? for the teachers on this list

[glovesave1]

How do you deal with left hand catch goalies that are right hand shots.Like Cujo and Jon Casey my son has to flip hands to play the puck,and doesnt have a problem with it.But coaches and refs always tell him he is doing it wrong and want to change him.When he is rushed I have him use one hand and that works fine.I dont want to make him shoot left because I dont want to mess him up when he plays out.(he's a mini-mite)So how do you guys deal with goalies like this,do u try to change them or if works for them leave them be and tell the coaches to leave him be.Thanks

Why not just learn both? Do Both ways.

[Bernie]

Personally, I teach em to shoot left handed, and they learn pretty quickly but it takes work and dedication.
My best goalie right now also skates out sometimes in another league. He shoots right handed (natural hand) as a skater but clears the puck left handed as a goalie and does very well with it. It took about 3 months for this ambidexterity to set in though.

In fact, he told me he wants to get rid of his right handed forwards sticks and just play everything lefthanded now so he becomes stronger at goaltending.

Bernie

[Squealagig]

I naturally shoot right handed But I actually learnt quite quickly how to shoot left and now I'm about as good shooting with both hands. When I play forward's I'll even switch hand positions sometimes. when shooting on my blocker side I do sometimes just turn my stick over (blocker face towards net) and jsut shoot the puck with my blocker hand only but thats only good if you want to clear the puck along the ice.

[daemyn75]

I had a similar problem I would hold the stick left handed and my legs would be set for right handed shooting both in the net and out. I agree with the others, tech him to shoot lefty. It takes time but it is easy.

[CKeelty]

I shoot right (skating "out") and catch left. It's been a real battle for me to learn to stick-handle, but over time it came to me. It takes a lot of dedication and practice, and I've learned to "know myself" and my limitations. Sometimes I do a "proper" clear, sometimes a backhand swipe (mostly along the boards to my right) and on occasion, when I have time, I switch hands--but I do this rarely, because I hate for the other team to see it. They know then that they can pressure me when I stick-handle.

Over time I've come to accept that I'll never be a great stick-handler. It's a sick joke because I grew up idolizing Mike Richter. I still make mistakes frequently, because I just don't have the feel for the stick that others do. So I play careful, don't take chances with the puck, and I always hang close to my crease in case I commit (horror of horrors) a turnover. That way I can reset myself and make the save as I normally would.

Man, am I longwinded. Bottom line: If I were you, I'd have your son practice, practice, practice with his stickhandling--the way goalies are "supposed to," because that's the fastest thing. And I'd reassure him that not every goalie has to be a Hextall, Brodeur or Barasso. Look at guys like Roy, Richter, Dafoe--even Hasek can't handle the puck well, All-Star game notwithstanding. Teach your son to be a safe puckhandler rather than a fancy one, and focus more on making saves than on making pretty passes.

And don't ever encourage him to be like Joseph--teams that pressure him when he has the puck get easy goals. His technique IS inferior.

Chris

[badgerit]

What is it that Joseph does that makes his stickhandling really inferior? I haven't seen any highlight reels of him committing grievous errors.

[CKeelty]

Joseph (and--I believe--Tugnutt) both do the same thing, whenever they have time, they put the butt of their stick into their catch glove and run their blocker down to the paddle. It's the reverse of "proper" goalie stickhandling, because they're both left-hand catches and right-hand shots. It doesn't actually make their execution worse, but it means they take longer to handle a puck than a "proper" goalie--and are more prone to mistakes--and opposing teams (ie Buffalo in last years playoff against Toronto) would rush to put pressure on CuJo whenever he was out to handle a puck.