tedpenguins

I second everything that badger said. If you can't afford a clinic or don't have the time, watch videos on youtube. I've been playing in net for over a year now and have made huge progress by doing this (I didn't attend any camp, clinic, or have any help from a coach). If you have a GoPro I'd recommend recording yourself so you can see anything that you are doing wrong. If you are unsure of what you are doing wrong, that's where we can help, I mentioned before I had never met with a coach but I did receive critiques and advice on this thread. If you don't have a GoPro then ask for a friend to take some video for you. The youtube videos are some of the most underrated pieces that you can use. Watch how pro goalies slide during different scenarios and how they eliminate as much negative movement as possible (in terms of not wasting energy and time). You can also find different drills online to help with speed and agility that you can work on off the ice and on the ice during warm-ups or stick and puck sessions.

Well I'm halfway through my winter season and just over a year of starting in net. I honestly can't believe how far my game has evolved and the confidence I've gained with my play in net. My first season, my team was towards the bottom of the league and my GAA was around 3.50. Right now my team is at the top of the league and my GAA is the best in the league at 1.40 and 2 shutouts in 5 games. Thank you to all of you guys on here that have offered advice and criticism on my play, every little bit of it has helped. On another note, I've had about 30 skates in my Bauer gear and I absolutely love it. I've always heard that Bauer blockers are some of the best out there and I can 100% support that. I think I prefer my CCM glove over the Bauer just because the CCM has a deeper pocket, but the Bauer is decent enough. The pads can only be described with one word: AMAZING. They're so light, to the point that they feel like super long shin pads. I wore my Reeboks the other night just to switch it up a bit and I was surprised that I ever felt like my slides were fast while wearing those in the past. I got one hell of a workout wearing those bricks for a 2 hr skate. I'm sure we've all seen Bauer's commercial with Lundqvist demonstrating the rebound power that the Supreme pads have and I've felt this first hand now. I had a save on a weak one timer the other night that I managed to kick all the way out to the opposite blue line. Definitely would recommend!

Recently picked up another team, this one a 35 and older league that needs tendys bad so they allowed me to join. Simply put, this team sucks. Since it's a group of older guys they obviously don't go full speed but the majority of them have been playing their whole lives. They understand concepts and how to cycle through the play but for whatever reason they can't seem to figure out that their D can't get caught low in the zone and that they can't stand still when they go for a poke check. I've had defensemen jump in front of me blocking my view and then purposely getting more in my line of sight as I yell screen. Between the 2 games they've only managed to put up 2 goals and hold play in the offensive zone for maybe a total of 3-4 minutes a game with no real chances on net. They play a bit faster than the league that I put videos up for but not as fast as a team that I occasionally sub for. Being out of my comfort zone isn't a problem at all here considering I've also had the opportunity to play with some draft picks and college players. Despite all that, I've let in 15 goals the last 2 games because of how crappy this team's defense is. Five goals last night came off of 2-on-1's or breakaways with the other 3 I let in actually being good goals. I completely understand that beer league is going to have bad defense and players that aren't going to backcheck but this is a bit over the top. Even when the other team gets play set up in our end they all run around like chickens with their heads cut off. One minute there's a guy open in the slot followed by a guy wide open backdoor. If the bad defense was actually justifiable and they were putting up large goal counts I wouldn't have a problem with this but frustration is definitely starting to set in. I haven't counted shots against but just guessing I would say I'm probably seeing 40-50 shots while the other tendy is seeing maybe 10 at the most.

Finally got the strapping figured out before my game friday night. I ended up putting the thigh board back in just to have a second strap to secure onto my leg. The socks worked great and I didn't seem to have any rotational problems. I might see about adding a velcro patch near the calf strap so I can do my normal knee-calf strapping that I like with my Reebok's but I'll wait to give this new strapping a chance. When I got the pads I decided to go up a size just because my 5 hole always seemed to be a problem and the little added coverage would be nice. Greatest decision ever. After being in an actual game with the pads I'm absolutely blown away by them. They're so light that I can actually be extremely comfortable coming out from the net to play the puck; it almost feels like I'm just wearing super tall shin pads. My slides seemed almost twice as fast and it feels like I'm not even wearing leg pads at all. The glove had a few pop outs but some time breaking it in and Keeps33 should fix that.

Here's my sets. There was a bit of yellow on the CCM glove but it fell off in my bag and I haven't gotten around to replacing it.

