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078 - Getting Better at In Tight Plays
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Join or Donate to Our October Saves Team: https://fundraisemyway.cancer.ca/teams/8526
Drill of the Month - The Gauntlet: https://truenorthgoaltending.com/drills/the-gauntlet
This week is a solo episode from Nathan going over our drill of the month - The Gauntlet. Nathan also tackles the topic of in tight play and provides tips on how to give yourself the best opportunity to make saves when the puck is in tight. We go over the importance of rotations, hand projection, staying patient, and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
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 ah better goalie.
00:00:18
Speaker
Goalies, how are we doing today? Welcome back to another episode of the DIY Goalie Podcast, presented by True North Goaltending.
Solo Hosting and Parenthood Challenges
00:00:27
Speaker
Flying solo today. Just me, Nathan Park, your host. Connor Monday is not here with us today.
00:00:35
Speaker
He had some stuff going on personally that he is taking care of. So we're giving him a little bit of a break. um That new dad life's a bit of a grind. But...
00:00:46
Speaker
No, we're going to have a good one today. We are somehow in October, which means for a lot of you guys, the season's kind of kicking off.
Season Start and Drill of the Month
00:00:55
Speaker
um You guys are probably starting get back into the routine of things.
00:01:00
Speaker
um That also means, though, a new month, a new drill of the month that we are going to go through. And then I also wanted to go through... Playing in tight situations. I feel like it's been a while since we've actually dove into a meat and potatoes topic, kind of talked some technical stuff. So um we're going to do that today.
00:01:23
Speaker
It should be a nice, fairly simple, quick episode with just kind of the the two things to go through and me running through myself.
Merchandise and Listener Engagement
00:01:31
Speaker
um But before we do get started, i just kind of wanted to remind you guys um to check us out at truenorthgoaltending.com we have all our merch and apparel there at our shop um mean you can check that out get some shirts get some hoodies for the season for you goalie parents out there we have hoodies for you guys that say my little goalie makes big saves we've also got stuff that says life of a goalie parent eat sleep stress out or eat don't sleep stress out repeat
00:02:06
Speaker
and So we got lots of stuff, goalie parents and goalies alike there um that helps support us, kind of helps, you know, cover expenses for the podcast and all that sort of stuff that we do over here.
00:02:19
Speaker
um You can also check out we've got drills, which I do need to update. um It's been a while since we posted some new drills that is on my list to do. ah We do have a lot of new drills in our bank, but they just haven't been put on the website. We also have a concentration grid generator. If you guys want to be doing some concentration grids at home, ah that's on our site as well. And then as always, if you are in the Edmonton area and want to come check us out for any sort of coaching services, we are there as well.
Global Audience and Support Encouragement
00:02:52
Speaker
And again, just before we get into it, want to say thank you guys for tuning into us, listening to us on a regular basis. It's kind of cool to see how global our reach has been over in Europe, over in South America, in Australia, New Zealand, all of that stuff.
00:03:10
Speaker
You guys are awesome. Thank you very much. It helps us to grow the podcast. If you can leave us a like or a subscribe, a follow, a review, if you can share it with, uh, with another goalie friend, all of that stuff kind of helps us to grow the podcast and to reach new goalies.
00:03:28
Speaker
And, uh, thanks again.
October Saves Fundraising Initiative
00:03:30
Speaker
Last thing too, as we talked about on last episode, I'll put a link in the show notes, but if you guys would like to join are um,
00:03:39
Speaker
Our October saves team, if you would want to be a part of that to raise money or if you would like to donate money, I will put the link for all our October episodes ah in the show notes and you guys can do that. We are giving away a prize pack for the top earner that joins our team.
00:03:59
Speaker
So if you guys would like to do that, hop on board.
Explaining 'The Gauntlet' Drill
00:04:02
Speaker
um For today or for this month's drill of the month, we are going to go through the gauntlet.
00:04:11
Speaker
So this will be posted in the show notes. This is one that I actually um took from McCaig over at Above the Crease back when I played at Nate in my college days.
00:04:25
Speaker
And he was our goalie coach. He ran this drill with us and It's tiring, but it's a lot of fun. I think it's a good one to work on with your goalies. little bit of competition there.
00:04:37
Speaker
um But basically what it is, is 50 shots. ah So this kind of goes a little bit against what we talk about when we talk about goalie friendly practices and how...
