Rebound Control and Breakaways

[greaser]

I'm not so good at controlling my rebounds, especially when they hit my leg pads. It costs my team some of the time because I give up fat rebounds, although, sometimes I can make the follow-up save.

On breakaways does anyone have any tips on stopping them? Like anticipation tips?

Any help on either of these would be greatly appreciated.

Josh

[punisher]

about rebounds, nodging your pads slightly to the direction you want the puck to go, should do the trick, and sometimes you just have to give up a rebound, it is a sad truth.

break aways, geez i just wait untill the player makes the first move, i just make sure i get out far enough, it is just you and him so no risk there, then i just follow his moves back to the goal, making sure i got my goal covered. this will lead to the part where he tries to shoot it, pass me or just runs into me either way don't make the first move, unless it is a poke and you are absolutly sure you going to get it.

one more thing, this works for me, it could be a whole different ball... ehhh puckgame for you.

and keep practising your weakness, don't try to cover it up by giving holes at your good sides, a good player just falls for that ones...

punisher

[elite]

Rebounds: one thing you can do, like punisher said, is try to angle your pads so they go into the corners. On fast shots, unless this comes easy to you, that might be hard. Try using your stick a bit more in deflecting shots away from you. For instance, if a shot is coming on the floor at your five hole, when it goes to hit your stick, deflect it to the side. That'll take some getting used to, too, but it'll save you a few goals a game once you get it down.

As for breakaways, it's not my strongpoint on inline, unfortunately. The best thing I can tell you is to come out far and back up fast. It's harder for a guy on inline skates to maneuver, so you have a little advantage there. But almost all of that goes away with the fact that you can't slide. So positioning is very key. Get out about 3-5 feet in front of the net, try to match his speed, and hope to hell he doesn't try to deke you. Honestly, the first/second move thing isn't always quite true. You can deke a guy out by looking like you're going to go down one way, but come back up and get him going the opposite. Try a few things, and always keep the poke check handy.

[PenguinMan]

I agree with Tomy.

Another thing that has worked really well for me with breakaways is to simply suggest the poke check by sliding your hand up your stick. While it isn't strictly an anticipatory save and is therefore something that could be frowned upon, it usually makes the shooter panic and do what you want him to do. They'll either stay farther out and deke from too far, allowing you more time to stay square and react, or they'll really panic and just try and beat you on a straight shot. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have some guy gunning from the slot when I'm at the top of the crease than a 5 foot tap in as I'm sliding over.

As for rebound control, that's a matter of practice. Just get used to nudging them out to the corners.

[leaferguy]

Depending on your level, the fake pokecheck can be very dangerous. The further you slide your hand up the shaft, the worse off you are. If you must pokecheck, try to do it with the hand near the paddle.

The best advice I can give on a breakaway is to follow the shooter. It's very hard to get someone going where you want, especially when you're making a conscious effort. If you're nervous, just do the basics:

Come out aggressively (I sometimes come out to near the bottom of the circles)

Keep a compact stance (explosiveness is clutch here)

Don't telegraph anything you're going to do

Match the shooter's pace going backwards and keep your stick in front of your five hole!

Many shooters love to drag you cross-crease and open up your five hole. If your stick is there and you're square, this becomes a lot harder for the shooter.

[dreadlockgoalie]

Also, use your stick as much as possible to direct shots to the side instead of just forward.

[mklaman]

Originally Posted by elite

It's harder for a guy on inline skates to maneuver, so you have a little advantage there. But almost all of that goes away with the fact that you can't slide. So positioning is very key. Get out about 3-5 feet in front of the net, try to match his speed, and hope to hell he doesn't try to deke you. Honestly, the first/second move thing isn't always quite true. You can deke a guy out by looking like you're going to go down one way, but come back up and get him going the opposite. Try a few things, and always keep the poke check handy.

Hmmm, breakaways being my favorite thing to face, and the thing i am best at, i'd have to disagree completely!

