Critique my Technique (w/video)

[srv2miker 0]

Hey guys,

Just looking for any tips you might have for a beginner goalie. This was shot in June, and I've made a few adjustments since then:

1. No longer use fingers up glove hand - now use a tighter more static glove hand.

2. I continue to work on my angles, but obviously they need more work

and

[Law Goalie 147]

Looking good, Miker.

There's a lot to like. Your stick is actively involved in the majority of shots below 11"; the only thing that seemed to give you trouble was on shots that made you stretch to the low corners, especially to the blocker-side, which is a tough spot for anyone to have good stick engagement. If you work on moving your stick in an arc, curving away from your five-hole to your toes, you'll find that it's not only easier to involve your stick on low shots, but that rebounds off the are often ramped away into the corner instead of booted back into the slot.

Your stance was very consistent and well maintained: you never looked off-balance. My only advice here is a small adjustment in hand and stick placement. If you move your blocker hand forward about 4"-6" in your stance, and angled your stick-blade back like a 3-iron (right now it's basically perpendicular to the ice), you'll find it a little easier to use your stick on low shots to your glove side as above. Because your blocker's sidewall is resting against the pad, you're risking 'blocker lock' - catching the sidewall on the pad when you try to move your blocker across your body, as on a low glove-stick shot. Your glove was used well, but wasn't so much in the 'fingers up' position as the 'palm-down' position. Think about aiming the inside of the pocket at the puck, opening the glove to the puck, and with the hand well out in front of your body for positive visual contact at all times.

Rebound control was generally quite impressive - textbook gut-trap at 0:52 in the second video! Most things that hit your body stuck to it; most low shots were either cushioned with the stick or kicked to the corners.

You had very good and consistent depth throughout - top of the crease or better - and you only retreated when the shooter closed; when the shooter cut across, you used shuffling effectively to adjust the angle without giving up depth and keeping your stance closed. My one suggestion - and it depends on fatigue - is to always start with your back against the crossbar, tap off with your glove/blocker on the short-side post, and challenge out on the angle to a good depth. This will involve a lot more skating in a training session like this, but oddly, a lot less skating in a game. It's called playing 'inside out', ie. from the net out rather than from some point on the ice back to the net. Playing 'outside in' means that you're less certain of your angles, and that you'll have to skate way, way more to track the puck east-west off the rush and in the zone. The very few times you were off-angle, it seemed to be from playing 'outside in', and you often had to look back over your shoulders to try to guess whether you were on-angle. In the second video, you started off playing 'inside out' from the crossbar, and you looked much more comfortable and sure of your angles. As soon as you went back to 'outside in', you looked a little less certain.

Because you were playing 'outside in' there wasn't much skating on display - but what there was looked excellent. Your shuffling, as mentioned, was very good. You used a few good-looking C-cuts telescoping in and out, and did a great job of finding your backside edge on the butterfly slide at the end of the first video. Had you known the player was going to finish the rebound, you'd have had it covered completely - and you did, when she tried it again at the end of the second video. :)

You also stopped just about everything - never a bad sign. The few 'groaner' goals (I could see you cringing at 1:35, lol) all came from the same thing: a slight hesitation in dropping to the butterfly, combined with a baseball tendency to reach down with the gloves from a crouch. Part of that is just comfort; you used a solid, active butterfly elsewhere to good effect. A lot of it was that those 'groaners' were usually weak shots that flipped end-over-end - and those are bloody hard to read, which leads to hesitation. Hesitation, when you're standing, means not going down quickly; hence the goals. I also noticed it on the first two shots of video 1, at 1:02 of video 2 - two of those were saves, but not very active or positive saves compared to some of your others.

One thing you could use in situations like this, since you're pretty solid on your edges, is a midline shift. This is a somewhat technical but effective way of describing a save where you shift your entire body over into the shot. This can be done from the stance using a quick shuffle just as you read the release, but is more often found as the goalie transitions from the stance to a short and controlled butterfly slide that moves the midline - ie. the centre of the body - over into the shot. Basically, you drop your frontside (lead) knee to the ice, and as it's dropping, give a little push off your backside (trailing) skate, then snap it down hard into the butterfly.

My only other advice, for a drill like this with plenty of time between shots, is to use the opportunity to do a little puck-handling. Whenever you control the rebound (which was quite often), instead of just pushing the puck aside, you could make a flat, hard pass back to the shooter as he/she curls away. This not only lets you work on your grip and passing, but does a pretty good job of simulating a game situation. If you happen to make the save in the butterfly, you can even have a go at passing from your knees, which Turco has done with some success. That, and playing 'inside out' from the net, would make the best possible use of this kind of drill. The only other thing I'd suggest is using skating to really track even those rebound you kick to the corner: use a strong recovery to start a skating movement that covers the angle to wherever the rebound goes - just like you would in a game.

Best of all, it looks like you're having a blast out there.

[Oykib 0]

Only thing I would like to add to Law's post is when you make the save don't just reach, extend to make it. Get in the habit of making the complete save instead of just leaning or reaching with arms. This can lead to bad habits which will come out when your tired. :)

Looking good, I wish I had your size!

[Law Goalie 147]

That's a much better way of putting it, Oyk - cheers.