keeper_13

Good to hear. I totally understand the pressure to "not let down the team" but you are gonna need your knees every day for the rest of your life. Sometimes a brace can give you a false sense of security. Don't know what your health care options are, but in a perfect world you could be assessed by someone with a background in sports medicine, kinesthiology and/or physiotherapy. I would personally shut it down as soon as I had any kind of sharp or stabbing pain inside the knee, JMO.

I'm glad it was only 5-6 weeks, some people who hyper extend both knees will not get a full recovery. Being fallen on sucks, it happens sometimes though. It's not the pain or the discomfort, it's the chance of pointless injury. THIS is why it pisses me off so much when people run goalies - seriously, foaming-at-the-mouth, chewing-on-the-furniture, starting-up-a-posse level pissed off. We are super vulnerable when we are in a butterfly trying to smother a puck. Can't see the person about to hit us, and when they do hit us the impact will be to the top/back of the head, forcing our neck down, putting lots of weight on our hips and knees. Hockey players aren't light! Stupid, stupid way to be injured by craven gutless no-talent losers who know the only way they can win is by cheating. Ratt Tkachuk and everyone else who "accidentally-on-purpose" fall on goalies can jump up their own asses and go to hell, and so can the myopic zebras and clueless talking heads who enable and defend them. I don't generally approve of "Hextall-Fu" but IMO if someone runs you the correct thing to do is get your pound of flesh immediately (do try to be sure they actually ran you, not everyone who falls on you does so on purpose). Don't take a number and wait. It's like training a dog - you have to punish them right when they do it or they don't know why it's happening. If you wait to be defended, the best you can hope for is to be avenged. On a related tangent, it also it pisses me off when goalies leave their crease and set picks for their defenders. When we do that, we're forcing the forechecker to choose between "being a good sport" (ie not pointlessly injuring us) and "rewarding us for being bad sports" (ie: by allowing us to succeed at setting the pick, which is against the letter and spirit of the rules). I see this happen at the NHL level all the friggin time. KIDS - it's okay to play the puck, but goalies who set picks deserve what they will (eventually) get!

Careful with those - they can go from trivial to "shut your ass down" real quick!

1)Pre-hydrate! If I'm playing ball hockey at all, but especially inside, and especiallier in a small gym, I will start drinking water when I wake up, and will generally drink 1-3L of water. A good rule of thumb is the colour of your urine - if it's clear, you're hydrated. This will help your endurance, recovery time, reaction time, and more. If you don't plan to show up with lots of fluids in your system, you are planning to get lit up. If you want to get scientific about it, weigh yourself before you play and after you play. You can expect to lose 1-3% of your body weight to fluid loss. 2)Be aggressive on your angles! Good shooters can make a ball curl, bend and dip in some pretty funky ways. 3)Remember that most of the work you do to make a save happens before the shot is taken. Make sure that you are always centered in your net. 4)Work on your anticipation. Ideally, you should know what your opponent wants to do before they do it. 5)Exploit every 'mini-break' as much as possible. In a full-size rink, you will get between a dozen seconds and several minutes of rest in between sustained bouts of pressure. In a tiny gym, your 'rest breaks' will almost always be less than 10 seconds. Breathe deeply using your diaphragm and try to avoid panting and gasping for air. Cause all the cool kids are doing it.

Frog stretch - aka Bhekasana. Careful with this one! Do NOT force it, do NOT 'bounce' in it. Go into this stretch gradually and come out of it gradually. Do not expect to get your groin anywhere near as close to the ground as the lady in the picture. Not sure if I would recommend roller as a way to get better at ice, but I would defer to the opinions of goalies who have done both. One massive change is that with ball hockey or roller hockey, when you are regaining your feet, you lead with the foot on the side you want to move towards. So if you want to move right, you pick up your right foot first. On ice, you pick up your *opposite* foot, and then use it to push yourself so that you slide with one pad down on the ice. The goalie in this pic is moving to his right, our left. He will use his left skate to push himself to his right, and will slide to the right. Carey Price is a fricken wizard at this, and Helleybuck's not far behind. Try to youtube some footage of them warming up, you'll see them slide from side to side as part of the warm up. This is *way* more difficult than it looks. You don't *need* to do this to be an ice hockey goalie, but I don't think it's possible right now to be an elite ice hockey goalie without mastering this technique. That said, I've spent a total of 2 hours playing ice hockey so my opinion on how to be an ice hockey goalie should be taken with every grain of salt regionally available.

