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Positioning

for all the Goalies? Tips from the coaches. Advice from players.

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Positioning

Postby UKLaxfan Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:19 pm

Always stand in front of the Goal

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Postby CGKer Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:02 am

:lol: :lol: :lol:
Its easy to find yourself out of position at times though.
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Watch the Ball

Postby UKLaxfan Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:06 pm

Watch the Ball

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Good Stance

Postby UKLaxfan Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:40 am

Good athletic stance
knees bent, leaning forward, weight on the balls of your feet (heel slightly raised)
hands in front, arms bent, stick head facing shooter,
head up and level focusing on the ball.

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Postby joe garvey Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:55 am

While it is both hard to fault a top D1 goalie and to try and determine if he is standing that low as an move to a shot, he is standing too low for someone as tall as he is.

The top of his stick is several inches below the cross bar, the time it may take to adjust and raise the stick head can mean the difference between a save and a goal.

You should aim to have the top of the plastic of your stick inline with the bottom of the crossbar minimize the amount of movement needed while taking up the most space in the goal.
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Postby young_trig Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:51 am

Joe, I'm just curious as to why the stick head should be just below the crossbar. If your stick is that high, it will take longer to get it down to a bounce shot. If its at mid-hight, it will be placed to get to a high or low shot in equal time.

I know my logic is probably wrong, just wondering the official reason why we have our stick high.

p.s. I hold my head just below the crossbar incase you wanted to know (but thats probably because i'm 6' 3"
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Postby Tom_Southampton Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:10 am

is there a chance that he is perhaps in mid save?
when i read up on ice hockey goalie technique the opinion there seemed to be that you can move your arm-and hence catcher/blocker up faster than you can move it down. I don't know if this is true but if it is then there must be an argument for holding your stick lower surely.

-I'm possibly the worst goalie ever (2 practices) so I'm only speculating here
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Postby mully Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:36 pm

because it takes less time to move your stick down than to lift it up due to gravity?
and also you want to cover up as much of the goal as possible?
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Postby young_trig Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:39 pm

Its an intersting one. I would personally say that it's easier to extend your arms up quickly, than it is to bring your stick down.
Your stick should definitely be vertical though so that it is ready to save shots on either the on or off side!
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Postby Tom_Southampton Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:47 pm

mully wrote:because it takes less time to move your stick down than to lift it up due to gravity?
and also you want to cover up as much of the goal as possible?

but thats my point hockey keeping theory says its quicker to move your arms up than it is down hence the catcher is held low when in the ready position, blocker position is largely dictated by stick postion i think. you want to be moving faster than gravity. same as a football keeper, he cant dive low as quickly as he can spring up because getting down quicker than gravity is impossible. Obviously you can move your arms down quicker than that but you can only 'fall' at one speed.

Trig, i see what you mean here-perhaps that thats the reason.
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Postby CGKer Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:55 pm

At advanced levels goalies know what there stengths and weaknesses are so alter there positioning to suit. I don't know the Goalie above but he maybe 'Baiting' to encourage high shots as he maybe poor low and is prepared to explode high to a high shot.

True the most agreed stance is to have the top of your stick level with the crossbar. I tend to look over my thumb and have the stick almost central with by body thus being closed to an off stick high save.
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Postby joe garvey Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:50 am

The reason to have the top of your stick head even with cross bar are:

1: You take up the most area with what you are give (ie your body and your stick
2: With you stick covering the top of the goal you do not have to move to make a stick side high save,
* Goalie should look to minimize there movements and maximize the effect of any movement made, so if you have a strong shooter who can shoot over 90mph you have very little time and will want to have to move very little to make a save otherwise meant for just below the cross bar.
3: By keeping your hands low you are forced to punch up at the ball to save it, which will likely cause a rebound, which should be avoided at all costs, when the goal is for a clean save and a quick outlet.

With regards to the picture, he is Johns Hopkins starting goalie, so with out question is of a very high standard and wil have likely heard all of the above over and over again. He may as CGKer said be baiting a shooter, or be midsave where his hands have already started to move to the ball, or he may be reacting to a shooter in close and trying to match stick for stick
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It's tough being a Goalie

Postby UKLaxfan Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:28 am

Good discussion guys, it shows you're thinking about your game.

To be fair to Michael Gvozden (Johns Hopkins) you can't see the shooter. The shooter may have dropped the head of his
stick or be shooting sidearm or as some have said be mid save, although you would expect him to step if that was the case.

I was interested in Joe's comments especially as the Hopkins faithful having been giving Gvozden abuse the last couple
of weeks for giving up goals on high shots from the outside.
He is listed as 5' 11" but he is a lot shorter than that in the same way that Trig isn't really 6' 3" :wink:

He is a sophmore but this is his 1st season as a starter, and even though he is a starter at a Top Div I team
doesn't mean his technique is 100%.

He has a 55% save percentage so far after a good performance this week vs Virginia (17 saves - 13 GA),
unfortunately Hopkins have lost the last 3 games in OT so every Save/Goal counts.

As for hockey goalies having a blocker/glove low the puck always starts on the ice in hockey on a shot
while in lacrosse it is usually at head height or above.

There is a good photo series on lax.com this week of a screened shot.

Link http://www.lax.com/cimages/bigs/19/1980-53.jpg

It really is tough being a Goalie!
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Last edited by UKLaxfan on Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
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sieve--oo

Postby Nikon Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:38 am

sievo--oo. any decent lotus keeper would have made the save UKLaxfan. BTW nice to catch up with you again today!
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Interesting technique

Postby UKLaxfan Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:24 pm

Hopkins back up goalie

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Gvozden Revisted

Postby UKLaxfan Thu May 22, 2008 8:57 pm

Mike Gvozden has been playing at 70% Save Percentage since Hopkins five game losing streak ended, his stance is a lot more upright here and his shoulders more relaxed or less hunched up.

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Postby Wezalmighty Sat May 24, 2008 1:37 am

He looks like 12 years old. Should be good to see how he holds up against duke
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Postby Mort rotu Sat May 24, 2008 2:47 pm

Wezalmighty wrote:He looks like 12 years old. Should be good to see how he holds up against duke


id like to point out that on average a 12yo will have quicker reflexes than an 18-21yo, due to the way the neurons in the brain are insulated. :)


EDIT: last sentence now makes sense.
Last edited by Mort rotu on Sun May 25, 2008 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby robbo Sun May 25, 2008 1:15 pm

insulted?
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Postby Mort rotu Sun May 25, 2008 6:18 pm

whooops...that should read 'insulated'

as in the thing they use fibreglass for in the roof in houses to keep the warm in.

a good example of why you shouldn't just trust the spell checker and you should proof read your work...
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