Comments on: Goaltending Technique: Effective Stance

By: Gaby

Gaby — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 03:09:32 +0000

Its actually easier to bring your glove up, which can be seen in all of those over embellished glove saves that we see in the NHL these days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brq735qYTI8

Fleury is the master of these over the top saves, that in reality are not as spectacular as they look. With proper positioning and quick reflexes, you can make that save without going into a full split. In the last view that they give you, you can see that he didnt even need to go down as the puck was up high, but he did to embellish it. Although they are good saves, they only seem like highlight reel saves because of the embellishment.

A goalie should simply keep their gloves in front of the body, which makes it easier to track pucks, and keep them away from the body as this makes he/she look bigger as well as allow for a larger range of motion. Keeping the palm faced down is an interesting technique, however can cause problems because it requires an extra movement to catch the puck. The goaltender first has to move their palm so it faces upwards, rather than simply having it there to begin with. This wastes time and can result in a goal.

The compact butterfly style, with the gloves held to the body may be useful when the puck is close to the goaltender, however when dealing with shooters that can pick the corners, this positioning will prevent you from making those over-the-top Fleury-like highlight reel saves.

Glove positioning is based on preference, and the only thing a goalie can do to work on glove saves is to do reflex drills.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:35:46 +0000

The fingers up (glove Up) postioning allows the goalie to move their glove in across and in front of his body to catch pucks, prevent, and control rebonds in front of their body. This is a much more natural catching motion that is very similar to how you are taught to catch baseballs. An additional benefit is that this position also makes it eazier to cut down the aerial angle, which would be difficult if not impossible to do with the fingers down glove postioning. The glove down position can also cause torso rotation when making glove saves, and glove saves will tend to be behind their body. I think glove down positioning is best used by tall goalies who rely on their positioning and size to make blocking saves.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:58:56 +0000

Great article. I have 2 boys who both play goal. Over the years I’ve become their goal coach.

One tool similar to the string tied to the posts that I’ve built is using 2 retractable clothes lines attached to each post/crossbar. Because the lines are retractable, you can move around the ice and help teach proper angle positioning too. It always amazes the kids how deep in their net they can be as the puck approaches the goal line.

I think using a tool like that also allows the goalie to see how changes in their stance affect how much net they cover (especially when they are younger and still growing). If you’re smaller like Ken, you can adopt the Quebec style easier if you come farther out of your net: be more aggressive. I tell my goalies to “get big” when I think they should come out more.

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:08:50 +0000

Another thing I’d like to mention is by keeping your glove up and moving down you are essentially eliminating one extra movement. By keeping your glove lower, you most likely move your hands down when going into a butterfly. Then to react to higher shots you have to raise your hand again… By keeping your hand’s starting position higher I have found that it’s easier, to keep the glove there for a high shot v.s. having to move it back up to get the high shots.

By: ken

ken — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:46:51 +0000

Hey guys. personally I do prefer moving my arm down rather than bringing it up for a glove save. I find that by keeping the gloves out in front, as explained in the microsoft paint illustration, I usually keep my gloves at the highest point in regaurds to aerial angle of the puck. So the only place you have to move is down… and even then it is not a massive movement at all.

For me it helps make me look bigger to the puck (keep in mind I’m only 5’9″ so I could only do the blocker/quebec style butterfly saves when the puck is very close to me and I’m still being somewhat aggresive.

Let me know if that helps at all.

By: Nick H.

Nick H. — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:30:50 +0000

Touché, Dave … I didn’t think of or consider those muscles. I just thought I remembered reading an analysis of upswing being typically faster/stronger than downswing but don’t recall where. I’m still curious to hear Ken’s explanation although he kinda makes it sound like his personal preference.

By: Jase

Jase — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:51:04 +0000

Great article!

By: David Hutchison

David Hutchison — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:59:15 +0000

Nick, I like your logic (especially concerning deflections) and I’m a move the glove up kind of guy…that said, most downward arm motion would be from your lats and the rear head of your delts; I don’t only extend my elbow joint (triceps) to move my arm down when playing goal.

Which is physiologically faster I have no idea.

By: Nick H.

Nick H. — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:30:56 +0000

” … This also helps you to use your reaction to bring the glove down to make saves. Personally, I’d rather bring my glove down instead of up due to the simple factor of gravity. It’s a lot easier to bring the glove down than up, based on physics.”

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything along these lines unless I’m misunderstanding your comments. I could see bringing both arms down while going into a butterfly-blocking style save. For strictly glove saves, I’d favor the argument that moving your glove UP would be preferred since 1) the motion/movement from your bicep is generally stronger/quicker than your tricep and 2) if the puck isn’t caught a deflection (and/or hitting the puck) up and over the net would be a safer alternative than down into the net or to the ice for a rebound opportunity. I understand your point with gravity and physics, but I believe factors I’ve mentioned would override the decision to use a downward glove movement. Please clarify what you’re explaining.