Read this article: Fischler Report: Hey, Goalies! Time to Wise Up and Ditch the Butterfly (msn.com) ...which reignited a longstanding gripe of mine. I am sick to death of people who obviously don't know a damn thing about goaltending being taken seriously when they sound off with their poorly informed opinions. If I was to bother writing a rebuttal it would be entitled "Thanks Genius, We F#&@ing Know That, They're Our Knees and Hips! The Problem Is Goalies Who Butterfly Make More Saves Than Goalies Who Don't Butterfly So If We Don't Do It We Don't Get A Sniff Of The Ice! Maybe Instead Of Lecturing Us Like We're Halfwits You Could Be Advocating For Rule Or Equipment Changes That Would Make The Butterfly Obsolete So That We Don't Feel Forced To Cripple Ourselves So That We Can Have The Privilege Of Doing What We Love!" Oy vey. Anyways, I've decided that I'm going to create some youtube videos in January to try to address some of this ignorance. I'm in the "gathering materials and writing scripts" phase and I figured I'd pick your collective brains first. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to explain how goalies make saves to people who have never played goal?

@CJ Boiss You are totally correct. KIDS! Don't listen to me, listen to him! For those of you who, like me, have internalized that whole "don't let the side down by admitting your body has crapped out on you," you probably still should listen to him, but my advice could be viewed as harm reduction, I guess. I have to admit, even believing you are correct, I know I am going to play through injury again. @bunnyman666Daaaaaayum... @FullrightLaughed when you said you like bruises. Makes me think of being a teenager and playing ball hockey with pads that ended at my knee, a glove and a blocker, and thinking I was all tough because I'd end up with bruises and welts all over my arms and torso. You make solid points about aging, I'm 40 now and am grappling with it. Also, on a side note - if you take a slapshot on the inside of the thigh, and it swells up the size of a grapefruit and looks like raw hamburger, it means you have internal bleeding and should seek immediate mental attention. Above all else, you should avoid alcohol, as it reduces your blood's ability to clot. I found out years after how incredibly stupid that particular risk was.

So there's a scrum in my slot late in the game last night, I'm in full on scramble mode, I'm rusty from not playing in a month, and I feel a nasty tweak in my left hip abductor. I get the whistle and while the lads are changing I leverage myself to my feet and surreptitiously test my leg (never let anyone know you're hurt until you're done for the night unless you know you need medical attention and can't play anymore). My leg can bear weight and the pain is not severe, but it is a stabbing pain and I can tell that I'm basically a one-legged goaltender. I can't butterfly or go up and down at all and I can't put any torque on my left leg, which means I can't even take proper goalie stance. On the other hand, I can skate at moderate intensity, if I'm mindful. I've been in situations like this a few times, and here's a handy algorithm that guides my choices: 1)Is it competitive or rec? Competitive hockey you will likely have a backup goalie. You owe it to yourself, your team, and your backup to admit you're hurt, get off the ice, and give the net to the backup, even if the game is on the line. Yourself, because if you try to goaltend through an injury at a high level you will get lit up and you will aggravate your injury. Your team, because you are unable to safely give them the effort level they deserve. Your backup, because what the hell do they bother showing up and putting their gear on for if they never get a sniff of the ice? The question to ask yourself is not, "can I play through this pain?" but rather, "will my body do the things I want it to do?" If your body will not move the way you want it to, gtfo of the crease. If your body can move, but you feel pain when it moves, move to step two. If you're playing rec hockey, you likely don't have another goalie, so when you throw in the towel the night is over for everyone. If you can safely play through the pain, move to step two. 2)What type of pain is it? In order of seriousness, stabbing pain > sharp pain > dull pain. Is the pain constant, or is it only with movement? Can you reproduce the pain, so that you are completely sure which movements you cannot do, or is it intermittent and unexpected? This is not about the severity of the pain, it is about the likelihood that the pain indicates potentially serious injury that may be made worse by playing through it. This is a highly personal decision and will be informed by your cumulative experience as an athlete. No one else can describe your pain or tell you what your body is capable of. If you are comfortable with the type of pain you are experiencing, goto step 3. 3)Have you lost the physical ability to move your body in certain ways? If so, which specific save selections are you unable to execute? Can you remember not to use those selections with your adrenaline up? Do you know which save selections you will use instead? You have now passed the "can I safely play" part of the test, and we're on to "how can I get the best results?" Goto step 4. 4)How good does the other team think you are? Your reputation can do some heavy lifting for you here. Smart forwards don't take shots if they think they have little chance of scoring. If I know the other team thinks I'm a good goalie (I can tell based on which shooting opportunities they take and which ones they pass up) I have more ability to fake it. IF THEY THINK I'M GOOD - 80% of my effort will be to use skating, angles and body language to bluff the shooters. They don't know I'm hurting, they don't know which specific save selections I am unable to use. What they do know is when they glance at my net, I'm where I should be. In the heat of the game, most non-goalies won't recognize the subtle difference between being properly set in your stance and standing in the right place hunched over pretending to be in your stance. I have finished games, and sometimes won, because the other team's shooters didn't know that I was hurt. This is a difficult balancing act - I need to appear to be healthy and sharp, but I also need to make sure I don't reinjure myself. Self-awareness is absolutely vital to doing this safely - you MUST be able to accurately interpret your body's pain in real time even though adrenaline is in the way, and you MUST know which save selections you are not using, and which ones you will use instead. You must also be willing to allow yourself to be scored on rather than use one of those save selections. Not everyone can do all of these things. Be honest with yourself, if you can't do these things get out of the net. IF THEY THINK I SUCK - Chances are I'm already getting smoked like a doobie. What's a few more crappy goals? I'm going to play more or less the same as if they think I'm good, but with less effort and more of a safety margin to make sure I don't hurt myself trying to lose 14-0 instead of 15-0. I'll also quietly let the lads know that I'm faking it. Note that I do not do this if I believe I'm in the other team's head - the lads will play better hockey believing their goalie has their back. If the lads know I'm a shell of my normal self, it will show through in their play, and the other team's smarter forwards WILL pick up on it. Smart goalies don't allow themselves to believe they are the smartest person on the ice. That way lies humiliation :) Anyways, to finish the story I started, I spent about another 10 minutes hobble/gliding around my crease and conceded two goals I would normally be very upset with myself over in a losing effort. On the upside though, we got to play the full game out. I don't like it when I'm the reason hockey ends early. I'm interested in the opinions of other goalies. Do you have anything to add, any stories to share, or anything you disagree with?

