Hey Guys,
I wanted to expand on my explanation of the drill I posted last week.
In case you missed it, check it out on my Instagram.
As I mentioned in the caption, I just wanted to take a familiar footwork drill and spice it up a bit. In a game situation, as much as we want to be set for shots, the reality is the puck is in constant motion, requiring us to be constantly adjusting our angle and depth. This drill gives us the opportunity to work on our pushes in the same way.
Something I would reinforce a bit more if I were to do this again would be a bit more aggression in the advance/retreat portion of the drill. We should constantly be striving to replicate a game scenario in our footwork drills to the best of our ability, so with that in mind, I would love to see a little more “attack” mentality in the push out to the angle.
One thing I’m not super focused on in this drill is speed. Keep in mind that speed is a progression. The last thing you want to do to a goalie is to be yelling “faster!” when they’re trying to learn a new skill or pattern.
Quickly, my cues for this drill are:
- Hard push AND hard stop at your target
- 2 C-Cuts out (right, left, not 2 of each)
- One hard C-Cut back, and when you feel yourself at the top of the crease, turn and push back to the post you left
In the 2nd video, I just added a simulated stick and pad save with a recovery in place of the T-Push. A huge part of this is making sure the goalie is “watching” the puck into and off of their stick. The movement of their head and eyes following that simulated shot in and out starts their rotation into their post save recovery. This translates into better puck tracking on a live shot. More visual connection with the puck = more saves.
You can see how this idea of adding an advance/retreat could add to any number of drills. I’d want the goalie to be able to perform the pattern from a static position first before I’d ask them to do it dynamically like this, but once they have a pattern mastered, this is a great way to pick up the pace. Try it with your favourite skating drill next practice!
Andrew Corchis Goaltending 