Youth Goalie Problem

Slinky · Minors Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Canton, GA

The guy that took over for goalie coach in the league I used to run asked me for help on a problem I had been working on with one of our goalies for a while.

He has a tendency to pull straight up out of his stance when you take a shot, and bring his legs together rather than staying down and ready for it, regardless of if you're shooting 5 hole, or to a corner. He rarely butterflies, and when he does, it's a half butterfly.

At first I tried a drill that an AHL goalie did with me when I had him as a coach in 12u ice, where i would face the net, he would blow a whistle and I would spin around and he would shoot. The basic idea is that as you turn, you don't leave your stance, and you are trying to stop the shot so you break the mental process of pulling up (the natural desire to protect oneself)... that didn't work at all. He did fine on that drill, but would immediately lose the muscle memory as soon as we went to something else.

I resisted the idea, because when I do get him to butterfly his form is impeccable, which is amazing given that he's only 12 years old... but eventually I asked him to watch some videos of Nabokov and Brodeur, we came back to practice, and that style eluded him even more.

He's a travel goalie, and a good one given that he's 12 playing on a 14under team. So it's not like he's jumping out of the way of the puck, but he's the backup right now and I think he has the potential to challenge for the starting role (the starting goalie is also 12... you try putting a team together in north central florida, there's more pig wrestling tournaments then there are hockey tournaments).

He's not scared of the puck, at all. At 12 he would beg me to let him playin the adult pickup games and when I did the adults didn't pull their shots at all... but when I watch him it seems like there's a mental barrier between what his muscles want him to do, and what his brain is willing to do. He seems too aware of himself and surroundings to allow his reation nerves to take over like they need to for him to really be successful...

Any ideas? Any drills you guys know that might help? or Mental exercises?
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TheAntiw00t · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 12:01 am Post subject:

I think that probably you can start off with simple shots from the top of the face off circles and try and emphasize keeping the shoulders square to the shooter and not bouncing up. But if that doesn't work you could always start him off in a butterfly fielding shots so that he can get the feeling of not bouncing his shoulders when he's on his knees, then move up into a normal stance once the upper body portion is corrected. After that, I would probably move onto skating drills without any shots (box drills and diamond drills) with emphasis on keeping his shoulders square to the puck and not bobbing up and down. Then after that's good to go and he's comfortable with that, I would do post-to-point skates with shots coming off the top of the circles. Perhaps you could squash two things with one stone here in solidifying his upper and lower body independence as well as stopping that mental flinch. It will probably take some time, but with continued practice in small steps, I think it will work out. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!
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Arthriticbutterflystyle · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 12:14 am Post subject:

I can tell you that I know I'm better than every goalie that's ever played. Doesn't mean it's true.

He's scared of the puck. Regardless of what he tells you, he knows he's scared of the puck. If you're confident and you know the puck won't hurt you you won't have that "natural" tendency to pull up. Whether it's lack of protection from his gear or just general fear of the biscuit, he needs to get over that fear or he'll never get out of the habit of standing up.

Same thing goes for the butterfly. He's probably hurting his knees when he goes down so he's learned to not trust his pads and half fly as it puts less pressure on your knees. Make him do full butterflies then have him pull his socks or whatever up and look at his knees. If they're red and swollen he's hurting himself.

You can't always trust what people are saying when they're doing something different. Someone can swear to your face they've never touched liquor while they're swigging a fifth. Make sure he knows if he doesn't be completely honest with you you can't fix the problems and he'll never get better.

Slinky · Minors Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Canton, GA

thanks a lot to both of you. I'm going to send this thread to my counterpart in gainesville, hopefully he joins the forums. at the very least i hope that the goalie's problems can be solved.
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Arthriticbutterflystyle · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 1:50 am Post subject:

Uh...just for reference I don't actually think I'm the best goalie ever...I was using that for an analogy...I think is the word.

Good luck though.

Slinky · Minors Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Canton, GA

yes arth, i got it, and what you were saying. thanks.
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Because it hurts so good.