The Necessary Evil of Goaltender-Specific Power Skating

Goaltenders looking to gain an edge wherever they can over the competition will not find it in the typical goaltender clinic or traditional goaltending school.  Instead, they should be applying the necessary evil of goaltender-specific power skating.

Goaltender-Specific Power Skating is essential to any goaltender’s on-ice training program

The earliest pieces of the puzzle of a goaltenders’ technical foundation is the need to understand positioning and depth within their crease to ensure proper timing to be set, and ready when a shot is taken.  However, many goaltenders upon learning the basics register with goaltending schools and clinics to merely face more shots. Instead, they are skipping the true benefits of working on technical movements by putting the pucks away, and pushing themselves in a way which will translate into higher efficiency within their crease.  More ice time and an increased amount of shots will help any goaltender to become better, however training smart or efficiently will aid them for the long haul.

The necessary evil of goaltender-specific power skating should be applied to all on-ice training programs at any level. They are sure to result in better form (with both standing movements, and butterfly drops/slides), improved agility, increased power, and better timing/positioning.  By improving in these areas, goaltenders will see more pucks directed toward their core, therefore allowing them to absorb and retain the puck, resulting in less rebounds, or chances for the opposition, therefore allowing them to make some of the hardest saves look effortless.

Goaltender-specific power skating programs should be challenging at all ages and levels in order to ensure that goaltenders are pushing themselves to get better.  However, a quality development program allows goaltenders to understand the reason behind executing their in-crease movements, and therefore should include a theory portion to the program which can occur during explanations and breaks between sets or exercises.  By doing so, goaltenders will be more likely to apply the proper techniques in games, therefore allowing them to become more efficient in their role on their team.

Goaltenders taking part in a GAAHockey Goaltender-Specific Power Skating Session

One of the true keys to a quality goaltender-specific power skating program is the utilization of repetition for exercises and the visualization of game situations which goaltenders are faced with.  Goaltenders, like many people are visual learners.  They understand that when faced with a certain circumstance that they need to react a certain way to counteract the scoring attempt from the opposition.  But this doesn’t come naturally.  Instead, goaltenders should receive proper explanations of how to utilize certain movements to their advantage, when to use them, and why. Through repetition, these movements will occur with minimal thought processes, and therefore cause the goaltender to increase his or her ability to read and react more quickly. In addition to physical training, repetition training will also train the mind in a way which simplifies the game for a goaltender. By simplifying a goaltender’s technical structure, the goaltender will no longer be required to process multiple options of how to react, but instead utilize one or two options per scenario resulting in quicker reaction time.