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086 - Mastering Lateral Plays
161 Plays4 months ago
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This week is a solo episode where Nathan talks about how to improve your approach to lateral plays. We also go over the drill of the month, the line walk option w/ low to slot pass. Find the drill here: https://truenorthgoaltending.com/drills/line-walk-option-w-low-to-slot-pass/
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Transcript
Introduction to DIY Goalie Podcast
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the DIY Goalie Podcast where hosts and goalie coaches Nathan Park and Connor Munday share their insights on how to become a better goalie.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hey there goalies, welcome back to another episode of the DIY Goalie Podcast presented by True North Goaltending. I am flying solo today. We have been crazy busy over the last little while here. and So it will probably be a pretty short one today. I'm just trying to fit in where we can to have ah have the podcast episodes. um So it's a good problem to have, but you know, sometimes it's hard to find time to get the content, get the podcast done and all that. So it's just me today.
Solo Episode and Drill of the Month Introduction
00:00:56
Speaker
We are going to dive into a drill of the month and that drill is going to tackle um what we're going to talk about in this episode. um So we are going to talk about lateral plays and kind of to get better at lateral plays.
00:01:12
Speaker
um And so our drill is going to reflect that. um So we may as well dive right into it, um get to our drill of the month, which is the line walk option with low to slot pass. So this is going to have two different types of lateral movement in this drill. um This is a really good one, kind of more of an intermediate or advanced goalie drill.
00:01:42
Speaker
um So it's got a lot of moving parts to it, but this is really good for not only working on lateral plays, um both of the small adjustment variety that we've talked about before, but also on um the pass across as well. But it also kind of has a ah net drive and tip component to it as well. So.
00:02:03
Speaker
We've got ah basically pucks in the corner.
Setup for Lateral Movement Drill
00:02:08
Speaker
Goalie is going to start on the post. There's one coach with the pucks in the corner. Then there's one coach kind of up high along the boards closer to the blue line. So almost simulating like a D-man kind of holding the zone up top.
00:02:23
Speaker
um What's going to happen is coach one in the corner is going to pass a puck up to coach two near the blue line. And then coach one is going to attack out of the corner towards the net for kind of that, you know, tip option or that kind of backdoor little play option, maybe a screen if you guys wanted to do a screen, whatever you want to do with that, that coach one is going to attack the net.
00:02:51
Speaker
While that's happening, so the goalie obviously pushes out to coach two following that pass up. Coach two is going to walk across the blue line.
00:03:02
Speaker
The goalie is going to make those small adjustments following that walk across. And coach two is going to take that shot with coach one kind of being that net front presence for a screen or a tip or whatever you guys want to do there.
00:03:16
Speaker
and um The big thing that I want to point out is um on that pass up to coach two, what a lot of goalies do I see when they're on their post They push too much to the middle, which ends up with them being off their angle right at the start.
00:03:36
Speaker
Make sure anytime you guys are on your post pushing out somewhere that you're kind of almost pushing straight out to where that puck is, especially on the short side. Goalies have a tendency to want to push more to the middle, which leaves a lot of that short side open. okay Take that back leg that's not on the post.
Executing the Lateral Movement Drill
00:03:56
Speaker
and lead with that back leg almost stepping straight towards wherever you're pushing to whether it's a puck whether it's that stick blade because you're trying to beat the pass which we'll talk about later in the episode or whatever the case is but we want to come straight out to that puck not to the middle so that's the first shot so puck from the corner up to the blue line um Coach two walks the blue line, takes a shot while coach one is that net front presence. So that's shot one. Shot two, then we reset back to the post.
00:04:31
Speaker
Coach one curls back to the corner to grab another puck. Coach two then slides down from um being up by the blue line, kind into either a high kind of backdoor position,
00:04:46
Speaker
area or even like low right back door you guys can vary where coach two goes for that second shot but basically we're trying to create a lateral play from just above the corner across the ice so coach one is going to take their puck from the corner They're going to pass it across to coach two for kind of that backdoor quick play. It can be a catch and release or it can be a one time or whatever you guys want to do. You guys can vary it so that it's more game like.
