soon and it's probably all over!

Bernie

[daemyn75]

It's alright Bernie you have big knowledge and you are making mine bigger :-) thanks for the in depth insite it will help a lot.

33 Forever