Starting in Goal as an Adult

[beedee 227]

i do have a go pro. i should try that one time at a stick time.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

i do have a go pro. i should try that one time at a stick time.

Nice! Suction mount to the glass behind the net :)

[beedee 227]

i had so much fun last night, I attended the adult skills clinic at our local rink. It was a great group of guys and the dudes that put it on did a really good job. There were two other goalies out there, one of which had only been on the ice as goalie for 7 times, the other was a gal with about a year of experience. Having one extra goalie was cool because it allowed me to take breaks during the various drills we did.

I felt so much better than I did at sticktime on saturday. My stamina was better, I was receiving instruction and I even took one shot square in the juevos! (one off the mask too). We did various 2 on 0 drills and it was fun tracking the puck and then doing a very half-assed butterfly slide across the crease to make some saves!

I cant wait until next mondays clinic! In the meantime I will continue my stretching routines.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

hah, having 3 goalies for drills would be really nice. Like you said, getting the occasional break is nice. Games are one thing, but drills are just up/down over and over and over and you never really get a break.

Check out Maria Mountain's videos on youtube if you want good stretching exercises.

[beedee 227]

hah, having 3 goalies for drills would be really nice. Like you said, getting the occasional break is nice. Games are one thing, but drills are just up/down over and over and over and you never really get a break.

Check out Maria Mountain's videos on youtube if you want good stretching exercises.

Totally man! Especially at the beginning when they were warming up the goalies. It was just a constant barrage of shots, that drill when players skate out to the blue line and circle in and get a pass from the corner. That is fine and dandy, but it was wearing me out fast at the rate the players were coming in. So having to share the net was more than welcomed by me!

I have looked at her videos, thanks again for mentioning her.

[badger_14 601]

Nice thing about the clinic I attend - goalies who want to just face shots from the skaters attend for free, and they're at one end, and then goalies who want the specific instruction get the middle and don't have to face any shots if they don't feel ready. I mean, in the drills you usually get shots, but it's very controlled, and 40 minutes of a 55 minute clinic could be devoted entirely to movement. There's usually 3 goalies, but the minimum is one (of course) and the max is 6. The coaches have all been good to us allowing us to rest when we need it, or modify drills to more experienced or less experienced players. (for example, the coach might want a more experienced goalie to butterfly slide from post to post, but would tell me to shuffle.)

Actually, the ice is divided in three - adult novice players at one end, goalies in the middle, and kids at the other end, so you can also lend yourself to the kids' group if you feel that's more your speed (and it gives the kids a thrill, shooting on a real goalie). Then a six year old dekes you out of your pads and you get to feel shame.

Stretching is a process. A little bit at a time. Most of the time, about 20 minutes of my workout is devoted just to stretching. Groin, hips, back.

Sometimes if the trainers are around, I make sure to do really pretzely stretches to freak them out. But I also work at the gym and enjoy messing with my co-workers and don't advise that as a proper training technique.

[beedee 227]

anyone have issues with their mask kind of slipping down towards their eyes when crouched in the "ready" position? the backplate of the ccm9000 is convex and presses down on the area where my neck meets my shoulders and pushes the mask forward/down. i think i might need a smaller size.

Edited April 27, 2015 by beedee

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Hmm. Nope, don't really have any issue with my mask moving at all.

[beedee 227]

thanks man. on my way to goalie monkey right now to resolve this.

[beedee 227]

swapped it out for a bauer nme8 in medium. perfect fit without the discomfort that the medium ccm 9000 had. i tested all types of head movements and it stayed put!

[IPv6Freely 2092]

swapped it out for a bauer nme8 in medium. perfect fit without the discomfort that the medium ccm 9000 had. i tested all types of head movements and it stayed put!

Awesome! Glad to hear it worked out for you, and that they were willing to exchange. Having a lid that fits right is hugely important, obviously ;)

[beedee 227]

first action shot of me, this was my 2nd time on the ice as tendy. had a great workout, lots of skating drills, then 2 on 0, 2 on 1, and 3 on 3 o'zone scrimmage. i was the only goalie out there tonight and didnt receive any extra goalie instruction. the goalie instructor had a game that conflicted with our clinic. my wife took multiple videos and i can tell i need to keep my glove hand up higher, and my overall posture needs to be more upright.

im having fun so far and look forward to improving with each session.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Get that stick down!

Seriously though, that's awesome man!

[beedee 227]

haha, i knew i would get called out on that! thanks again man for your help in this new realm of hockey for me.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

haha, i knew i would get called out on that! thanks again man for your help in this new realm of hockey for me.

Its seriously one of the hardest habits to break. Especially when dropping into the butterfly.

[Hills 712]

Feel free to post the videos if you want an extra eye for analysis.

For beedee as well.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Hills

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Feel free to post the videos if you want an extra eye for analysis.

Thanks man, definitely planning to get a gopro to stick behind the glass. I have some video my wife shot of me but it's not very good and it's a couple months old at this point. Should still try to get that uploaded though.

