Street Hockey Goalie Help

Reddragn7845 · Squirt Joined: 23 Feb 2009 Posts: 4

Hey guys,

I am a total novice to the act of playing hockey. I love hockey and can rattle off stats like you wouldn't believe but I am going to be playing the sport for the first time.

I have searched the internet far and wide and have come across this forum, which is helping me immensely but I have a problem. All of the guides, how-to's and whatnot are created here basically for ice and (sometimes) roller hockey goalies.

I am starting as a shoes-only dek hockey goalie for some upcoming tournaments in my area. I have a pair of beat-up Mylec street hockey goalie pads (4 inch foam glued to hard plastic with watch straps as bands), an old beat-up senior catcher, a junior blocker with no finger tips in the glove, a baseball catcher's chest protector, and actually a nice helmet someone was nice enough to let me borrow. I don't currently have the money to be able to afford anything better.

But I'm not here to gripe about the equipment, what I do want to ask is for advice from anyone that could help me adapt what I'm learning about Ice Hockey for the Sport Court.

My pads don't really do butterfly so well so I tend to stand-up more to begin with. Also, it's difficult to slide on sport court/asphalt, so I tend to stay away from trying to do that.

I make most of my saves when we're practicing with my stick and my pads, but often let in soft 5-hole and glove side goals. I also poke-check a lot more than I feel like I should.

It is a novice-level street hockey tourney I'm entering in so I don't think there'll be a lot of star-caliber players.

Any advice you can give me to earn me a competitive edge on the sport court would be appreciated, by me and my team.

tallgoalie · Peewee Joined: 14 Mar 2010 Posts: 7 Location: Tennessee

Hey Red, here are a few comments, coming from a floor hockey background and just getting into ice hockey...I tend to have an "active stick" and am not afraid to challenge players and poke check a lot. The less skilled the player is, the more likely they are to panic and take a quick and poorly aimed shot straight at me...once you play the same guys a few times you will learn who you can do this to and who can go around you or lift the puck over you.

I read somewhere online that 70% of the shots coming at you are low...so even if you can't butterfly, get down more often than it sounds like you are now and close that five hole! Make them have to lift the puck to have a chance.

As far as equipment, my floor hockey pads don't really have a knee raiser(to support your knee when in butterfly)so I got some cheap volleyball knee pads to do that-kind of-and to at least pad my knees when I do drop to the floor.

Also, during warm-ups or after the game...have your guys shoot to your glove side while you are on your knees to get practice making glove saves...cat-like reflexes can be trained to some degree!

Reddragn7845 · Squirt Joined: 23 Feb 2009 Posts: 4

Thanks for all of the advice!

I've been out practicing a lot recently, and I have noticed that the active stick helps so much. Poke checking seems to be a great way to counteract the fact that you can't slide.

The volleyball knee pads thing is ingenious. I've been looking at hockey goalie knee pads, which are expensive and cumbersome but volleyball seems like a great idea.

And I've also found that playing catch outside with my goalie glove on is helping too.

Thanks a lot!

tallgoalie · Peewee Joined: 14 Mar 2010 Posts: 7 Location: Tennessee

Good to hear your results are coming along. Glad that has helped. One thing I would ask about is when you poke check, do you continue to hold the stick right next to the paddle or do you slide your hand to the end of the stick? If you slide your hand to the end of the stick, you can reach much farther out...just be careful not to reveal this too soon or they will figure out that a poke check is coming and shoot over your stick. You will need to make a knob of tape around the end of your stick to keep your hand from sliding off if you don't already have one on there...good luck and feel free to ask questions when they come up.