Where to place 4 goalies across 3 teams

Gonz

I haven't given this thought in a real long time and wanted to get a few opinions.

Our peewees this year are going to field 3 teams, an A, B1 and B2. There's four goalies, which team should get two goalies and which team should each get one goalie? Is there a concrete rule or is it dependent on the skills of the goalies.
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canadian_man_44 · Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:02 pm Post subject:

That's a tough one, but, I would be apt to go with the skill level of the goalie as you don't want a backup goalie coming into a game and the team end up losing just because he/she is playing in a league that's above their skill level.
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Returning2MyNet · Minors Joined: 09 Mar 2009 Posts: 379

personally I would put the strongest and weakest goalies on the top team.
Why? to develop the weaker goalie, let him have some good game time, let him sub if legal to the other teams, but I feel if you pair a strong goalie at that age with a weak goalie the weaker goalie develops more rapidly.
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Arthriticbutterflystyle · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:15 am Post subject:

I agree with R2MN here.

It'd definitely be most beneficial for the weakest goalie to play in the top rung and allow not only the weaker goalie to get some game time but also the top goalie to get some breaks. Who cares if they lose a few games anyways, they're still young and the loss will also be an important lesson to everyone. You gain the advantage of not only teaching the top rung kids that winning isn't everything, but you also teach the top goalie that no matter how good you are, there's times where you need to take a break. If you convert it to the pros I'd say the best example would be the Oilers or Flames who had very strong netminders with weak backups that just got overworked.

canadian_man_44 · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:19 pm Post subject:

It really depends on how bad the weakest goalie is. If he's on a good team and they lose every game he plays because of his bad play, it could wreck his confidence. As well, he'll have the other players on the team blaming him for the losses. That would suck.

On the other hand, if they're not too far above his talent level, it might not be a bad idea to put the weakest link on the strongest team.
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Gonz · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:15 pm Post subject:

One thought I had about this, without yet having seen the goalies play, is to place two goalies on the middle team (B1) and then when needed ask the better of the two to dress up for tournaments and special occasions. I'm not sure how strict the league is about swapping players halfway through a season. Their tryouts are next week, and I've been asked to attend and rate/place the goalies on the appropriate teams. Monday night is strictly a skills session, we'll be timing them doing certain drills and skills. Then Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are scrimmages.
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Cappy83 · Peewee Joined: 14 Mar 2011 Posts: 6 Location: Eastern Wa

I agree with pairing a strong goalie with a weaker goalie. It worked for me. I learned so much from our starter. He even let me play a couple games for him so I could get some kind of game time. I try to do the same if we have more the one goalie per team. Where I live we have a goalie rate skate thats separate from the reg. rake skate and it makes it easier for us coaches to eval. the goaltenders. Also makes it easier to give the new goalies some one on one time so they arent just thrown on to a team that most likely wont be able to really give him the time he needs to learn the skills needed for his position.

My starter was quick to praise me all the time. He never criticized or got a big head because he was better then me. Thats something ive notice is few and far between in youth hockey
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Michelle