Coaches Corner

*Positions - The Goal Keeper* In the final installment of the Positions component of Coaches Corner we cover the vital role and positioning of the Goal Keeper. The single most important aspect of goaltending in ice hockey is positioning. Getting yourself into the right spot in the right stance at the right time will make your life much easier. The greatest goaltenders in the world make many saves look easy - they can do this because they have good positioning. You will find, more often than not, that if you get your positioning correct the puck will hit you, rather than you needing to reach for the puck.
There are several 'styles' of goaltending, generally broken into two categories - stand-up or butterfly (drop-down). Stand up goaltenders (see image 1) prefer to remain standing as much as possible, which gives them high mobility and more coverage of the net, particularly on long shots, but does leave them more vulnerable to low shots.		*Image 1*
*Image 2*	Butterfly goalies, on the other hand, are quicker to drop to their knees, adopting the 'butterfly' stance (see image 2). This style of goaltending reduces mobility, but protects better against low shots, and is highly useful when there is much traffic in front of the net, as only a shot from someone in the clear is likely to test the goalie.
Both styles have advantages and disadvantages. Perhaps the best approach is for the player to have their preference, but also have the ability to quickly switch between the two styles to enable them to capitalise on the relative strengths of both. Generally speaking, someone who is only skilled at one method will be quickly picked apart by the better players. Mobility is highly important to enable the goaltender to get into their correct position. Goalies need to rapidly change direction, get up and down, side to side, all the while keeping their eyes fixed on the puck. They should practice to increase these abilities, using off ice quickness drills, as well as on-ice reaction drills. There are a few bad habits that goaltenders get into. These include staying too far back in their net, and over-using the sliding 'stack save' techniques. All goaltenders need to be taught that the further back in their net that they stand, the more area they give players to shoot. It is also common for a goaltender in a one on one situation with a player to back away, even as the player makes their shot - now you need to move back to avoid letting the player deke around you, but at the moment that they take their shot, a quick move forward will substantially reduce the target area, making it much more likely that you will make the save (just remember to keep you eye on the puck after you do so to avoid letting in the rebound shot!).
The stack save technique (see image 3) is most often necessary when a player coming down the wing makes a quick pass across the ice to their teammate on the other side, who then takes a quick shot. In this situation you are sometimes caught out of position and need to make a quick sliding save, taking up as much of the net as possible - this is the main use for the stack save.		*Image 3*
Some goaltenders like this save because it looks spectacular, and so try to use it all the time. In reality, the save leave much of the high part of the net open, and players will quickly learn to shoot there if they see the goalie stacking their pads on almost every shot. The final aspect of goaltending that I will discuss is what to do with the puck once you have made the save. Generally you will want to get it to a teammate as fast as possible to try and catch the opposition off guard. However, to do this effectively you need to have both good stick skills (something which is commonly overlooked by goaltenders and coaches alike) and the ability to read and react to the play at hand. By this I mean that you should be able to judge whether or not you will be able to get the puck to someone. If not freezing the puck is probably your best bet. But what do you do if you do not have control of the puck? Well the safest place for the puck to be (in your end) is in the corner. When someone takes shot, always try to deflect it to the corner, so that your teammates will (hopefully) have time to set themselves up defensively and stop the opposition from even getting shots off. Finally, be VERY careful about leaving your net to play the puck. The boards can give strange bounces, which might end up with you standing in the corner while the opposing players skates the puck right into your net. Only leave your net to play the puck when you are sure it will be safe. When in doubt, leave it for you defensive players.