Too slow on the 5 hole

Originally Posted by Jstevens05

Should I take a pic of myself on ice or will it work to be inside with my lower pads on just to show my stance?

Ice is best, but if you can't in the house will do. Garage with skates (with guards on of course) also works.

Yea, I heard from the guys I played tell me for months that my stance was super wide and it wasn't until I saw myself on tape did I fully realize just how wide my stance was. Pics are a good idea, but I think if you get a buddy to film you some taking shots you'll see your actual stance and not just your goalie pose if that makes since.

I think when you film yourself you will find that your pushing your stick to the side. This is what was happening to me. I bought a shorter stick and its worked much better. Really if the puck is along the ice and it ends up under your pads your stick couldnt have been in the right position. What i found has also helped me is getting very low when i know the shot is comming. Yes there is more surface area, but you are lower and therefore can get your knees down faster.

Originally Posted by ItechWarrior

When executing a butterfly save, a lot of people try and "drop in to a butterfly" but that's not a good technique. You need to DRIVE your knees to the ice as hard and as fast as you can. This is something you can work on in warm-ups, or when the play is dead in the opposite end of the ice.

Cant say it any better! DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE

Originally Posted by ItechWarrior

Ice is best, but if you can't in the house will do. Garage with skates (with guards on of course) also works.

Definitely on the ice, give yourself the real game feel and it will help you with getting up as well!

Ok, sorry for the long overdue update and unfortunately no pictures (computer died :/ )

I've figured out a few things wrong with the help of another goalie that i play open adult hockey with

1st I have a V-fly going on which I knew of at the time but never knew why...its because of my pants, I went out on the ice with no pants and my pads closed up flush to one another.

2nd, my thigh rise comes off the ice a little bit about 1" off the ice, enough to where a shot with decent power can push itself through.

3rd and most importantly, my stance was too upright, I couldn't drive my knees down with enough lower the way they were, so I widened my stance a little and got more into a "squat" stance and that now allows me to slam my knees down quite quickly.

So I believe my technique is fixed, now it all comes down to is my pads/pants. I took out a piece of padding on the outside of my pants thinking that would help with the Vfly and nothing changed, so now I believe it's the large plastic pad on the front of the pants, maybe too wide?

As for the thigh rise coming off the ice, any fixes? I have all straps loose on my pads, do you think tightening will have any affect?

ok i think i see your problem. try widening ur stance but if ur comfy with ur stance becuz ur a tall guy u can bend ovr a gud amount without appearing short. id bend ur knees more and hunch into ur leg pads a little bit. also dont trust gravity for five hole shots. thats a huge mistake that a ton of people make. if your just dropping down then your not getting the butterfly speed u want. u want to snap hard into the butterfly dont just drop. practice pushing down hard with ur legs when u butterfly and snap down hard and u shud b gud.

Originally Posted by willll162904

ok i think i see your problem. try widening ur stance but if ur comfy with ur stance becuz ur a tall guy u can bend ovr a gud amount without appearing short. id bend ur knees more and hunch into ur leg pads a little bit. also dont trust gravity for five hole shots. thats a huge mistake that a ton of people make. if your just dropping down then your not getting the butterfly speed u want. u want to snap hard into the butterfly dont just drop. practice pushing down hard with ur legs when u butterfly and snap down hard and u shud b gud.

Man, I'm not trying to start anything but you should really type out your words so that people can understand, I also understand you are from Germany and English is not your first language maybe spell check or something like that.. It's not always easy for people to understand text/internet speak. Just a suggestion. I do agree with your advice snapping down your pads though, otherwise you will not ever catch up to pucks as you improve, this is because as you improve so do the abilities of the other players.