00:05:15
Speaker
um But basically, we're working on trying to get across as the goalie, trying to beat that pass across. If it's a higher backdoor, we're trying to get there on our feet. If it's a more in tight back door, we're obviously going to slide over um and try and be nice and compact.
00:05:34
Speaker
um So the key points to this drill is awareness of threats.
Key Aspects of Lateral Play
00:05:39
Speaker
So we want to know where that tip option is coming from out of the corner. We want to know where that back door threat is with a quick shoulder check.
00:05:47
Speaker
um We want to be able to know where those threats are. Second point, proper rotations before any movements. Use the head to find where to push to, then rotate the body in hard push. So this is something we'll talk about lots in this episode about the lateral plays. Those rotations are critical for um lateral movements. And we talk lots about rotations on this podcast, and there's a reason for that because a lot of times,
00:06:17
Speaker
The biggest issue goalies have on their lateral plays is not getting good enough rotations. Third key point, getting set early, i e beating the pass and making sure there is a hard stop at the end of the push. so um We will talk about what we need to look for for threats um when we get into the nitty gritty, but basically we're trying to turn a lateral play into a straight shot. So we're trying to beat the pass across. We're trying to get our feet set early and we're getting that good hard stop so we're not drifting um at the end of that push.
00:06:55
Speaker
And then that last point, small adjustments to a deflection do not over slide into the save. So if that player on that first shot is slightly off to the side, um we do want to make that small little adjustment to slide into the lane where that tip is coming from. But we can't be too explosive through that or we'll just open up way too much net.
00:07:19
Speaker
um So we will put the link to that drill in the show notes. That is the line walk option with low to slot pass. um Real good drill to work on various lateral plays. So you get the low to high on the first pass. You get the small adjustments on that walk along the blue line for that first shot. and then you get kind of that load a backdoor pass too so real good to kind of simulate a lot of this stuff you might see on a power play um or a lot of kind of in zone movement stuff so um good drill to do that for um getting into the nitty-gritty of things when we're talking about lateral plays we kind of touched on some of these points already when we were talking about the drill but
00:08:10
Speaker
As we all know, one of the easiest things we can do as goalies is just stop a straight shot. Like when there's no other variables involved, a straight shot is probably one of the easiest things to do when we're in position.
00:08:23
Speaker
um We want to, as best we can, turn any lateral play into a straight shot, and that's going to give us the best chance to make that save. It's so much easier to make a save when we are stationary, when we are set, when we are, you know, not moving than when we are moving. Right. So that's the point. um That's kind of our goal on these lateral plays. we want to get over quick, we want to get set, and we want that to now be a straight shot.
00:08:57
Speaker
um So as best we can, that's going to be our goal and everything that we talk about um the rest of the way here is going to try and lead into that goal of beating the pass, being set, and turning it into a straight shot.
00:09:12
Speaker
So how do we kind of do that? Well, first off, In the drill, we talked about being aware of threats. So we've talked before about shoulder checking. We've talked before about you know assessing the ice in front of us. We've talked about you know trying to find the backside threats or you know being able to read the ice, anticipate the play, all of that stuff that we've talked about quite a bit before on the podcast.
Positioning and Stopping Techniques
00:09:40
Speaker
That applies to any lateral play. We need to be aware of where the threats are.
00:09:46
Speaker
Is it a two-on-one? Well, we should be aware of where that um backside net drive guy is and where he is going. Is it a power play?
00:09:56
Speaker
We should know who the weak side winger or maybe the defenseman on the weak side is, um you know, sagging down a bit into kind of that high backside slot area. We should be aware of that by taking the chance to make a shoulder check, process what's going on in front of us, and and be able to kind of, again, anticipate that play ahead of time.
00:10:22
Speaker
Now, when we're talking about the actual pass itself on this lateral play, Since we are trying to beat the pass, the puck is not there yet. And normally when we talk about things, we talk about goalies trying to track the puck, trying to you know get in position in relation to the puck.
