Friday, December 7, 2007

Must Be the Week for Bad Goalie Advice from Coaches

Well, 2 more students at out Goaltender Training Centre had really bad advice from their coaches this week, seems its a bad week for coaches trying to be something they are not...goalie coaches!

One of my students comes to see me for goaltending instruction, from the Detroit area. They make the 2 - 3 hour trip often because they can't get good goaltending instruction in their area. The student is 13 and plays AA against Little Caesars, Compuware, Bell Tire, etc., so it's pretty good hockey. The coach suggested that his goaltender play with his chest bent far forward of his legs, as if he was looking down at the ground in front of him. He suggested that this would help his butterfly.

Truth is, this advice couldn't be further from the truth, playing with the body extended forward will SLOW the butterfly drop and eliminate some needed net coverage, plus it kills the absolutely necessary balance that every goalie needs.

The second goaltending student we saw who had received bad advise from his coach was a much younger goalie who's coach had told him that when he dropped into a butterfly he should immediately pull his stick back into his pads. If you can picture, or even imitate this, drop to your knees and pull your stick (blocker) hand all the way back so your stick would be against the knees and straight up and down.

This causes multiple problems:
1. The hole under the armpit becomes MUCH larger than using a 'straight arm' technique with the stick out in front in a 'ramp' type position (which is GOOD, because it allows stick shots to deflect up into the chest for maximum rebound control)
2. It almost always results in the stick moving away from the body when trying to close the hole under the armpit.
3. If a stick save is made the puck will rebound directly back into the slot, much like a ball hitting a wall.

At our goaltending schools and training Centre we always teach our goaltending students to hold their arms almost straight and have their elbows 'popped' out just enough to allow free arm movements, this makes closing the holes under the arms very easy with a simple inward rotation of the elbow, the stick also stays put in the 5 hole area with almost no movement.

We keep hoping coaches will leave the goaltending instruction to the goalie coaches, but it seems it will never happen....

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