Goalie Coaching Philosophy: Footwork is King
If asked what I thought the most important piece of equipment a goalie owns that he needs to perform (not protect), I say without hesitation, it is the 80 bucks worth of steel blades attached to his feet. I quite often have to express this with dismay when a goalie comes to me before practice and says nonchalantly, "My skates are really dull today." My heart sinks. Pretty much everything that I planned for them in that session is going to next to worthless. I can work around most any other equipment issue, like a forgotten stick or even a forgotten goalie mask (I'm looking at you "K"!). But if your skates aren't in near perfect working order, then you are not very useful to me or your team.
Firstly, most people can appreciate that goaltending requires some skating ability. And in the modern elite game, this requirement is more heavily reinforced by observing the skating ability of Jonathan Quick, Craig Anderson, Jaroslav Halak, and Cam Ward. Unfortunately, for some, especially in the past, the position of goaltending was a refuge for kids that didn't want to skate.
Most of my first group sessions begin with a little meeting after an initial warm-up skate or a meeting in the dressing rooms before we hit the ice. In a cheerful as possible voice, I ask, "who likes skating?" In my first few group sessions and camp, very few arms came up. Maybe one quarter, if I was lucky, raised their hands. After their display of courageous honesty, I tell the kids, "You may have picked the wrong position in this sport. Skating is the biggest part of your game that you need to develop and improve. We're not going to ignore it."
Upper Echelon Goaltending: Assistant Peggy watches and encourages Tristan during skating drills at Cole Harbour Place.
Why this is so, is quite easy to understand. First off, skating in goalie gear whether it is with the team or with the goalie coach, is hard, hot, and heavy work. As their fellow peers fly around the cones, cutting tight corners, gaining speed with a just a couple strides, and stopping on a dime, goalies resemble lumbering giants, too clumsy to even do a cross-over, too slow to ever hope of finishing ahead of anyone else on the ice. A lap and half around the ice, and most goalies, no matter the age, have broken a sweat. The gear doesn't ventilate and can weigh 25 to 30 lbs, and the skates are heavy and clunky. It is frustrating and a lot of effort has to be expended for what seems like little result. It is a difficult message to send to a young or new goalie that "this skating-thing" is FUN!!
Then we get to the goalie-specific skating. In the old days of lane hockey, there was very little that had to be worked. Shuffles, t-pushes, and sculling/telescoping or c-cuts was the entire gamut of skating skills. We played the game with the four cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. Things were very two-dimensional and every move was a straight line. The game has grown faster, more chaotic, and more complex. As a result, goalies have had to add more movement options and more directions. Straight lines are preferred in most cases, but not always the optimal choice for all scenarios. Straight line T-pushes have evolved into j-pushes. Backside edge or shimmies have some goalies moving as quickly on their pads or knees as if they were standing. And goalies are expected to do all this while keeping perfect control of their upper bodies and hands. Playing the puck outside the crease is expected of goalies as early as atom and that brings into a whole range of skating issues.
The image of a goalie standing statically in the center of their crease and being able to stop pucks is gone. In order to manage the dynamic and quick nature of the game, young goalies must quickly follow their older peers and professional idols and learn how to move around and outside the net to be a complete goaltender.
To give concrete reasoning why skating, mobility, and footwork are so essential to the position, one must look at the core task of goaltending: preventing goals. And the major facet, that most recognize, is the ability to stop the puck from entering the net by using the goalie's own body parts. In order for a goalie to be in the best possible spot to stop pucks, he wants to be centered on the shotline or line that is created from the point where a puck released from a shot to the center of the net. As was stated previously, the early game of goaltending was built on lanes and the goalie had minimal "east-west" movement. The modern game as it has developed since the 1970's has had increasing cross-ice movement of the puck. For a goalie to follow the puck and try and stay centered on this shotline, it has become a challenge that has changed the position forever. If the goalie could play and stay deep in the net, the amount of lateral movement would be minimal, but the trade-off from being deep is less coverage of the net. The addition of increasing shot velocity at all age levels and all skill levels has made this style of goaltending very difficult.
As a result, the goalie now must follow a quickly moving puck across the whole 85+ feet width of ice in front of her, while maintaining different depths to keep or improve optimal net coverage. Our young goalie finds herself having to move quickly and efficiently and in a save-ready posture for extended periods of the game.
The quickness results from the increased speed of the puck movement, in addition to the unpredictable nature of the puck being carried or passed around. This quickness is created through the power of the extended leg and effective execution of the movement technique. Even if the goalie has a decent level of leg strength, an improper transfer of weight or sloppy technique can greatly reduce the goalie's quickness.
Being efficient in one's movement, requires that the goalie follow the play and the puck by using the proper movement selections and to shift, reverse, and change directions with as few extraneous movements as possible. This alteration of movement direction and movement selections in an efficient way is something that I like to call "chaining", and while it yet to be an established science, many goalie developers recognize the importance of the benefits of proper and efficient "chaining".
Goalie specific movement almost always requires that the goalie maintain her "save-ready" posture. This posture should be represented by the goalie's "save-ready" stance of her upper body, where her hands are at the ready position, stick is on the ice, the chest is up, shoulders are over the toes, and eyes are squared to the puck. And this is very strict pose is held to the best of her ability, all the while doing numerous movement techniques like c-cuts, slides, shuffles, and t-pushes. This ability is extremely difficult and I only really start to see it getting close to 95% in the highest level of midget-aged goalies. I often refer to this as "upper-body" control or core stability.
Matt of the DMHA Whalers watches the play develop during SEDMHA. On top of the goalie-specific movement, goalies that want to be accomplished at their level, must recognize the need to be able to play and handle the puck. While this ability could cover several blog posts easily, the most important foundation of playing the puck well comes from strong skating skills. Most observers, when watching someone like Martin Brodeur handle the puck, will marvel at coolness under pressure to play lose pucks and laser-like tape-to-tape passes. What most don't see underlying this, is the elite goalie's ability to get to that loose puck quickly and efficiently in the zone.
"Getting there" in control and early to a puck in the zone allows a goalie to make much better decisions when handling it. If a goalie gets to the puck late, then they are then forced to make a panicked decision with it and more like than not, the goalie is forced to just move the puck away from the danger zone. There is no consideration of trying to maintain puck possession for his team or to kickstart an attack out of the zone. "Getting there" early and in control requires terrific skating ability. This skating ability is more akin to normal player skating with an upright posture and puck-handling hands.
With this being said and hopefully agreed upon, how should a young or committed goaltender work to become a better skater. The following is my incomplete prescription list for becoming a better skater and thereby, a better goaltender.