First off, a guy on inline skates can not only maneuver better, but can also do some crazy "tricks" so to say. Im talking, 1 handed shots, thru the legs, shin pad shots, off the skate chassis, etc, etc... More than likely they wont unless they are winning by a good deal, but still, all of these things are hard to readd because of how fast they happen.
Then about sliding... i've yet to see a decent goalie in my area who cant slide. (maybe its your floor, or pads?) Hell, im giving 1on1 training to a 6 year old who can slide now!
On to the dekes. Unlike what was posted above, you should make it your preference that he does indeed try a deke. He will either succeed or fail miserably and maybe not even get a shot off, due to losing the puck or w/e. When moving back at the same speed as the skater, he can make one slight shift of the puck (from a few feet out) and it will get you moving, therefore opening up holes for him to snipe a shot in (atleast against the high caliber players i play against who can pick a shot within an inch!). Simply hope he is coming all the way in for the deke, and when he starts the lateral movement of the puck (when puck is in your sticks reach and your about on the goal line), keep your body upright and spread eagle with your legs! im talking post to post if possible. 90% of the time you will stop the shot, because they will go low on what they thought was an open side and hit your pad. Just keep your blocker and glove ready for a high shot which is unlikely from them at a close range like that.

Poke checking is not as dangerous as people say. First off, a fake poke check scares the crap outta most people. I had tryouts the other night for the piha team here and during the breakaway drill, i faked the poke check (hand all the way to the butt of the stick) and the kid saw that, lost control of puck and skated away, hanging his head of course (you'd think someone trying for piha wouldnt do such a thing!) The thing you must do on a fake is to remember to keep your stick "in front" of your 5hole, even though its a few feet out, then simply jerk your hand back and it will slide right back into position in a split second! On a real poke check, you MUST make contact to be successful... be it the puck, their stick, or their body (skate, ankle, etc). Your objective is to stop the puck, if that means u jab your stick into their skates and they fly over you, then that is completely fine, and legal (if your attempting ot make contact with puck of course!)

ok so thats really long, but i had to express my views... enjoy

[Lop]

I can slide a little I guess. MOstly only becuase the rink is really dusty. But forget about that. I mastered my timing with the poke check on breakaways. If I don't get the with my stick I will atleast get the shooters stick with mine. Just enough to throw them off I guess. I doesn't always work, but thats why I try to force the play to my glove side, so if he does get a shot off, I still have some sort of chance at stopping it.

I've gotten pretty good at the breakaway thanks to my team. Very undisciplined in practice and all they want to do is practice their breakaway moves. Works for me though, cause they don't play D, so I face quite a bit during games.

[Goalio]

Ahh The pokecheck one of my favourites, in a game once I took a guy of his skates because I jabbed my stick right into his skate blade.There was a big chip on my blade from it.

[punisher]

one thing on break aways that i keep in mind is a very explosive 2 pad slide, i know it sounds terribly old and horrid but i take a lot of saves that way.
i used to practise penalty shots every practise on the end of the practise.
it made me pretty good on the breakaway.
it learned me to anticipate and read a lot more from players in a breakaway situation.

if there is just one advice i can give you, it would be practise, practise, practise...and if your done with that, practise some more.

punisher

[elite]

Originally Posted by mklaman

ok so thats really long, but i had to express my views... enjoy

Stick to trying out for inline "pro" leagues, kid.

A guy on inline skates cannot maneuver as good as a person on ice skates. As someone who has played against real professionals (i.e. ice), they usually use perhaps 50% stickwork, 40% skating, and 10% accuracy when doing breakaways (that's been in my experience). This is probably because they first try to deke us out by getting us going side to side with long or fast stickhandling. However, one thing you have to keep in mind in ice is the person can very easily stop or turn. Inline, however, is almost exponentially harder to stop and regain a certain amount of direction. Even against the better inline players, they are nothing compared to pro ice players. This is a result of a physical limit on how they can skate and maneuver. Ice is much easier. Inline players I would say use a proportion much closer to 70% stickwork, 20% skating, and 10% accuracy. If they can deke you out with stickwork, they know you're stuck on the ground.. which comes to my next point:

You really want me to believe you can slide on an inline floor just as good as you can on ice? That's a horridly inaccurate statement if you believe it. Sure, there are certain things you can do to increase sliding capabilities in inline: male-side velcro, plastic sheets, etc. But let's face it: once you're down, even if you get a leg up to push off on, you're not going anywhere. This is where it's harder for us goalies in inline. Whereas in ice where I can deke the shooter out by putting a leg down and then sliding across in a half butterfly, if I tried that in inline, I wouldn't slide one bit. There are ways to naturally slide on inline, but those are generally on long lateral movements, NOT backwards or on small lateral movements like those you are likely to use on breakaways. I'd like to see some video of you doing it.

