Does the break of your glove determine if you're fingers up or to the side?

[OldSchoolGoalie]

I was browsing thehockeyshop and I noticed on the https://www.thehockeyshop.com/products/vaughn-ventus-slr4-pro-senior-goalie-catcher there was this part:

"
Break Angle
The SLR4 has a 75° break angle, which feels similar to CCM’s 600 break. This break is designed to be held in a side position rather than upright. In terms of feel and look, this catcher feels very similar to the previous SLR2.
"
 

It seems they're saying you're supposed to hold the glove with your fingers pointing to the side (3 O'clock) and not say a fingers up 11 or 12 O'clock.

I was always taught that as long as your hands are up and out in front of you with the pocket square to the puck you're fine, and the rest is personal preference in terms of where your fingers are pointing.

Since I'm no expert on this I was very curious if there was any actual substance to this and if a glove is a certain break you "should" be holding it only in the indicated way. I've used a lot of gloves and have gone from fingers down with my Heaton to fingers to the side with Sherwood and Vaughn and CCM, then even tried fingers up with Vaughn SLR as well and it didn't seem to negate the ability to catch pucks as long as you're getting them in your pocket.

[keeperton]

The short answer is kind of. I use 600 style gloves typically (I think, I like Vaughn Velocity and Brian's GNetik style gloves, which is more conducive to a fingers-up stance since the pocket is more in line with your hand, whereas if you did that with a 580 that'd kind of put the pocket pointing at your head. It's something I started to adopt over a couple of years when transitioning from a 590 style glove to a 600 and found it helped me catch pucks a little more. For reference, I'm holding my fingers at about a 10:30 o'clock (if fingers to side is 9 o'clock and I'm measuring on my middle finger).

I think it's weird that it says it's a 75° break angle, to be like a 600, which is straight-up not the angle the 600 is. I don't know what that's about.

 

The way I teach it to the children I coach, that are older and having this conversation with me and based on how their glove presents, "let's get our hand in a way where we'll catch more pucks. It's easier to bring it down than it is to bring it up." If you're active with your hands in your stance, projecting toward the puck, it's mostly a matter of optimizing your box control on the fringes and being in tune with how your glove closes; these are rather fine tunes to make on top of more important fundamentals. All that said one of the kids I coach holds his glove like a goalie from an EA NHL game, exactly horizontal, and he hasn't been very coachable when it comes to adjusting, especially as the play calls for it.

Edited March 26 by keeperton

[OldSchoolGoalie]

1 hour ago, keeperton said:

I think it's weird that it says it's a 75° break angle, to be like a 600, which is straight-up not the angle the 600 is. I don't know what that's about.

They say the same on the SLR2-ST glove which I use.

https://www.thehockeyshop.com/products/vaughn-ventus-slr2-st-pro-sr-catcher

I've gone back and forth between fingers up and to the side and honestly it does feel like I catch more with the side, but... I prefer fingers up as it feels more natural to me. Just wasn't sure if I'm going against the glove here by doing fingers up based on the break.

Also when I visually look at the pocket it will slightly do double coverage with fingers up at 12 so you got to do a slight rotation between 11 and 10:30 or so.

(I might do a picture later to show but not sure if I should be forcing fingers to the side with this glove or not?)

Edited March 26 by OldSchoolGoalie

[OldSchoolGoalie]

What are your thoughts when comparing these two videos?
 

 

 

 

Brings in two perspectives to position. I know I've hard how going down is faster, but I've also heard going up is also faster due to your muscles contracting.

I have found the fingers up does visually make a shooter less likely to go there on a quick glance, but the draw back I found is that I still have to adjust to catch it perfectly if it doesn't get stuck in the pocket, and at times it does feel like a bit of a blocker. For reference I've mostly done fingers down and to the side for most of my playing time. 

[creasecollector]

I think it could but ultimately It's how the goalie decides to hold his/her glove that will reflect position.

I hold mine in more of a slighty raised shaking someone's hand glove positioning.

[keeperton]

21 hours ago, OldSchoolGoalie said:

What are your thoughts when comparing these two videos?
 

 

 

 

Brings in two perspectives to position. I know I've hard how going down is faster, but I've also heard going up is also faster due to your muscles contracting.

I have found the fingers up does visually make a shooter less likely to go there on a quick glance, but the draw back I found is that I still have to adjust to catch it perfectly if it doesn't get stuck in the pocket, and at times it does feel like a bit of a blocker. For reference I've mostly done fingers down and to the side for most of my playing time. 

For what it's worth, I don't consider fingers-up to be the same as having your glove hand all up. In a thumbnail that came up for me after watching these, I would call this fingers up, but not necessarily say the glove is up.

I think some breaks lend themselves better to the mechanics of your hand closing it while in a fingers up position, though that's likely different from person-to-person as everyone's anatomy is slightly different.

In the end, experiment and do whatever is more comfortable for you, but be willing to adjust if it helps your game and know that no adjustment is typically met with immediate success or comfort.

[mik]

Did someone said fingers-up glove position ?

 

[coopaloop1234]

I know the placement of my fingers changes as I use different gloves and/or breaks. The main focus is keeping the pocket upright and presented well, depending how that pocked sits on your hand will change how my hand sits.