Get big socks and wear them on the outside of your shoes. NOT woolies, you'll roast, you want something that will not give very much friction on the floor. Pull the socks down so that the heels of your shoes are exposed. This lets you shuffle without taking your feet off the ground, which I personally find to be a really big deal. I can also get into my butterfly a little bit faster. When I need to lunge I just shift my weight a little bit back so more of my weight is on my heel - I lose a little bit of lunge range, but I can go into a butterfly or a lunge while moving my feet. My game is based around being in position, seeing the ball and having my feet set when the shot comes, so being able to move without having to lift my feet helps me a lot and is, for me, worth the discomfort of the socks. On the con side, I have to use one pair of shoes as my ball hockey goalie shoes because of the sweat damage the shoes take and the fact that the heel wears out much faster than the toe. I had a pair of Converse skate shoes I got almost 3 years out of that were the best for this. PROS - able to attempt save selections while moving, slightly better butterfly time, slightly smoother lunges in general. CONS - slightly reduced lunge range due to diminished traction, the subtle shift of weight backwards to the heel may be very unintuitive for some, by the time you've done this two dozen times your shoes are not really good for anything else, your feet get hot.

If you notice this happening a lot, I'd recommend some thought as to how you are holding your glove. I started out holding my glove low and out to the side like an 80s goalie, now I nearly always have it pointing at the 11 or 12 o'clock, like Price does in the pic above. In nearly all situations it is much better. I always use it on breakaways and am rarely beaten top cheese. It's possible you may be moving your glove too much. Ever watch an NHL game and see a shooter put the puck right into the goalie's glove? What's happening is the shooter is picking the corner, but the glove is already covering the corner. lol or the shooter goofed, which also happens sometimes. You may also want to challenge the shot more aggressively, which will have you cutting down the angle more. If you do this you can expect more dekes and fewer shots. I skate out aggressively to challenge the shot, then flow backwards towards my net, waiting until he makes the first move. He'll either shoot, in which case he hopefully has nothing to shoot at but my chest, or he'll deke. If he dekes I flow backwards towards the post he dekes towards, while being ready to use my stick to prevent him from switching sides. I try to match his speed and vector at the instant he shoots, and still try to make the save with my chest.

Skating! If you are in proper position when the shot is taken, the puck will hit you 70% of the time even if you don't move. Three ways to increase your skating: 1)set a half dozen pucks down in a rainbow arc maybe 5 feet outside your crease. Practice shuffling back and forth between them with your heels on your crease. This should have you moving along an arc, not along a line. If D is your net, you will skate this arc: ( D, not this line: | D. Shuffle from one puck to the next across the arc, stopping briefly when the puck is at the centre of your goalie stick. As you get better, assign a number to each puck, and then shuffle random sequences of numbers, ie: 1 4, 2 6, 1 2 6 4, etc. If you had better hips I would tell you to go into your butterfly and then back up when you reach the puck. 2)Get into your net and skate some letters. A, W, Y and Z are the best. Once you're feeling comfortable with them, try the alphabet. Focus on being loose and relaxed while moving and snapping tightly into position at the end, like how a boxer is loose while swinging and tight while connecting. 3)Set two pucks out past your hash marks, each with a go-pro behind it. Get tight to one of you posts and look towards the corner, visualizing an imaginary scrum. Glance towards one of the pucks as though you are glancing at a passing option, then return your gaze to the imaginary corner scrum. Visualize the pass leaving the corner and going to where the puck is. Push off your post and address that puck as though it were the one timer. When you think you are in perfect position to make the save, hold a second, then skate to the other post and do it again. Both posts is one rep, do 5 reps emphasizing proper technique and then do 5 reps emphasizing an explosive push off the post and the quickest re-setting you can manage. Now look at the go-pro footage. Any visible net is net the puck could find if it were shot. Do you see any double coverage (that's when two parts of your body cover the same area of net). How smooth is your skating?

