From Head Shots to World Junior Gold
- Shooters aim pucks at the goalie's head — not to hit them, but to force active tracking and reinforce making saves out in front of the body.
- Dan De Palma structures warm-ups in three simple stages: glove shots, blocker shots, then head shots, treating it like a driving range to get hands moving and feel pucks.
- The drill builds post-save discipline by training goalies to track any puck that hits the glass behind the net rather than losing focus after the shot.
- Dylan Garand credited the drill, introduced to him in the WHL, as part of the preparation that helped him win gold with Canada at the 2023 World Junior Championships.
- The head-shot warm-up originated with former Dallas Stars goalie coach Mike Valley and has been circulating among goalie coaches for over a decade.
Dylan Garand’s path to winning gold for Canada at the World Junior Championships on Sunday includes a somewhat unique warm up he shared on the ice with InGoal Magazine this summer.
After going through the usual routine of static shots to the glove and blocker from the top of the faceoff circles, Garand then asks the shooters to fire pucks at his head.
“Then the shooters shoot at your head,” Garand explained. “It just forces you to track. Obviously, you catch it, so it doesn’t actually hit you in the head but that’s where they are aiming. It just forces you to track and it’s something I’ve really enjoyed.”
Garand used it in skates this summer on Vancouver Island with goalie coach James Gaertner:
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