psulion22

Get the stacks as thick as she can make them. It will really help with stress on your hips. Yep! That's pretty much it. -Butt forward, as much as possible. It doesn't have to be completely perpendicular to the ice. The best way to explain would be far enough forward that your weight is still on your knees, not centered or more back over your calves/ankles/feet. Drive the knees together and down, towards each other. You're still going to go forward some, just not as much. -Feet wider. But knees still closer to shoulder width. Knees should be closer together in relation to the angle of your feet/legs. This will help with the point above because if your feet aren't wide enough, you can't bring your knees towards each other since they are pretty much already there. Those two things are tied together. If you work on them you'll really add to your already good foundation and really see improvement. A good way to work on that at pickup would be to get on a line - it could be the blue line during any free time or warm up, or the goal line to the side of the net if the play is in the other end. Stand in your wide footed stance, knees closer, both feet on the line. And practice dropping so that your knees land as close to on the line as possible. Make adjustments to your stance width, and drop direction as needed. This way you can see how changing things affects the direction your knees move. Good luck!

I'm not your coach, or there to see it in person. But from the video alone, I can tell you that much of your problems are simply because your stance isn't wide enough. Your feet are too close together, meaning you are too upright and having to bend too much. That is affecting your technique, balance, and ability to make saves on the ice and down movements. Simply, you are too high off the ice. Get your feet wider and bend your knees more (just doing one or the other won't help). Keep your knees closer together under your body, not as wide as your feet. If you keep your knees more in a straight line, you'll be leaving your 5 hole exposed, and not be as agile, just like your coach said. As far as the 5 hole, my pads won't cover mine fully either. You have to focus on bringing your knees together, not your feet. Even if the thigh rises don't touch, having your knees together and your stick in place will close up that space. If there is a little tightness in your hips when you go down with your knees together, bring your butt down a little, that should do help. Also, if you go to Sarah at PAW, she can make you a thicker landing block. The increased height, even 1/2", will help alleviate stress on your hips when your knees are together because it allows your ankles to drop lower than your knees. I know it's difficult to get your feet flared out. I have a narrow butterfly also. I'm not talking about widening your butterfly, it is what it is. But if you worked on dropping by bringing your knees together, even if your feet go back, you'll see improvements to your mobility and speed . You can't keep your butt up if you bring your feet backwards. You'd fall forward onto your face. They are linked with each other. I have an older goalie that I coach sometimes. He is used to playing the old stand up way, and had a very difficult time learning the new techniques. His stance was too upright, and his feet too close together. When he dropped, it was like you, his knees went forward and his feet back, and he would get stuck like that and become unable to make second saves or move around the ice. He also had hip mobility issues like you. We were able to get around them by loosening up his pads a lot, especially his toe ties and boot straps. And getting him to widen his stance so he can bring his knees together, but while still being able to drop his but lower to take the stress off his hips. Now he can drop into a regular butterfly, and move around the ice better. He needs to work on his weight transfers and such to really be able to slide around. But he's become pretty solid. His hands, stick, and angles were pretty good before. Now that he is getting wider and lower, he's become pretty solid because his pads are much quicker, combined with the rest of his game. I think you'd see these kinds of improvements also.

What are your skates cut at? If you watch your feet as you are getting ready to make a save, often they are sliding outwards and backwards.from under you. So as you get deeper in your crouch, they want to be wider apart. Get your feet wider, I know you don't think you can, but you can. They are trying to do it on their own. When you do that, you'll be able to engage your edges better. You'll stop slipping so much, and you'll find that your movements are a lot more powerful as a result. Get your skates cut to 1/2 or 100/50 FBV at the very least (I skate on 100/75), you need to make them as sharp as possible. Shuffling will be more difficult, but you can learn how to do it. You can't learn how to make your edges sharper if you are slipping. Also, watch as you drop to make a save. Often, you pull your feet backwards so they are touching behind you. That's leaving the 5 hole very exposed, and severely limits your ability to move. Also, it leaves your knees more exposed to being hit with pucks, and puts more strain on them. I'd say you are more likely to hurt your knees that way then by dropping with your knees in. If you get your feet wider, you'll be able to engage your edges and drop by bringing your knees in. I also just noticed that when you drop, you are dropping your butt and sitting down. That's why your feet go back. You're bringing your weight backwards over your legs, which puts strain on your knees and forces your feet backwards. Focus on keeping your butt and hips straight up. You want to drop forward, keeping your weight over your knees. You'll find there's a lot less strain and pulling that way. Your angles look good, and your reactions and battles are good too. Get your feet wider to get those edges involved and you'll really see an improvement.

