Found out just how bad I am!

[paulsmachetti]

Just received the DVDs from the organizer of the April tournament we attend every year, and watched my game in net. Just got a look at how really bad I am. Balance sucks , I am slow to get into position to make the saves, half the time I'm not fully set . Very surprised to actually see on film that when I go down to make a save I always recover w/my left leg.I never realized I did that until now. That one really bothers me. No wonder I have trouble moving to get to any rebound shots. Sucks because it's not like I get the opportunity to practice or have anyone that helps me w/my game to point out my mistakes, so makes it tough to get out of these bad habits. Very discouraging.
Paul

[Lord of the Cage]

Don't feel bad, 100% of the people here are in the same boat. Just have fun.

Lord of the Cage

[njt42]

That's why we have video lol! Now you know what to work on.

[paulsmachetti]

Originally Posted by njt42

That's why we have video lol! Now you know what to work on.

I'd like to channel ANT .

[foodsample]

I used to favor my left leg too, I just made an effort to drop and get up on my right left .. everytime I got up on my left leg in practice. At first it felt awkward gettin up on my right leg, but after a couple practices I felt confortable getting up on either side, and it helped improve my recovery alot as you said. As for angles, I suggest you talk to the guys that are shooting at you to tell me where your off (such as I tend to over cover on shot side.) Then just make a mental note of where you are. And remember its good to watch how other people work so that you can incorporate what ever their doing right into your own game, But dont make the mistake of comparing yourself to them. One of the most important skills is being able to see your weak points, and then making a concerted effort to improve on them. Its great that you were able to notice your weak points in this video, bad angles are especially common among goalies, but its important you work on them so that you subconsciously can get the right angle .. just remember that it does take time to drill stuff into your subconscious.

[goalieboy29]

Originally Posted by Lord of the Cage

Don't feel bad, 100% of the people here are in the same boat. Just have fun.

Lord of the Cage

I resemble that remark!

[prkinggoalie]

I do not want to say never, but be careful using shooters to tell you if you are on angle or not. Normally they will get you on angle to what they see, while you must know and be aware of what they see, you play on angle, to the PUCk not the shooter, so you must be on angle to what the puck sees!

A drill we use is to place various pucks around you in front of the net. Place another puck, center of the net on the goal line.

Have pucks on top of the net. Take off your trapper and place a puck from on top of the net into your bare hand.

Start from center of the net position and go out, starting from your left, to the first puck, stop, go down in butterfly and place the puck in your bare hand between your knees. Recover, go back to net( goalie stance) and get another puck, go out to the next puck and repeat till end. After all pucks are done. Step out and look back from the target puck towards the puck that is on the goal line, center of the net. Where is the puck that you placed when down in relatuionship to the other two pucks? If you are on angle you should be able to imagine a straight line from the puck you went out to face, the puck you dropped and the puck center of the net on the goalline.

Repeat going the other direction. Remember that if the puck you dropped is not in line that you are off angle and even if you are off slightly, that off angle gap will increase the further away the distance is.

Hope I explained it okay.

[foodsample]

Originally Posted by prkinggoalie

I do not want to say never, but be careful using shooters to tell you if you are on angle or not. Normally they will get you on angle to what they see, while you must know and be aware of what they see, you play on angle, to the PUCk not the shooter, so you must be on angle to what the puck sees!

A drill we use is to place various pucks around you in front of the net. Place another puck, center of the net on the goal line.

Have pucks on top of the net. Take off your trapper and place a puck from on top of the net into your bare hand.

Start from center of the net position and go out, starting from your left, to the first puck, stop, go down in butterfly and place the puck in your bare hand between your knees. Recover, go back to net( goalie stance) and get another puck, go out to the next puck and repeat till end. After all pucks are done. Step out and look back from the target puck towards the puck that is on the goal line, center of the net. Where is the puck that you placed when down in relatuionship to the other two pucks? If you are on angle you should be able to imagine a straight line from the puck you went out to face, the puck you dropped and the puck center of the net on the goalline.

Repeat going the other direction. Remember that if the puck you dropped is not in line that you are off angle and even if you are off slightly, that off angle gap will increase the further away the distance is.

Hope I explained it okay.

Good idea, what my coach has me do is a bit similar to that.. only instead he will come in at diffrent angles to shoot, then stop the drill and have me put my stick on the inside of the post, and the outside of my pads (makeing sure its on the ice) and use the stick as a line. Then make sure that the stick is pointing on the outside of the puck, but not to much (to make sure you dont have alot of over coverage). I do that with my stick on both sides and make a mental note of which side I was off on.

Again, these two drills mentioned deal alot with drilling it into your subconcious so that you do them absent mindedly as a matter of habit. So you will probably never be on angle perfectly 100% of the time, but you sure can get a hell of a lot close to it.

[azdave]

I am the same age as you Paul and I can tell you this, watch some of the old videos of some of the goalies in the 60s. Hell we look great compared to some of those moves and they were pros.

Practice is really hard because it is hard to find shooters that will actually work on your game vs theirs. I try to work on a new thing during pickup and see how I do. I am working on one pad up and one pad down on severe angle shots and wraparounds. Hard to master.

Still it is all about fun until we sign that pro contract

[TIMMAAYY]

^^^ You shouldn't be doing anything on that bad knee, Dave.

[The_Sand]

Any way of uploading this video onto here?

[paulsmachetti]

Originally Posted by The_Sand

Any way of uploading this video onto here?

Do you mean the video I watched of myself? It' on a DVD right now. I am a computer 'tard so I have no clue how I'd do that. Besides it's 45 min long and you don't really want to see that piece o' crap performance.
Paul

[The_Sand]

Originally Posted by paulsmachetti

Do you mean the video I watched of myself? It' on a DVD right now. I am a computer 'tard so I have no clue how I'd do that. Besides it's 45 min long and you don't really want to see that piece o' crap performance.
Paul

Well if you did post it on here the 'experts' (see my thread) would give lots of helpful advice.

[chakal]

I think that only knowing all those things now, you could improve your game just by thinking about it.

I did the same thing this year. I've taken bad habits last year while playing in a lower caliber than what I'm used to. I became lazy. But on DVD I saw it and I was able to kick myself in the butt and say: "No more laziness!" Just knowing that I was lazy helped.

Also, I'm always getting up on the wrong leg, sorry, but in the 80's and early 90's, that'S how I've learned. I tried to work on that but I don't have any ice time for that. But, while watching the videos (all our games are on DVD in our league) I saw that I was superfast when I was getting up both legs at the same time. So I'm focusing on using that technique.

Anyway, knowing your flaws will make you better if you focus on that. You know you're not always set when the shot comes... Focus on getting ready earlier during the play. That's just an example.

[ThePM]

Doesn't toskala get up on the wrong leg as well? and he's an NHL'er.

And, hey, if you're winning/having fun who cares how you're playing. It's not like you're an NHL prospect. I had to learn that recently, and realized that I want to play this sport for fun. Though, it always helps to better oneself.