Position: Short Side

Short side shots can be hard to stop. Even if you've got the right angle and you're square to the shot, a good shooter might be able to find a hole.

Here, the goalie is almost in the right position... she should turn towards the shooter to take away any chance of hitting the far side of the net. That means turning from where her feet are (yellow line) to where they should be (green line).

















Right now, the coloured areas show where all of the shooter's holes are. Turning towards the shooter would take away the far blue areas.

But in this case, it doesn't matter. This time a good shooter put the puck past the goalie by hitting the hole on the short side (the red spot).

That's a great shot! If the shooter is in close, it can be a very difficult shot to stop, because there's no time. The goalie's best chance is to get the angle right (she did), get square to the shooter (both shoulders are the same distance from the puck--she didn't), and make sure that little holes like this are being closed.










Here's another goalie in the same position. The shooter missed and the puck went behind the net, but you can see:
1) the goalie had the right angle
2) the goalie was square to the puck
3) the goalie left the same little hole open!

If this had been a very good shooter, it could have been a goal, too.

Watch your angle!
Get square to the shooter!
Make sure that there are no holes to shoot at!