One great thing about 3 v 3 play is that it is a great chance for you to build up your scouting book on players. Much easier to notice tendencies of players when there are only 3 of them on the ice against you. Yes pre-hydrate, yes buy yourself breathing breaks however you need to, yes expect to get scored on a lot, but remember to gather intel! Especially against good shooters. This one guy I played against had a rocket of a shot, but he'd glance down before taking it. Once I realized that, every time he glanced down I'd skootch out an extra foot or so, and I stopped every single shot he took against me for the next two seasons. When he moved away I told him how I had done it - I wish I could show you the look on his face! Most satisfying.

I talk to my team constantly, even when they can't hear me, but never to myself. A long time ago I read that you shouldn't worry about making all the saves, instead, just think about making the next save. I also read that stopping to think slows down reactions, so I strive not to think while I play unless the thought is about the next save, and anytime I catch myself thinking I'll remind myself that the only thing that is real is the next save, and anything that isn't the next save exists only to distract me from the next save. When I'm on my game I barely think at all, whether about the save or not. On bad nights I'll try to rally myself by singing the chorus to "Too Sick to Pray," but that's the exception, not the rule. Some distractions are obvious, some took me longer to recognize as being distractions. Things I used to think about that I no longer allow myself to think about while playing: -whether I'm "outplaying" the other goalie or not. a)any brain space spent thinking about the other goalie is brain space that isn't thinking about the next save, b)comparing two goalies will always be "apples and oranges" because if each save is like an equation, neither goalies will face the same equations making comparisons misleading at best, c)I am not increased by outplaying someone else, nor am I decreased by being outplayed by someone else. -whether I "should have" made the last save or not. Whether I just made a fantastic save I had no business making or shat the bed in the most unforgivable way possible, the last shot is not the next shot, therefore, it is an illusion that exists only to distract me from the next shot. -whether I am being favourably judged or not. Whether people like me as a goalie is a distraction from the next shot. This one is harder to tune out though, because deep down we all know that if we are judged unfavourably enough we won't get to play anymore.

I got super lucky - first store I checked had one pair of goallerblades left, they were on sale, they fit like a dream. Dropped a buck fifty and have been using them for 8 seasons. They're getting pretty haggard now, will be looking to replace them next time I'm back on the mainland. My goallerblade buying guidelines: -Never buy a rollerblade you haven't tried on. -While trying the blade on, skate with it using the same movements you would in a game. I will try some leg pads on at the same time and wear them just to make sure my skating mechanics are as realistic as possible. -Make sure there is a nice thick chunk of plastic protecting your toes. -Don't buy something that hurts your feet. I think hockey players think skates are supposed to hurt. *gruntandshrug* I've never needed to hurt my feet to make saves. -Be willing to go to as many stores as it takes. Be willing to spend on quality, be unwilling to spend "just because." I'm expecting to spend $200-400 and am going to buy a backup set of wheels at the same time.

