Some movement drills by Miikka

[beaver]

Here are some movement drills. The goalie is my son Miikka, age of 15.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0BeGc6onKI

[Jukka Ropponen]

I see a lot of goalies doing these, especially it seems like these type of drills are very popular at Tampere area.

I do try to stay away from negative comments here at the forum, but in this case I have to say that I don't use most of these drills and I do not recommend them to any of the goalies/coaches I work with. I mean especially all these short t-push moves around the crease as they are out of date and not part of modern goaltending and it's requirements in game situations.

Having said that Miikka looks good with his butterfly slides etc. Clearly he has been working hardand done a lot of repeats.

Jukka

[Jani]

Different strokes for different folks.

Jukka, could you elaborate on why these drills are "out of date and not part of modern goaltending and it's requirements in game situations"?

And if so, then what kind of drills you prefer the goalies to perform instead?

On my behalf, I see good skating skills and agile body control as a foundation of good goal tending on top of great game read, be it modern style or old school. Thus these type of drills shown in the above footage involve proper use of skate blade with short and long pushes within and across the crease, and therefore enable the goalie to stay square to the puck while also gaining appropriate depth when needed. Having said this, I find these type of drills useful in versatile coaching and also self-training. Certainly, they should not be mindlessly executed in excess amounts, but as a part of training and also combined with drills that involve puck shots they serve a useful purpose.

Moreover, I have observed that these type of drills are also used by today's NHL team coaches as a part of their goalie training, and I therefore find it little bit difficult to think that they are "out-dated" drills.

[Jukka Ropponen]

I was mainly commneting on moving with T-push so much around the crease. That is one move that is not used often by goalies in todays game, especially on short moves around the goalies area. Good example is Ilves goalie Markus Korhonen. karhu told me that they did these kind of skating drills every week, but when I asked how often did he use the move like T-push in the games the answer was almost never.

Bruckler is another example of the goalie who had been doing a lot of these moves at practices and it was hard to correct his lateral movement last summer when he was doing way too much skate turns, jagged moves etc...

Problem is that it takes too long time, too many moves, balance shifts that are not needed etc. Mainly I try to simplify the moves for goalies as shorter is faster and less you need to do the faster you move and also maintain save readiness better.

But that's only me. Overall there is no universal truth and what ever works for the goalie is good. Just the way I coach and my techniques my goalies use.

Jukka

[Jukka Ropponen]

Moreover, I have observed that these type of drills are also used by today's NHL team coaches as a part of their goalie training, and I therefore find it little bit difficult to think that they are "out-dated" drills.

To this point I can guarantee that there are goalie coaches in NHL with very old methods. It's "good old boys" network over there that does the hiring. I know of several coaches who just run drills, but don't really teach anything. Then there are coaches who like something like paddle down and try to teach it's "overuse" to every goalie in the organization.

Having said that then there are some guys that are absolutely superb coaches, so theres a big variety in the level of NHL goalie coaching.

Jukka

[Jani]

I was mainly commneting on moving with T-push so much around the crease. That is one move that is not used often by goalies in todays game, especially on short moves around the goalies area.

I fully agree with you that for small position changes, short lateral shuffles are probably a better choice.

It's "good old boys" network over there that does the hiring.

I'm sure it is, as is the case so often in the SM-Liiga also.

[Salama15]

First of all, I'm quite impressed of how well "Beaver jr." moves. On top of that good glove positions in every move and stick follows well => he actually looks like a goalie!!

Concerning movements all together; When coaching younger guys it is vital to teach all the technics a goalie can / should use to move (T-kick, C-kick, shuffle, butterfly slide etc.) and how to keep gloves and stick in good position when doing them! T-kick is one of the base technics and in my own drills we also go closely through which leg should stop the movement in sertain situations (kicking or sliding leg). If we concentrate in early stage too much on butterfly slides, how to move when you are down in butterfly etc. the guys usually start to play too much on their knees. But of course those things must also be in the drill book for smaller guys to make sure they go to "muscle memory".

Shuffle is the best (and only) way to move when we come closer to a moment when there is immediate threat of incoming shot => the goalie should already be in good position and move sharply with lateral shuffle (chin up, ass down, gloves in front)...

Of course when we talk about C-juniors or guys older than that, they should already handle well all these basis and concentrate more to finding "own game face" and how to read the game etc.

[Jani]

Besides to the discussion above, here's a useful one to start with for those who plan to perform some skating drills for goalies:

http://www.canadianhockey.org/index.php ... a_id/1.htm

The more work the goalie is willing to do with skating drills during practices, the better will ultimately be his or her chances to read the game and be at the right position on the crease and to avoid overreaching or execution of desperate saves.