Alright, so it worked but not, all at the same time. It keeps the pad from getting caught but the way the pad sits I don't get a good rotation. I'm gonna assume that when the pad was getting caught, the strap had just enough room to make it feel like I had good rotation on the ice.

I do not but I can give that a shot. Thank you!

It seems I need to update you guys big time. I did end up redoing the pad wrap on my Reebok's with a black and yellow theme. They came out pretty decent (I'll post pics in a bit). Christmas time this year was also extremely good to me; I ended the day with a full set of Bauer S150's. By far the lightest pads on the market, I kept double checking just to make sure I didn't forget to put anything on before I got out on the ice. The power you can kick out rebounds with are completely amazing and I don't think I've ever felt a low end glove that is so easy to close right out of the box. My only problem so far is that the leg channel and knee cradle are maybe half the size of what my Reebok's are and my CCM pro knee pads get caught up on the landing pad almost everytime I butterfly. I've tried about every strapping possibility that I can think of but nothing has fixed the problem. Any ideas? At this point I'm thinking of just trying on a bunch of knee pads at LHS and I would assume the Bauer supremes would be meant to fit with the pad. I'm probably going to have to go with stock for now just because I have games starting up again this week and there's no chance I would go out on the ice without knee pads. I'll post pics of all the pads and the leg channels in a bit.

I don't think I would go that far! Injuries really put a damper your play; it seems like the little things are what are affected the most after an injury.

Thank you! @psulion22 Now that you mention it, I do notice my constant movement. I guess my inner basketball player in me (I played travel a lot when I was younger) is starting to work its way into my hockey play. We were always taught to never stand still and to constantly keep our feet moving. Muscle memory at its finest! It'll be interesting to work on that and see how well my brain reacts to the complete opposite of what it has done for years. Better work on my mental game a bit lol

It's been awhile since I posted a video so I'll give you guys an update. Game last night ended up in a 4-3 loss. We all had a pretty shakey first period but took the game over after that. First shot I didn't see until it was right on top of me. As I was looking for the puck I came off my angle a bit and left a good amount of room on the short side. Second goal was 100% my fault, didn't take care of the rebound. Third goal I should have covered the play much better then I did. I wish I could have had that one back. The fourth was a shot that was going to be going wide until it glanced off of a skate. I should have cut that off better but I wasn't expecting the shooter to throw it back toward the blocker side and with the way the guy to the right of me was positioned I wasn't expecting him to be able to get a shot off, so I didn't worry about him (lesson learned). It wasn't a bad game but I have definitely noticed that my first periods are pretty shakey. Until I fully get warmed up and moving more I generally allow in one softy. The good news is that I've found my playing style. I'm big on challenging the shooter far out from the net. My awareness and patience on the ice seems to be getting better so most breakaways I'm able to stuff. Any recommendations or observations are much appreciated! My pad wrap is starting to really get busted up though so a slight color change may be coming up in the future. I'll post some pictures when I do change that though.

We've got a few players with some Jofa's but that's about it. Everything else is the normal such as shoulder pads and elbows.

I feel your pain man. If I can't keep the opposing team from scoring only 2 goals we have no chance of winning. I guess it's kind of fitting that our team name is the Rangers.

Just curious, if you guys were on a budget and had the option of getting better leg pads or better blocker+glove which would you choose and why? If I did wait a bit I could really go all out with one or the other. Just out of my experience I think I would rather have a better glove+blocker pair for the sole reasoning that the glove would be better broken in and/or easier to break in plus they would have better overall protection on them.

Thanks for all the recommendations guys! It seems like I'm going to have to take a full day trip to try on a bunch of different pads all at once to compare. I think I've focused it down to Bauer, Warrior, and Brian's. The good news is that with the extra time I have to use to try everything means that I'll have more time to possibly add some extra money to my pad funds. If I wait until after Christmas time I might even be able to scrape enough funds together to go custom but that off course all depends on what life would decide to throw my way between now and then.

Right now I'm in a 33+1 but I feel like the 5 hole coverage on them are too small. With that in mind, I'm thinking of trying a 34+1, or if I'm lucky and can find a 33+2 I would look at those too. I'll have to look more into Brian's and possibly make a trip up to my LHS tomorrow.

