rusty_black

The quality of the league is very different than you guys, I'm in New Zealand and this is the bottom of 3 grades for adults, but saying that the average is around 3-4 GAA so I'm definitely not taking my numbers for granted, a lot of hard work has gone into them. I'll think about moving up next year but we'll see if I get any offers, but i think i'd take a hit and probably go 4-5 Gaa if I went up. My gear is here (linked to FB so hope the picture works) don't have a picture of my pads but they're older Itech Keven Weekes Pro returns, but unfortunatly the don't match my team colours haha 1S Gloves, CCM Premier Pro Chest, NME10 Helmet, S170 Skates and CCM Pro stock pants. I've also put HAL's on the leg pads and love them, same as the option B straps on the skates, makes life easy for me. As for the guy below who doesn't sharpen his skates.... I can get that as a player, but as a goalie I found it real hard to get a bite etc, so I've started getting mine done every 10 or so times on the ice, and I find it makes a difference.

Well just an update on my progress since my first season last year... I got my new/old gear from GGSU at Xmas time and everything fits well, most importantly, the catcher actually catches pucks haha. In late Jan/ Feb I got asked to fill in for our summer league playoffs as a few goalies were out. I played for one team in the first group and went 2-1 but didn't make it through. Then in the final series one goalie went down and I got called up again and went 3-2 and won the cup! , Boy was I nervous, my team was better but their goalie was on form and it went the distance (5 games series) It really helped my confidence knowing I could hang with some better players than what I will face in Winter We're currently half way through Winter league and although my team is has a couple of better players than last season, I've also improved heaps. My current record is 7-0-1 with 1.14 GAA and .931% we're coming second to a team who have let in 11 goals in 11 games! We've played them twice and tied 2-2 and just last weekend we won 3-1 that was an awesome game form our guys. I've even lost my nerves and don't need a beer beforehand anymore, I can just enjoy the game now. But sometimes will still have a beer, because why not 😉

The last month or or so has been pretty good for me. I've been getting to the rink 45 mins before game time, cracking open a 500 ml can of Elephant Carlsberg (7.2%) and that's taken the edge off and I feel like I can just focus on stopping the puck. My team still aren't scoring much, but i'm now giving them a chance to win or at least keep it close and that's massive for my confidence. I'm not getting beat from between the faceoff dot and the boards anymore thanks to the angle videos, but still get beat from shots from about 10 ft when its a 1v1. They seem to be going blocker side (either under it or over it, I can't tell) or down low close to the post, I think my butterfly is very narrow when I drop and then I kick out depending what side the puck goes. Any good videos to help with dropping down and flaring out at the same time? Of the 9 goals against in the past 4 games 4 of them have been deflections and 3 of those are off my own team no matter how much I tell them to try and not get in the way. So that's pretty frustrating. When the puck gets shot from hash marks back in the middle of the Ice, I have a hard time seeing anything with all the traffic infront. I'm 6'5 so should I be using that height to peek over and drop when its shot, or should I be down low trying to look around peoples legs/hips? Last 4 games stats, some busy games there too! I've gone on GGSU and bought some new gloves (Bauer 1S) and chest pads (XL CCM Premier Pro) so I'll have these for next season. Because its all about how much net you can take up eh? haha

Fair enough, have edited the original video to just shots/goals. Thanks! I think im getting a lot better at being more square, which is making it easier for me, those videos a couple pages back definitely helped. I also had another goalie call me over and tell me an easy way to check where you are without looking back too much is to try hit the post with your stick/blocker then make the adjustment as you come out to challenge the play. That seems to work better than turning around to look at the post like I was doing a few weeks ago. My photobucket isn't working but it was the boxscore showing 42 shots to 9! My guys were gassed in the 3rd as they were literally just chasing them around all game long, but they didn't give up at all so that was great to see as a Goalie. I think the fact that I was keeping the score low it gave them hope that they just needed one good shot and they could win, so they just kept going, but eventually the skill descrepency got the best of us. The team we played is currently 10-1 and only let in 13 goals all season. Hopefully they lose a few players to the higher division next year as the other 5 teams are only separated by 9 points (we have 3pts for a win) so its actually quite an even league apart from that one team. I've booked a month off Hockey as we're expecting our first baby next week, so i'll have to live vicariously through you guys here. Where do you put your gopro? I have a clamp mount and clamp it on the top on the glass with the camera just sitting above, the refs know its there but arent too fussed. Also what software do you use for the videos? Yours look way clearer than mine.