[Cubanpuckstopper]

I mean especially all these short t-push moves around the crease as they are out of date and not part of modern goaltending and it's requirements in game situations.
Jukka

Do you express short t-pushes as equal to a number of shuffles? In other words, one t-push equals 2 or 3 shuffles. I'll use a real general rule, that if you can get to the next position in 2 shuffles don't t-push. (this differs for some).

As another example of crease movement drills, this appeared on Hockey Night in Canada, in 2008 I beleive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK8WhBCyXyI
I like the added requirement of transferring visual focus from behind the net (zones 2 and 3) to the front of the net.

Finally, does anyone beleive that placing pucks in strategic areas to be moved to/in front of, improves the drill by forcing a visual lead to the puck instead of just moving to a spot.

[Jukka Ropponen]

Proper technique and posititioning allows modern (adult) goalie to move around crease without any t-pushes. Now the younger goalies can't do that, but do you teach them one technique when they are young and then change it when they get older?? I usually like to think that the goal is to develop them with the goal of making them as good as possible when they reach adult age. Some coaches think that they need to focus on what ever is most beneficial for the kid when he is at younger age liek 10 or 12. If the goal is to make him the best possible 10 year old goalie, then I would use and teach t-pushes.

Again, that is just me, but I would not agree with the movements in that video either. There is no reason to use t-pushes around the crease like this goalie does.

Placing pucks work and make the drill like this a lot better. It is ALWAYS good to give goalie something to focus at instead of just moving to generic direction.

Jukka

[Salama15]

Some coaches think that they need to focus on what ever is most beneficial for the kid when he is at younger age liek 10 or 12. If the goal is to make him the best possible 10 year old goalie, then I would use and teach t-pushes.

This is one very interesting issue...

I have seen (in many teams in "minors") quite sad things when it comes to goaltending => if the guy in front of the net is big, he usually has at least two inch too long pads and basically just lies on the goal line in butterfly. And when the players are young and can't shoot high the goalie collects "three stars" in every game. Then we go couple of years forward and everyone is asking what has happened to the guy and why the heck he can't catch anything smaller than a football?

As I said earlier, I try to teach all possible technics a goalie can use and when the guys get older and legs are longer / stronger they choose by themselves the best way to move in sertain situations => I would say that shuffle becomes the main technic "by itself"... But I would like to see how a goalie can move from left post to right upper crease (pass from left corner to right blue line) by using shuffle?

And I've always said that when you coach the minors (players or goalies) your success will be measured only when the guys are C-juniors (approx 16 years old), not in some 10 y.o. regional "what ever"-series!

[Jani]

Finally, does anyone beleive that placing pucks in strategic areas to be moved to/in front of, improves the drill by forcing a visual lead to the puck instead of just moving to a spot.

Visual lead is of fundamental importance for positioning and game read. As with movement and positioning drills, whichever static object serves this purpose, be it the blue or red line markings on the boards, the hash, or goal line.

Furthermore, in game a situation the object (a player with the puck) is now kinetic and constantly moving, however a goalie still finds some static objects, such as hash, blue line, red line etc., useful for his positioning.

We obviously seem to have some contrasting opinions on the usefulness of T-pushes in goaltending especially with adult goalies when also considering their personal strengths and weaknesses when moving on and across the crease. However, as there is no single "golden line" to follow with different positioning techniques, this also allows for different opinions and discussion on how to ultimately train for mastering the position.

[Jani]

The following footage shows good combination of various techniques for lateral movement in the crease:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WK3_ekZL30

As previously stated, when a goaltender has multiple techniques in his toolbox this allows for choosing the right one depending on the game situation. The kid in the video does some great legwork, which without a doubt is a result of lots of practicing.

[Cubanpuckstopper]

The kid in the video does some great legwork, which without a doubt is a result of lots of practicing.

I agree with your theory that the results are from "lots of practicing".

In this recent New York Times article, it discusses "deliberate practice"

In addition, by studying those who have excelled, Professor Ericsson has found that they engage in something he calls "deliberate practice." It involves spending hours a day in highly structured activities to improve performance and overcome weaknesses.

The practice is not necessarily enjoyable and requires someone willing to put in the grueling hours over at least 10 years. From his observations, it takes a minimum of a decade of deliberate practice to excel in any field.

But he is not talking about practicing every day, all day. Four hours a day is usually the maximum that anyone can do to really get the most out of the effort, he said. After that, exhaustion sets in.

"Most people wouldn't be able to engage in deliberate practice for even a few weeks," Professor Ericsson said. And that's one of the biggest reasons why more of us don't get to - or even near - the top levels in a given field.

From http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=574 ... gle=1&f=-1

Someone correct me please, but I believe that this type of activity is core to the Finnish Development system for goalies, resulting in the economy of efficient movement, and is missing from the current ADM model for USA Hockey.