Pro Drills inspired by Warren Strelow Featuring Sabres Seamus Kotyk and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
- Removing the center puck from a 5-puck crease drill shifts focus to post-to-post recovery speed rather than general movement patterns.
- The drill trains goalies to recover from being caught outside the post — a common in-game situation requiring quick repositioning to the opposite post.
- Seamus Kotyk uses these Warren Strelow-inspired drills as daily warm-up exercises with Buffalo Sabres goaltenders including prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
- Over-rotating when stepping out to Puck 1 is a noted tendency in Luukkonen, used intentionally here to build comfort returning back inside the post.
- These movement drills are designed to be effective at every level of hockey, making them practical for coaches working with youth goalies through professionals.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen photo – Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire
Last week we introduced you to a series of movement drills featuring Buffalo Sabres top puck-stopping prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and their goaltending development coach, Seamus Kotyk, that were inspired by the late Warren Strelow, a legend in the goalie coach fraternity.
Last week’s drills were built around placing 5 pucks around the edge of the crease for a variety of movement drills, both from the feet and in and out of reverse-VH. This week, Kotyk removes one of the five pucks to change things up, but the focus remains the same: improving speed and movement with a series of simple drills that his goalies use daily as part of their warm-ups, with the real beauty being how well they work at every level, from pee wee right up to pro.
1-2 Post-to-Post Drill
This might look familiar to last week’s 5 puck drill series, and you wouldn’t be wrong, but by removing the center puck (Puck 3) and working on one side before coming across on the goal line to repeat the same movements on the other side, the focus changes. In this case, the biggest point of emphasis is getting Luukkonen more comfortable — and quicker — moving from being outside his post on Puck 1, to getting back inside that post and across to the other one:
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