I had my game against the top team on Sunday night. We got completely dominated. I was gassed midway through the game. I somehow kept them scoreless through the 3rd until they got a SH breakaway and scored with 8 mins left . I stuck with him the whole way but got beat as I didn't slide very well, but i'll take pride in the fact I didn't bite or drop down early. They scored a second off a bull***t deflection off a skate with 2 mins left then we pulled me with a bit to go to try get one back but they scored an EN. Easily my best game I've played, I wanted to use this as a measuring stick to see how I had improved and I have for sure. I was expecting a 4-5 goal 30 shot game, but to come out with 40/42 i'm stoked.

Do you feel that your team rises to the occasion come playoff time? The team I played D for won the league back to back the past 2 years, each year we came 4th in regular season and then come playoffs we put on the serious face and actually played some defence and scored a few more than we normally would. Your team could be similar? I think I've said before that alot of your videos show guys coming in alone in good scoring areas, that looks alot like regular season defence!

Had back to back games on Saturday night. My teams game first then filling in for the grade above straight after the ice cut. I've figured out how to slide around better, it's not perfect as it's not really side to side, it's backwards on a slight angle, but it feels so awesome just pushing off and sliding into the post and back again to the other side. I've also worked on watching the puck into my glove with it out in front of me, it's such a mental confidence boost. I actually felt like I've hit the next level in my abilities. In my first game we won 3-1 and we were out shot 26/12 including a 13/5 3rd period where I held the fort. Their only goal was a breakaway blocker side shot in the second period. it's almost like they were determined to score high glove, but it wasn't happening. Every shot was tracked perfectly into the glove and snapped shut. I now no longer have the worse save % in the league (by .007) but I have to play the top team in the league again next week and they've put up 7 & 6 on me earlier on. The next game was a grade above and it was the 2nd place team vs the 4th place team (my team). we had 7 guys turn up and the first shot was a slapper from the point that beat me blocker side. I could hear my team groaning at me as I should have stopped it but I didn't let it faze me and held out the 1st, then most of the second before I got beat by another breakaway, I did the pokecheck, and knocked it off him, but my D was nowhere to be seen and he got it back and went around me and put it in. 3rd period saw us up by 3-2 with 6 mins left and then one of our guys gets a 5+ and a game! we were shorthanded for the rest of the game and had 1 sub. We got outshot 14/3 in the 3rd and they scored 2 PP goals (one was another breakaway blocker side shot) so we lost 4-3. Even though we lost I was ******* stoked about how I played, 58 shots 5 goals for the night and I actually ended up with the guys asking if I'd be keen to fill in for them again if needed! I've got back to back games next week so hopefully I do't come crashing down, but I really feel like i'm seeing myself improve. I know there's gonna be another skill wall to hit shortly but i'm happy with my progress. No video yet for these as the lady put it in a stupid position on our bench facing our goal so its quite far away and lots of heads in the way.

Watching that, you faced more 1v1 2v1's that normal shots so I think you did pretty well considering the score. They managed to get behind your D very easily. That second goal was a pretty cheeky up and over and you had a nice desperation save at 2.20ish and got the rebound as well! On that last goal your D should a been covering him out the back door/side. One thing that I don't like is how quickly you seem to turn your back once the period's over/whistle is blown. Its like your counting it down and as soon as its over, you've turned your back to the game, one day some muppet is gonna rip a shot at you! Obviously not your fault if someone does, but just something I was a bit worried about. After watching a bunch of your videos, I can definitely see why you have a GAA of 4.......and I can tell you it's not because of your play, so hopefully you're not too worried about the number!

New game over the weekend, 3-1 loss but it felt like I was moving a bit better this week, but got beat a couple times by a good player. I made a couple saves that I wouldn't have made a few weeks ago, so I can see progress thanks to some of you guys here! There is one VERY casual save/brilliant pass in there... I was adamant they were offside and even gestured to the ref (a buddy of mine), then watched this back and boy was I wrong haha! The last goal looks to me like when I dropped my legs didn't flare out, they actually pulled in when I went down. The puck went where my leg was, is there anything special that I need to be doing there? I was slightly off angle, but my if they flared out I would have made that save, Also, my team did very well in the second period, I didn't even have to face a shot! I told them I could do that all day long the camera gets tilted by a hit into teh boards, so you might need to turn your monitors a bit later haha

So this definitely makes sense as to what happened. Crazy that one little mistake can cause that kind of reaction. After the initial save, my right foot was on the bottom of the post, so I should have loaded up a bit on the right leg, turned my shoulders to face the rebound and pushed off towards the top of the crease. Except I panicked and got up on the left foot and all hell broke loose. Funny thing was the girl who scored was my goalie for the past 2 seasons (back to back championships) and decided to play out this year. it was her first ever goal and she even apologized after the game saying she wished it was on one of the other goalies in the league haha.

haha I'm still trying to figure out what I did. All I remember is panicking as I saw the rebound go right between 2 of their guys. I think it was a blocker save with horrible rebound control off the initial shot. Looking back I can see I had heaps of time, I could have got up, had a cup of tea then got set again. I also saw that I turned my stick around so I try to poke it on the backhand. The entire play was so slow looking at the video but it felt like 1/10th of a second in real time. I agree with your save options though.