00:10:48
Speaker
But in this situation, the puck isn't there yet. So what we need to do as the threat is identify the blade of the stick. So the player that is receiving the pass, we need to look and find the stick blade. That is where we want to push to.
00:11:08
Speaker
And then when we do our rotations, we want to rotate to square up to their stick blade. We need to do both of those things before we push. We need to look and we need to rotate. And since the puck isn't there yet, we're not looking and rotating to the puck, we are looking and rotating to the blade of the stick. Not the body of the player, but their blade of the stick.
00:11:31
Speaker
If they need to adjust their stick blade to catch the pass, at that point, then you can make a small adjustment to adjust your positioning accordingly. But ideally, before that, we are just worried about the blade of the stick. That goes for in-tight backdoor passes when we're sliding. That goes for like D2D passes that are further out that we're making a T-push on. Anything like that.
00:11:58
Speaker
we are looking and we are rotating to the blade of the stick that allows us to have a point to push to before the puck is there because we don't want to wait and we don't want to sit and wait until that player gets the pass and then push because then we're going to be way behind the play so that's kind of what we're looking for that's the big one that's going to be the threat we are looking for the blade of the stick now those rotations I cannot hammer this point home enough.
00:12:30
Speaker
You need to get a good solid rotation before that push. I tell my goalies, I want your whole body square to where you are pushing before you make that push. And there's a couple reasons for that. First off, it's gonna allow you to get a much better angle on your push. We have talked about how pushing flat can get us into trouble because it takes so much longer for your body to get into the lane to cover that net.
00:13:00
Speaker
So if you get a good angle back, because if you think about it, our crease, is a semi-circle and it's a semi-circle for a reason. That's because the angle of the puck coming out from the net wherever it is, if you take every single angle that the puck can make in relation to the net, it makes a semi-circle.
00:13:23
Speaker
So that means we can't push flat. We have to push on an angle to get into that lane. um That's going to help us get there quicker.
00:13:34
Speaker
That's going to help us to, I guess, also just... cover the net more when we get into our end push position because we are in a proper position, we're on our angle, we are square, we are ready to go.
00:13:52
Speaker
And that's the other reason we want to rotate prior to our push is that when we finish our push, then we are already square. We don't have to adjust anything else, right? If you square up to where you are pushing with that rotation before you push,
00:14:07
Speaker
Then when you are at the end of your push, you are already square. You're already set. You're ready to go. um So those are the two main reasons why those rotations are so important.
00:14:18
Speaker
But if you find that you're constantly getting beat on those passes across, like you're just not getting into the lane, you're not covering that net, like they're constantly beating you on that open side, it's probably because you're not getting enough of an angle back on your push because you're not rotating enough. So that's something to work on. They are so critically important for any sort of lateral play or anything like that, that we need to hammer in that rotation.
00:14:47
Speaker
um When it comes to the end of the push, and this is another one that I see goalies get into trouble lots with, is when they push, they do not get their feet set quick enough. so One thing that I see is goalies take a very long time to make their stop. Like it's kind of like a dragged out, like, you know, they start their stop and it maybe takes a second before they finally fully stop.
00:15:18
Speaker
we need to shift that weight onto that lead foot to get a good hard crisp stop and that's it there's no drag of our stop we're not riding that edge for a half second or a second we need to dig in get that hard stop and then we're set we're ready to go um the other thing that i see too is not enough, I guess, umph to the stop. So maybe the stop isn't dragged out, but they don't get a enough, I guess, power on that stop. And so that causes them to still drift past their stop a little bit.
00:16:01
Speaker
um The problem with the drift or not being set properly is kind of two things. First off, it can get you out of position because you're still drifting laterally a little bit and that can leave, um you know, that backside open because you're almost pushing past your point because you didn't get that good hard stop.
