Closing 5 hole while standing up

[MightyK]

With my Battram Cyclones, I find it difficult to close the area around my feet tightly when I'm standing so that no pucks can sneak through. Usually it's not a problem, since I play a wide stance and butterfly on shots to the 5 hole. But there are a few situations where it causes a problem -- for example, when the puck carrier is off to my side about 10 feet away and just in front of the goal line. I'm hugging the post so he can't jam the puck by me, but if I turn to stay square to him, there will be a hole just above my stick between my feet that I can't cover. My solution for now has been to not stay square to the shooter when hugging the post, but this tends to make my rebounds unpredictable. Obviously, I don't want to go down on the ice yet either, since I may need to move to the other side of the net to cover a cross-ice pass. Any suggestions?

[sloth2946]

Crouch low, stay tight and compact, squeeze your heels together. That is about all you can do.

[eulogy01]

Did you take out any of the knee wings? That's not a suggested solution; I ask because if you did, I think that might be part of the problem.....maybe not, just a thought.

[ouch!]

Like sloth said, bring your heels together. That seems to be the shortest neural pathway, for me at least.

[bedris]

I've always found the quickest and most effective way to close the 5-hole while standing up was to have one foot planted, and one foot elevated maybe 2-3 inches off the ice, with the stick covering the ice.

This works well on point blank shots and wraparounds, as long as you use the correct foot.

Just to give you a frame of reference if you're having a hard time picturing what I decribed, one goalie who does this quite frequently is Ed Belfour.

[Bryan]

Hold on. Your pads are together, your stick is in position, and there's a gap big enough for a puck to get though above the stick? Is that what you are saying?

If that's it, it sounds to me like your pads are either tapered way to much at the bottom, or the inner point of the scoop (ankle break point) is too wide forcing a gap when the rest of the pads are flush.