Hockey Goalie Styles
Hockey Goaltending Playing Styles
I am a hockey goalie. I have been playing the goalie position since I was five. I am now nineteen years old. I stand in the net and sometimes during games and hear what fans yell and it is clear to me that they have no idea what a hockey goalie is attempting to do. Most people who attend hockey games have no idea what goalies are doing. “Stay Up”, “Stay in the Net” ,“Don’t play the puck”, Cover the post” I have heard it all. All the fans know is that they want their goalie to stop the puck. These people do not understand the science and technique behind hockey goaltending. All these people know is that in order to win a hockey game your goalie has to let the puck into his net fewer times than the other team’s goalie.
The hockey goalie is the player who defends his team’s net by stopping the shots of the other team. The rules of hockey allow only one goalie to be on the ice for each team at any given time. It is the goalie’s job to keep the puck out of his net thus giving his team a chance to win. The goalie plays in the goal crease, the area around the net. In addition to staying stationary goalies will also stand out from other hockey players because they wear different equipment and skates.
Hockey goalies all play a specific way. There is nothing random about what they are doing to stop the puck. Hockey goalie play can be broken down into categories. There are four different basic styles played by goalies, all with the objective of keeping puck out of net. I happen to be a butterfly goalie and feel that this is the most effective way to stop shots however goalies use other styles and I will describe them below.
Stand Up
This is a style where the goalie stays upright on his skates and does not drop down to make a save often. The goalie may bend over to stop the puck with their upper body or may kick the puck. This is known as a kick save or skate save. They may also use their stick to stop...