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Score three goals and not a single hat on the ice, bunch of savages in this town

Got my uniforms today! Orientation starts on Monday and I am way excited.

Ivory flames straight from Moscow :)

I'm in love . Need to get the new wheels/bearings but they'll be good to go for Thursday!

Excellent analysis, PSU, particularly with respect to the heel-clicking attempts to stop five-hole shots. I'm actually working on a lengthy 'basic butterfly' post right now (thanks to Canada Day), which I hope will be both relevant and helpful, but there's one other thing I'll throw in right now. Having glanced at a few of Optimus' clips, I get the impression that when he anticipates a five-hole shot, he narrows his stance; this leaves him trying to knee-drop on top of the shot, rather than butterflying in front of it, and then (as you note) trying to trap the puck with his heels rather than stopping it with the front of his pads. I've often noticed this narrowing of the stance, and these related problems, with older goalies who grew up watching and emulating stand-up goalies. What I'd suggest for the moment, OR, is to try to focus on what your body does when you anticipate a shot. Starting in the warm-up, focus on widening your feet (even slightly), bending your knees (again, even slightly) and squeezing your knees together as you anticipate the shot; when you see the release and know it's going five-hole, push your knees down and together and forget about your feet: your knees will make the save, not your heels. Again, much more to follow, but I thought this might be a good way to introduce it.

Lookin good, OR. Your stance is much, much better. I'm sure you feel more mobile and agile as a result. I'd maybe bring your glove hand a little down and a little more in front of you. It's hard to tell from the behind angle for sure, but I think you're covering too high based on the aerial angle of the puck. If you bring the hand down a little, and more in front, you cover the aerial angle while at the same time shortening your required range of motion to increase speed and reducing fatigue. The other thing to consider is the newer idea that a goalie should be trying to get their head behind the puck as much as possible (termed Head trajectory). So on a shot, you should be dropping by bringing your entire body behind the puck instead of reaching with hands or legs. There are several perceived benefits of this. According to InGoalMag, the change to this technique is what was responsible for Devan Dubnyk's improvement this season. You can read the article, which has a good explanation of what it means, and decide if you want to try it. I've been adding it, and think my rebound control is better because I'm trapping a lot more pucks in my chest. http://ingoalmag.com/technique/dubnyk-bounces-back-head-trajectory-and-more/ You definitely have to work on those feet clicking backwards behind you. It's making you immobile. And it's actually more dangerous because if you get hit with your feet that far behind you, you won't be able to roll out of it and risk a knee injury. I know you say it's a flexibility issue. But you aren't doing it on every save. It's mostly on low shots towards your 5 hole. You're not confident in your ability, so you're pulling your feet back to try to keep the puck from sliding through. On higher shots, you use a wider flare. Check out Maria Mountain's Butterfly challenge to work on your flexibility. It's free http://hockeygoalietraining.com/wordpress/butterfly-intro/

Need to get the wheels now, but wow am I impressed with how these turned out. Chassis are from the original APXR, took a Sharpie paint pen to the orange parts and voila.

Absolutely. Excerpt: Or you could just remove your toe-ties altogether. I haven't used them in years. I originally took them off for coaching (so I could pop my pads on and off as quickly as possible), but then started using that pair sans toe-ties in a few skates and games, and gradually realised I didn't miss the toe connection at all.

Yeah, I'd say based on that first picture, you could stand to go up an inch in Brian's, and maybe move to a +2 on the same standard. Overlap at the thigh is rarely a problem, and it's easy to adjust. The other thing you can do is to try to pull your pads a little higher on your skates by getting a little extra leverage through the boot-strap: putting it through the heel or around the back of the ankle (Lundqvist-style -- I remember you mentioning you were looking at the new Reactor skates), and tightening a notch or so. Based on your reference images and what you describe (caveat: not an MD, B.Sc., etc.) I'd say you've got the diagnosis down. Your relaxed seated posture is almost certainly an indication of the degree of hip rotator weakness and inflexibility that's hindering your butterfly, and it's probably pretty severe. The good news, there, is that flexibility really is trainable at any age and almost any fitness level, and you'll notice huge gains pretty quickly. I highly recommend (on the advice of Maria Mountain, Mike Boyle, and others) getting a foam roller to help loosen things up. They're cheap and ludicrously effective. Combined with exercise, you will make great strides faster than you'd think. That said, I think if you focus on changing your pre-shot behaviours -- widening and deepening your stance just a little, squeezing your knees together (via mild internal hip rotation), as you see the shooter loading up -- you'll be able to both use your current level of flexibility more effectively and lay the groundwork for your off-ice training to translate into your game. Bravo, sir, and godspeed. If all beer-league goalies were blessed with your sportsmanship -- not as fair-play, but as a comportment to sport -- the world would be a better place. By the way, sorry to talk about you in the third person when you're clearly present in the thread; just a habit.

Congrats Badger. Fallon is a great company. Good luck and stay safe out there...

Just to close ranks on my post from a few days ago.... skated yesterday and this afternoon at public session and things are moving in the right direction.

Is that an oryx I see in the logo, or a generic antelope?

Here is a picture of my new VH https://instagram.com/p/39fJJNA67W/?taken-by=markusmolin

Start with a 25/40, this will give you a 40mm flat spot 5mm forward of center for just a little forward lean. It has the "feel" performance wise of a 9' radius. On your size blades if you go with a larger flat, they'll start to feel like skis, especially for a foward like yourself. Granted some skaters like the larger flats, but starting with a 40mm should be fine and you can adjust from there. If you were strictly a foward at 30/40 would be good. CAGS put a flat spot on your blade, so if you have a 272mm blade, the only change is putting the flat near the middle, the rest of your stock radius won't change. So if you get for example a 25/40, you'll have that 40mm flat in the middle and the bauer 9' on each side of that. Hope that helps.