Nice job, Beedee! To conserve energy, I was taught a 3 stage approach. It helps keep you focused and engaged, but not wasting energy when you don't need to. Stage 1 - low shooting threat. This is when the other team has the puck, but is not in an area that they have a likelyhood of scoring. That can be bringing the puck through the neutral zone, or over the blueline in a transition situation, or as the puck is moving from low in the zone to the point, or point-to-point, without a one-timer available. Basically any time the other team has the puck but is not going to shoot it on net. In these situations you should be in your "ready" stance (feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, more upright) and be moving and staying on the angle and telescope out to the proper depth. This stage doesn't require much energy as you are more upright. Don't confuse this with being nonchalant or not being ready for a shot. It's more that you are in a position where the shot is far enough away that you would still have time to react and make a save, without having to be all the way into your crouch. Stage 2 - high shooting threat. Now the other team has the puck with possession in the zone, and have the ability to get the puck on net. It could be transition where a player is trying to get around a defender, or a pass to a point man where a one-timer is available, or moving the puck into a higher scoring area. Now you should be in your normal goalie crouch, knees bent , feet wider apart, hands in an active position. You should be at the proper depth and angle and be ready to stop a shot. But, you still be relaxed and fluid, ready to move or reposition as needed. This stage requires more energy to be used because your knees are more bent. Stage 3 - shot imminent. This is as it sounds, there is a shot coming. A player has wound up for a slapper, or is in a scoring area in a shooting posture and is going to shoot the puck. You should be deeper in your crouch to get lower to the ice, with your weight over the balls of your feet. Your muscles should be tight and ready to explode to make a save, edges engaged into the ice. You should be focused on the puck. This stage uses the most energy and you should try to only use it when a shot is imminent and you are going to have to make a save. Now it is possible that you will go through all 3 stages on the same play, in both directions. But doing this will allow you to conserve more energy than if you just stayed deep in your crouch the whole time. For example, a player gets the puck and comes out of their zone 2 on 2 with your D. As he gets towards your blue line you should be in Stage 1. Now that player accelerates and tries to beat your defender wide. Now you go to stage 2 to be ready in case he shoots. He beats your defender at the top of the circle and comes in alone to shoot. Obviously now you are at stage 3, deep in your crouch, ready to make a save. So you went from 1 to 2 to 3 as the potential for a shot increased. You can go the other way too. Take that example. The guy now shoots and you make the save. Your defenseman hammers the rebound out of the way off the boards trying to get it out. You should get up and back to stage 1. The other attacker turns to the boards to get the puck and grabs it, but he is facing the boards and can't really shoot (1). He backhand passes the puck to his point guy who can shoot (2). But your defender gets in the lane so he passes it D to D (1). That guy gets it and can shoot (2). He winds up (3) but pulls off to change the angle (2), then walks a little and takes the slapshot(3). You make a save and send the rebound back towards the boards on the same side. There your Dman and their forward battle for the puck on the boards (1). Their guy wins it (2), comes off the boards into the circle (3), but passes it across the slot (2) to no one (1). Your team then collects it and breaks the puck out of the zone. So you can see that in that one possession you went 1-2-3-1-2-1-2-3-2-3-1-2-3-2-1. And you would have saved a lot more energy than staying in your crouch, in either 2 or 3, the whole time.