If you really try that horrible technique of just going down in a butterfly when a guy tries to go latterally, I can guarantee you if you were playing against good players, you would be burned in a second. I don't know what kind of "pro" leagues you're trying out for, but players around here are better than that. If I go down and rely on them to hit me "90%" of the time, it's not going to happen. When you go down before a shot is taken, that gives the guy a TON of net to look at, and even worse, a ton of net to get to because you're stuck down post-to-post in a butterfly or "spread eagle." Maybe that works in your "men's elite leagues" but that doesn't cut it here. They'll snipe you in a second.

Poke checking doesn't scare the crap out of the better players. In fact, if they see you raise your blocker for a poke check, they know perfectly well your five hole is going to be open in 3..2..1.. . Further, even if you're "faking" a poke check, by sliding your hand it gives the player an advantage of seeing you've now put your hand into a transition state. Whereas before it was ready for a shot, it's now transitioning to a new spot. Instead of making a simple move to a shot to the blocker side, you would now have to stop your transition, and then move to the shot. You're much more likely to mess up now. Generally I try not to poke check on straight-on shots because it does open up both the five hole and blocker side. Generally it's best (I've found) to poke check when a player is coming from your blocker-side corner out in front of the net, or if they're trying to cut across the front of the net after they've gone down the boards (i.e. drive the net). Breakaways aren't the best place to throw out a pokecheck unless you know the player's head is down and not looking at you transitioning for the poke check.

If these ways work for you, great. Good going. But let's try not to rely on them, especially on breakaways. Have fun teaching six year olds one-on-one, and good luck with your tryouts.

[Lop]

Originally Posted by elite

Poke checking doesn't scare the crap out of the better players. In fact, if they see you raise your blocker for a poke check, they know perfectly well your five hole is going to be open in 3..2..1...

Thats why you work on your timing. Your supposed to throw the stick out for the poke check and catch it before it slips out of your hand, thats why the butt of the stick is there. To catch the stick when you poke check. If you just slide your hand up your stick and show the shooter you are going to poke check, you've already given him time to figure out what he's going to do. Anyways... if the poke check is done right, the shooter shouldn't know your going to poke check until its too late for him.

[Huntster]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned that if the player has the puck and stick in front of his body he can't really shot so you know he is going to try to deke.

I think the poke check is effective if used sparingly and used to surprise the shooter.

If a fake pokecheck "scares" the players you are facing then great go for it but as you go up in levels it will just leave your whole blocker side open while you are sliding your hand up to fake.

If the player has his head down maybe trying to control the puck then it may be effective. Again the best pokecheck is one that the player never saw coming.

I also agree that at times a pad stack can be a great move but it requires good timing.

As far as rebounds with a lighter puck than ice I find I get quite lively rebounds off my pads. A lot of times I find it is good because the puck fires out beyond the players that are in front of my crease trying to bang home a rebound.

Like others have said you want to angle your pad so you can get the puck going into a corner. If possible you should try to get a stick on it as it should be easier to direct the puck with your stick.

[buffay34]

If for some reason you poke check, and miss the puck, stick or the players feet, i have a back up plan..... just trip him if you can. try to grab his leg or somewthing, trip him with your leg.... breakaways i am good at, but its not my best, and i normally get a good amount against a good team.....

If you play travel platinumn/aaa roller hockey, players do unbelievable moves.... between the legs, kik off the skate, even a 360 michigan move (yea, some do it even when game is close.....).... also, the move i hate the most is the one handed skater goes one way and the puck goes the other, wether i save it or they score, i always laugh, its just a funny move.....

for rebounds, any shot on ground, i ALWAYS deflect into the netting.... i dont know why, i just do it purposely.... when the shot is 5 hole, more then likely, if it doesnt go in , it goes into the corner, i just twitch my blade towards the corner...

[Weasel]

I had the worst feeling ever when we were doing a few penalty shots at the end of training. I went out took the puck but caught my stick on the players skates. Took him down hard and he stayed down.

That was one of the sickest feelings ever watching your teammate lying on the floor in agony because of an error you made. He did something weird to his elbow/shoulder as he landed. Wasn't nice.