Goalie Stance

We are going to delve into the strange and weird world of the last line of defense on the ice. Goalies to start with have to be a little strange to actually be willing to get hit with these little rubber biscuits moving at upwards of 80 mph in a good recreational league. In this post we are going to discuss the basic Goalie Stance (or ready stance).

Here you can see a goalie that is in a pretty good goalie stance. And most importantly, he got into this position just as the opposing teams lead Fowards approached the Blue Line. This stance is the foundation for good goal tending. If the goalie doesn’t get set up right from the start, the entire offensive push has a greater chance of success. From this position, all movement, positioning and saves are a follow on activity. If this stance isn’t strong and well practiced, the time to change position or make a save is increased. If you’re slower, then you are just relying on luck to make a good save.

Key Items to Notice

1. Catcher up high, in front of knee pads and open, facing where the shot may come from
2. Blocker out in front of the knee pad and taking up as much room as possible
3. Stick on the ice and at a angle
4. Knees bent and ready to move
5. Weight on the inside edges of the skates

Key 1

Look at the picture and you’ll see a triangle created with the corners being the goalies head, catcher side knee and the top corner of the goal. This area is the main region that the catcher has to cover. Keeping the catcher up, open and facing the puck at all times is one of the hardest things to get across to young goalies. Your catcher hand tends to get lazy as the game goes on. The catcher hand drops and the glove closes a bit. This all adds to reaction time. When the catcher is in the proper position, the time you have to react to make a good glove save is maximized. Additionally the amount of effort required to make the save is reduced, by lessening the distance you’ve got to move the glove.  And dropping the glove to make a lower save is easier than having to lift it from a low position.  Keeping it open and facing the puck also reduces the effort and time required to make a great glove save.  I can also say that keeping that catcher out in front of everything also helps with game vision.  This allows the goalie to see the puck and the catcher together.  It’s a lot easier to make a good save if you know visuall,y where both the catcher and the puck are in relation to each other.  The only way to do this is to keep that catcher up, open and facing the puck.

I’ll cover the other keys in future posts, so come back for more soon.