Figure-8 Drill with Calgary Flames Jason LaBarbera and David Rittich
- Recover to the middle after every save — sliding into the first shot puts you completely behind the play on the second puck.
- Use shuffle steps to stay with the shooter rather than anticipating and drifting toward the far glove too early.
- The Figure-8 Drill trains goalies to stay down on the puck while maintaining active, controlled footwork throughout a sequence.
- LaBarbera sets up the drill with gloves placed at the inside of each faceoff circle hash mark and two pucks centered between them.
- Lateral footwork efficiency is increasingly critical as shooters and coaches design more side-to-side attack sequences.
If you can’t move, you can’t play. That’s the reality of goaltending these days.
With shooters and coaches increasingly focused on generating lateral attacks, the importance of good footwork that allows goalies to move side to side efficiently and powerfully without opening up holes or overcommitting in either direction has never been more important.
Last month, Calgary Flames goaltending coach Jason LaBarbera shared a change of direction drill for broken plays, lateral passes and deflections in tight. This time he moves things a little further out into the slot for former Flames goalie David Rittich with a Figure-8 Drill that is designed to promote good footwork on the skates while staying on top of the puck.
“It’s a really good drill for goalies to stay down on the puck and a good footwork drill too,” said LaBarbera. “You have to shuffle and adjust and you’ve got to keep your feet under you.”
It starts with LaBarbera placing his gloves in the slot between the hash marks on the inside of each faceoff circle and two pucks in the middle. The shooter begins with his back to the goalie, grabs a puck and cuts around one glove to take the first shot, then skates back through the middle to grab the second puck, cuts around the far glove and shoots from the other side. For goalies, it’s important to recover to the second puck and not cheat to the second glove:
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