00:04:50
Speaker
Quality is better than quantity. But that being said, this is kind of a fun little drill to do. um So at the bottom of each circle, there'll be 20 pucks.
00:05:02
Speaker
So that's 40 of your 50 shots. And then the other 10 pucks will be kind of the slot area. So what will happen to start, Ned is in its normal spot, but the goalie will face one side or the other facing the 20 pucks that they're going to get.
00:05:18
Speaker
the coach or the shooter is going to shoot 10 of those pucks low along the ice. And the goalie facing the puck, so they're basically their side is facing the net, they got to steer with their stick or their pad and get 10 of the pucks into the net or try and get as many of the 10 pucks into the net as they can.
00:05:38
Speaker
For each puck that does not go in the net, assuming it's not a bad shot by the shooter, you add one up and down to the goalie. OK, and at the end, the goalie is going to do all their accumulated up and down. So the first 10 shots low on the ice, the goalie has to deflect them into the net. So they're probably around the top of the crease area.
00:06:00
Speaker
Give them some room to have to make that save and deflect it into the net. Again, stick or pad doesn't matter. But if it hits the post and doesn't go in, it doesn't count. So that's an up and down for the goalie.
00:06:12
Speaker
so that's the first 10 shots. The second 10 shots are going to be high. So if it's the blocker side, again, the blocker has to deflect the puck into the net.
00:06:23
Speaker
If it's the glove side, it's every caught puck. So you have to catch the puck. If you drop a puck, that's one up and down. Or if the blocker doesn't get a puck in the net, that's another up and down.
00:06:35
Speaker
Then obviously the goalie would face the other side. You do the same thing with the other 20 pucks. So 10 low, 10 high. Again, up and down for either a missed net or a not caught puck.
00:06:46
Speaker
And then the final 10 shots from the slot, the goalie will face the pucks. Again, kind of top of the crease. All 10 shots are going to be chest shots. And for everyone that the goalie doesn't corral, so if they pop out a rebound, that's one up and down. And then at the end of all 50 shots, with the ah accumulated up and downs, the goalie has to do them all at once.
00:07:11
Speaker
So again, you're probably in my experience looking at somewhere between 8 15 ish up and downs at the end of this, depending on on age and skill level.
00:07:25
Speaker
But it's a good way to kind of throw a little bit of competition, get goalies to kind of think about where they're placing pucks and all that stuff. And just kind of a way to way to get some pucks. This could be a warm up drill, though it is pretty tiring.
00:07:40
Speaker
usually kind of save it for near you know the end of the season and the end of like a fun skate or something or just like a start of the season tune up so again that's kind of the gauntlet we'll post that in the show notes 50 shots lots of up and downs gets the blood flowing definitely a little bit of a hidden bagger but it is a fun one to do so that'll be in the show notes you guys can check it out um And that is our drill of the month. We'll also make a post of that down the road when are on our socials too if you if you miss that.
Patience and Minimal Movement Tips
00:08:19
Speaker
So um diving into the meat and potatoes of today's episode.
00:08:28
Speaker
In tight plays. So... There's a lot of things that goalies kind of do that's too much when it comes to in tight plays.
00:08:40
Speaker
We tend to be a little impatient as goalies like that's pretty common. I find in a lot of situations we tend to want to do more than we actually have to do. We think we have to do more than we actually have to do.
00:08:54
Speaker
And that tends to lead to a lot of panic. Right. So. We try and stretch out or we try and a big one in tight that we're going to touch on is we try and get back up to our feet and up opening a lot of holes could get us in trouble. Right. So we tend to think we have to do more than we do.
00:09:12
Speaker
In reality, our position as goalies, our position is naturally a reactive position. We can't really go out and make things happen.
00:09:24
Speaker
We have to wait for things to come to us. So when it's in tight, when the puck's kind of closer to the net in tight, you know, probably within two to three feet of the top of the crease is kind of what we're talking about. And then a little bit behind the net too in tight.
00:09:42
Speaker
um That's kind of what we're talking about when we talk about these in tight plays. and Things happen quick, right? There's scrambles in front, there's bodies in front, people are hacking away at the puck.
00:09:53
Speaker
Things happen quick. So The more that we add to our game in tight, the more that we do, the more movement we have, the more potential we have to open up holes.
00:10:05
Speaker
So we want to make sure that we are as patient as we can be. Let the play come to us. We want to be reactive as opposed to trying to make something happen, try and force something to happen.
