OLD DOGS: SESSION #6 RECAP AND SESSION #7 ANNOUNCEMENT
Hey Old Dogs!
This is just a quick recap on last night’s session. The plan was to type it up between goals of the latest Philly vs Pittsburgh game but it is 7-4 at the beginning of the 3rd period so there hasn’t been much time to type this up.
It was good to see some new faces at the clinic last night. The new “Dogs” worked really hard in this first session for them although I know getting back into Drill/Practice mode is a new world of hurt for many of us who have been away drills for 20 plus years. They all stuck it out really well and I was especially amazed that they picked up the multiple concepts of the butterfly slide and back-leg recovery. There were, of course, some kinks in relearning some of the basic movements, but the instructors and I will keep the heat on this to make sure that it is delivered consistently from now and into the future. It is the foundation to efficient and effective play.
Not to repeat too much about the butterfly slide technique that we worked on in the previous sessions. We revisited the single-knee drops which I think are the foundational drill to initiate the butterfly slide under control. I like the single-knee drops because it focuses the goalie in putting the lead knee down first before the push-side knee. It is quite common for many starting the butterfly slide to drop their push leg prior to dropping their lead knee. It leads to a choppy slide and worse, the goalie loses the on-ice coverage on the lead leg slide which is usually the purpose of initiating a butterfly slide.
There was also another element that I haven’t addressed in my recaps on the single-knee drop drill and that is about the positioning of the skate edge of the push leg. It will probably take some time as the goalies may be limited in their control of their hip-rotation of their legs. Most typically, the goalie will want the push leg’s skate edge to be perpendicular to desired direction of movement. With goalies new to the butterfly concept and limited hip-rotational control, a single knee-drop will usually force the hips/pelvis to “open up”. This opening of the pelvis will force the push skate to “open” as well as the toe of the skate will rotate away from the body line. The push leg will no longer be pushing against the perpendicular line of desired motion and the goalie will have a less than desired push. When you goalies practice the single knee-drops during your private ice hockey sessions, try to focus not only have a good lead leg on the ice, but watch out for your skate rotation on the push leg side. I bring everyone back to Maria Mountain’s videos Hip Rotation Discussion and Hip Rotation Exercises as a great foundation to building up your hip flexibility. It’ll improve your technique and help prevent in-game injuries.
During the actual puck drills in the shooting stations, I wanted to draw attention to the positioning of the lead leg during the push and the problem of rotating while sliding on the ice. This is typically a problem of having the lead foot to fall back behind the goalie’s butt creating “drag” like the rudder on a boat. The rudder leg will cause the goalie to rotate clockwise when pushing left to right or counterclockwise when pushing right to left. The objective here is to attempt to keep the sole of the foot of the lead leg pointed in the desired direction of movement. If you find that you are rotating out of control on your hard slides, check to see if the lead leg is pointed in the desired direction of movement or is it pointed behind you. Watch some demos of the pendulum drill (this is a variation of what we did in Session #6 where I had the goalies recover up) and the lead leg direction:
Roman B Doing the Pendulum Drill
Maria Mountain's Dryland Pendulum Workout
Our next session will follow our natural progression of the butterfly slide and we will work on our Butterfly Shuffle or Backside Edge Slide. This has become a staple of goaltending for goalies to make quick lateral adjustment for in-tight second chances. The above Pendulum Drills demonstrate the Backside Edge Slide more than a typical butterfly slide. This session will be very challenging as the mechanics are difficult. Weight transfer will play a big part of this and I highly recommend everyone come with freshly sharpened skates. Sharp edges are a requirement in getting the strength behind the pushes in this session. I will adapt my standard drill a bit so that we will have a little lateral momentum prior to the backside edge push. This will help, but not as much as sharp skates.
As a reminder to all that our 7th Session is scheduled for April 19th at 9:00 pm at Cole Harbour Place Scotia #1 Rink. I am expecting a very good turnout for this session, but I still ask if you can’t make it please let me know as soon as possible so I can open up a net for someone else or so I can book the right number of shooters. The numbers are starting to increase and if I can get a consistent 12 goalies or more a session, I will book our planned #9-#12 sessions as an hour and half clinic (pending ice availability) at the same cost. There is so much more we can work on in an 80 minute session that we can’t in 50 minutes, so pass the word to your goalie contacts!!
All the best in goaltending,
Todd Bengert