Three Tips for Ice Hockey Goalies to Improve Their Skills

Ice hockey is a challenging sport, incredibly popular in Canada and the colder regions of the United States. One of the more challenging positions to play is that of the hockey goalie. As the goalie, you are the target of the entire opposing team! Improving your abilities as a hockey goalie all comes down to practice. There are no easy ways to get better at goal tending, but there are a few tips and techniques to try if you want to improve your skills out there on the ice.

The first thing you want to work on as a hockey goalie is improving your reaction time. Don't hesitate! A few fractions of a second can result in a goal for the other team. One exercise to try is doing footwork drills. Running through car tires, ladders, or other obstacles both forward and backwards can improve your reaction time. One product you can try is a "reaction ball," which is multi-sided so when it hits the ground, the ball flies up in a random direction. Goalies and other defenders can practice jumping in the same direction the reaction ball flies to improve their reaction time.

Other than reaction time, the second most important skill as a hockey goalie is ice skating skill. Practice, practice, practice! It may seem like the goalie is stuck inside of the goal net, but that is far from reality. Skating from side to side of the net, and out to challenge opponents, can really take it's toll on the inexperienced skater. A technique you can try out the next time you are out on the ice is learning to challenge an opponent taking a shot. This is when the hockey goalie skates toward the opposing player, closing the gap between the two. This results in a larger portion of the goal being blocked by the goalie. If you remain inside the net, the opponent effectively has a larger area to hit the goal.

To improve as a hockey goalie, you can also try out a style of goal tending called "butterfly goaltending." This is when the goalie drops to his knees, with his legs pointing outward. This allows the goalie to block a large portion of the net, as long as the puck is shot on the ice and not up in the air. If you try out this style, make sure you drop straight to the ground as soon as the shot is taken, do not hesitate!

Sources:

USA Hockey
Composite Hockey Sticks