[psulion22 402]

first action shot of me, this was my 2nd time on the ice as tendy. had a great workout, lots of skating drills, then 2 on 0, 2 on 1, and 3 on 3 o'zone scrimmage. i was the only goalie out there tonight and didnt receive any extra goalie instruction. the goalie instructor had a game that conflicted with our clinic. my wife took multiple videos and i can tell i need to keep my glove hand up higher, and my overall posture needs to be more upright.

im having fun so far and look forward to improving with each session.

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.

[beedee 227]

Thanks psulion22. I haven't had any formal instruction yet, so your feedback is much appreciated. I forget what was going on in the picture, but it does look like my glove hand was on the move. I know I struggled with what way I should hold it, like you said, i need to pick "up" or "out". I will focus on what you have said this next session tomorrow night. From what I understand, there will be actual goalie coaches at the clinic, so I am hoping to get tons of instruction and guidance.

[beedee 227]

Tonights clinic at KHS was awesome! The coach really knows how to run these things, and genuinely cares about everyone that is on the ice. We started off with about 5 minutes of dicking around with pucks, shooting on us goalies. (4 goalies total tonight) We then went into various skating drills for the next 15-20 minutes or so...and he customized the drills to the goalies, which was sweet! After the skating drills we broke off into groups, with a goalie at each net (4 nets set up cross ice from each other in each zone. He had everyone (including goalies) put their sticks on the bench. We proceeded to do 2 on 2 with a soccer ball, that was fun! It really emphasized skating. After about 10 minutes of that we did 2 on 2 cross ice scrimmage. In order to shoot and have possealsion you had to pass the puck to the coach on the blue line, then he would pass it back into play...this then rolled into 3 on 3.

I had a blast and am feeling more comfortable on the ice with each session. I really believe having a solid background in skating out has really helped me transition into goalie. Im still wanting to get instruction on the different types of pad slides and what not. I did practice VH and reverse VH during the scrimmage, so that was cool.I also worked on keeping my legs a bit wider, knees more bent, and a straighter back. Overall I felt great, I also was doing a great job keeping my stick down on the ice, it is slowly but surely becoming habit.

I will be there next Wednesday for sure!

[badger_14 601]

Great to hear you had fun! The soccer drill (I hesitate to say 'drill') is fun as all-get out. I've done it with the kids and it really does take your mind off the fact that you have skates on and you might fall.

As in being a forward, everything stems from movement and being comfortable in your skates and gear. Between drills, besides watching the other goalies, I like to flop around and practice getting up, or just flop and stretch, wiggle my feet around, flail like a turtle, just, as you might say 'become one with my gear'. Nice thing about practice is no one cares if you mess up or try something new (and mess up), not like in a game or pickup.

At the end of clinic, the coaches have us play this game (which you might get to try, or maybe suggest) where one of us stands in net, and the other goalies (and/or another coach) are off to the sides, and the coach takes shots. Goalie makes a save, he gets a point. Coach scores, he gets a point. Rebounds are live, so the other goalies and/or coaches can fire one in, too. There's a lot of scrambling, occasional deliberate falling, frequent accidental falling. It's a quick game - play til five or win by two.

[beedee 227]

For those newer goalies here, how many clinics and/or pickup games did you guys play before getting on a team? I know everyones ability varies, but Im just trying to see how others approached it.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

I dont know if I went into detail on the first few pages of the thread, but basically I bought my pads in.. September? I don't remember exactly. I was told by our captain that our goalie was away for December and I needed to learn. So the first thing I did was a pickup. I did pickup every week in November, and then played a couple league games for my team in December. So maybe it was 4-5 pickup sessions before my first league game.

After that, I still did pickup every tuesday and started in a rookie league on thursday nights as a goalie. So I skated out sundays, pickup as a goalie tuesdays and league as a goalie thursdays.

Assuming you're talking about a low level division, a month or so of pickups should be enough. You'll probably still be awful (I got lucky that my first game as a goalie was against a really bad team and the guys in front of me played amazingly well and we ended up winning) but who cares.. so is everyone else on the ice at that level.

[beedee 227]

Thanks OR. Im planning on doing another clinic this monday and this wednesday again. Pick Up doesnt seem appealing at all to me due to the fact that no one plays defense at all. I played pick up this last Saturday night (skated out) and felt beyond sorry for our goalie. He was constantly facing 2 on 0 and even 3 on O. I do like how most of these clinics have included about 10 minutes of scrimmage time at the end. It has allowed me to get some game-like experience.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

I get quite a few 2 on 1 rushes but that's not a bad thing. I try to read the play, whether shot or pass.

Otherwise the D isn't too bad for us.

The rookie league I'm in, the other goalie had never even put his pads on before. So no big deal there. I wish all rinks had a rookie league... I know it would have been hugely beneficial when I started playing as a skater a couple years ago. Drills for 4 weeks then 12 games, with coaches on the benches.