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By Todd Lightfoot, BTP Goalie Coach - COPYRIGHT © 2008 All Rights Reserved
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February represents what is sometimes called Crunch Time, the final push to playoffs! Regardless of the level of play, the pressure is on. Coaches are trying to get teams focused, mentally sharper, physically stronger… more conditioned, and are harder on mistakes made. The responsibility to respond to the higher expectations and demands rests squarely on the shoulders of the players. How goaltenders answer the coach’s call is vital to how the team as a whole responds, so let’s take a look at what and how we step up to meet these expectations.
First off, some coaches will seemingly overreact by bringing in a goalie coach. While this may appear to be offensive, especially if there hasn’t been a goalie coach present priorly during the season, it is a normal reaction that can be expected. How the goaltender deals with the presence of the additional coaching is what is important. This is also a two way street, in that the goaltending coach must be sensitive to the goaltender. A warning to coaches, goaltenders and parents… at this time in the season, the goaltending coach should be addressing specific areas of concern, not a general overhaul or makeover of the goalie. You can’t fix a seasons worth of bad habits or style concerns in a month, moreover, you don’t even attempt this during Crunch Time. If this is case, you will destroy what goaltending you have, and any confidence that your goaltender had. Should you find this to be the case, handle the situation by going to the team coach and express your concern specifically. Most coaches will take the appropriate steps to correct the situation. If you find that this is not the case, my advice is to take from the good and ignore the bad.
Now, let’s look at a couple of areas of goaltending concern during Crunch Time!
Rebound Control. This is usually pretty easy to determine. If the coach has been on the goalie about anything during the course of the season, it probably has been about rebounds. Many parents contribute to the problem by laying blame for rebounds on the team’s defense and their inability to clear rebounds from the front of the net. The first line of responsibility in rebound control rests solely with the goaltender. The rule is that if the shot comes to the torso, blocker or catching glove, the end result should either be a whistle causing a stoppage of play or, the puck should be moved by the goaltender, to a corner or behind the net for play. There will be an occasional rebound, however, this should be the exception and not the norm. Once again, if rebounds are a concern, this should not be a February surprise, the coach more than likely, has been addressing this concern throughout the season.
Mental Sharpness. This is the difficult fix. Where the goalies head is at on game day is influenced by so many factors that this is sometimes impossible to effect change over. Having said this, there IS one area where coaches, players, and parents can have a positive impact on mental sharpness.
A goaltenders mental awareness or sharpness is directly connected to the goaltenders self confidence. Self confidence comes from the goaltenders ability to perform a range of skill sets… the more skill and ability results in more confidence. Skill is developed during practice! As parents and coaches, it is our responsibility to develop sound practice habits. Granted, the truly good athletes spend far more personal time developing their skills, just as the good student at school spends far more time hitting the books. If a goaltender has good practice habits and a sound skill set, but there appears to be an issue with self confidence, then the approach is a little different. Many times a goaltender can get into a “rut” so to speak. There may be absolutely nothing wrong with the technical game, but the self confidence seems lacking. The cause can be bad luck, bad bounces, too many penalties… many times a string of game losses, not for the reason of bad goaltending, but because the other team won. True competitors take loosing personally, and goaltenders are not an exception. There are usually two directions a goaltender responds while in a, “rut.”
First is to get more intense, almost angry, resulting in over reacting to the play, over analysis of their play, and usually feeding into the “rut.” This is pretty easy to identify just by talking with the goalie about performance. You will hear self directed criticism, frustration, and anger in the answers. Working through the “rut” during Crunch Time is about getting your goaltender relaxed. This can be accomplished through good communication of confidence in the goaltenders abilities. Working drills that are more team oriented at the front end of practice vs. shooting intense for the goaltender. Sometimes fewer pucks is better! The second route a goalie can take while in the “rut” is kind of give up. I have no real specific advice for this. As parents and coaches, the realization that there is no one right answer because each individual responds to different forms of for a lack of a better word, I’ll say motivation. Fixing this requires the coordination of parent, coach, and the goaltender.