Surprised there's nothing here on this topic, figured I'd get the ball rolling. Played ball hockey ~20 years, transitioned to roller hockey & have played it for about 10 years. Wholly self-taught goalie, so take this with a grain of salt. This is a surprisingly difficult transition. Bring plenty of humility. Good news is that you can do LOTS of grinding by yourself. Bad news is that there is a learning curve and you are going to concede goals you won't be very happy with. Nobody gets to be a black belt without first being a white belt, it's just the way of the world. Biggest difference is going down - you almost seem to stick to the ground! Even a gym floor lets you slide/shimmy once you are down, but the cement surface I play on does not. Before taking shots, practice the mechanics of your butterfly, then practice going down into the butterfly and back up to your feet, then practice going into your butterfly while moving side to side, like if you were facing a cross-crease one-timer. That third one is most difficult, it puts a surprising amount of strain on the inside of your knees and groin, and you may find that it feels unsafe for the first while that you play rollergoalie. For sure do it gently the first few times you try it! You really ought to do all these things before taking shots. It should only take you 5 minutes to get familiar with these motions, although you may play for quite a while before you feel comfortable going into a butterfly while moving cross-crease, which is IMO the most difficult and highest risk-of-injury save selection in rollerhockey. There's a good reason that the pad stack is not obselete in roller hockey! Next biggest difference is your skating mechanics - if you don't know these techniques already, learn the C-cut and the T-push, both of which are easy to learn from youtube videos. You will use the C-cut when changing position and when adjusting depth, you will use the T-push for big angle changes, and you will shuffle for small ones. Shuffling on rollerblades is more awkward than on feet. Your first session in net, most of your attention should be on your skating and on safely going down and getting back up. If anyone comments on your reduced save percentage, tell them it's not a contract season and there will be no refunds or post-game interviews. Next biggest difference is the trajectory of a ball versus that of a puck. A ball can bend, swerve and/or curl in all kinds of interesting ways. I've had balls hit me in the chest that had so much spin on them that they rolled up my chest, over my shoulder and into the net! The puck can't do anything like that (well, it can flutter on a clumsy release but those are uncommon). It goes in a straight line from the point of release. This makes the goalie's job MUCH easier! Set a puck down in scoring position with a go-pro on the ground directly behind it. Now get to one of your posts and pretend there is a scrum in the near side corner. Glance at the puck you have set down, as though you are in a game situation glancing at motion. Return your gaze to the imaginary corner battle. Visualize the puck being centered, and move with as much explosiveness and technical skill as you can manage so that you are addressing the puck with the go-pro behind it. Once you think you are in perfect position to make the save, drop into the most technically perfect butterfly you can manage. Now skate to the other post and do the whole thing 10 times. The first five sets focus on perfect technique, the second five sets pick up the pace a little bit. Now go watch the go-pro - it will tell you if your positioning is accurate. This is, to a goalie, what practicing with a metronome is to a musician. Any part of your body that is outside of the net is being wasted! Any net that the go-pro can see is a place the puck could score on you. Watch for and reduce "double-coverage" - part of your glove may be covering part of the net that your chest is already covering, for instance. Experiment with this every so often - no matter how good you become, there is always room for improvement. Ideally you should be covering 80+% of the net. You should also know where you are not covering - good shooters will aim there, and being a good shooter is less of an advantage if the goalie knows where you want to shoot before you take the shot. I've played with and without rollerfly pad extensions (the plastic things with the bearings that give you some of the slide you would get on ice). If two goalies are still getting used to roller hockey, the goalie with rollerfly has a decisive advantage over the one who does not. I also felt safer using the butterfly save selection while moving cross-crease, however, I now feel just as safe doing this save selection with or without the rollerfly. If both goalies are used to roller hockey, it's a much smaller advantage. They are still useful for extending the life of your pads - a lot of the wear and tear of sliding on the concrete has been absorbed by my rollerflies, which are all chewed up. I guesstimate they extended the life of my pads by two seasons. You are probably already doing the frog stretch right before you play. After the frog stretch, before shifting positions, practice extending and retracting your legs, as though they are pinball flippers and you are alternating them. This will increase your ability to reposition yourself after going down but without getting back up, which is much more difficult in roller hockey. Positioning is vital! Think about your x, y and z axis. X is left-right along the goal line. Y is near-far from the goal line. Z is the rotation of your hips. You hips should ALWAYS be square to the shot! When challenging the shooter, I go x->z->y, in that order, as quickly as possible. When I'm really on my game it feels like one fluid motion. In ball hockey, the high shots are harder and the low shots are easier. In roller hockey it's the other way around. I find "just above the pad" to be more difficult than "top cheese," your mileage may vary. In ball hockey, a shot can be released much more quickly. Once you are used to that, pucks seem to have a very long release, especially when the puck is being raised. I find it MUCH easier to read a shot with a puck than with a ball. This is the biggest advantage that you get from your ball hockey background! In ball hockey, I find the backhander to be much more formidable, partly because it is so much easier to raise, and partly because it's so much more difficult to read. The backhander is much less useful with a puck. Lunging saves and second saves are more difficult in rollerhockey because you have so much friction with the ground. I'm starting to incorporate a subtle sort of almost-jump-just-as-I-extend-the-pad, which really reduces the friction and increases my potential range of motion. It's less of a "jump" because I don't leave the ground, but I do sort-of-heave my weight upwards as though I were going to jump to reduce the friction of my leg as it slides along the cement. Very subtle, takes practice, will probably happen spontaneously as you get more comfortable. It's certainly not something I intentionally developed, but if I'm already in my butterfly and need to