PUCKHANDLING
Puckhandling in its purest sense is all about possession. Good
puckhandling occurs when a team maintains puck possession a
high percentage of time after a goalie involves himself in a puckhandling
environment.
Many misguided pundits assume a goalie is a great puckhandler because
they can make amazing clears off the blueline glass, the can attempt to
score on empty nets and they can frequently fire the puck up to a teammate
at the far blueline. For me, that isn’t the heart of puckhandling.
In reality some of the best puckhandling is subtle and very under the
radar. In many respects it is comparable to officiating. The best refs are
complimented when they are hardly noticed and the lightning rod refs seem
to be at the centre of drama and negative attention.
The best puckhandling goalies are smooth, subtle, controlled, safe and
intelligent and came be described like a Fergie song from the Black-eyed
Peas. “No drama…..No, No drama…..”.
Puckhandling can be broken down into two core areas: technical and
cognitive.
Technical Puckhandling
In this area we must develop the actual physical skills a goaltender must
possess to be a proficient handler of the puck. Technical puckhandling skill
development is a prerequisite before intelligent cognitive puckhandling
can be developed. Stickhandling, passing, forehand and backhand clears,
handling rims and cross corner dumps are specific examples.
These technical skills themselves would take a full textbook to address
appropriately but for our purposes we only require an overview and an
approach. A developing goalie must systematically address skill perfection
in all of the listed technical areas daily before they can graduate to the
Cognitive level.
Cognitive Puckhandling
Now that we have a prospect with outstanding technical puckhandling
skills, we need to develop the goalies ability to make the right puckhandling
decision at the right time with one goal in mind – maintain puck possession.
There are 2 core approaches to develop this cognitive or decision
making attribute.
1) Consistent regular attention to this area in team practices. Prudent
coaches will work systematically in practice on goalie to defense puck
transitions for a minimal 5 – 10 minutes every practice. Ramping up
difficulty by reducing time and space with increasing pressure will really
make the real in-game transitions second nature.
2) Video Study- A goaltender needs to critically analyze NHL games to
assess the cause and effect on numerous puckhandling exchanges each
game. Evaluate whether the transition was successful and why it did or
didn’t work.
Take ownership of your puckhandling development. Your ability to move up
in hockey depends on it. Remember my rule of thirds. There 3 things you
have to do equally well to advance in hockey. I call these the three “Control
Elements”
A) REBOUND CONTROL – By definition, is the ability of the goaltender to
appropriately handle the outcome of a specific shot on goal intelligently
with purpose.
B) POSITIONAL CONTROL – By definition, is the ability of the goaltender to
arrive in a timely fashion at the proper depth with proper square-ness and
centered on the angle.
C) PUCKHANDLING CONTROL – By definition, is the ability of the
goaltender to efficiently insinuate himself into a puck handling environment
where puck possession is maintained with his team.
Any deficiencies in any of these areas can be career killers.
Steve created Mentor Training 20 years ago as a way for young goalies
to have comprehensive goalie coaching by their own personal NHL goalie
coach.
To see if you qualify for this premium program, you can contact Steve with
any questions at www.futurepro.com or info@futurepro.com
26 WWW.FLORIDAHOCKEYLIFE.COM
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