Episode 363 Parents: 7 Tips to Help Your Goalie’s Puck Handling
In the Parent Playbook, presented by Stop it Goaltending U the App, we cover 7 tips for helping your goaltender improve their puck handling. In that segment we reference an article at InGoalMag.com on improving your shooting strength from Maria Mountain.
- Let young goalies keep playing out as skaters as long as possible — every shift builds stickhandling, passing, and skating that full-time goalies miss.
- Use a player's stick instead of a goalie stick when kids are too young; Joey Daccord trained this way and recommends it for developing strength and control.
- Shooting pucks in the backyard builds both skill and the specific strength needed to handle the puck well in games.
- Make every outlet pass in practice instead of freezing the puck or kicking it to the corner — treat it as a skill to master.
- Work on skating behind the net; mobility and footwork are foundational to confident puck handling.
Everyone loves a goalie goal — and hey, shoutout to our new goalie-goals page. And we all enjoy watching a goalie who loves to handle the puck. I’ll unabashedly say my kid does it as well as just about anyone in junior hockey. Why? Because he’s been playing with the puck since he was little.
This isn’t a new idea, by the way. Two of the best puck-handling goalies of their era, Mike Smith and Carey Price, both credit the habits they built as kids.
Here are a few things that worked for us:
1. Play out as long as you can. Before your kid commits to the crease full-time, let them keep playing out as a skater. Every shift as a forward or D is a shift building stickhandling, passing and skating that a lot of goalies never get.
2. Use a player’s stick when they’re too young for a goalie stick. A full-size goalie stick is a lot of lumber for a small kid to control. Shoutout to Joey Daccord who told us on the podcast that he trained with a players stick as a youngster and encourages it because kids are not strong enough to work with a goalie stick and gloves. Credit to coach Angelo Maggio also on this one: Our son shoots right with a player stick but left with the goalie stick, out of necessity. So around age 7, Angelo suggested we get him a left-handed player stick. He never used it exclusively — but it helped.
3. Shoot pucks in the backyard. Same as any skater. Reps are reps. It doesn’t just build skill, it builds strength.
4. Build strength – we have an article specifically on this at InGoal from Maria Mountain.
5. Learn the technique. (Of course!) Handling the puck well isn’t just confidence — it’s footwork, body position and knowing where the play is before you get there.
6. Pass every puck you can in practice. Don’t just freeze it or kick it to the corner. Make the outlet. Hit the breakout pass. Treat it like a skill you’re trying to master, because it is.
7. Work on your skating — especially behind the net. Puck’s at the other end during a drill? Use a few reps to skate back behind your own net as if you’re stopping a rim. Free conditioning, free puck-retrieval practice.
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