how young can a child start in net

@Itech, cool, I did not realize this. The only reason I questioned it initially was because my instructor on Tuesday made reference to skating with the toe pick while we were working on crossing over. He believes every goalie should be the most skilled skater on the ice, that's why we were doing cross over drills around the circle in full pads (which is hard as heck! haha). I thought he meant they skate like that all the time. I've never watched the form figure skaters used.

Originally Posted by ItechWarrior

Believe me, some of the best skaters in the NHL were figure skaters as kids. I've heard this many times.

I couldn't resist doing a search on YouTube and found the following :)

I have to admit my Mother watched a lot of figure skating growing up, and so does my Wife & Daughter. While i thinks its a little fruity, i have a great appreciation for their skating ability. They dont get their power from toe kicks at all, its the same principals involved as hockey skating just applied differently.
For the most part from a technical skating aspect, the two dont even compare. Most figure skaters could skate circles around even the best hockey skaters any day of the week!

I have a 6 year old daughter that is a goalie. She plays Timbits as well. HATES playing out. Well, doesnt hate it, but is always dissapointed when we go to Timbits pracice and not goalie practice. She has been skating in goalie pads for about 2 years now. we take her to The Goalie shop and get her training. She is doing so well there. In Calgary there are a few opportunities for a 6 year old to play in the net.
Best thing I did id to put her into lessons. Our Timbits coach ( who is also a goalie) gave me this advice when I asked if she was too young for lessons. He said "Do you want her to stop pucks, or do you want her to learn how to be a goalie?) A lot of other kids flail around and can stop pucks, but my Daughter uses all the techniques she has learned and is getting better at them every time she laces up.

All in all, 6 years is not too old at all. Imagine how good they will be when they start competing for goalie positions on teams. Can you say Atom 1?

My son was 5 when he first go the chance to play goalie, and we have not looked back. He is now almost 14! I also agree with everyone about skating, goalies have to be the best skaters on the ice!

My boy was 6 when he decided to be a full-time goalie. He started in house league where everyone had to play goalie at least once during the year. Although he was a good skater, he wanted to be the goalie after his first try. Coach agreed to let him be the fulltime keeper for the 2nd half of the year. He is currently in AAA as a goalie (now 9 years old), but still plays as a skater in spring/summer 3-on-3. As others have stated, skating comes first! The goalie has to be a strong skater to be effective. It's a different kind of skating as a goalie, but still very important. I've seen coaches put the worst skater in net...results are not pretty!

1970Tango, I agree with you. It's such an odd thing to hear people say the goalie has to be the best skater on the ice. What does that mean? They're not the fastest. The can't do tight turns as well as the other skaters. I doubt most goalies can do power pulls forwards and backwards. Any good figure skater can and many decent hockey players can. Take off their pads and they won't be the fastest through Russian Circles or doing a suicide drill. Goalies need to be good skaters. Great goalies need to be great skaters. But the best skaters on the ice? By what criteria?

My son skates very well relative to his team mates. He's not the fastest skater when he skates out, but he's far from the slowest. Best form? Maybe, at backwards cross'unders. But only because he took lessons for a while from a figure skating coach. I know this is a bit off topic, but what is it about goalie parents that makes them want to believe their kid is the best skater on the ice? It's completely different from skating out? The skating part isn't any harder or easier to be good at than skating out, so can't we be proud of them for wanting to take the responsibility of the goalie. For being the one who deals with the most pressure? The one who can skate even wearing 50% of their body weight in gear. Or how about for trying their hardest even when they're getting crushed and their team is watching all the 2 on 0 or even 3 on 0 rushes from the offensive zone? Isn't that enough without saying they have to be the best skater on the ice too?

In my opinion to be a good goalie one should be an “accomplished” skater. I think we all agree that someone that can’t skate isn’t going to be a very good goalie. But to be a great goalie does one really need to be a great skater? Let’s not trip over the words here, but I think if we use the word “accomplished” in place of the word “best” or “great” in front of skater I think we will have a definition we might all be able to agree on.


To be a good goalie one needs to be an accomplished skater.

A goalie needs good balance. A goalie needs to have good lateral movement in t-pushes and shuffles. If down, a goalie needs to get back up on their skates quickly. A goalie needs to skate backwards very well. A good goalie needs to make good c-cuts, change direction, slow down, and make stops while skating backwards and do all of this while watching the play coming in on them. This all requires good edge work between their blades and the ice. A goalie does not need to be the fastest, quickest, or best skater on the team. Goalies do not need to make sharp 180 degree turns. The blade on a goalie skate is not shaped for making sharp turns. A goalie skate blade is longer and more flat like that of a speed skater. There are very few times in a game that a goalie would ever need to make a forward cross-over move on their skates. Many goalies can’t do a forward cross-over in their pads and I know some highly rated goalie schools that won’t even teach forward cross-overs.

To be a good goalie one does not need to be the best skater on their team, but they do need to be a good or accomplished skater.

There is nothing wrong with a very young kid (3-6 years old) learning to skate through the figure skating route. This is actually one of the best ways to go. At my local rink the beginner levels of figure skating do not require the student to wear figure skates and many kids starting out in hockey take these lessons and wear their hockey skates. My son did the figure skating route and he is a better skater because of it. In beginner figure skating they concentrate on balance, turns and edge work. Proper skating instruction is always a benefit for both hockey players and goalies.


Jim