00:10:18
Speaker
And that's what's going to put us in the best spot possible for ah these situations. So When we talk about in-tight plays, there's obviously like everything ah around goaltending. There's millions probably of potential scenarios and situations that could happen to lead to an in-tight play.
00:10:41
Speaker
Could be a shot from the point that kind of gets blocked, drops at somebody's feet, and then it's kind of a scramble in front. Could be a backdoor pass, could be a wraparound or a stuff from behind the net.
00:10:52
Speaker
Right. Could just be, you know, a shot and then a rebound. Anything where this puck ends up kind of in tight to the net. That's that's what we're going to be talking about.
00:11:04
Speaker
um I really want to hammer the point home. If you guys only take one thing away from this podcast, I really want to be hammering the point home that less is more.
00:11:17
Speaker
So we kind of touched on it a little bit before, but I do see a lot of goalies that, you know, shot comes on net, they drop for their save, maybe it hits somebody, like gets caught in, you know, their upper body, like it hits them in the stomach or something, kind of.
00:11:33
Speaker
gets caught for a couple seconds, drops to the ice. lot of times goalies immediately you want to hop right back up. Even if that puck is only like a foot or two in front of them, they hop right back up to their feet.
00:11:46
Speaker
And what I see a lot of times happen is
Improving Tight Play Techniques
00:11:51
Speaker
Goalies can get caught halfway getting up or by the time they get up and the shot comes, they don't have enough time to get back down. Puck goes through their legs or under an arm or something like that because they've opened up the holes that weren't there before.
00:12:10
Speaker
Being in your butterfly is a set position. in certain scenarios. I am not telling you guys to stay on your knees the whole time.
00:12:22
Speaker
And obviously we've talked about it lots on the podcast. If you guys have worked with us in person before, you know that we're really big proponents of building habits of moving around on our feet.
00:12:34
Speaker
But in tight, if you've already committed to a butterfly, Say you're trying to make a save and it gets blocked or say you've pushed across on a butterfly side because of a backdoor pass in tight and say they miss or whatever the case is, you've made a save, your rebound's there.
00:12:54
Speaker
Being in your butterfly, is a set position. So if the puck is in front of you and you've already committed to a butterfly and it's in tight and there's a potential for an immediate threat back to the net, it is okay to be staying on your knees with your hands out, eyes on the puck, shoulders slightly forward, playing big but not upright. So we're not bringing our weight back and we're not straight up and down, but playing big, those hands are are out covering the angle, the shoulders are forward, kind of cutting off that angle to making yourself big.
00:13:30
Speaker
Okay, and the elbows are tight into the ah side of the body. So there's no holes, your knees are tight. Okay. That is a perfectly acceptable, ready stance, if you want to call it that. I know it's not a stance, it's the butterfly. But um That is a perfectly acceptable setup scenario if the puck is in tight, if it's sitting kind of a little bit in front of you guys. So maybe shot comes, hits you in the chest, pops out, maybe a bit of a bad rebound, it pops straight out.
00:14:03
Speaker
you can't get it right away it's perfectly okay if there's a bit of a scrum in front to just chill and wait and see what happens keep your eyes on the puck battle for that site if the puck moves that's when you move right but we want to start having a bit more of that reactive mindset as opposed to trying to chase trying to make something happen that's what's going to get us in the best spot so Don't be trying to do anything fancy.
00:14:32
Speaker
Don't be, you know, adjusting depth a bunch or trying to move laterally or trying to get up and back down and up and back down. Okay. Less is usually more. The more that we do, the more time it takes, the more holes we open up, all of that stuff.
00:14:49
Speaker
let the play come to you and be patient. So that's kind of my big takeaway from today. um And this goes for everything, not just in tight, but in general, a lot of times goalies try to do too much, try to think they have to make something happen.
00:15:07
Speaker
Our position is very reactive. We have to let things develop and come to us. That's just kind of the nature of how things go. Um, When it comes to in tight as well, another big mistake that I see or, or um and don't know about mistake, but just something that I see that a lot of goalies don't implement enough in their game is the rotations. And I know, again, that's a word, probably at this point, a buzzword for our podcast. I don't know, probably part of the DIY goalie podcast drinking game every time we say rotations.
00:15:44
Speaker
But, yeah, It's, it's really important to make sure that you get good lines when you're pushing, when the puck's in tight.
