Thankfully I got called out again to sub in and we happened to be playing the team I played against last time. The previous game ended 3-2 and was fairly close. This one was as well but we just couldn’t score and hit the post a couple of times.

I think I’ll be doing some more Analysis on some of my games, pointing out what I did wrong and what I should’ve done instead. Perhaps it will be a good learning tool for myself and perhaps others.

 

First Period:

0:00 I am actually not super happy with how this play turned out, and this is one of the more difficult plays for me. When a player is skating across the ice I find it difficult not to open up holes while trying to follow them, and it is more difficult when going from my blocker side to glove side since my blocker has to cover up high and ensure my stick is covering 5 hole. When moving glove side to blocker you have 2 hands available to assist in making the save. A few years (or even months) ago I would’ve gone into the VH here, but I have been trying to become a more active and square goaltender and noticed the player never really readied up for a shot as the defense did a good job pushing him pretty wide. My issue is ensuring I get 5-hole coverage and not allowing the player to shoot back towards the direction they came in, I fear that during this play I left a bit too much 5-hole open but luckily for me his backhand was relatively weak and I got my stick on it.

0:13-0:31 I included this just to show my RVH (reverse-VH or SMS) for the play in the corner (Not in Gfy). I should’ve gotten up sooner but this team has a tendency to shoot from anywhere and I am more comfortable being in that position rather than having to drop on a shot I don’t completely see through legs. The shot was also pretty poor rebound control and it should’ve gone into the corner, something I have been having a bit of difficulty with.

0:36 This was a pretty ugly save, I realized late I was probably giving up too much short side and knew I really had to get my body up against the post. I wasn’t square but I didn’t end up leaving too many gaps and I did end up making the save. This play shows one of the issues I have with my Warrior Ritual G2 pads in how they tend to fall flat on their face, it isn’t completely the pads fault as I made an ugly play here but I have found that the G2s are less forgiving than other pads, so once you hit a certain angle while driving down they will always fall flat on their face because of the boxy design, where as the Kohos I wore were more forgiving and would sometimes fall on their face and other times would rotate “properly”.

0:47 Ben Scrivens had a good article in The Players’ Tribune and mentioned how a lot of the times a quality save isn’t really recognized by teammates or non-goalies. I feel that this save was one of those times. This was a good shot that was just going above my pad and under my arm, I was able to squeeze my glove on top of my pad and have the puck land between my thigh rises. While a rebound wouldn’t have been particularly dangerous in this scenario as the defense and forwards were all back and doing their job, it was good rebound control anyways.

0:54 I didn’t have to do anything spectacular here and the pads helped me out with a decent breakout pass to a teammate and I thought it looked pretty cool.

1:15 This was actually tipped by my teammate while I was sliding for the pass to the top left of the crease, I had pretty good coverage down low and got it with my pad and stick.

1:21 This was really bad rebound control, thankfully the defense got control of it. I have a bit of a hard time with shots right between my legs and how to control them.

1:28 Once the player pulled the puck to his forehand I knew he was going to shoot so I just tried to block it the best I could. Which ends up with me making a very technically broken VH save, I have had issues with opening up the 5-hole too much in the VH in these pads specifically so I just tried to close off all gaps down low. I know I am tall enough and my shoulders and arms were going to cover everything up high so I just ensure nothing would squeak through.

Second Period

1:48 Here is a save, but it was a pretty bad one. I got too worried with the player in front of the net (actually played against him the day before as well, and he tipped a puck in on me) and never got square to the puck. I also ended up looking left of my player when trying to see the point and that also dragged me closer to the center of the net and not square to the shot. If the shooter picked closer to the post on the blocker he would’ve scored. I should’ve stopped this with my chest but instead had to make a pretty ugly stick save.

1:57 DO NOT MAKE THIS SAVE EVER. Shot was going really high, I never followed the puck into my glove, this was just a bad decision by me all together and I am lucky I actually caught it.

2:10 While I was actually pretty square to the shooter this time I didn’t move into the shot here, and had to reach for the puck with the possibility of a deflection in close. If that player touched the puck it was a 99% chance it was going in. I got lucky that didn’t happen here. But I did actually follow the puck into my glove… so that is good.

2:38 Here is another good example of my bad glove hand, my girl friend says I basically wear 2 blockers and she is right.

2:48 Someone asked me on Reddit why I go paddle down as much as I do, and here is an example where I feel I can use it to explain myself. I knew I was in pretty good position for the pass out in front of the net, but wanted to ensure I’d cover the entire bottom of the net. I am not the most flexible goalie in the world and I don’t have a very wide butterfly. I know with my catcher on my pad and in the paddle down I can cover up almost everything down low and ever slightly above my pad, and where the shooter is he doesn’t really have a chance to put it high blocker and if he tried I’m staying tall enough to stop that attempt or to push to the blocker side and seal the post more. I think this play the paddle down was acceptable, but I do know I rely on it too much.

2:55 I did a pretty good job of challenging the shooter, the player without the puck scored on a 2-on-0 the day before as well but I was close to getting it. I figured he’d have to make a perfect shot top glove to score. Watching this play in slow motion shows he did have room glove side, but I managed to seal my arms pretty well and he wasn’t able to get it short side. I got a bit lucky here but I had good positioning (including my stick which was right between my legs the whole time).

3:12 I have been making more of these saves since I’ve gotten my Brown Chest Protector (check out my review coming this week!). Since I no longer fear pain from shots up high I believe I can get my arms and shoulders on high shots while using my glove to ensure I don’t get beat 13 inches off the ice. I should probably have a more active glove, but this is working for me at the moment.

3:18 The shot here on the toe drag caught me off guard, I was able to make the save standing up but my blocker of a glove hand gives up an ugly rebound. I am disappointed in myself here as I tried to do too much on the resulting rebound. I was able to slide across and be square, but I felt the need to be more reactive and started to stand up to try and be ready for the cross crease pass and to stop myself from over sliding on the play (notice my right leg get up first). I have a bit of an issue with this where if I try and stop myself I almost always immediately stand up instead of just staying in the butterfly. Down 1-0

Period 3

3:36 Me getting up while trying to stop a butterfly slide is shown here again, I should’ve stayed down and the resulting play made me awkwardly drive to the post and scramble.

3:40 I do a decent job of moving into the shot to ensure I get hit right in the chest and that there is no rebound. I did this as I knew there was no one right in front of the net, but it was dangerous since if I let up a rebound I would’ve been VERY out of position.

3:58 Here is a great example of being square in tight and not having to rely on the VH or RVH. Proper butterfly while ensuring I keep my upper body up means I can cover the entire net. My defense did a great job in removing any options for the shooter, so all he could really do was shoot or skate around the net.

4:10 Decent angle and coverage, not much to say about this one.

4:43 Don’t be a dick…

Anyways, if you like this post let me know, and if you had feedback please leave it as I would really like to know what I should change in the future.

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