On every whistle that isn't resulting in a faceoff in my end, I skate to the right (always the right) corner and just stare into the glass. I just want to clear my head and not focus on anything that has happened up to that point. I certainly don't want to watch the other team celebrate, or my team hang their heads or glare at me if it was one they *think* I should have had. It also doesn't let them see when I am burning holes through them with my stares after they do something glaringly wrong. You can't let the bad third goal, which was seemingly a big one in the game, affect your play later. It doesn't matter if it was your fault, their fault, no one's fault, just forget it and focus on making the next save. Always making the next save - as opposed to "not letting in any more goals". Late in close games, I will literally continually say to myself "stop every shot". Goalie is a much more mental position than skating out. Success is built from trying to ignore momentum, rather than harnessing it like a skater. Every shot is unrelated to the one before it, and the one after it. You need to have a short memory and the ability to ignore everything but the puck.

That made it too tight in the neck and armpits. The shirts are cut tighter in the shoulders and looser in the chest and stomach. So the correct size was right in the shoulders and looser in the body, as it is meant to be. I just prefer a tighter fit all around.

I wear the 37.5 long sleeve shirts (though i wish they were a little tighter). And also the 37.5 skate socks. I agree that it does work better than the materials in the past. I feel drier and cooler in these shirts. They are definitely worth the money. I went back and forth about the jocks, but went with the CCM because the Bauer 37.5 ones just didn't provide enough compression.

These are what I wear. I like the extra elastic strips that are tighter. http://www.icewarehouse.com/descpage.html?pcode=CR5J Bauer makes goalie specfic pants that have padding in them too. http://www.icewarehouse.com/descpage.html?pcode=BEPGP

Yeah, sounds like a little over work. Do you wear compression shorts or pants? I find that compression shorts, especially the new CCM ones with the tighter rubber strips, really help with fatigue and injuries like pulls and strains from over use. I used to get groin strains when I would play a lot before I started with the compression shorts. Now i don't get them anymore, and I'm playing more than I have in years (sometimes 5x a week, including 4 consecutive days and 2x on one of those days).

I like Cory Wogtech's videos for goaltending. He has a newer DVD series available for sale, but there are some videos on youtube. He does a good job of explaining and demonstrating basic technique and philosophy in a way that will help you translate it into your game. It's not just - "do this". It's - "do this. Here's how, and here's why."

Those looking for not bulky, comfortable knee pads might want to consider Maltese KTPs. Yes they are expensive, but they are flexible and light and just as protective as the big boys. http://maltesesports.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=3&zenid=2289e55e3e852a7000776d1f1c6c6d9c It's tough because it's counter-intuitive. Your thought would be to get your body going to where you are moving. But in reality, you want to keep your weight on the push side and behind your movement. So on pushes, T-pushes, and even shuffles, you want to keep as much weight as possible off your lead leg to reduce friction. This is important on T-pushes because you can't pivot your foot as well with the weight on it. So you can't turn it to point it were you want to go, and it's even harder to get it back to straight to stop once you start moving. It's also helpful to think of it in terms of consecutive movements. You're not just doing something to make one save. You have to do it to set up the next save if you have to make it. If you put your weight in the front of your movement, you have to do that much more to get it back centered and going the other way. If you keep it trailing, it's centered and requires less time and energy to change your direction. You can use your momentum to load the push leg.

Biggest thing to remember on butterfly pushes is to get your weight on to the push leg, When I coach adult goalies, all the ones that have problems with butterfly pushes are all because they don't get their weight onto the push foot and then don't control it in the slide. They want to get the weight onto the front leg which increases the friction on the sliding pad by a lot, and shortens their slide and/or causes them to spin in circles. The nice thing about this section is that most people are novice goalies. It's not a board for experienced goalies. So things will be more constructive and less 'dude, you suck."

