trouble finding middle of net

[froggy chaos]

so the other night i go to play some pickup hockey with my brother in law. it was my first time playing on sport court surface. man that was awesome. the only propblem i was having the hardest time finding the middle of the net. i mean if i look back to see where i am then ill probally get shot on. so what do i do? please help. aside from that i did really well.

[Goose Man]

When I first started, they always told me to "tap off" on the posts, which would get me centered. There are as many ways to do this as there are goalies, but my method is to tap the shaft of my stick on the post and tap the tip of my glove on the other post. I'll know if I'm off on either side because I have done it so many times that I know where the shaft should hit and where on the glove the post should hit. If I'm off, I just make the slight adjustment so that I'm not. Doing this and keeping track of peripheral things like lines on the surface and the boards should get you pretty centered most times. The only time I have trouble is when the crease is way faded or isn't there. I rely on the crease line a lot.

[leaferguy]

I play at a place that has SportCourt. In painting it, they did so about a half a foot off the center line (if painted correctly, the crease should be half on one side of said line and half on the other, but it's not). It screws up my reference system, thus I have to tap the posts a LOT. That's the best way to locate yourself and sometimes, you'll still be out of position. Watch the shooter's body; some lean towards an open corner.

[Smith35]

I too, use the posts to tap, my stick on the stick side, and my glove on the other. Last season, since the laminate had come loose on the upper shaft, I'd put some tape on it, just as a stop-gap measure until I could get a new stick. I didn't tape the whole shaft, there was about a foot or so between the tape and the knob. The unexpected benefit was that after a couple games, I could hear/feel the taps differently, as the tape made different sounds than the rest of the stick, and that would tell me not only if I was centered, but also if I was too deep in the net.
However, if you prefer to stay at the top of the crease, where you should be making the save, you should use landmarks around the rink. The most common are the face-off dots, and the hash marks. Once the play is in your end, its hard to have to keep moving back to the net to tap off and find your center. If you can use the dots, hash marks, even face off dots further up the rink, you'll be much better off.
Use the net to set your center as the play comes out of the other end, or when the pass goes from behind the goal line out. Other than that, you should be far enough out that you might not be able to reach the net, and will have to use the dots. If you play at the same rink a lot, you can even find other landmarks to line yourself up with, an advertisement on the boards, a section of the stands, or the players bench.

[glovesave90]

match urslef up to the hash marks, it works alot

[matvell]

The rink I play at in Rochester NY has a crease in it and theres also some lines out there for basketball. There's also a line that goes right down the middle as well, I always know where I am.

However, last year, they decieded they wanted to put some garbage down called ice court (hated the stuff). It took them about 5 weeks to put the crease down, so I took about a 5 inch piece of hockey tape and placed it about 5 feet in front of where the crease would have been and marked the center of the net. Just make sure the ref at looking if you do this.

[froggy chaos]

so what exactly is ice court ?

[matvell]

Its another type of inline floor.... nothing like sport court.... You cna't skate as fast but you can turn much quicker, a lot more grip. Its not tiles.... They put it down in big sheets and ****.....

www.icecourt.com

[moogy35]

I tap the post also. For me since I'm short, if the knob of my stick hits the post, I'm in the middle. So no ping noise on the post means I'm centered. Also if you use the lip on the knob of your stick you can figure out how far off you are.

[digitalcrease]

I tap my posts.
Also, you can line yourself up with the *OTHER* net. Just check yourself against the opposing goalies posts, his losts should be loned up with yours, and then you'll know where you are.

[avatarkava]

Assuming you're "tapping off" first and then challenging out to the shooter, you should be okay.

When I first get into the net, especially at a new rink, I set frames of reference - usually they're the low face-off dots, spots along the boards, etc. that let me know where I am in relation to the net without needing to touch - sometimes you don't have the luxury of resetting your position from scratch if the puck is in the defensive zone for a while.

[Colin]

tapping off is good, but this helps too:

Don't trust the hash marks in inline, they're rarely straight. Instead, stand in the center of the net with your back touching the crossbar. Turn 45 degrees, and skate out to the top of the circle. Now find a landmark on the boards that you'll remember (a seam in the glass, a mark on the boards, etc.) Now you'll know how deep you are in relation to the net without looking back and without breaking out of your stance to feel for the post. Skate back to the centerpoint (if you've done it right you should go right back to center skating backwards). Repeat for the other side.