Goalie Drills?

I was asked by one of the coaches of my son's Mite team if I thought it might be better to take the goalies aside at the begining of practices for a different set of drills than the usual skating drills that the regular skaters do (he dosen't know of any, but is open to suggestion). Currently the practices start out with roughly 20 minutes of pure skating drills. While I love seeing my son trying to outskate everyone while in his goalie pads, I can't help but wonder if there arent some really great skill specific drills he could be doing. The only time he gets to do wind sprints in a game is when he changes nets at the end of a period. So the question is: does anyone know of any good drills that the goalies could run through at the start of a practice that will get the blood pumping and at the same time really work the goalie's skills set? Or I am wrong here, should the goalies be doing the regular skating drills. By the way, I have found this forum to be an invaluable resource. It has brought my perspective on the game to a new level. Thanks!

I'm sure there are others here that are more knowledgeable than I, but I'll let you know how I work my son.
First off, I do think it is important for the goalies to skate with the rest of the team. And not to lag behind, but to skate hard and try to keep up. I hate seeing a lazy goalie during practice. I see a lot of them.
It's important for the goalie to be part of the team, And it's important for the goalie to have good skating skills.
But, they do need to do other drills also.
I put my son in goalie clinics every now and then. And when I do, I watch the drills they do, and pay attention to the instruction they give the goalies during the drill. Then I run home and jot them down. I use these during my son's practices.
Some that I think are good warm up drills.
Run these drills the length of the ice, next to the boards.
The normal drills would be T-glide and Shuffle up and down the ice. These are important moves that need to be practiced a lot. Make sure that they stay in good position the whole length of the rink.
Another is what I call knee to knee. Skate low, touching left knee, right knee to the ice. Chest up, stick down in front, glove up. This is good for balance and leg strength. Don't let them bob up and down.
I like an egressive goalie, so I work in poke checks. You skate backwards in front of the goalie. Have the goalie explode to the puck and poke check, you catch and stop the puck, goalie gets up, explodes to and poke checks the puck again. If they miss the poke, they back up and go at it again. This is a good hard work out and a good poke check drill.
There are many other good warm up drills, like up and downs, pretzels, ect.
I alternate practices, sometimes they just skate with the team, and sometimes I pull them aside and run these drills at the beggining of practice.
Hope this helps,
Chris

[daemyn75]

Hockeyfamily,

Those are excellent drills and I admit I don't do them cause I have no really goalie coach. I pretty much taught myself how to be a goalie by reading books and watching others and playing pick up and asking questions. I agree it is important to skate wioth the team. For a few reasons.

1. It builds good team cohesion and unity it helps keep the team from thinking he is getting special treatment and not having to skate.

2. Sprint skating builds endurance and even though we don't skate a lot we do a lot of movement that causes us to be winded so sprinting will build up his wind.

So even thougha goalie might not directly benefit from a drill it doens't make it any less important that he proform them as well as skill specific drills.

[Squealagig]

I join in with the skateing drills always tring to be the first or fastest or whatever then when it's time for the shooting drills all the players go into their little secret meeting where their told what there going to do which always seems to take about 5 mins and that's when I do goalie specific drills like the t-glides and the shuffles and stuff.

daemyn75,
I totally agree with the points you make.
But just 'cause you don't have a coach on ice with you doesn't mean you shouldn't do some goalie specific drills.
If you only play pick up, I guess it would be tough.
But if you have any on ice practice slots, you should take your butt off to the side and work some drills.
For instance, I tell my son that he can do the poke check drill against the wall by himself.
Chris

[daemyn75]

I agree with you I play with an Inline team that just started from a group of us goofing off. I decided to be the goalie cause of my Hero Roy. I learned form reading stuff on ESPN.com and this BB has been the best for everything. I'm in the Army and occasionally we have a guy who has played goalie for a long time come in for a few weeks and he helps me out. I guess what i meant to say was that I never knew of those drills to do so I never did them. I get plenty of attention from the coach but mostly I get in the net and they shoot at me. I'm starting to take charge of things and have some of the other guys help me with things like Angels and stuff. These drills are good and I'm going to do them when I can.

