Changing my game

[Aaron]

Hi fellow 'tenders. Recently I have been trying to change my game a bit. For a very long time, I've been ending up too deep in my net, even on mid-range shots. I would almost always have the toe of my skate be inside the crease on a shot or even deeper yet. I would back up while the shooter got closer, because I kept thinking he would deke and I would have no momentum going backwards and get caught flat-footed. I wish I had a dollar for every goalie I've seen where I play that is standing still on a breakaway and doesn't come out and back in with the shooter. I ALWAYS have come out to challenge the shooter and back in, but have ended up too deep in the net.

As you may or may not have seen in the thread, I cover a lot of net. A few guys who know me can attest to that Ultimate BB Wallpaper

I decided to try and take advantage of this further by coming out to the top of the crease. I now keep the back of my blade on the crease, and go out even further when the puck is at the point. I really do react to shots more than let the puck just hit me. I think I need to simplify my game by just playing the puck, and not let it play me. This has worked tremendously for me. Especially on mid-range shots where the shooter is about 6-9 feet away. A fast wrist shot from there is much harder for me to "react" to than just let it hit me if I'm in good position. I'm not the fastest skater in the world believe me, but I've had many shooters tell me I'm always dead on my angles. Duh, I've been playing for how many years and I just now figure this out??? On breakaways now, I come out much farther than I used to, an extra 5-7 feet (that's a lot for me). There's one kid at my rink who's a senior in HS who really had my # on breakaways (he's good and gets plenty of breakaways on me). Since coming out farther now, I'm stopping him much more often by making him shoot while I'm farther out of the net, instead of ending up on the goal line with my fat ass hanging inside the net.

[WERNER 1]

If it's working for, go with it.

I've always been very aggressive in my challanging, but make sure you know your limitations! What's working for you know might end up backfiring on you later.

Right now, players are used to you being back in the net, but it probably won't be very long untill the element of surprise is gone. The next thing you know this guy's coming in on you and goes to pull the trigger from about 10-15 feet out, you drop doing the most beautiful butter fly any of us has ever seen, covering every possible path into the net, instead of shooting the guy goes to the side just a bit to gain that open net and roofs it before you're even up on one knee. This works like a beauty,.......I know because I use this move all the time, and I"ve got the goals to show for it.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade or anything, but just keep an eye out for the old " That's strange, they usually shoot that right into me" syndrom. Changing up every so often is a pretty good Idea as well. That way they're not seeing the same thing all of the time.

Speaking of bad habits, I still do the whole "leave on side of the net open" trick. You know, the guy gets the a sweet pass from the corner, and hes in perfect scoring position, when he looks up, I'm still on the post looking like I'm either really slow or was late in picking up the pass, when in reallity I'm ready to explode across as soon as he goes to pull the trigger. These guys eyes get as big as soft balls when they see all of that open net. They go to shoot, and whalah......where'd that goalie come from??? It's not technicaly correct, but you can't argue with results.

I'm just rambling now,..........good luck with your "new" game!

Rick

[loudog888]

Are you stand-up? I wouldn't know what to tell you if you're pro-fly, 'cuz I can't do it. But standing up, I work on my feet more than anything, making sure my kick saves are too fast for them to beat, so I can force them to beat me instead of shooting. Then, USE YOUR STICK! That's what it's for. It's good you're coming out farther, it really makes the shooter earn his keep. But my advice would be to work on your lower body and stick. There's not much chance of their shelfing it when you're out five feet from the top of the crease, unless you're pathetic, in which case you need to work on more elemental aspects of the game. If you have quick feet, the shooters that do know you will play the percentages and try to bring it past you, and the shooters that don't know you will shoot on you and get stuffed. I know what it feels like to be a big slow guy (slow skater, that is). So what you lack in speed, you make up for in reflexes. What I do when a shooter is trying to bring it past me is to try to simultaneously watch the puck, and the shooter's waist. The puck for obvious reasons, the waist because that's the one part of a shooter's body that they can't fake you with. You know where he's going (or where he's not going) because he can't leave his center of gravity. So if he tries to bring it through you, close your 5-hole or poke it off him, and if he tries to bring it around you, anticipate it and back off, or go down in the stack. I know it's hard in roller, but if you can stack your pads, you have a very effective weapon, and inline players do not expect it.

This is my entire theory of stand-up goaltending. If you are not stand-up, disregard this. If you are, take it with a grain of salt, because most goalies are mentally unstable (myself included). If you find this difficult to follow, forgive me, I've had far too much coffee.

[Aaron]

Since moving out, I've become more stand-upish but I play b/fly at times. Too hard for me to do that pro-fly on inline! I do use the 2 pad stack when necessa

I have had a VERY bad habit of when a shot along the floor is coming, I'll pull my stick IN! Either I'll stop it dead in front of me, or I'll send it at a 45 degree angle to my right every time about 8ft away for a nice easy goal for some schep. Last Monday at drop-in only 2 guys showed up so I finally got the perfect opportunity to work on sending the puck over the glass. After about 30 minutes of shots, I have no fear of using the stick now! I was sending them over the glass or at least hitting near the top of it consistantly. I was always paranoid that the puck would roll up the paddle and somehow go into the net!

Bernie told me long ago that being as big as I am, guys are going to shoot low on me. I do have good hands. I needed to work on my low game. Low glove side, I'm awesome. I do that 1/2 pad kick out great. The bad thing is, I'm not so great stick side. I have the serious bad habit of that 1/2 pad kick but I'm getting over it. and I was hoping to work on that this week at drop-in but extra people showed up. The good 'ol barrel block is an effective weapon during close-in combat.

[loudog888]

Could you give me some pointers on the glove? Sometimes I feel like I just forget it's there. Low glove is my weakest point. I am excellent stick side, though.

Try sticking your elbow out and ****ing your wrist so the shaft of your stick runs along the outer edge of your blocker and up your arm. It really takes away the stick side post, because the puck won't skirt around your arm and in.