I was taught that your hips, waist, and upper body should be in the exact same position when you drop into a butterfly as when you are in your stance. To accomplish this, you have to have your feet wider than your shoulders and a deep knee bend. If you keep your back straight (sitting in a chair as Badger said), then you will bring your knees together and down to the ice, and theoretically everything from your waist up shouldn't move. You should be driving your knees down to the ice, not just dropping and relying on gravity (as Hills said) and your knees should move in an inward, not forward, direction. Picture it this way, if you get in your stance with your feet on the blueline, when you drop your knees should end up on the blueline, not in front of it. This will improve balance and closing the 5 hole. It is also important because you have to keep your back straight and shoulders back to be able to do butterfly pushes and get around the ice once you are down. Beedee, you look good. The first goal, other than dropping forward instead of down, your depth was a little shallow. You could have been at the top of the crease there. At that spot with your stick on the ice, there wouldn't have been anything for the guy to shoot at. If you think about what I just posted, and look at how you drop to make the save, you can see how your knees went forwards. That essentially created a hinge where you dropped "over" the puck - as your knees went forward, your pads ended up almost parallel to the ice, and the puck went under the pad. That's why you couldn't figure out if/how it went 5 hole. In your mind you dropped quickly (which you did) and your pads should have been there in time. But the direction of your movement meant that your pads were there, but not on the ice. The second goal, was as you said, you just didn't get over in time. But you made one fundamental mistake that is what caused the problem. You got up on the wrong foot. The puck went around the net to your left, but you got up with your left foot. That means you were heading the wrong direction and had your weight on the wrong foot to get moving where you needed to go. Then you had to switch feet and stand all the way up onto your right, so you could move left. Watch the video and you'll see what I mean. Practice standing up on both feet using the foot that puts you the direction you want to move. A good way to practice this is to get up on the foot you want to go every time you get up, so on whistles for faceoffs, get up on the foot the moves you towards the faceoff dot.

Get your knees bent more and your feet wider to keep your butt down and back more straight. You look like you are leaning past your toes which will put you off balance and limit your range of motion. Also, your glove doesn't need to be any higher. It's in the right place based on the aerial angle of the puck. But, you do need to get your hand square to the puck and have your fingers either pointed out or up. It looks like they are pointing down in the picture which means that any puck shot towards the bar will miss your glove since the line would be almost parallel.

It is frustrating when it doesn't seem like anything you are doing is right. It wasn't until I went to a true goalie camp that everything clicked for me. something else that helps is seeing yourself in real time. If you know have an ipad, have someone take pictures and video of you with the front facing camera, so you can see yourself on the screen at the same time you are doing things. It is so much easier to understand and adjust when you can do it at that moment rather than later. The camp I went to had a huge mirror built that you did drills in front of. If you don't mind looking a little silly, you could go and buy a cheap door mirror at Walmart and have the coach hold it for you. It really does make a difference. I go to this camp every year as a player. It is a great learning experience and a lot of fun. The quality of the coaching is top notch. https://weekendwarriorshockey.com/

Any more video? I suspect it still has to do with your stance and dropping forward instead of down. Also, stick position seems to be a problem. If your stick is in the right place, a gap in your 5 hole shouldn't matter. In fact, you shouldn't be using the thigh rise of your pads to make saves in a stright on shot in a butterfly. You should be using your stick. Everything is tied in together. If your feet aren't wide enough apart and you aren't getting deep enough into your crouch, you won't be able to get your pads down. You need to have a deep bend. I find when I get lazy and don't get low enough, I have problems stopping shots on the ice. Have you thought about lessons or a camp?

Do the improvements to the 1X skate make it a significantly better version of its predecessor? Or are they more incremental (ie NXG to MX3)? I'm asking because I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair of MX3's (Vapor line is too narrow for me, even in EE width). But if the next version in the Supreme line will give the same evolutionary improvements as the 1X, I might consider waiting for that. Would that launch on the 18 month (Spring '16) with the sticks, or 24 month (Fall '16) life cycle? When will the SpeedPlates and LS4 steel be available standalone? Thanks!

