Position & Angles

The goalie is the last line of defense for a hockey team. Before a puck goes in the net, the other team has to get past all of the other players.

When a forward makes a mistake, the defense can help; when the defense makes a mistake, the goalie can help. But when the goalie makes a mistake, there's nobody to help.

Unless a goalie is very lucky, every mistake means a puck in the net.

If a goalie has a good game, the team has a good chance of winning. If the goalie has a bad game, the team doesn't have a chance.

This makes goaltending more difficult, and more important, than any other position.

Good goaltending begins with positioning.

Good positioning begins by asking two questions: "How are you standing?" and "Where are you standing?"

The Stance: "How are you standing?"

The Butterfly Style is the more popular stance, but to do it right you have to have very strong legs. Until you have very strong legs, playing butterfly means lots of falling down and trouble getting up. That means the puck can go in up high, or around you while you're lying on the ice.

The Stand Up Style is the older stance, but to do it right you have to have very fast feet and legs. Until you have fast quick feet and legs, playing Stand Up means lots of goals down low.

It's easier to be fast when you fall down than it is to be quick while getting up. It's also easier to move around playing Stand Up than it is while playing Butterfly. So, start by playing Stand Up. When your feet are quick, your legs strong, and your balance is good, you can try to play Butterfly.

A good Stand Up goalie doesn't just stand in the net. Your knees should be bent, bum low, and back straight. Bent knees let you move your feet quickly. If your bum isn't low--like you're sitting on a tall chair--your knees aren't bent enough. A straight back keeps you tall and lets you cover more net.

















In the top part of this photo, the goalie has a very good Stand Up stance. He is standing tall, with knees bent, legs open and ready to move, and gloves held ready.

In the lower image, the stance isn't as good. The goalie's left leg is leaning too much (yellow line) and should be held higher (green line). The trapper is also being held too low. It should be held higher to take away the top part of the net.









Angles: "Where are you?" is the easiest to learn, and the most important to get right. If you are standing in right position, many times you will not have to move to stop the puck... the shooter will have nowhere to shoot, and the puck will just hit you.

The rink diagram shows the five basic angles, and how far out the goalie should be standing. Coming out far enough is especially important for smaller goalies. A big goal covers a lot of net, a small goalie has to hide the net from the puck by coming out and challenging the shooter.

The green lines show the angle from the center of the net to the five basic points: the two corners, two face off dots, and center. The blue lines show where the goalie should stand for each position. Unless the puck is in the corners, the goalie should play at the top of the crease. This makes you bigger, the net smaller, and makes it more difficult for the shooter to hit the net.


If you're a big goalie, even when you stay back in the crease, the shooter will have trouble finding a hole to shoot at. Here, it looks like there's some room over the goalie's glove-hand shoulder, but from the puck's point of view, there's nowhere to go. There's no need to go down, no need to come out farther. There's no way the player could score... if he was ready to shoot, instead of off-balance. A small goalie can't stay so far back in the net.








In this photo, the goalie is almost in the right position. She has the right angle--the red line--but she because she is small, she is standing too far back in crease. Also, she is not square to the shot. She should move from the yellow line to the blue line, making herself as bigger and the net smaller.











If you're a small goalie, and you don't position yourself at the right angle and at the top of the crease, the shooter will have many holes through which to see and hit the net. This goalie is standing too far to the right, and too far back. This gives the shooter lots of net to aim for on the left side of the net.

This shooter also could have passed the puck to his teammate in front of the net. After getting the right stance and angle, good positioning also means moving quickly to face a new shooter.






If you don't move fast enough, there's no way you'll be able to stop the shot. If the goalie is out of position, even the youngest shooters will have no trouble scoring a goal.