Angles.. HELP!

I need some serious help on angles, and would appreciate some feedback.

First I am a fairly new goalie 6'4" 200lbs, so I can take up a lot of net. Lately I have been giving up a lot of soft goals. A teammate and I did a work out yesterday and he showed me that I have angle problems.

I have divided the crease into 4 zones and three lines. The lines extend from the center of the goal line, down center ice, and one to each face off dot.

These three lines are my basic positions and divide the crease into four zones. When the puck is on one of the zones.. that is where I stand.

Yesterday I discovered that standing in those zones, even if the puck appears to be directly in line with me, I give a huge amount of net on each side.

Basically I have identified to problems. First, I apparently have not factored angles properly.

Second, I am also not square to the puck. I usually THINK I am square, but to the shooter, I am not.

So my question is, how do you assure you are on the correct angle, and square? Do you have something to reference other than on ice marks?

[Aaron]

Jester, I've had problems too 'cuz I play in a roller skating rink, and there's NO marks.

One thing to make a habit of is always starting out at the same spot. Some guys say at the top of the crease, others say on the goal line centered in the net.

There are more things than just those 2 faceoff dots you can use. Where the blue line meets the boards, where the red line meets the boards, ceter facoff dot. Also, if there are certain marks or signs etc. along the boards, you can use those too.

I also suggest that you tap those posts with your catcher and stick to keep yourself centered. Also using the other team's net as a guide can help keep you lined up sometimes. Remember how big you are and use that to your advantage. You probably won't have to come out as far as a smaller goalie does to cut angles. Try to watch some of the big NHL goalies like Brodeur, Barrasso, Burke, Dunham, Kolzig, Snow, Storr, Shields and Turek. All these guys are 6'plus. By the way, are most of the soft goals scored low stick side or high glove?

[Squealagig]

Make sure that it isn't just that the guy you've practiced with isn't just telling you what HE see's. I Was practicing with a freind today and he was saying that there was a big gap to one side. Then he went stood where the puck was and he said I was perfectly centered and he couldn't see any net. All I'm trying to say is make sure you have a problem before trying to fix it.

During practices try and cheak to make sure your centered properly even if it means you might miss the shot. I do this to make sure my sticks flat on the ice and it's helped alot.

Make sure your centering nb the middle of the net at the front and not by the middle bar at the back of the net. sounds dumb but I was doing it for a while untill I realized that I was doing it.

Thats just what I've found helps me anyway.

[Squealagig]

Doh! double post!

[This message has been edited by Squealagig (edited December 09, 1999).]

[TartanBill]

First, try to rely upon with two landmarks IN FRONT of you.
Before a game or practice, get behind the goal and line up your marks. They will vary from rink to rink.

Some additional marks you could use are
o (edge of the far hash on the circle) and the (face off dot outside the zone)
o (midpoint between the near faceoff dot and the hash mark) and the boards at the blue line.

Here is an exercise you can try.
1) Have a friend set up for a shot but leave the puck.
2) You drop a puck between your feet.
3) Repeat this a few times.
4) Finally stand behind the goal and draw an imaginary line between the pucks and goal center to see how well centered you were.

you should always stay in the middle of the net until the opposite team player pass the red(center) line then advance on him,i usualy put my arms on the crossbar,teamate says that i'm relax but it help me being centered.i don't realy belive in marks exept
for the other net in front or for praticing.you sould practice whit your eyes closed(sound bizare but it work for me)

[robbf]

If you can get the rink time another drill you might find useful is to take two peices of rope, tie one end of each off to the goalpost and take the loose ends out to the area where shooters are beating you from, have someone hold the loose ends together at the puck while you move up to the point where you are closing off the entire area of angle to the net. This should help give you some visual, as well as physical marks as to how far out you need to go to completley shut down the angle.
You may also want to double-check yourself on where you are getting beat, high, low 5-hole etc. You may be playing the angles great but not executing the save fully or telegraphing your move to the shooter and opening up somewhere.

[Bryan]

I include an angle check as part of my warm-up. As soon as I get on the ice, I head for the centre of the net and make an imaginary line through the corner points of the crease, making a mental note of where the imaginary line meets the boards. If you are lucky, that line should cross just inside the blue line, or right through the face-off dot. (it's usually somewhere between the two) Even when it doesn't, the boards always have some kind of advertising on them, so it's easy to pick a landmark that's in front of you instead of behind.

[This message has been edited by Bryan (edited December 12, 1999).]

I usually do more than just an angle check. I go through all the poitns too, but I also just do an awareness test.

I find it's too easy to kind of zone out and not really know where you are on the ice, so I stop, breathe, and look at everything real slow. Especially the goalline from post to boards. If I can visualize a school parking lot then it totally frees me up and just lets me p-l-a-y. Just kind of lookin around.

AB

[Squealagig]

Ok here's a question. how do you do your angles with ice that has no markings? I was playing shinny hockey at my local outdoor rink this weekend and I had no idea where the net was most of the time without looking over my shoulder and cheaking which really didn't work too well. I kept either backing up into a post before I was expecting it or finding myself further out than I thought. It also didn't help that the net wasn't fixed and kept moving around whenever I got a skate upto a post.

Your not suppose to in the first place. Stand in the net on the center and look out to the outside. That's how it is suppose to look. Now use your goal stick and draw out a crease around your net. In other word swing your stick in a semi circle. Now push your self to the top of the crease and hit the blocker post with your stick. All you have to know is where the top of the crease is and if you can tap the post with stick or glove your fine.

[Squealagig]

Ok I just have two problems with that.

1. whats the point of drawing a crease with you stick? Where I come from sticks arn't too good for drawing.

2. When you come out of the net and then have to move across for a pass and all sorts of wired stuff like that how are you meant to remember where the stupid net went while you were doing all that stuff?

You do that before the game start or before you play so you reconize how far you have to come out to cut your angles. When I say draw ,I mean clear all the shaved ice with your stick in front of the crease so you would know how a crease would look like if you had one. Then you would telescope out of your net at each angle and remember how you are square up if the puck was at that angle. So when your playing the game ,you don't screw up by not being square. How do you remember all that when moving across? Practise, Practise, and more Practise.

Another point to remember in regard to angles:

As you move from one spot to the next to face the shooter, lead that movement with the stick and let the body follow. In other words, turn your stick in the dirction you want to travel so that it is square to the puck, point your lead skate in the same direction, and execute a T-glide to get you there. Your body shoudl then pivot around so that it is parallel to your stick blade, with your upper body square to the puck. I hope this makes sense, and yes, it dies take practice. Good luck!