As much as I enjoy my Reebok x24's I think it might be time for an upgrade or to at least try something else. My team has a decent group of defensemen but our forwards are absolutely horrible. We don't get the opportunity to play for a tshirt or a championship for that matter, so upgrading the team isn't in our nature. We're all just there to enjoy the game and have some fun. As much as I do enjoy just playing, the competitive part of me doesn't want to lose. I like having a stiffer pad because I can get a bit more on my rebound kicks to potentially get them deep into a corner or even out of the zone if I see a big hole. The Reebok's don't seem to have as much power as I would want for my rebound control. I also tossed around the idea of getting a softer pad so that I could keep the puck closer to me. I would of course have to slightly change my play so that I have a "cover first" mentality. What would you guys recommend based off of my playing style? I'm a college student so I'll probably be stuck getting bottom of the line gear. I was looking closely at the Bauer S150's just because of how light they're supposed to be and the rebound control they're supposed to have. (Plus they would match my jerseys extremely well with the Rangers colorway ). From reading GGSU posts I've found that CCM/Reebok are one of the biggest names but for whatever reason they haven't been doing as many gear enhancements. It seems like Bauer, Warrior, and Vaughn are the leaders with upgrades. Vaughn's and Warrior's are definitely out of my budget so it seems like the Bauer's are my best option but I'm open to ideas.

Here it is!. Managed to actually get a good angle off from the start. Didn't have that great of a game but I also didn't face very many shots. First goal against I was being lazy on a very weak shot. I thought my stick was covering my 5-hole so I didn't end up closing my pads up all the way. About midway through the 2nd period my toe tie came untied and I kept tripping on it, so you'll see me look a bit unbalanced during some of the saves. I ended up cutting off the end of the lace with my skate blade to get a little relief from falling over my own feet. Tried to follow some of the suggestions you guys gave me, but it'll take some time to get used to them.

So I ended up purchasing the suction cup mount. Having a retail job helped get me the mount for under $30 so I would have been stupid to pass it up. For those of you that use it, how much of an angle do you leave the camera at? I would think you would want it mostly staring straight ahead with maybe a very, very slight downward angle. I should have some game footage with it up tonight or tomorrow, just depends on how late I get home from my games.

Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated! I can pick out some things on my own but finer details I tend to overlook. I might see about getting a suction cup mount tomorrow.

Here's the next video. Ended up losing 4-1; should have been 3-1 but my team does not pay attention at all. I've told them in the past that if we are down by 2 I'll be coming off at 2 minutes and if down by 1 off at 1:30. I repeatedly smack my stick on the ice as I get off too just so they know exactly what I'm doing. No one decided to jump on and instead stare at everyone else on the bench which allowed the opposing team to have a clear shot from the blue line. First goal was a good shot but after watching the footage I can see that as I dropped my angle moved just slightly which left the corner open. Second goal was a deflection in front that sent the puck to a wide open winger on my far post who tapped it in (not on camera). Third goal was a breakaway from a player that has no business being in this league and who repeatedly fired perfect slapshots from the point all night. I'm only able to get the 1st and 3rd periods just because our refs just give us enough time to get to the opposite net before they start the next period. I didn't face as many shots in this game but the quality of those shots were pretty good. Possession was split evenly but we were only getting one-and-done chances.

Here's the game from last night. This is the lowest league that I play on and the competition always seems to vary. The team that I play on has decent defense but our offense is atrocious, so getting about 10 shots on goal for our team is normally pretty hard to do. It helps keep the score relatively low and the puck in our zone a lot so I typically face about 20-30 shots within a 45 minute game. Unfortunately I forgot to delete past footage on my SD card so I only managed to catch the 1st period on the GoPro. Period ended up 1-0 in favor of the other team. The shot was originally going wide until it hit my defenseman's glove and ended up going post and in. End of the night it was 3-0; one five hole goal and the other was another flukey goal that somehow got loose from where it was wedged between my arm and CA.

Really appreciate the feedback @IPv6Freely ! I really do need to get a suction cup mount, just haven't go around to doing it yet; it's always way easier to buy a new stick or something instead

Alright, so I finally changed the camera angle so that I can actually see what I'm doing instead of just my viewpoint. It's not the greatest view but it's definitely better than what I had before. Really helps me notice different things that I should work on (this one in particular shows breakaways and angles). It's been about 7 months since I started in net and I'm extremely proud with how far I've come since I'm 100% self taught and have really only had game time and maybe 3-4 practices within that time. I have a ways to go yet but since the majority of the guys in this video (with the exception of about 4) have played college and/or won a regional title in high school I feel like I held my own decent enough. Any pointers that any one has would be extremely helpful.

@psulion22 I'll definitely have to give that a try. I'm sure it will feel awkward at first but if it helps my GAA and overall game I'm all for it!