The last area that I’ll address is the tactical game. An issue in the goalies tactical game is usually black and white… either the goaltender is making good or bad tactical decisions! An over confident goaltender will have a tendency to over play the puck, making poor decisions in playing the puck out, not taking the whistle and in general doing the wrong thing with the puck at the wrong time. If the playing of the puck has been allowed up to this point, the best way to fix the problem is simply take goaltender back to the tactical basics. Take the whistle or get the puck to the low pressure corner or behind the net. The coach should present this to the goaltender as the team’s defensive tactical response and leave it at that.
Now, having covered all of this, I will fall back on what I always say… If we develop sound practice habits, and enforce the same standards and expectations throughout the season, the way we respond to Crunch Time is no different than the fourth week of the season! The rule of, “Play Hard… Practice Harder!” Feeds success on and off of the ice!
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The Cross Over, What Are You Thinking?
By Jeremy Kaleniecki, BTP Director, On Ice Operations & Goalie Coach - COPYRIGHT © 2008 All Rights Reserved.
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It isn’t too often that I’ll study goaltending, or a specific goaltender and ask myself what are they thinking? Over the past few months I have observed and traced down one very overly complicated, outdated, and seemingly pointless move that begs to ask, What Are You Thinking?
The move in question is what some people call the cross over, or possibly the hop step. Moving from side to side normally requires a t-push or c-cut, however, with the Cross Over, the goaltender will push with the outside foot then cross their feet over to move laterally. More simply it almost looks like they are doing an individual move of the Karaoke Drill that is featured on our DVD series. The logic behind the Cross Over is simple in concept, but like most things as a concept, they may be quite complicated in reality. The idea is to be able to cover a longer distance in a shorter period of time. Again I say simple in concept but very over complicated in reality.
In goaltending there are certain tasks, or objectives that must be accomplished. The first is to minimize movement at all cost. This means skating, moving laterally, butterfly, arm movements, all body movement needs to be minimized to be the most efficient goalie possible. Minimizing body movement does fall under one of my personal rules (no goals through you). The second is to cover the lower half of the net. The lower half of the net is our bread and butter. The majority of goals scored, are 18 inches or lower. Regardless of how they go in, tip, back door, straight on, etc; they represent the majority of goals scored. This portion falls under another one of my personal rules (no goals underneath you). The third is to keep your feet on the ice at all times. This rule is to maintain your maximum balance and to keep the center of gravity on your body at your hips. The more your feet move and especially off the ice, the easier it is to do something moronic like catch a rut and fall. If you haven’t already guessed, the cross over breaks all of these objectives and two of my three basic rules for goaltending, here’s why.
The physics behind this body movement forces you to move your arms and add in multiple useless movements. This is NOT minimizing movements. Secondly, your feet come OFF The ice, enough said on that one. Next how can you cover low if your feet are in the air? What happens if the puck gets deflected? In any case if anything out of what you anticipate happens you will find yourself up a very well known creek with out a paddle. Fourth, and possibly my biggest issue is its interference with the sliding butterfly. The whole point of the sliding butterfly is to get the lead leg down and seal off the lower portion of the net. The cross over prevents this entirely. It forces the goaltender to get all the way into position and then usually, when it’s already too late, drop to a butterfly. Finally, my last issue with this move is that any goaltender that I coach has the ability to use a t-push to get as far as fast if not faster while remaining in a much better position.
If I haven’t convinced anyone out there, that the cross over is obsolete and, in my opinion, the most foolhardy move around, there may be no hope. I will leave you on this note. If I ever doubt myself on any thing that I teach I go back and look at my pro goaltenders and more importantly the best in the game in the NHL. I challenge anyone who does not agree, to send me a list of current top 10 NHL goaltenders that use it on a regular basis, or for that matter, use it at all. I’ll save you the time, you won’t find it.
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