make a diving leg extensions there is now a distinctly... jump-kicky... feel to that motion, if that makes any sense. If you've been playing ball hockey, you're used to making unconventional saves. Embrace that! After you've been at this for a few seasons your game will get more and more technically sound. For now, do whatever works that feels safe. As your skating improves, your need to Hasek will diminish. I still Hasek on average every other night, but I used to Hasek at least three times per night. I have consistently found that I get a higher save percentage than I feel I deserve when Haseking in rollerhockey. Take a few Aikido classes, or watch a few videos. The techniques you want are the front, side and back roll. I use the side roll rarely, the back roll infrequently, and the front roll never, but I'm happy to have them in my toolkit. Just last Friday I was tight to my post and there was a quick bang-bang passing play, where the rebound came to a forward who passed behind the net, then another pass to the other side behind the net, then a quick jam play attempt. I backrolled across my crease and tried to seal my post lying on my back with my pads in the air, and he very kindly put the puck right into my pads, mostly because he didn't think there was any way I could get across in time. If you end up getting more advanced in Aikido they'll also teach you about fighting while prone, and the body mechanics you'll learn will also help you scramble as a goalie and maintain your awareness of the rink while scrambling. If a ball finds its way through your gear it might sting a little. If a puck finds its way through your gear it's gonna hurt like a mofo, and if you're really unlucky, it can break a bone! If you've never played with a puck before, get a buddy to make sure your gear is fitted. When breaking in new goalies I'll jab them hard with two fingers in the chestie, especially in the area around the collarbone, to make sure that there is no gap a puck might find. I've only ever taken one slapshot in the clavicle but I did not enjoy it and don't want to do it again. Once I'm sure their chestie fits, I'll jab it with the butt end of a stick with some force, so they know just how protected they are. You CANNOT use the butterfly if you don't trust your chestie and your helmet. Other area to be extremely sure of is the top of the knee - a slapshot with a ball is no big thing, a slapshot with the puck is gonna suck. A big strong man winding up for a big slapshot with a puck can be intimidating in a way that a ball just isn't. You need to want the puck to hit you right in the chest, REALLY HARD! You need to trust your gear! In the moment that the puck strikes you, visualize yourself as a sponge, "soaking up" the puck. It will help your rebound control. Move into the shot - this will help keep your body centered and will also tend to channel rebounds to the corners instead of the slot. The puck has more friction against the floor than it does against the ice. This makes things a little more difficult for forwards. Get a buddy to take five shots on you low, five shots on you high, alternating between the two, until you can tell from his body language whether he is going to raise the puck or not. It is MUCH easier to read shots with pucks than balls because the release is slower and raising the puck requires more deliberation. Post integration is very different - the reverse VH is much less useful because you can't easily move in and out of it like you can on the ice. The "normal" VH is easier to get in and out of, but I use it very sparingly. I'm 5"10 and 165 lb so maybe a bigger goalie would have more luck with it. I don't use the super-old school both-legs-straight-one-leg-against-the-post, but I keep one ankle against the post and lay my outside arm along the post as well, allowing me to have my other leg out, giving me the ability to push off my post while also taking away the near side shot. Amateurs think about big saves, professionals think about skating! The better I get at rollergoalie, the more I focus on my skating. If my feet are set and I see the shot, I'll probably save it. I need to do a lot of very precise skating to keep myself continually ready for the shot. Watch yourself for skating errors. I track my skating errors every night, and am always looking to reduce that number. Most of my skating errors occur in moments where a shot is not threatened, but for me, it's an excellent way to track my progress. For me, it's much easier to practice rollergoalie by myself than it is ball hockey goalie. Like night and day. That said, skating is a very large part of my game, so this may not be true for everyone. I can train solo with the above go-pro trick and by skating letters, especially A, W, Y and Z. Do a down-and-up at the end of each line. Every once in a while I'll do the alphabet. As with any other new skill, at the start of your practice you should be doing it at half tempo with emphasis on technique - this is how your body most efficiently builds muscle memory! As you get better, start your practice at half tempo then bring it up to regular tempo at the end. When you feel really comfortable, start at half, go up to normal, then pick it up another notch. Breakaways are much more difficult at first, especially if they deke. Once your skating improves this will get better. I face breakaways just like I do in any other type of hockey - cut down the angle aggressively, flow backwards, make him make the first move, move towards whichever post he dekes towards, keep my hands active, try to make it so that at the moment the shot is released my speed and vector perfectly matches his, and try to get my chest behind the shot when possible. It took me a long time to get good at breakaways. Slapshots are much easier - the puck travels in a straight line, which is a real treat for anyone used to playing against a ball! If your anticipation, positioning and skating are good most of them will hit you in the chest. Keep your hands active! I extend my glove and blocker ~1.5-2 feet in front of my body while keeping my elbows loosely tucked against my torso. This really helps me track pucks into my glove/blocker and has increased my save percentage on high shots by a fair amount. Get actual goalie rollerblades. The first time you take a big slapshot off your toe you will see why. You're welcome I keep a strip of fresh sock tape along the bottom of my goalie stick so that the cement court doesn't chew up the stick. Have gotten 4 seasons out of my current stick, it should be good for at least 3 more. It's a composite stick and I love it. And now, a word from our sponsor. This post has been brought to you by the practice of paying people for the time they put in, instead of the work they put in. I finished my job two hours ago, but for some damn reason my employer feels like if I haven't spent 8 hours behind my desk he didn't get his money's worth. So if I am getting paid to push papers, and the papers are already pushed so instead I write a big post about how to play goal... does that make me a professional goalie coach? I mean, I got paid while I did it, right? ...I'm putting it on my resume and hoping no one asks.

