OLD DOGS: SESSION #10 and #11 RECAP (Part 1)
This week we had two great sessions to keep busy. I wasn’t sure the two days off in between would enough recovery time for everyone, but from what I heard was that most people were just about 100% when Thursday evenings session #11 rolled around.
Session #10 was an extra long session, thanks to the Forum’s co-operation. The extra time made it helpful as explanation and station rotations didn’t have to be rushed so much. The theme of the evening was fighting mid- and low-slot walkouts. These are obviously very dangerous and challenging scenarios, especially in non-contact senior hockey. The general principles that I think are most important here are to initially play the situation like a shot, don’t over-anticipate the walkout, and work hard at being patient to “force the carry” across the front of the net. By working on these three principles, you will really “force the carry” and when you do that it will draw the player across the front of the net. While most will think this is undesirable, you have to think that longer an offensive player holds on to the puck rather than shoot it, the greater the chance they will “checked” or stripped of possession. This is especially so when a player has to cross the mid-lane through the slot since it is such a high traffic area.
On the technical side of following the mid-slot walkout, once we have forced the player to drive through slot, goalies must track the carrier. In the mid-slot walkout, keeping your feet is still very important since committing to soon to a butterfly on shots from the mid-slot may open too much net up top. Remember the further out the puck is shot, the more space there is upstairs. The lateral tracking of the player should utilize shuffles quick and short to maintain squareness and readiness for a reaction save or butterfly. The biggest challenge here for most goalies is to try and get the player to lead you. We don’t need to be in perfect shot-line with puck while the puck is still on the shooter’s stick. We definitely want to be on perfect shot-line when a shot reaches us in the crease. Also, allowing the player to lead slightly forces him to continue to carry the puck which is desirable as stated above. When a player looks up, he is a victim of the shooter’s illusion and sees the goalie straddling in the player’s “sight-line”. This will force the player to think there is little net to shoot at in his current position and they will try to continue across so that they can open the farside net up. Depth selection for the goalie will depend on the confidence and ability of the goalie to move laterally quickly in their shuffle. If you can move quickly and well, you can be more aggressive in your depth (notwithstanding backdoor plays).
The technical requirement of the low-slot walkout in modern goaltending really requires a hard butterfly slide to the opposite post when a player makes a high speed drive across. If the player has more time and he’s not pushing across as quickly, a butterfly shuffle or paddle-down shuffle. Again, the goalie should force the player across the slot, but play the original drive as a shot. The goalie initial position will take away the shot option, driving the player through the slot and hopefully through traffic. If the goalie is too passive and is flat on the line too soon, you give the player not only a shot option but a wider lane to run through the slot.
A couple of our members put me onto some good demonstrations about these issues and techniques at both the World Hockey Championship and the NHL Playoff. Remember folks; these criticisms are in regards to NHL goalies and it doesn’t mean I think they are crappy or anything, but they have the potential to make mistakes as well. They are mistakes that we all can learn from.
The first one is the game winning goal in the WHC Quarterfinal between Czech Republic and Sweden. The Swedish goalie comes off his post to early on a low walk and the Czech player buries it short side. Ouch!
Top Level Goalie Falling Off Post Too Early
The next example is another game-winning goal from game 3 of the Western Conference Finals and it gives us a good example of what happens when we don’t play the initial mid-slot walkout as a shot. Mike Smith is a little less than aggressive here on the track of King off the half boards and gets beat high near side. I think this problem originated because Smith was a little too deep. With another 6-8 inches out, that puck hits him in the arm or shoulder. Granted Lewis was streaking low as well and may have been regards by Smith as a tip threat, but in reality Lewis was still not that close to the net for a down-low play and the extra 6-8 inches out would have probably not affected Lewis chance to redirect a pass behind Smith. Rule #1: Play the puck carrier as a shot initially, especially with the mid-slot walkouts.
King Snipes a Passive Smith in Mid-Slot Walkout
Session #11 Recap to continue in the next post…