Since he's a Mite, I'd recommend you get Francois Allaire's book, "Hocky Goaltending for Young Players." It's got a lot of great on- and off-ice drills, and is geared especially toward the "under-12 crowd."

It's important to set-aside some time to focus on specific goalie drills, but it's also equally important to run drills with the rest of the team...especially the defensemen.

Practice various situation drills between the goalie and his D's...1-1, 2-1, etc. Who's got responsibility for what? For example, on a 2-1, most goalies would rather face the guy with the puck and have the D take the open attacker. Also, if the goalie yells "Screen", then the D's need to know what to do: move bodies! These drills will make sure that both D's and goalies are clear as to what their respective responsibilities are, and then PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE until their responses to these situations become automatic.

Thanks Goalie Mike,
I got Francois Allaire's book and it looks like it is going to be a great resource. I have been keeping track of shots on goal and where the goals are being scored. I discovered that most of the goals against him are scored low and through a screen or during a crease skuffel after he has made the intial save. So we are working on his knowing when to drop into a butterfly. His defencemen aren't clearing the traffic out front so he is trying to learn how to push them out of the crease while keeping his position. He is learning fast and I am slowly learning not to be a pain in the *** parent coach.

As an alternative to the butterfly on screen shots, you may also want to have him try the "shaft-down" technique; that is, go into a half-butterfly and lay the goal stick flat (i.e., shaft parallel) on the ice. This way, he's at least covering the crease along the ice (where most of the goals at the Mite level seem to be scored). Also, since, he's only down on one knee, it'll be easier for him to quickly get back up (little kids just don't have the leg strength to bounce right up).

I'd also encourage him to YELL AT HIS DEFENSEMAN when he's being screened. Mind you, this may not have ANY effect because I'm convinced that Mites and Squirts seem to hear voices all of the time, anyway

[Brett]

AAAAALLLLLLLAAAAAAARRRRRMMMMMM!

Just happened to be scanning these threads and saw Goalie Mike's advice to check out the "Barrel Down". This is NOT the move here, for reasons I don't care to go into now, but will start a topic on tommorow when I'm not so tired.

In the meantime, check out "Bad Medicine" under Features for an intro to the Barrel Down.

Finally, Goalie Mike, I mean no offense, and realize that I leave this thread at this point giving no reasons for my opposition to your advice. I will elaborate tomorrow when I can write a semi-clear sentence.

Brett,

I read the article you referred to, and I completely agree with "The Doctor's" advice you referred to...that is, the "barrel down" technique should not qualify as a "system."

I'm certainly not advocating that in my advice to "goaliedad" -- I'm just suggesting it as an alternative technique in playing a tough situation -- the screen during a "crease scuffle". My rationale is that, since you've got bodies in front of you, then any high shot will probably be stopped by the upper (wider) parts of their bodies...however, the lower parts, especially those along the ice, are still vulnerable. In my opinion, having the shaft along the ice still seems to be a perfectly acceptable alternative to butterflying. The cautionary note is that it should be used for those screen shots that are CLOSE TO THE NET (since the chances of the puck rising much -- especially at the Mite level -- are probably not that great, as compared with a shot from much farther out).

How much farther out? If the shot is from much beyond the top of the circle, I would recommend staying on your feet, since the puck has a much better chance of rising, thereby increasing your chances of getting beaten high.

Indeed, there are other times when this technique is most appropriate. Quoting from the good Doctor's article:

"SCRAMBLES
When the puck is in front, in feet, and players are whacking at it, it is often a perfect time to go down into the barrel block, with the stick pushed out a foot and a half in front, following the puck. This is when hopping on the back knee to follow the pucks’ direction can help the goalie keep the middle of the net. Like all situations, you must not think that just because you are down covering low ice you are guaranteed of a save. You must still fight to react to a potential shot, and get up if the situation changes. Again, try to battle for every inch of depth off the goal line."

In general, I do agree with you...using this technique too much (a la Belfour) has far more disadvantages than playing a more "honest" style of play. However, it can be a very effective part of the goalie's arsenal, if used correctly and under the right situations.