I got back into basketball after a 12 year absence this year and have really enjoyed rediscovering the game. I am not a very good shooter so try hard on d, and I watched some youtube videos on how to close out and how to mark guards so I could pull my weight. I spent my off season from roller hockey playing basketball and my footwork really improved. Then hockey season started again and I put the blades on for the first time in four months expecting to be rusty... and was really, really sharp. Like, my skating and bladework were better than they had been at the end of last season. I'm pretty sure it's from the basketball. So I'm wondering what sports you guys cross-train with, and which you find to be the most effective, and what parts of your game are helped by which sports?

I played keeper in outdoor soccer for years where this is super important and would add a few (hopefully) helpful thoughts: Whenever I play with a new group of hockey players I gather the lads for a brief chat and tell them I've played a lot of goal in outdoor soccer so I'm way more vocal than most hockey goalies. I go over some of the terms I use in front of the group to make sure everyone is on the same page - stuff like, when I say "mark" I mean "be goal side", "square" means "sideways", "jockey" means "stay with him while denying him the middle of the ice but don't actively challenge to take the puck, instead, ensure he doesn't beat you," "screen" means "get of my way so I can see the shot," etc. I'll state that if there is a two on one I always have the shot and I always want my D to take the pass (I always call this out in real time as well). I really like everyone knowing that everyone knows how to play two on ones. I also say something like "I talk a lot and give a lot of direction, I don't want to come across as bossing people around but I do want to be the best goalie I can be. I'm not giving you orders, I'm making sure you know what your options are, because I can see most of the rink without turning my head." It takes about 2 minutes and prevents misunderstandings later. I try to keep my demeanor upbeat, confident and respectful and try to know what I want to say before making the speech. Most people in Canada and America are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death. As a goaltender, you already have to be willing to fail publicly and spectacularly. If you're willing to accept looking like a dingus learning to stop a puck, which is a skill that is useless everywhere else in life, why not accept that same risk learning to publicly speak, which is really useful in a lot of areas? When your mates do something good, praise them loudly and publicly. When your mates do something bad, correct them quietly and privately. If you forget everything else, remember this! If you're the backup goalie for whatever reason, be the "rah rah" guy. First of all, you never know what that guy brings until he isn't there. Second of all, you're on the bench but you're part of the team, so you should be looking to contribute in any way you can. Third of all, if the backup goalie is engaged, the skaters have no excuse not to be. Never give a teammate attitude about an honest mistake. Respect yourself, your teammates, your opponents, the officials, and the rules of the game. Require strength, but first demonstrate it. Never ask someone to do something you wouldn't. Ideally, try to avoid asking someone to do something they haven't seen you do (this will obviously not always be possible). Be able to give and receive criticism gracefully. Learn to use your breath like singers and yogis do. Learn to project your voice from your diaphragm like stage actors and public speakers do. When your mates hear your voice it should sound confident, forceful and clear. Remember that even with your mouth shut you are always communicating with your team through your body language. If you make a difficult save and act like it's no big deal, they'll believe that you will make the next difficult save. If you make a difficult save and celebrate, they'll believe that you got lucky, and you may fire up the goalscorer you thwarted, besides. Also, if you make a difficult save it's probably after one or more of your skaters screwed up, so by making the save seem less difficult you are also reducing the memory spectators will have of your teammate's screw-up, and they'll really value that. As spectators, we tend to not really notice defensive miscues unless they result in goals. Your body language should be confident, calm, patient, and deliberate. If you get scored on and act like you are upset, one of two things may happen, depending on how much your team likes you. If they don't like you, a screw this guy attitude can set in and they may become less willing to hustle on the back-check for you. If they do like you things can get even worse - they might start feeling bad for you and start trying to do too much. What happens when the defender tries to take the shot and the pass? They take neither, and the goalie has a real tough time. I'll take two clean breakaways over one indecisive defender, thanks very much. When I get scored on, I strive to give no reaction at all. Perfection is beyond mere humans like me, but I'm damn good and so's my game. You don't show your teammates how much you care by your reaction to goals, you show them how much you care by your work ethic during practice. Since this is about communication, remember that your actions speak louder and more clearly than your words ever can. Strive to avoid hypocrisy while keeping in mind that all humans are hypocritical sometimes. Be willing to admit when you are wrong. When new information comes to light, re-evaluate old opinions. There's more politics in hockey than there is in politics. Goalies can add value and differentiate themselves by being leaders and communicators. Goalies can lose value by being a source of drama and disharmony.

Really informative and thought provoking. I tell myself that my job as a goalie is to make the next save. If I'm thinking about something that isn't making the next save, I am not thinking about doing my job and I am wasting processing capacity that I could be spending on trying to make the next save. Human brains are not able to focus on only one thing for an entire hour, so I allow my mind to wander where it will whenever the puck is not in play. When the puck is on the other side of half I keep my gaze fixed on it but I assume an attitude of restful alertness. From whistle to whistle, I expect myself to think of nothing but the next save. When I catch myself thinking about something else I'll let it go without blaming myself and refocus on making the next save. If I'm thinking about blaming myself for failing at something, I'm not thinking about the next save, and the next save is the only thing that's important while the puck is in play. Self-blame is best channeled into diligent practice habits, during a game, it is a wasteful luxury I have no time for. A goaltender needs a clean head and a free heart. Avoid doing things in your personal life that cause you to feel guilty or undeserving. Learn to mentally "set down" problems that you can't do anything about so that you can "pick them back up" again later, and set all your real life problems down while you are on the ice. In practice, focus on the process. In games, focus on the results. At all times focus.