00:16:25
Speaker
Then the other thing too, like we talked about earlier, It's so much easier to make a save when we're standing still and we're set as opposed to when we're moving. So if you don't get your feet set and you're still moving, that makes it a lot harder to try and execute a save or another movement if there's another pass or whatever the case is.
00:16:45
Speaker
It's a lot harder to do that when we're still moving, when our feet are still doing stuff. We need to get that good hard stop and set. The other thing that I see too, when it comes to movement at the end of our push is goalies almost drift forward a little bit too. Like they push across and they maybe get set laterally, but then their feet kind of still drift forward a bit.
00:17:11
Speaker
And I understand why that happens. Like the the thought process is, is that we're trying to gain more depth and gain more coverage, or, you know, we're trying to be aggressive, cover more net, whatever the case is.
00:17:25
Speaker
a lot of time A lot of times it's actually counterintuitive because again, it is harder to move or to make a save when we're still moving. um If there's another pass or if there's a shot or anything like that. So we want to eliminate that forward drift.
00:17:43
Speaker
when it comes to our positioning out of angles squareness and depth depth is our last priority we'd much rather get over on our angle and square and only be a step or two off of our goal line then trying to push you know way past the top of our crease to gain that depth but never get into that lane because it takes too long to get there right we're in a better spot when we're on angle and square with less depth than we are if we have more depth and not be on angle and not be square. So that's something to think of too. Like if you take less depth because you get a better angle across, you can always step out more after if you have time, right?
00:18:28
Speaker
But if you take too much depth initially on that push, you can't necessarily bring yourself back if you don't have the time to get further out, right? Because you've already kind of committed to that push. So just something to think of out of those three, depth is the last of our priority. We need to get on angle. We need to get square. And then if we have enough time, we can take more depth if we feel like we need it.
00:18:56
Speaker
um But the biggest thing on these lateral plays, we need to get in the lane, we need to get on angle and we need to be there to cover the net and be able to make a save.
00:19:06
Speaker
So get those feet set early, come across with those good rotations to get a good angle across. And we want to basically be set at the end of that push, right?
00:19:21
Speaker
Treat it like a straight shot. We're ready to go. i Another thing I see on these lateral plays is goalies kind of pulling themselves up on their pushes which then means at the end of their push they have to take some time to get back settled to kind of you know settle back into their stance we want to make sure that we're staying low so what i tell my goalies is i want to be able and i usually hold my stick up when i do this but i hold my stick up so it's parallel with the ice
00:19:55
Speaker
And I say, we want to draw a line on your shoulders when you're in your stance. And I want your shoulders to stay along that line the whole time you are making a push. So there's no pulling up and back through that push.
00:20:09
Speaker
We are driving those shoulders. We're driving the head, the hands forward through our push. We are leading with our body so that when we stop at the end of our push,
00:20:21
Speaker
we are stopped in our set, engaged stance, ready to
Advanced Techniques for In-Tight Plays
00:20:25
Speaker
make a save. We don't have to take an extra split second to bend the knees again, to kind of bring the shoulders forward.
00:20:33
Speaker
We're already set. We're ready to go. Because again, as goalies, especially the higher and higher levels that you go, the less and less time you can afford to give up, right? So we don't want to have a split second of time to drop, ah not drop, but like come down into our proper stance because we pulled up through our push. So that's something else to be thinking of.
00:20:59
Speaker
Have the shoulders stay on an even keel plane. They're not coming up, not doing anything like that. We want to stop in a set position and we don't have to do anything else at the end of our stop.
00:21:13
Speaker
Um, The last thing I'll say too, when it comes to our lateral plays, when we're down driving, so when we're making a butterfly slide, or even if we're already down and we have to do an inside edge push, but basically any time that we end up on our knees um for a lateral play, we want to make sure that we...
00:21:38
Speaker
smother the puck or that we project our hands, our body to be able to make it so the puck has nothing. um Because when we're in tight,
00:21:49
Speaker
Things happen so fast that a lot of times we don't necessarily have time to react to the shot. Most of the stuff in tight is based off of us getting into position and the puck hitting us. Right. And so the more net we can cover and the more we can kind of smother what the puck sees, um the more successful we're going to be. So if you are.
