Breaking down ‘The Bob’
Key Takeaways
- Jack LaFontaine, reigning NCAA Goalie of the Year, developed 'The Bob' with goalie coach Karel Popper based on Sergei Bobrovsky's lateral movement patterns.
- Use 'The Bob' on rushes, 2-on-1s, and 3-on-2s to maintain edge control without rotating the hips open as a traditional t-push requires.
- Unlike a t-push, 'The Bob' allows a goalie to hold edges and quickly push back to the original side if the puck is returned.
- Goalie coach Karel Popper breaks the movement down through progressive drills, with video examples of both LaFontaine and Carter McPhail of Ferris State applying it in games.
- Different goalies prefer different lateral movement solutions — LaFontaine loves 'The Bob' while teammate Jared Moe preferred a lateral release or t-push, reinforcing that no two goalies are alike.
When reigning NCAA Goalie of the Year Jack LaFontaine and his goalie coach Karel Popper appeared on the InGoal Radio Podcast earlier this summer, they shared details of a movement pattern they’d modelled on two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky.
They called it “The Bob” and ever since we’ve had requests to share more about it.
Now, with Popper moving on from his role at the University of Minnesota to take a full-time job with the vaunted Chicago Steel franchise in the USHL as an assistant coach, we can.
Popper graciously shared video clips of him and LaFontaine working through progressions of the movement and took the time to break them down, as well as examples of LaFontaine using “The Bob” in games, but it makes sense to start first by showing what it actually is:
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