Especially at lower skill levels, lots of teams think "warming up a goalie" entails "taking a bunch of slapshots." Sound out your mates, find out who knows how to warm up a goalie, and make sure everyone knows that it's their job to warm you up before every game. For some reason, the team's best shooter is NEVER the guy who knows how to warm up a goalie If no one on your team knows how, search out a good youtube video on the topic and show it to the person you have the best rapport with and/or has the highest hockey iq and ask them to be in charge of warming you up using those methods. With some teams, the lads won't really feel settled if you don't let them take some slapshots, but you should claim control of the first 50-75% of your pre-game warm-up time.

Some real good stuff here. I have reached that nice place where I'm ready to advance a division - if my feet are set and I see the shot I expect I'll make the save and my team almost always wins if goaltending matters, but I had a real bad night on Wednesday where neither of those things were true. Whoopsie! Figured I'd share a few "salvage the evening" tips for how to best handle the crushing emotional lows you will sometimes feel. The goal is to regain confidence and focus immediately after every goal, even the ones you feel ashamed of. This means that the "snowball" effect described so perfectly above needs to be nipped in the bud, preferably using multiple approaches. While practicing and visualizing, consider: Be honest with yourself when you are bailed out by luck. If you are down and out and beaten clean and desperately wave your glove in the direction you intuitively believe the forward wants to shoot, and he obligingly hits your glove, everyone else is going to think you made an amazing save. You need to know better. Know which saves you deserved and which ones you didn't, and address the saves you didn't deserve with the seriousness you address the saves you didn't make. This helps you be more realistic with yourself about your current abilities, which helps you set reasonable standards for yourself. Don't let the highs take you too high, and don't let the lows take you too low. The dice have no memory, and neither should you. Believe that whether you just made the last 10 saves in a row or just conceded the last 10 goals in a row, your odds of making the next save do not change. Your worth as a goaltender is not bound up in whether you made the last save or not. Nobody's such a chump that they can't roll a 20, and nobody's such a star that they can't roll a 1. Goaltenders sometimes experience dizzying emotional highs. When you make a fantastic save, regain control of your emotions quickly. The more you thirst for the highs, the more you will be hurt by the lows, and both the highs and the lows only exist to distract you from your real job, which is making the next save. The lows are an inevitable result of playing goal - practice, preparation, and even success will not prevent them. I played a great tournament one time - won 10 games in a row and went all the way to the finals against a team full of sandbaggers who had won in the division one tier above us last year but didn't feel like working for their win this year. Late in the third the puck was tied up in a scrum on the halfboards and it seemed safe to risk a glance at the motion on the off wing. Somehow a weak shot was taken just after my eyes left the puck, and by the time I glanced back it was too late to react to it dribbling between my legs. I was the only reason we were even in the tournament, let alone the game, and God love em, the lads rallied and got their chances, but couldn't solve the other keeper, and that goal eliminated us. I lay awake all night watching that puck go in again and again, and it's been six years but I still remember it vividly. Obviously you should still practice, prepare, and try to succeed, but be aware that playing good won't protect you from feeling bad sometimes. Immediately after every goal scored on me: Control my breath -> control my heart rate -> control myself. If you are breathing at a deep, measured pace, your brain and muscles are getting optimal oxidization, and you will feel calmer and more in control than if you were panting and gasping. Everywhere in your life, work on your breath, like a singer or a yogi would. When I go jogging, I inhale to a count of 4, hold to a count of 4, exhale to a count of 4, hold to a count of 4. At my best, I could run 8km that way without losing that breath. It's super useful and just takes practice. Similarly, if your heart is at a normal, resting rate, you will feel calmer and more in control than if your heart is going like a jackhammer, all other things being equal. After every play regain control of your breath and then your heart rate. Put some mindfulness into your heart rate - it is possible for humans to consciously control it. You don't need to be very good at this to gain benefits as a goaltender. It's partly about reducing your recovery time after exertion, but it's also about inculcating an attitude of calmness. Wrap yourself in layers of calm. If you didn't like the way you made a save, do it again. When I feel like I let one in I should have had, I'll mentally rewind, imagine the play happening again, and will address the shot again, this time saving it with the correct save selection and good technique. Every once in a while, me getting scored on and immediately resetting myself and pretending to make a phantom save draws mockery, which ties nicely into the next point: Give zero fs how you are perceived. If you are thinking about being judged by your teammates/coach/crowd/crush/whoever, you are not thinking about making the next save. This is extra important, because: Most hockey people have no idea how goalies make saves, but have a pretty fair idea of whether a goalie "should have" made an individual save. There will be times your teammates blame you unfairly, and there will be times they credit you unfairly. It's not your fault or theirs, goaltending has become incredibly hyperspecialized. Your belief in yourself has to exist independently from other people's belief in you, because your knowledge of what is and isn't "good goaltending" should be at a higher level than theirs. Have an emergency ritual that you ONLY go to on the bad nights. For me, this is softly singing the chorus to "Too Sick to Pray." I find the lyrics very appropriate and they help restore my resolve, focus, and self-belief when they waver. Hope this is helpful, sorry it became a giant essay!