00:15:55
Speaker
Because if you push flat, if you don't get back on a good angle on your push, you're not going to cut off the angle, you're not going to cut off the net, and you're going to do a lot of work to not really gain anything. Every now and then that might get you a save or two but in our position we want to maximize our probability of making a save and so getting a good angle back on our pushes is going to help us to get into a better position more consistently
00:16:26
Speaker
And that comes from rotation. So a lot of times, especially in tight goalies, panic. They need to just go. They feel like, oh no, that pass came or that puck squeaked out to the backside or I gave up a bad rebound and I just have to go. I just have to get there.
00:16:47
Speaker
lot of times though, they don't actually get there because they're flat. They don't cut off the angle. Puck goes in. Take that b split second to get a little bit of a rotation in your body to get a better angle back on a push so that you can get there quicker. It might take you a split second longer to do the rotation, but you should get in the lane quicker.
00:17:11
Speaker
You should be there more with your body too. If you rotate your body, now you can move with your body instead of just stretching out a leg or an arm or anything like that.
00:17:22
Speaker
And absolute worst case scenario, if you are that far behind, if it is a bang, bang play, even if you get that bit of a rotation that gives you a better angle back to be able to dive or throw a leg or an arm out or whatever the case is, you you kind of get a bit more ability to cover the net when you get that rotation, because now you're throwing something into the lane,
00:17:51
Speaker
on angle with the puck and actually somewhat square to the puck so that you have a better chance of actually getting into that lane as opposed to if you just try and stretch or dive or push or whatever the case is just flat lot of times that you won't cut off cut off the puck's trajectory so take the time to really get a good rotation especially if it's a backdoor pass, getting that rotation to get a nice, good angle on a push back, a lot of times is the difference between a save and a goal. And especially if you can get your body around, that's another kind of segue into our next point is the body.
00:18:34
Speaker
It's your biggest area of coverage. If you can get it over, as opposed to just stretching out a leg or an arm or trying to put your paddle or something like that, you're going to cover a lot more net.
00:18:46
Speaker
Not only that, but if there is a rebound after that play, when you come across with your body, you're in a much better spot to collect yourself and now push to the next scenario.
00:18:59
Speaker
Use your body. Make sure when you rotate, your body squares up to where you're going and then you get a good push over and get your body there first. Don't just stretch unless you absolutely have to. That's your last case scenario.
00:19:15
Speaker
get your body over lead with your shoulder lead with your hand lead with your head all of that first that's your biggest area of coverage that's what's going to help you get into that lane because normally with these in tight plays we don't have enough time to actually react to the shot itself a lot of times it's just positional we are trying to hit our spot we are trying to cover as much net as we can We don't want to do it as just a strictly blocking play. Like I'm not saying to just lock our hands and stiffen up our body.
00:19:47
Speaker
We still want to be active. We still want to be loose with our hands, our hips, our body, all of that stuff. But A lot of times we're not going to be actively making saves with these in tight shots.
00:20:00
Speaker
So we need to make sure we're tight, we're big and we're in front. We're cutting off the angle with the hands, the shoulders, elbows tucked in, all that stuff we talked about earlier. OK,
Effective Stick Usage in Tight Plays
00:20:11
Speaker
but it is important to lead more so with the hand and the body. What I kind of like to tell my goalies is after that rotation, you drive that hand out first. So you have something in the lane.
00:20:23
Speaker
And then as your body gets into the lane after your push, you kind of. you know, work your body into your elbow. So the arm has been extended, projected out towards that puck.
00:20:36
Speaker
And then as your body follows, your body kind of comes into your elbow to tighten back up so that now our body's there and our hands are there. We're in a good spot.
00:20:47
Speaker
um The other thing too is a bit of a tip that really helps for these rotations that helps kind of keep your body um square and all that.
00:21:01
Speaker
So use your stick blade, follow the puck with your stick blade, not just your head, but your stick blade as well, because that's going to help your hands go. It's going to help your body go in those good rotations.
00:21:13
Speaker
It's also going to help you to have something there for the five hole, because a lot of times in tight, goalie lifts a leg up to make a push and that seems to be right when somebody takes a shot or right when the puck you know gets poked or something and it slides five hole sure it's happened to pretty much everybody listening to this i know it's happened to me it's multiple points throughout my career when i played you go to open up just to make a small adjustment or a push and all of a sudden that puck's going right under your legs so if we can follow the puck with our stick blade
00:21:50
Speaker
Okay. That's going to help with the rotations. That's going to help to cover that five hole. And that's also going to give you the opportunity to poke at the puck if you need to.
