Flop_N_Pray

If you want an objective eye, 5 goals on 25 shots is still an 80% save percentage. By comparison, the top 50 single season save percentages in the NHL ranges from .94 to .926. Back in the day, aka before they started tracking that stat, a great season was probably in the high .800 range. An even better metric is adjusted save percentage, which weights saves by shot location and only rates 5 v 5 play. Soft goals hurt the stat much worse than a slick one timer in the slot, for example. For starting goalies this season, from what I've seen, that ranges from about .91 to .94. On 25 shots .900 would still mean 2.5 goals a game! You're halfway to the NHL! What I'm trying to say is, if you gave up a few during scrambles or nice one-timers, you are playing even better that your stats indicate. If you gave up 5-6 on slow tricklers from the point, you're playing worse. Likewise if you have a typical drop-in session full of 2-on-1 or 2-on-0 v. guys actually playing defense. The raw stat means nothing. If I had to estimate, from what I see in beer league around here, .800 will handily win a lot of beer league games. D level is often 10-15 total goals a game. You're not in the NHL, don't hold yourself to that standard. Go to a local beer league game and watch how many quality chances they face, and how many goals they give up (around here the answer to that is "not many, and quite a few").

The stars aligned with my EMS schedule and I found an 11-week clinic that only cost $21 (including a goal cut jersey). It is more geared towards raw beginner skaters (who have to pay $250 to skate out ) although there are some individuals who play D-level beer league or have been to the camp before. I couldn't beat the price, so I decided to give it a go. Coming from the caliber of player I've been facing since I started, it is definitely an adjustment. I'm not sure if it's for the better yet. The nice thing is, the skaters and shots are so slow I have a lot more time to work on getting my technique perfect. They also do a real warmup with the coaches hitting us in the pads and leading us through movement drills before we start facing shooters. Facing hundreds of shots a night should be pretty decent cardio as well. The potential issues are that there is not really much goalie-specific coaching, and the drills are so fast I don't get a lot of time to focus on tracking my rebounds and recovering properly. It looks like I will still be self-coaching quite a bit. If anyone has tips for things to work on when the coaches just want to use you as a target, which I understand is the norm at many levels of hockey, I would really appreciate it. In other news, I just unloaded a bunch of stuff on eBay, and I'm pretty sure that is going to turn into a Bauer Reactor 6000 trapper, and maybe a new blocker as well (looking at the Reebok P4).

Looking good, man . . . way to get back on that horse. It looks like you are recovering from that paddle down position a lot faster this week and really staying with the play by pushing back through the crease to your left. Awesome!

I think you played better than you're giving yourself credit for. The only really soft goals IMHO were after he got into your head (the one off the skate and the short side one where you were down). Mistakes happen; they just got luckier than usual this week and were able to capitalize on a high percentage of them. It also didn't look like your defense was helping you as much as they normally do.

Standing in a goalie stance isn't necessarily hard on the lower back, unless you round your back out. Can you comfortably stand in a fairly deep bodyweight squat? The good news is that being shorter theoretically means you can stand up a bit straighter and still be covering net instead of the area above the crossbar. Actually playing, as opposed to just standing there with pads on . . . well, I guess it depends how bad you want the puck. It can require a lot of rotational movements and the ability to bend comfortably in each direction while standing or on your knees. Since I'm not very good, I end up flopping. A lot. That usually takes some very rapid and awkward rotational movement. And there's always the possibility of getting run over. With that said, if your lower back is good enough to let you skate out, it's probably good enough to let explore playing goal. I say "go for it!" I would strongly recommend investing in some very good knee pads and pads with soft landing gear if you plan on playing a butterfly style at your current weight (no offense). I'd be less worried about back and knee injury and more about the femur/hip interface, which is not designed to take the repeated impact of slamming your knees to the ice - at any weight.

