Importance of a Strong, Basic Stance in Goaltending

When I first started teaching goalies in 1994, the goalies having great success in the NHL each had very unique, and at times awkward, ways of standing. Due to the popularity of some of them, such as Felix Potvin in Toronto, many younger goalies tried to mirror them. I never used to toy with how a goalie stood. I believed, like many others teaching goal, that each goalie has their own way of standing that is based on their style, body size, skating ability, and influences. I have learned over the past 8 years since I have taught full time (I stopped playing in 2001), that this is simply not true. Without a good, fundamental, athletic stance, a goalie is making the game more difficult, regardless of their reasons for standing the way they do. With the equipment getting smaller, and the players being faster and better, it is now more important than ever, that goalies are athletic and mobile. This all starts with a good stance.

Young goalies develop ways of standing that take pressure off their legs, and allow them to hold their "ready" position, without fear of their legs becoming sore. Here is a list of things goalies do, in order to relieve this pressure:

Pinching in at the knees will lock a goalie into one position, thus making it a slower process to move to another spot on the ice, as you need to unlock your knees in order to move. Pinching in at the knees will also slow your butterfly down. If your knees are locked, you are unable to use your upper leg muscles to “fire” your pads to the ice with authority. Instead, you go over top of your toes, and gravity works almost all alone to get your pads to the ice.

Pinching in at the ankles is very similar to pinching in at the knees, as it takes the pressure off your upper leg muscles, and is usually something done in combination with pinching in at the knees. The problem with pinching in at the ankles, is that your skates will lock onto their inside edges, and your mobility will be hindered significantly. Also, pinching in at the ankles can create a narrow butterfly. The reason is that when you dig your skates in onto your inside edges by pinching your knees and ankles, your weight typically goes all to your toes. All of your weight being on that small part of your skate blades, makes it so your skates dig in to the point where your feet can't go out as you drive your pads to the ice. Goalies who pinch in always go over top of their toes into their butterfly, making for a slower, more narrow butterfly, which is less effective than a fast, wide one.

Going onto your toes, and bringing your knees forward will also relieve the pressure on the top portion of your legs, and give the appearance of having good knee bend. Once again, goalies in this position tend to lock into one position, and be unable to react well to passes and lateral plays, and tend to have slow butterfly saves because they don't use their big muscles to drive their pads to the ice. A goalie on his/her toes is primarily using their calves, and is not taking advantage of the biggest muscles in their body.

Bending at the waist is another way for a goalie to appear low, but not be using their leg muscles properly. This results in a goalie that is not well balanced, because their upper body tends to be in front of their lower body, which throws off balance. Goalies bending at the waist tend to move with less power, and more slowly than a goalie utilizing their upper leg muscles by bending their knees properly.

Resting on hands and elbows is the final way for a goalie to use smoke and mirrors, when it comes to their stance. Often times, a goalie is trained enough that they know they can't get away with not bending their knees, they know they have to keep their chest in good position, and they know they can't lean forward, so they try to put their hands or elbows on their pad or thigh. This, once again, takes away from their ability to use their big muscles, and makes it very difficult for them to use their hands to catch/block pucks. It also makes it very difficult to use their stick properly, as it is usually resting on their pad.

Keys to a Good Stance

These 7 things are a very good checklist when it comes to analyzing a goalie's stance. Being in a strong stance for the position of goal, is being in a good, athletic position. This means that if you look at a goalie standing in the proper stance, you should be able to take his/her gloves and stick away, and insert a tennis racket, baseball glove, lacrosse stick, or even a regular pair of hockey gloves and stick, and they will be in the ready position for those sports as well.

If you look at a goalie like Felix Potvin, or Henrik Lundqvist, you will see two goalies that stand very wide. Potvin did this while pinching in at the knees and ankles, while Lundqvist does it by using his incredible leg strength. Lundqvist has his skates on both edges, and really sits into his stance. This allows him to keep good mobility, while standing very wide. Younger goalies simply can not do this. The leg strength is not there. Now, take two very different goalies, who are also at the top of the NHL totem pole, in Martin Brodeur, and Evgeni Nabokov. Both of these goalies use a more traditional stance, like I have described above, and are achieving great success in the NHL. Younger goalies should look to guys standing like this, rather than the ones standing in unique ways.

One final point: When working with your goalies, please understand that getting them into a strong, athletic stance is difficult. They will resist it, they will complain, and they will not like you at times for doing it. However, it is what is best for them, and they will thank you for it when they get better results because they have better mobility, and more explosive saves. Don't take the easy way out, and allow them to do what's comfortable, rather make them do what is right.