00:22:01
Speaker
um We'll get into that in a second, but um you can poke at the puck if you need to, you can kind of, you know, disrupt sticks or whatever you need to do, but It's a good kind of tip or tool to be able to follow the puck. That's a good tip for shootouts and breakaways too, is if you can kind of follow as the player's moving laterally with the stick blade, just follow that puck. That kind of helps you to start those rotations and and all of that. So in tight, not only are we having our head and our eyes on the puck, but kind of follow it around with that stick blade.
00:22:37
Speaker
That's going to help your body move with you and keep things nice and covered. um When it comes to the stick though, Just be careful, like when we are looking at poking pucks or anything like that, be very careful that we're not getting ourselves out of position.
00:22:54
Speaker
ah see a lot of goalies, say they make a save and the rebound's, I don't know, a foot, maybe two feet ah away from them. And then they do this big, massive extension to try and reel the puck in.
00:23:07
Speaker
But then what happens is the other team is trying to get there to your defenseman stick or trying to tie up um the offensive player sticks. It's chaos. All of a sudden the puck gets poked this way. You're going that way, stretched out wide open net puck gets put in. Right.
00:23:25
Speaker
It's OK to try and use your stick. It's OK to try and cover the puck, all that good stuff. But. You have to do it in a way that doesn't put you out of position unless you are 110% sure that you are going to get to that puck first.
00:23:43
Speaker
Right. But even then I've seen goalies try and like dive out on top of a puck and when they fall on it, it squirts out to the side or behind them or whatever else.
00:23:54
Speaker
My kind of thing that I like to tell my goalies when we work together is If you can reach it with your stick while maintaining your proper upper body positioning in your butterfly, then
Maintaining Depth and Posture
00:24:11
Speaker
great. Go for it. Try and pull it back and cover it.
00:24:16
Speaker
If you can't, then just leave it again. Stay in that butterfly position. Let the play develop in front of you. You react to it because as soon as you put yourself out of position to try and reach, try and, you know, dive out to cover it or to poke it away, if you lose that race or if you don't get it you're in a bad spot.
00:24:40
Speaker
So be okay with not getting that puck. It's okay to have that puck sit in front of you and let the play develop in front of you, right? So active stick is good, but make sure you're not, you know, lunging, make sure you're not getting onto your stomach or onto your back or side trying to get to it.
00:25:02
Speaker
right if you can reel the puck towards you use your stick to pull it in towards you and get a glove on it so you don't have to um lose your positioning too much hopefully that makes sense it's kind of hard to explain uh without the visuals but um in tight if we can stay tall as best we can that's going to be helpful too. We talked about our body being our biggest area of coverage. So when we lunge out to try and poke or um cover a puck or anything like that, we lose a lot of that coverage because we're getting so low.
00:25:41
Speaker
um But the same thing applies too for when we're stretching or pushing or anything like that. The more we can keep our body up and avoid falling on our butt, falling on our stomach, anything like that,
00:25:55
Speaker
um the better that we, ah the better position we put ourselves in for those scrambles or for any of those in tight plays. So we want to make sure that we keep that body upright, keep the hips as tall as possible while still being loose and being able to to play properly.
00:26:14
Speaker
um The other thing I see too sometimes in tight is goalies will really drop their butt, drop their hips, so that they get really low and really compact, which again opens up a lot more net. It's also harder to move into um if we're kind of sitting more back, like with our weight on our feet as opposed to our knees in the butterfly. So when that um weight's back from our butt dropping back, that's another one that I see kind of get goalies into trouble as well.
00:26:46
Speaker
Again, stay tall, stay big, try and play as big as you can. And then use those hands, project the hands out. Those are gonna be what helps you cut off the angle if a shot does come. Because if you think about it, the in tight pucks,
00:27:03
Speaker
have a very, very steep angle that they need to get to that top corner. So the further out you can get your hands or a shoulder or whatever the case is, but more so the hands are kind of the ones we really want to project.
00:27:19
Speaker
um The more towards the puck you can get with those, the more you're going to cut off that i angle trajectory up that the puck has. Right. So If you have a possibility to basically get your glove like or your blocker like right on top of that puck, if it's a mad scramble in front, you can't cover it, but it's sitting there in front, guys are whacking away. If you can just get that hand like almost right over top of that puck, that eliminates kind of that...