00:22:11
Speaker
dealing with an in tight pass like a backdoor pass or anything like that lead with the hand lead with the shoulder get your body first in that slide or in that push but lead with that hand towards the puck so a lot of times when I tell goalies this they just stretch their hand out like to the side like they're kind of off to the side and they leave a lot of hole um open under their arm that leaves a lot of that net right so we want to come down towards that puck with our hand so that we get into that lane we cut off that angle as quick as we can and
00:22:53
Speaker
We're basically giving the puck nothing to see. So drive that hand down to that puck, drive that shoulder down towards that puck. So we're playing big, like we're cutting off that angle. And that's going to really help to kind of, you know, be successful on those on those in tight kind of lateral plays.
00:23:15
Speaker
Um, A lot of times when goalies get into trouble on those ones, like in tight, it's because they're stretching themselves out. So they're leading more with the foot and maybe they're stretching their hand out as opposed to bringing their body around to cover the net. and that can get them in trouble. That leaves a lot of the net open. Like we've said before, our body is our biggest area of coverage.
00:23:41
Speaker
The more we can get that into the lane, the less net is available. So just stretching a hand and a foot out Yes, sometimes we get into trouble and that is how we have to do it and it is what it is or sometimes we're in desperation mode and that happens. But as best we can, we want to avoid that and we want to lead with the body and get the body more into the lane. That helps us be a lot more efficient. That helps us cover more net and we're just in general in a much better spot.
00:24:15
Speaker
So just some things to think about on those lateral plays. um Again, I can't hammer the point home enough about rotations. We want to make sure that we're getting on angle, getting square, getting our feet set. We're trying to beat the pass, so we need to find the stick blade as the threat.
00:24:33
Speaker
um But honestly, it's just a matter of trying to turn a lateral play into a straight shot. And if we can do that, that makes our life a lot easier. And to me, that's a successful outing when it comes to the lateral play.
Recap and Listener Engagement
00:24:49
Speaker
Last reminder, make sure we scan the ice. We know where our threats are. That's going to help lots too. If we can anticipate where the puck is going, not cheat and not guess, but anticipate and have an idea of the possibilities of where the puck's going to go that can really help us to make the right decisions when it comes time to do so.
00:25:12
Speaker
um So a bit of a quick one today, guys. Like I said, it's been crazy busy around here. So, you know, good problem to have. But sometimes it's a little hard to find time for for the content. But as always, we appreciate you guys tuning in. um We're here every week. Every Tuesday morning we upload an episode.
00:25:36
Speaker
um Thank you to everybody across the world who's listening. It's kind of cool to see where some of the listeners are coming in from. um We appreciate all of you. We appreciate the feedback and the emails we get and all that stuff. So thank you.
00:25:51
Speaker
If you like what you hear, share the show with a friend. That's the best way to kind of grow our outreach. um Make sure that we are...
00:26:03
Speaker
or not make sure we are but if you like the uh the show please leave a follow or a subscribe a like whatever the case is depending on the platform that you're listening to that goes a long way as well reviews help as well so if you guys like leave us a five star review um you can leave us comments if there's anything that you like that helps the algorithm as well push it to more people but if you have any questions or anything like that leave us a comment or send us a message or anything like that. We are on Facebook and TikTok and YouTube at True North Goaltending. We are also on Instagram at Y-E-G Goalie Coach. So you can find us there. If you do want to message us, you can send us an email at goalies at truenorthgoaltending.com. And then if you want to check out our apparel, our drills, book a session with us, our articles, stuff like that, you can head to truenorthgoaltending.com. And that's where you can find pretty much everything we have to offer. We do have some really cool stuff that is going to be coming in the near future that we've been testing out over the last little bit.
00:27:15
Speaker
And we're very excited to pass that along to you guys. So stay tuned for that. um As always, goalies, Thanks for tuning in Make some saves and take care.