Chet Pickard’s 2010-2011 Nashville Predators Mask

Once again Daveart has delivered another great new mask. This time Chet Pickard is the recipient with this great lid. Chet played 49 games with Nashville’s AHL affiliate in Milwaukee last season and with Dan Ellis off to Tampa he has a real shot at an NHL job this season. Don’t take my word for it – Justin at the Goalie Guild breaks down all the Preds goaltending with another great fantasy report today.

Goaltender Insight into 2-on-1 and 2-on-0 Attacker “Cut Back” Deke

Editors Note: Today we welcome Tomas Herz as a new contributing author to inGoal Magazine. Tomas has experience as a goaltender and coach at many levels of hockey and a passion for the position and writing about it. He’ll have a number of articles in the coming weeks appearing on Wednesdays.

Ice hockey is a game of situations. These situations repeat themselves again, and again, at all levels of competition. The 2-on-1 or 2-on-0 cut back deke is one of several options available to the attackers in these tactical situations. Let us examine this one option in some detail.

When either a 2-on-1 or 2-on-0 develop there are only so many possible options available to the oncoming attackers. The only difference between them is that things at least should be somewhat more difficult in the presence of a defenceman. Let us assume there are no high trailers for triangulation and the goaltender’s mates are back-checking appropriately. Here are the possibilities:

1. puck carrier shoots directly on net
2. puck carrier passes to teammate who shoots
3. puck carrier shoots on net for rebound with hard net drive by teammate
4. pass and return pass (2-on-0 with wide gap between attackers and goaltender) with shot on net by original puck carrier and finally…
5. pass with cut back (against the grain) deke to far side of the net

photo by Scott Slingsby

Let’s use the example of a right-handed and left-handed shot skating down their natural wings. As soon the odd man rush unfolds the insightful goaltender recognizes the situation and possible tactical options. He/she then establishes appropriate depth and then sculls backward slightly to generate some backwards momentum. As the pass occurs on either 2v1 or 2v0 the goaltender commonly performs a dynamic lateral butterfly slide. This is done to both seal the ice and maintain some vertical coverage against a quick release shot. This situation was usually approached by performing a two-pad slide (i.e. stacking the pads) in days gone by. There is really only one goalie in the world left who does this and that is Martin Brodeur. The problem with the two pad slide is of course the lack of vertical net coverage if you are not right out against the puck and time to recover for 2nd and 3rd shot attempts.

When the goalie begins the modern lateral slide the smart goal-scorer understands that inertia is taking the goalie in one direction and therefore cutting back to the other side makes it difficult for the goaltender to change directions. However, today’s goalie has very sharp skate edges and an excellent ‘down game’ (i.e. great mobility on the knees). Hence, when the attacker cuts back to the weak side of the net, the goalie quickly attempts to dig in the skate edge and push in the opposite direction. If the attacker is quick and has good reach with his twig the goalie will often lose this battle.

As recently as the 2010 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships I witnessed two of the possible five options on a 2-on-one. In Team Canada’s game vs. Latvia a touch saucer pass from Hall to Kadri resulted in a quick release shot right under the crossbar (option #1). In the New Year’s Eve game between Team Canada and Team USA what began as a 2-on-2 became a 2-on-one with Eberle performing the cutback deke and scoring on the American goaltender Campbell.

What options are available to the goaltender?

1. If you anticipate the cutback early enough you can fake or minimize the butterfly slide in an effort to make the attacker believe that you have fallen for the direct shot and then you will get him going the other way. However, this is NOT necessarily a high percentage option and should be practiced many times when doing 2v1, 2v0 and 3v0s in practice. If he doesn’t fall for your fake he/she will shoot directly and surely score.
2. You can play it pure with a lateral slide and hope for the best as you cut back on your edge and maybe stick out your leg and get him.
3. A full length or partial poke check may be an option but the margin for error is minimal. I sincerely believe that the stick option only works best when two criteria are met. (1) the attacker is coming from the goalie’s trapper to blocker side allowing the goalie to use the backhand part of the stick blade in a position of power and (2) the attack angle is more horizontal ( similar to a net drive) than vertical in nature.
4. Use the two pad slide and essentially chop-block the attacker’s legs out from under him. However, if he has great hand-eye coordination and stick reach it could become a highlight clip with the attacker flying through the air if his stick and the puck have gotten around the goalie’s pads.

As noted, hockey is a game of situations and truly elite goaltending is far more than just great technical ability. Although it takes years to see situations unfold in your mind even before they develop in front of you (just like chess) the goaltenders who learn these scenarios the fastest and minimize errors and poor outcomes are the ones who move on to the proverbial next level. The rest just fade away. Remember this situation, practice all the outcomes and sooner or later you will make an incredible save and achieve hero status!

Marty Turco’s Chicago Blackhawks Masks

One of the most exciting times of year for goalie fans is upon us and if you love masks you’re waiting in anticipation of all the fantastic artwork coming our way, especially for goaltenders who are changing teams. One of the biggest shuffles of course went on in Chicago where Stanley Cup Champion Antti Niemi has been let go in favour of a bigger name, at a more affordable price, in Marty Turco.

This shot of Marty Turco’s new Chicago Blackhawks masks, both home and away was sent in by a reader a few days ago. In the middle you’ll see Gary Warwick who has made Marty’s masks for years. This shot is published here with Gary’s permission.

The fantastic fusion of Marty’s traditional Gargoyles and the Hawks logos was done once again by Dave Gunnarsson.

Q&A Session with Mike McKenna – Preparation in Your Game

Once again Mike McKenna of the AHL’s Albany Devils took some time to chat with us today in a Q&A session. What was supposed to be a video session was derailed by gremlins somewhere in the internet. Instead I have overlaid a few stills of Mike in action and you can listen to the audio of today’s talk. Photos are thanks to our photo editor Scott Slingsby.

We chatted with the general theme of preparation – from off season conditioning to pre-game rituals we covered a lot of territory. Thanks again to Mike, with only a few weeks till he heads to the Devil’s camp it was very generous of him to share his experience with inGoal readers.

(RSS Readers click through for video)

In our session today, Mike gives a shout out for his personal coach Chris Economou who can be followed on Twitter @Chriscon or you can visit his web site http://www.goalieguru.com/. We’ll have a Q&A session coming up soon with Chris, so fire me any questions you have for him in the comments below.

Dan Ellis’ 2010-2011 Tampa Bay Lightning Mask and Reebok Gear

Thanks to the same helpful reader, we have these shots of Dan Ellis’ new mask for the upcoming season. Apparently Dan sent it out to his followers via twitter (@33dellis). The artwork is by the Swedish airbrush master, Daveart, who always produces complex, intense designs that raise the bar for all artists.

It turns out Dan also sent out a shot of his new gear as well: