Rise of the Little Titans: Rules for Smaller Goalies

As a goalie coach, I'm often tasked with trying to help a goalie overcome the prejudice to being a mini-goalie.  You know, the goalie that is small for his/her size and who has a lot of talent but not a lot of surface area or length of bone.  Being a fan of the professional game, I fully acknowledge the trend is to big (and bigger goalies: I'm looking at you Senators!) and in the many scouting reports and evaluations that I have completed, I never failed to comment on the goalie's size in my notes.  Unfortunately, it is relevant...to a degree.

To address the hurdles that smaller goalies face, I have started a series of posts highlighting some issues and goalie profiles of these Little Titans.  Today I want to look at the main technical elements that they need to work on to be thought of as big-game goalies rather than small-frame goalies.  These elements will produce the “illusion of being bigger” or as I like to say, “help a small goalie play big”.  If the small goalie cannot be well-above average in these three categories, the coaches are well within their rights to chose a bigger goalie.Goalies come in all kinds of sizes.

Movement

The alpha and omega of small goalie goaltending is going to come down to movement.  The largest part of the physical game of goaltending is dictated by how well (quickly, balanced and positionally) a goalie can move during the game.  If you can be in the right spot a 100% of the time a shot is released on net, without even reacting a goalie should make the save 80+% of the time. 

For a smaller goalie, getting a large part of their body to a shot angle will take longer than a big goalie.  In order for our smaller goalie to compensate for this, he/she must be quicker laterally whether it is shuffles, power-drives, t-pushes, slides, or backside edge.  Even when they are on or near the proper shot angle, they need to get to an optimal depth out on the shot.  This will force the smaller goalie to travel further out of the crease than a larger goalie to grant him full net coverage.  While this may only amount to several inches difference in coverage, it could mean extra time to move out and less time to be set and ready.  This lack of "quiet-eye" time and set edges makes reactionary saves more difficult.

These two major factors can only be overcome by speed and precision of movement.  Getting on the shot-angle and getting to an ideal depth depending on your body size will be directly related to your skating ability.  If a smaller goalie wants to overcome the real estate issue, she must be the best skater she can be.  Smaller goalies have a movement advantage.  Being smaller, it should be easier for the goalie to develop a better strength to size ratio that will translate to better power and quicker movements.  But it has to be worked at.

A small goalie's movements must be quick and sharp.  There are no half pushes or glides for this goalie.  Everything is done with full intent.  Everything is done with full power.  Movements must also be precise.  If he thinks he's going to overshoot his target, he can't depend on his size to compensate.  The small goalie must use quick and sharp edges to stop and control his movement.  An inch on the wrong side of the shot line will lead to goals that look like he should have stopped.  If the shot line changes during movement, the small goalie cannot just cut and glide back to readjust, but he must quickly stop, using the power built up in the stopping lead leg and drive full-power to the new shot line.  This happens every time the goalie is following a play in the defensive zone.  There is no drift and no gliding stops.Footwork is King!!

Post-Save Situations

With smaller goalies, the post-save responses will be ultimately much more limited than a larger goalie.  Ideally, I like to see all goalies work an edge of the backside skate to be able to initiate a recovery, but with a smaller goalie it is almost always required.  Limited size usually means limited reach.  After a save that produces a rebound, any post-save response that has the goalie plant (i.e. not move their core) to save a follow-up shot that is off the original shot-angle is going to have to rely totally on the goalie's reach.  A goalie that gives up 6 inches in height will often give up 3-4 inches in arm length and 4-5 inches in leg length.  This will sadly reduce the number of desperate second saves a small goalie will be able to make.  In order to compensate for this, all post-save responses should be focused on making as many controlled recoveries as possible.  Ideally, every save should lead to at least the backside skate edge planting and either preparing a full recovery to the goalie’s edges or a strong backside edge butterfly-slide to the rebounds new shot angle.  In the worst case scenario, desperation dives, flops or pad stacks are at least prefaced with a strong backside edge push.  This backside edge push, even in a dive, will grant our mini-goalie the extra inches she needs to get a body part to the shot-line.

Controlled saves enhance post-save responsesIn terms of recovery preference, small goalies will have to try to gain both their edges in a post-save response.  This should be a priority unless the rebound is very close (within 5-10 feet) or a second shot is imminent.  Gaining both edges will give the small goalie more movement options both laterally and in terms of stealing depth.  In addition, there will be better upper net coverage allotted to this goalie that can gain the new position while up.  In regards to this recovery, I quite often advocate recovering deep in one's stance with a reasonable shot threat.  I would still include smaller goalies in this instance, as well.  The better term may be to recover, even when gaining one's feet, “save-ready” which is the goalie’s preferred deep stance.  Even though a player is facing a small goalie, they are typically under pressure and as a result, most rebounds will tend to be shot low or along the ice, so even our goalie has to be ready to cover low.

Read and React

Here is the double-concept that I’d like to see all goalies adhere to, but it holds especially true for the small frame goalies.  The game of goaltending in hockey had gone into a phase where read-and-react skills were minimized by an attempt to simplify save choice.  Many have called this the Quebec-Butterfly or Drop and Block Butterfly era.  It had its heyday in the clutch and grab game of expansion years in the late 90’s to early ‘00s.  Shooters had a less time and opportunity to take clear shots and the shooting-lanes were clearly defined at many instances in the game.  The strategy the goalie could adopt here was just reading the release or timing of the shot and fill the shooting-lane with a blocking-butterfly.  There was no variety in the save selection even if the shot was high or low or to the left or to the right.

As the game changed to allow the skill players more time and space with increased interference calls, the shooting-lanes broadened.  Shooters also had more time to pick spots and a goalie that simply slammed a butterfly block on the shot release quickly found shots beating him over the shoulders or just outside the arms.  In order to better handle the new game, all goalies have had to adapt to a read and react method for most in-game situations.   Reading entails that the goalie is active in trying to gauge not only the timing of the release, but also direction, altitude and even velocity.  If the goalie can gauge these aspects, she can also make an active save selection or reaction to the shot’s trajectory.  The concept of save selections has connotations of using different techniques to stop different shots.Hand reactions can be enhanced with lots of reps

For the smaller goalie, there may be little choice but to expand their read and react skills and to expand their read and react zone.  Being smaller, the goalie must chose the proper save selection that maximizes the amount of surface area they can bring to the shot-line.  Static positioning, locked gloves, and butterflying on instinct will only produce a very small blocking surface.  If the shot-line is not read and it is outside the small blocking body, the consequences are very apparent. 

The same holds true for reading and reacting to high or low shots for a small goalie.  Zach Sikich of Pro-Hybrid Goaltending outlines very well in his video series.  The small goalie must reverse the block-butterfly technique of driving his knees to the ice on every shot unless it is obviously going to be shot high.  The small goalie must be thinking that they will stand (save-ready stance, of course) on the shot release unless it is obviously low to maintain upper-body coverage of the high part of the net.  On the read of the low shot, the goalie should drive the knees to the ice for a full- or half-butterfly save.

In order to accomplish a better read and react style, hand-eye and eye-tracking drills and skill development must be heavily focused on by the smaller goalie.  Nothing can be left to chance.  Visual lead and quiet eye concepts are also very important for the small goalie, so they can make reactive saves.  With proper diligence, the goalie can expand the zone of read and react.  This means that they can rely on their reactions for closer and faster shots, rather than having to drop or freeze into their preferred blocking position.  There will be, of course, times when the puck is too close or released too quickly for the goalie to react, and in these times, the goalie must rely on the Positioning concept discussed early to increase their chance of making the initial stop.

The three above concepts are basically major technical areas of focus that a small goalie needs to work to overcome small-goalie bias.  The challenge will always be for this category of goalie to exceed in these areas.  An average small goalie will always lose out to an average big goalie, but the small-guy or gal that can create the effective adjustment can as play effectively like a big goalie.Room in the game for both big and small!!