Half Butterfly

[Roymond]

I read the topic by TarBill "Butterfly vs Half Butterfly", not sure if that is his name, and i apoligize if it isn't. He did some searching on the difference between the butterfly and the half butterfly. Now I have a problem with the half butterfly kind of like the guy in one of his refrenses (SP?)

http://www.goaliestore.com/board/sho...half+butterfly

But my problem is that I cannot keep the leg up, this stretches my body out into all sorts of positions, and ends up pulling a muscle or worse. I don't use the half butterfly that much but i would definitly like to correct the problem. Is there any drills/stretches that would help me keep my leg straight up.

Here is a bad keyboard drawing but it shows what i mean by a normal half, and mine

Normal Left Kick Half: _|, the left leg is down and the right leg is perpendicular

My left kick: _\ the left leg is down but my right one turns outward, causing a little gap.

Normal Right Kick half: |_ The right leg is down and the left is perpendicular.

My right kick: /_ The right leg is down and the left leg is going outward, causing a little gap

How can i correct this problem... Thanks in advance.

[TartanBill]

If I understand you correctly, you are keeping your non-kick leg upright. This is not advisable. In both the half and full butterfly, you must have both knees on the ice. In the half butterfly, you will pull your non-kick

One source I've consulted recommends doing the butterfly and half butterfly in two steps. First drop one leg to the ice, for the lalf butterfly it will be the kick leg. (Of course we don't use gravity, but the big muscles in the leg to drive the knee to the ice as fast as possible. This will leave your kick pad almost square to the shot. This is not necessarily the best puck stopping position, but it does get maximum extension.

For the full butterfly, proceed to do the same with the opposite leg. Your first leg will pull back some. That's OK.

For the half butterfly, you slip your skate and place the knee of your other leg on the ice. The pads will be nearly at right angles, both on the ice.

Practice:
During this your head should not move. Practice by putting your arms out and balancing a stick across them while executing the moves. You should not lose the stick.

When in half butterfly, alternately kick to the opposite side. Keep your head and gloves fixed.

Work on stretching the hip flexors. I will try to track down the site that hadbutterfly stretching.