I should have said, "as of when I got the pads" - edited my post above for clarity. I stumbled onto a thread with some tips on how to drop properly - I think it was LawGoalie supplying said tips - and it helped a lot. Having my skates sharper helped me widen my stance. I had quite a bit more flare on the ice tonight, and my pads sealed perfectly on straight drops or even occasionally overlapped. Keeping my hips high was also a key factor. I was sitting down a bit before. Here is a pic of what my comfortable flare looks like when I drop from a wider stance and execute perfectly. Pardon my lack of skates. And pants. When I focus on driving my knees together as well as down, I'm overlapping more often than not Better to have a small gap or an overlap? Maria Mountain is awesome. I have been using her stuff quite a bit. Much of the flexibility is already there, but the conditioning drills are kicking my butt from a cardio standpoint - and I was in pretty decent shape to begin with . . . I thought.

Like this? This is was a pretty accurate depiction of my butterfly drop (EDIT: As of when I got the pads, before taking them on the ice for 3 hours of practice yesterday). I've improved my 5-hole seal quite a bit and they sealed well on ice tonight. I know to keepy my torso more upright, but using Photo Booth gave me three seconds to sit back up. My right pad came out of the box with a little twist, which is somewhat noticeable in the photo . . . I'm guessing it had been stored in a funny position for a few years. It has been worked out now. That rug under the left pad is also pretty thick; that's not a defect. We have a tiny apartment and there is nowhere better to snap a pic. Hopefully I can wrangle some action shots soon.

I think you get that post sealed pretty well most of the time. Much better than I do, that's for sure! I have exactly the same problem with my push being stronger to the right. I think I'm overcompensating by doing the exact opposite of you - I stay standing even when I should drop and paddle down for plays in tight, because I know I can t-push hard to my left but I can't slide too well. Again I didn't mean to armchair quarterback (goalie?) . . . I just figured we're all in the same boat trying to figure out this self-taught old goalies gig.

Sorry in advance about the novel: Got my skates sharpened to 1/2" which didn't affect my shuffling but seemed to make movement crisper. Also removed the outer part of the knee cradle because i decided to use the Carey Price style strapping, which helps the ol' b-fly even more. Drop in was scrappy but clean 3v3 rink width with some good players who play together in the local advanced beer league division. Tons of cycling, one timers, behind the net play, and screens - but with a defense for once. . We played win by two and the teams switched every three goals, so it was really goalie v. goalie. Ended up with three wins and three losses on the night. Some pretty good saves which were balanced out by some really soft goals. Best save - scramble in front, dove cross crease to jam my glove into the post to stop it right at the goal line. Worst goal - leaving my stick between between and parallel to my feet while hugging the post, with predictable results. http://www.sadtrombone.com/ Endurance is getting much better and I'm learning to conserve energy until the shot is imminent. Sharper skates seemed to help, as did switching out my water for some Powerade mixed at about half strength. Things to work on: (1) Breakaway discipline - I kept committing too early and got beat by the same guy several times, usually with him putting it right where mama keeps the peanut butter. I was a bit gun shy because he hit me in the dangler the second shot of warmups. When I'm intimidated by the shooter, I inexplicably turn into a human pylon. (2) Playing the puck - skating is good but my stick handling is not. I deflect loose pucks and very soft shots into the corner instead of passing up ice. I also stay home instead of coming out to stop those pucks coming around the boards, even when I have time, due to lack of confidence in my stick. (3) B-fly pushes - I have the flexibility to kick my leg way out and take away the whole bottom half of the net. This works great against people who can't elevate the puck but leaves my body / gloves lagging behind the play. I'm using proper technique maybe 50% of the time. (4) Glove position - Blocking butterfly needs work. Second, I kept rotating my hand towards myself when catching like I was cradling a shot to the chest. Finally, I seem to have no idea where my blocker is and take a ton of shots off my right arm floater. (5) Not cheating - I have a tendency to give up 1 - 2 goals a session on the short side by cheating towards the pass and did it again tonight before I made the correction. I do have a pic of the new pads / my butterfly position but can't for the life up me figure out how to upload a photo around here. I searched the forum but found nothing. I've done it before but haven't been an active member of an online forum in years. If someone wants to PM me a link or instructions that would be awesome. TL;DR - I'm getting better faster than expected, which is a mixed blessing for me because when that happens for any given sport or hobby I start to become way too self-critical, way too soon. Also, I'm technologically impaired and can't upload photos.

