Pro Drills: James Reimer with rush and sharp-angle patience drill
- James Reimer uses an overlap technique on sharp-angle second chances, stepping out to challenge rather than simply squaring up like Luongo does.
- Reimer's narrower butterfly is effective in this drill because it deflects rebounds into the far corner instead of back into danger areas.
- Rob Tallas notes that most bad-angle shots are not genuine scoring attempts but are designed to generate rebounds and offensive scrambles.
- Save selection on second-chance plays depends on shooter handedness, puck height, and whether a backdoor forward is present.
- Comparing how two elite NHL goalies execute the same drill reveals how personal style and pad characteristics shape technique decisions.
Over the weekend, we introduced Premium Members to a two-part drill featuring future Hall of Fame goaltender Roberto Luongo facing a rush chance in the high slot followed by an attack out of the corner from the bottom of the face-off circle with a second forward camped out front.
For Luongo, it was an opportunity to work on timing and save selection: when to simply square up on that second chance and when to maybe use a reverse-VH. As noted in that first article, Luongo went exclusively with a squared-up butterfly when the drills moved to his glove side, in large part because the shooters were all left handed so the puck was higher in the zone.
It’s worth re-visiting that article for the factors Luongo considers in that decision, but we also wanted to share video of then-playing partner James Reimer doing the same drill, but with a different approach. We’ll start with that glove side we finished on with Luongo:
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