Pro Tips: Sergei Bobrovsky on edge work in reverse VH
- Use heel pressure on the blade when driving out away from the post in reverse VH, and shift to toe pressure when c-cutting back to the goal line.
- Bobrovsky pulls his inside leg in tighter before using it to drive off the goal line, then allows it to extend further as he edges back.
- Reverse VH post work is physically demanding — Bobrovsky describes the legs as 'getting heavier, burning,' highlighting the conditioning requirement.
- Elite NHL goalies regularly practice detailed post-movement technique with their goalie coaches after game-day skates, work that is often undervalued at youth levels.
- Bobrovsky advises that edge feel in reverse VH must be developed through repetition — 'you have to feel it' — rather than relying purely on technical instruction.
Listening to Los Angeles Kings goalie Matt Villalta talk on the InGoal Radio Podcast talk about working with Jonathan Quick and some of the post-play details he was trying to add to his own game reminded us of seeing Sergei Bobrovsky doing similar work last season.
The two-time Vezina Trophy winner was out late after a game-day skate working with Florida Panthers goalie coach Rob Tallas on his movements into, around, and off his posts using reverse-VH. It was the kind of fine-tuning and detailed movement work we’ve seen countless times with NHL goalies, the type that too often gets overlooked at youth levels in favor of more complicated drills, and as an added bonus we got to talk to Bobrovsky about it after.
First, let’s take a look at video from the tail end of that on-ice session:
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