3 weeks off is quite a long time though. Just this season I've gone 3 weeks between games twice and it's hard to get in a rhythm, I'm sure you'll get the groove back then you get a few ice times and the fundies will come back! Do you find the Ball hockey helps you in Ice? I could possibly have access to ball hockey with some high level inline players who book the rink and thinking I should go along. I had a game over the weekend, I'd been working on my angles and trying to bend my knees for a wider stance (and not lean on the bar) , all game long . I was feeling really good with everything... then this bullshit happened in the end of the 3rd..... So frustrating. I managed to shake it off and forget about it and make a few more saves. We lost 3-0 but I had a few of my guys come up afterwards and give me the wack on the pads and say that I played a really good game, so that was nice to see that they saw the effort I had put in.

thanks for the reply mate.....I'm gonna watch the shit out of those videos later! Very interesting that you noticed that, basically my right side is my dominant side. My right leg is my strongest, (right footed playing soccer) so I guess I feel naturally more comfortable loading up on my right leg and pushing off that leg and as for the arm, my right arm is the strongest/most coordinated one eg if someone throws me something i'll catch it with my right 100% of the time or if I lift something i'll pick it up with my right first. Also the only thing I do with my left hand is write/anything that required precision. That's why I play Full Right as I feel very comfortable catching a puck and also if I need to play the puck with my stick my right hand is on the bottom giving the "push" while the left hand is basically holding the stick steady. Looking back, I'm getting beat blocker/left side as its pretty much just dangling there holding the stick, while my right arm is very active and doesn't get beat as much. I think i'm yet to be beaten by a shot from that side as opposed to the blocker side. Any idea on how to work on this, it seems like a bit of a major or is it just getting stronger legs on the left? As for the stance, I'm 6'5" and I have quite long arms (probably long enough for someone 6'9 so they hang quite low. At this point i'd also admit that I've got a weak core/no six pack so maybe that's where the bending at the waist comes from as its easier to bend from there there and my long arms still cover a fair bit of the net than it is to go go wide and bend the knees while keeping the core engaged. I can definitely work on that without ice time, so thanks for bringing that to my attention. The post lean... that's tough, the bar is at the PERFECT height for it and I obviously can't help myself. I just lean back and bam, i'm comfy as. That's just a mental thing, half the time I probably don't even know i'm doing it. maybe I just need to take a stride out and and watch/wait around the crease. I think if I can get the reference points down I shouldn't be so off angle, so like I said earlier I'll watch those and keep working on it. from what I see I'm actively looking to get on angle while they are skating in so one day i'll get burned by a quick release but most of the time I look where they are, then look at the post and get on angle to where they were, so I'm always playing catch up. Thanks again for taking the time to view and offer your opinion, I started playing goalie this year because I vowed to never be as suck as when I filled in when we had our keeper pull a no show in summer hockey and let in 12 from 48 shots. Despite the score I had a ton of fun, and figured I can only improve on those numbers!

That Chesty looks like a bit of a beast, at least you get to try stuff on for size before you buy it. I'm sure it'll add a few % on the old stats.

I posted some of the footage taken onto our teams FB page and they all couldn't believe how bad they looked, I walked int oteh room last night and they were all rarked up and ready to go. They were talking amongst themselves about how they're slow to pucks, not moving their feet and not looking where they're passing etc. They also said they noticed that most goals I let in were because they've let guys in the slot with a free shot. I got them to do 1 minute of warmup with long shots on me then 1 minutes of 1v1's It definitley helped to get my eye dialed in on seeing the puck into me. The game started and it was like a new team, I saved the my first shot and had a litlte flurry of shots that I stopped and my confidence was very high and the guys seemed to feed off that. In the room after everyone was stoked about their effort. We even killed a 5 on 3! I'm soooo gutted that my gopro managed to get about 2 seconds of footage before shutting down due to no battery as it would have been nice to watch. Onwards and upwards. I did it. 1st win and a SO to boot! Thanks for the little pointers, they all add up. I've got a little stockpile of Westvleteren 12's from my trip to Belgium this year that I'm gonna have to dip into tonight to celly. [/URL]