Sucks for them if you show up in skates and pads and they expect you in net. No uppers, not mask. Tell them to take shots wearing that! I'm comfortable making passes in my gloves and skates. Adding pads is a whole different story. Things just aren't the same so you're essentially practicing something and getting muscle memory for something that will be different later. if you can reach it with your stick, use your stick. Even in the butterfly with a pad behind it. It's easier to control the puck with your stick than off your leg pad. That's what I thought. Unless you are making a desperation save on a rebound, tip, or backdoor play, you shouldn't really be extending your legs. If you are square to the puck at the proper depth, you should be able to cover the whole net by just dropping into a butterfly with your knees together. The problem with extending your legs is that you are then stuck in that position and can't move again without recovering, which takes time. Also extending pads out causes uncontrolled rebounds, further complicating being stuck with one leg out. It took me a long time to learn that. If you come 6 inches or a foot further out, you shouldn't have to extend legs to reach for low, away shots. It really makes things easier. I know the instinct is that if you are too far away from the net to stop a back door play. But I learned as a goaltender that I'd rather have a backdoor goal go in than get beat to a low corner because I wasn't far enough out. You can learn to recover to the back post, but you can't grow to reach that far puck. I've learned that controlling rebounds and staying "quiet" in the crease has been really important to my over all game. I see less second and thrid opportunities and I find my self out of position and scrambling less. That has led to better endurance because I'm not expending energy moving all over the crease.

If a puck was close enough to you to catch it along the ice, you should be using your stick on it, not a pad. Leg pads create rebounds. Sticks make it easier to direct the puck where you want it to go, even if that is in front of you for a cover. The best save you can make is the one you don't have to because you put the puck out of danger. I'm not sure what you mean by "kicking out". Are you talking about old school kick saves or driving a leg down and across to reach a low puck in the butterfly? Any more video of you playing? If you are/were falling off the landing gear when moving while down, it sounds like you are still dropping your but back and sitting down. When you do that it pulls your feet back and you knees away from the pad. It also causes problems closing the five hole beacuse your feet are back, not out. Keep your hips forward and drive your knees straight down and together, instead of moving your knees forwards and dropping your butt back. That will help with your issues. Practice by standing in your stance with both feet on the blueline. Drop into your butterfly. When you land, your knees should still be on the blue line. If they are in front of the line, you need to widen your feet in your stance and focus on dropping your knees down and together. Keep doing it, changing your feet and dropping technique until you are landing in the same spot.

wear your pads and goalie skates to practice stickhandling too. I can shoot ok without my pads on and my players skates, not as well with my full gear on. Once you wear the pads and goalie skates, everything is different. The balance is changed and the pads create more obstructed space.

Pads, pants, and skates for sure. Gloves and a stick probably would help also. Looking at the vid again, when you get your feet out a little wider, bring your knees in closer together and bend them more. When you drop it will be easier to drive your knees together and down, instead of forward. You can kind of see what I mean in this pic of Carey Price. See how his knees are much closer in relation to his feet? (he's moving so it's not his full stance) You can kind of see it in these pics of Henrik as well. Look at how close his legs are above his pads compared to his feet, and how deep his bend is. Yep. It drives the knees down and keeps the legs out. The newer technique is a little bend in the hips. It apparently improves agility and movement, and takes some stress off the hips and knees. I read about it in InGoal mag. Still not sitting though.

You problems aren't caused by flexibility, but rather technique. You are dropping forwards to the ice and sitting your hips down. When you do that, it pushes the pads back and your feet behind you. You should be dropping straight down - your feet should go more out than back. Drive your knees downwards into the ice, not forwards. You can help accomplish this by doing two things - get your feet out a little wider and deepen you knee bend more, and also keep your hips forwards when you drop .

I wear a Maltese combo and no dangler. It's the best thing out there. Skip the dangler, it doesn't do anything. The worst neck injury I got was when a shot shattered my dangler and it slightly cut my neck. GO Maltese, you'll be happy you did. Lightweight and super protective.

Nah it could be a whole host of problems causing it, usually realted to strapping being either too loose/thight somewhere. try them out. I didn't know the toe bridges on the S series were removable to put the slider in. She does make the thicker knee stacks. They're a standard item right on her website. I was never able to find a knee pad that wasn't too bulky. I wear the Bauer Pro pants with the attached knee protection that has worked well so far. It doesn't go into the knee lock so bulk isn't a factor. Sarah also makes a knee pad that people seem to like. There's a Maltese get one too that looks promising, but cost is prohibitive.

That's actually probably the reason the pads don't return to "zero". I found that too much slack in the toe ties (which the sliding bridges would give) caused the pad to not rotate back properly. Having her build you a thicker knee stack may give you a little more flexibility too.