I have watched all of your videos and have been really impressed by your improvement. Bearing in mind that I'm brand new / not a coach / definitely not any better than you, I hope you don't mind if I have a comment and question. We seem to have a lot of close calls / goals from the same issue - being committed to reverse VH on the blocker side. It appears you default into sliding into reverse VH anytime the puck is going to your blocker side, even if it is wide - or even sometimes when it is still above the circle on that side. I think the other teams are picking up on that, because they rarely try to jam you; instead, they swing wide, turn and hit an open man in the slot, or cycle it back leaving you stuck just a bit off angle. Examples at 3:17 and 3:49 in your most recent video. I don't use reverse VH unless I'm 99% sure they're going to try and jam me, but it's still a problem for me because I have a harder time sliding back to my left, and open up exactly the same types of chances that you did at 3:17. Have you experimented at all with the overlap angle / post integration technique (which is "new" but IMHO looks like classic standup fundamentals). I tried these ideas today it helped my recoveries a lot. http://ingoalmag.com/video/overlap-technique-option-low-poor-angle-threats/ http://ingoalmag.com/news/introducing-overlap-reverse-post-integration-technique/

I will try to get some pics up but I don't want to bang around the house and wake up the wife tonight. I did get out to a local rink that will let me wear my pads at open skate (it's usually pretty slow) and it's $5 for four hours, which is awesome. The new Rituals are amazing. I can actually do the butterfly movements now (although the pendulum slide is pretty rough). I knew I had the flexibility to have a good butterfly but the old pads didn't give me the stability to use it. These just rotate every time, making it much easier to think about other things like stick and glove position. After practicing Wogtech drills for about an hour and a half, they opened up the other rink for a high school kid to shoot around. I went over and took about 100 shots in sets of 20 from the circles, high slot, low / bad angle on blocker side, and clappers from the blue line. I let in about four or five total, all through the 5-hole while still standing - I keep forgetting the new pads will actually butterfly. Full disclosure requires admitting about 75% of his slap shots missed the net. Facing straight shots gave me a great chance to work on activating my hands and directing rebounds into the corner. I also got some quality practice time using my goal stick to pass / clear and can finally do those things with reasonable proficiency (if I have time and space). Headed to drop in tomorrow night to see if all the practice helped. Guessing I'll be even worse than usual due to fatigue.

Well that's good news, because that's the pad I just ordered, and they should be here today! UPDATE: UPS just pulled in. I won't get them on the ice today because I'm on shift tonight, but I'll definitely be sprawled all over the living room!

New guy gear fitting question here. I've searched high and low for this across multiple forums, and can't find anybody with the same problem. Leg pad sizing. It's been beat to death. But I can't find anyone else with my very strange t-rex proportions - big chest and thighs, normal torso length, short limbs, small ankles, wrists, hands, and feet. I have a 15.5" ATK with a 6.0 E skate at 5'9.5". I'm quite sure the measurement is correct, I have an 18.5" FTK and only wear 30" inseam jeans. I also work EMS like Badger and have a pretty good grasp on what "knee" and "ankle" mean. For almost all manufacturers, this puts me in a 30-32" (usually intermediate) pad. I can make my current 34" Simmons hit me right in the knee cradle, but then my skate only comes about halfway to the toe. If I put them high on the skate (by tightening down the bottom ankle strap), my knee hits way low. I emailed them for a sizing recommendation for new pads, and they still said 34, which really doesn't seem right given my small feet. I also have fairly small calves and ankles, so I have tons of room in the leg channel. Most of my straps are nearly bottomed out to be snug. I can find plenty of pad recommendations for 15.5" ATK guys, but they're usually 5'4". I can't see how I'm going to get enough thigh coverage in a pad that small. Anybody else have this problem? Do I size them to my overall height? Just go full custom? I know that in-person fitting is the best option, but I don't have much selection around here.

