Pro Drills: Luongo rush and sharp-angle patience drill

Reverse-VH has become a hot topic again during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Far too often already, the hashtag #RVHfail has made the rounds on social media following a sharp-angle goal, or in some cases a goal scored on a goalie using this sharp-angle technique on a shot that really wasn’t from that angle. We’ve argued before that a more appropriate hashtag might be #failedRVH since it’s often poor execution or a bad choice using the reverse as a save selection for that particular situation that leads to the goals that trigger the reaction.

As future Hall of Fame goalie Roberto Luongo once told us, the benefits of adding reverse-VH to his game immediately outweighed the occasional #RVHfail. Loungo pointed to all the saves he made because of RVH compared to prior techniques he used, whether it was because a reverse put more of his big frame in the net, kept his hands more active, or allowed him to make reads and move off his posts better. But don’t confuse Luongo’s praise for the RVH with complacency when using it. In fact, the third winningest goalie in NHL history was focused on improved his patience when using reverse-VH — and mixing in overlap — when we visited him on the ice in Florida the summer before his final season, which brings us to our latest Pro Drills.