Pro Drills with Calgary Flames Jason LaBarbera
- Stay in a forward body position during tips — pulling your head and hands back causes you to end up on your heels and open holes.
- Get early eyes on the shooter's stick to track the deflection before it happens, not after.
- Avoid reaching for tipped pucks; patience and staying compact keeps holes closed during lateral movement.
- Quick direction changes after the initial save are critical to managing rebounds off tip plays.
- LaBarbera varies his release point during the drill to simulate the unpredictability goalies face in games.
Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire
Calgary Flames goaltending coach Jason LaBarbera breaks down video and keys to a high-tip drill and managing deflections in our latest Pro Drills segment featuring David Rittich.
The drill itself is straight forward: LaBarbera starts at the top of the face-off circle, and an attacking player positioned above the crease, just inside the bottom hash marks. As you’ll see as the drill progresses, sometimes a second forward parks at the side of the net in search of rebounds. From there, LaBarbera fires low shots in the direction of the high forward, but as you watch the raw drill footage below, notice how he moves to alter his release point.
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