00:27:53
Speaker
that threat of the top corner ah shot, right? So the more that we can cut that angle off, the more forward in that angle we can get, the less of the net puck sees. So projecting those hands forward is very important.
00:28:12
Speaker
um But again, make sure that it's forward and kind of down towards that puck, because if you just go straight out, All you're going to do is make a big hole for the puck between your glove and your pad. So you have to come down to that puck as you're coming out in front with those hands.
00:28:31
Speaker
And then we still want to make sure we're as tight as possible as we can be. Keep those elbows tucked in. Okay, shift your body over while we're projecting those hands to get a little bit more coverage behind as well.
00:28:46
Speaker
And that'll kind of really help you cut off a lot of that net. Another thing that I kind of see when it comes to in tight play is a lot of goalies default right back to their post.
00:28:59
Speaker
In certain situations, that is okay. But in a lot of other situations, that kind of gets goalies into trouble. um It's a very common thing, not just when the puck is in tight, but it's a very common thing in general that goalies just like to be on their posts.
00:29:20
Speaker
They like they it's a comfort thing. um We don't as goalie coaches as goalies. We don't do enough work, in my opinion, on post play and post transitions and getting comfortable on the post as well as like dead angle play, working on stuff like the overlap and RVH and when to be in what all that stuff.
00:29:43
Speaker
We don't do enough work on that. So goalies just kind of default back to standing post play or the RVH. They kind of suck back to the post. They like being on the post. It's comfortable. They know where they are.
00:29:58
Speaker
But on a lot of these in tight plays, if you're trying to say it's a backdoor pass and say you push back to your post and But the guys more in the backdoor area and not really like the goal line area, what that's going to do is that's going to kind of prevent your body from getting over a little bit because eventually your foot gets stuck on that post and you you lose your momentum. It's the physics, right? Like,
00:30:31
Speaker
If the net is pegged properly, which I know a lot of you guys don't have proper pegs, and that's frustrating as a goalie, trust me, but if your net's pegged properly, you slide into your post, you're going to stop.
00:30:46
Speaker
Your body's not going to carry any momentum through, and then really you just have a leg there. A lot of times that's why goalies kind of end up off their angle on these pushes is because they hit their post and they stop, and now...
00:31:00
Speaker
they're kind of like knee is lined up with the puck as opposed to the middle of their body, for example. Right. So, Don't think that you have to just immediately default back to your post. There are a lot of situations where, say, that backdoor pass we were talking about, you're actually going to want your angle of your slide to get you just slightly in front of that post so that you can get that body over.
00:31:28
Speaker
you can get into a good spot. If you need to, you can use that lead leg to catch a quick break. But then you're on your angle. You're in a good position. you're not stuck on the post. And that's a lot of things. A lot of times what happens on our post is we get stuck.
00:31:45
Speaker
Our feet can't move. Right. We don't really have the ability to square up properly. It makes for awkward saves, all of that stuff. So sometimes it's good to be in front of that post and don't just default back.
00:32:00
Speaker
That's another thing, too, is In tight situations, depth management is interesting and something that a lot of goalies don't understand.
00:32:11
Speaker
Yes, we should be a little bit deeper for our in tight ah scenarios, but that doesn't mean we necessarily have to suck right back to the goal line. And that's another thing that happens when we go back to our posts and just um get comfortable just going right back to the post all the time.
00:32:30
Speaker
That a lot of times leads to us losing depth and losing squareness, right? So it's okay to not be on your goal line, even if the puck's a foot in front of the crease.
00:32:43
Speaker
Yes, you probably don't want to be like right on top of the crease unless you're trying to cover that puck and you have the ability to do so. um But we also don't want to be chilling on the goal line you don't want to be giving up basically the whole net you want to still be out a little bit and maybe it's while you're in your butterfly your feet are touching the goal line like you know the skate blade with your feet sticking out of your pads there but your knees are like halfway um up up in the crease like the halfway point of the crease
00:33:20
Speaker
That's a perfectly fine situation. Your body still has some depth, you still have some neck coverage, but you're still back enough to be able to make movements if you need to on a quick pass or anything like that.
00:33:34
Speaker
so Yes, we want to be a little bit deeper so we can move around a little bit easier when the puck's in tight. But that doesn't mean we suck right back to the goal line. There comes a point that you do have to hold your ice.