Went to my third drop in ever today. I was the only goalie playing 2v2 half ice against a couple of juniors players, a varsity women's player, and a guy about my age who isn't showy but definitely not his first time strapping on the skates. So basically, it was 2 on 1, 2 on 0, and breakaway practice all day aka normal drop in. I didn't see a shot further out than the hashes. Luckily, I'm very much an "it is what it is" kind of guy and still got a lot of good work in. My shuffles and t-pushes are getting crisper, and I can do the emergency b-fly slide going to my left. To my right, I am doing this very weird thing where I get a good t-push and then kind of drag my left leg (like I'm doing some weird Laura Stamm drill) with my body and right pad square to the puck. I think it's because I only like doing half b-fly with my left leg down. I got a lot better at reading the overall play and coming back into my crease a bit when I saw the backside pass was open. I'm also finally learning to stay upright and keep good gap control on breakaways. The first 5-6 times, the best guy out there just got me to drop with really good shot fakes and then just brought it back around me for an easy goal. I was too far away from him, although still aggressively above the crease. Once I started standing my ground, I stuffed him several times. I did get a bit frustrated at the end after I let in some relatively easy 5-hole goals due to exhaustion, but overall, it was still a positive experience. It was also rough knowing you're really cutting down the angle only to face shooters who can put it exactly where they want when not under pressure. I had several pucks put into tiny gaps (4 inches max between skate and post from bottom of circle, getting roofed from 2 feet away *while standing!* etc) From looking around the forums, about 90% of goalies seem to hate drop in due to the lack of defense / wannabe superstars but luckily in my area even the really good guys are pretty chill. They certainly don't play down to my level put they don't take clappers at my head or start chirping after I let in 5 goals in as many minutes. On a gear related note - those new yellow Superfeet are awesome. I got pretty bad arch pain the last few sessions just from standing upright so much but had zero today. I think I'm going to put them in my player's skates tonight.

Doubt it. The only thing that saves me is coming in with a good understanding of angles and staying square to the puck. I had a lot of shots where I didn't even see it and was thinking "well, there's another one" only to have somebody skate up and tell me it was stuck in my pads. I also had about 5 glove saves where I didn't even know I had the puck because my pocket is black so I was looking around frantically behind me for about 5 seconds. My first set of gear from the mask down: Vaughn 9500 straight bar w/ dangler (tied through ear holes and chin vents, if anyone is curious); Vaughn 3700 C/A (used); Simmons Matrix blocker / trapper (used) - they work fine but are a bit too big for my hands; Vaughn 7460 pants (new old stock) - C/A tucked into pants, tied in the front, and clipped with a small carabiner and skate lace to keep unit from sliding forward. Suspenders over the top. Bauer Reactor over my CCM players compression shorts. That's right ladies, 1 guy, 2 cups. Bauer Supreme knee pads (bought used about 2x - saved a ton of money and these are awesome)Simmons Air 991 (used in very good shape - I think they sat in someone's closet for 10 years). No thigh boards, thigh strap, or toe ties, and the knee strap is angled down and run behind the buckle on my calf for better rotation. Trying to teach an old pad new tricks. Graf 4500 skates with yellow Superfeet - currently a 5/8 grind thinking about switching to 1/2. Warrior Abyss Considering for purchase: clavicle / neck protection - I know, I know - Maltese is the be all end all, but I can't shell out another $125 on equipment or the wife will kill me. Considering CCM or the Bauer Supreme in the $50 price range. Actively looking for: SR size gloves with very small internals. I should probably go pro level protection because I am facing good enough shooters I've had a couple good stingers on inside of trapper wrist and on my blocker hand. Considering Simmons 586 but open to suggestions. Thanks in advance for all the help guys. I'm headed off to drop in and will probably report back.

Hey all, this is my first post on the forum. Another new adult goalie here, in large part thanks to motivation after lurking this thread. I did formerly play goalie in roller (about 15 years ago) and lacrosse, so I've seen a few shots before but it's still a huge adjustment playing on ice. Played my second drop-in today and had an absolute blast despite facing 50+ shots from some very good players. Got several compliments from shooters and from another goalie who happened to be skating out. If it's cool with you guys I'd love to run my current equipment past you and see if you have any suggestions / keep you updated on my progress.