00:33:48
Speaker
I tell my goalies, you worked hard to get that position. Don't give it up. Right.
Threat Awareness and Anticipation
00:33:53
Speaker
Don't just suck right back and say, oh This puck's still coming towards me. I guess I need to keep backing up, right? There's a point that you have to hold your line in the sand and defend that net, right?
00:34:07
Speaker
and The last thing that I'm kind of going to say and talk about is the awareness portion. And I know we've talked about this a lot throughout um the podcast episodes that we've had.
00:34:24
Speaker
But being aware of backside threats, being aware of lefties versus righties, being aware of, you know, the backside deactivating down to the back door, anything like that, like,
00:34:42
Speaker
kind of Having the anticipation because you know where open threats are can be a big difference in our in-tight plays. and Just as a goalie in general, we've gone through it lots. but Having...
00:34:58
Speaker
the ability to process where all the bodies in front of you are can really help you to kind of have a feel for what's going to happen. So if you know that there is a guy open on the back door and somebody say, say you're on your glove side, shot comes top of the circle, you drop down to make a save, puck gets blocked and it drops in your defenseman's feet.
00:35:25
Speaker
Say you know that there is a guy backdoor If that puck gets poked over, you already know that you have a threat there and you have to start planning for that, getting a rotation in and pushing over.
00:35:39
Speaker
If you know that, that can happen a lot quicker than trying to process it as it happens and be like, oh, there's a guy there. Now I need to start. By the time you process that and think about it and action it, a lot of times that puck's in the net.
00:35:57
Speaker
If you know ahead of time that that guy's there, you can anticipate that. You can start to kind of prep yourself. Maybe you already took a half step back and now you can get across there that little bit quicker because you don't have as far to go.
00:36:13
Speaker
So that's another one we talk about lots. Being able to read the play, anticipate the play, understand what's going on in front of you, process the game.
00:36:24
Speaker
That's one that, again, doesn't just apply to in tight. It can apply to all facets of the game, but it will help, especially in tight as well. um That's kind of all that I have for in tight plays um you guys can work on this stuff lots in practice with just kind of small area games whether it's an actual team practice doing small area games or whether it's you know a goalie specific drill like one that i really like to do is i actually will take the net and turn it around on the goal line
00:37:06
Speaker
So it faces the end boards and then just play there, right? Like one-on-one coach against goalie, just play it out in that zone between the goal line and the end boards.
00:37:17
Speaker
And that's really good for kind of getting goalies to – anticipate to be a little bit patient, but also know when they have to drop and, you know, play tight and all that stuff. It's a fun one for both the coach and the goalies.
00:37:34
Speaker
um But anything that kind of gets some in tight work going, it's usually pretty fun because it's kind of a high paced competitive environment.
Practicing In-Tight Skills
00:37:43
Speaker
And it's also really good for establishing a lot of these skills. So anything that involves kind of, you know, in tight scrambles, games of rebound are good or juice or whatever it is you guys play.
00:37:56
Speaker
um Anything like that is is good to build these sort of skills. and As always, guys. Thanks so much for listening. That's all I got for you guys today.
Engagement with True North Goaltending
00:38:11
Speaker
You can check us out on our social media channels. We are on TikTok. We are on YouTube. We are on Facebook, all at True North Goaltending. We are also on Instagram at yeggooliecoach.
00:38:25
Speaker
If you like the podcast, please share it. That's the biggest thing that can help us grow. Share it around. Send the link of the episode or the podcast itself to your friends.
00:38:37
Speaker
Leave a like, leave a review, follow us, subscribe to us, whether it's YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, whatever you're consuming this on. That helps us out a lot, too. It's good for the algorithms.
00:38:49
Speaker
um But the biggest thing is just, you know, getting the word out there, telling your friends, whether it is our YouTube channel or the podcast or our website, whatever.
00:39:00
Speaker
um That is one of the biggest things that can help us out. So we very much appreciate that. um Everything that we talked about will be in the show notes down below. You can check us out at truenorthgoaltending.com. If you would like to book a session with us, if you'd like to check out our merch, our drills, our articles, anything like that, that's where you can find us. If you have any listener questions or just a general question for us, if you want to reach out, get in contact with us, you can do so at goalies at truenorthgoaltending.com.
00:39:36
Speaker
And we'll get back to you there when we can. Thank you so much for tuning in, guys. It was a pleasure having you today. Take care, goalies. Make some saves.