Question on facing shots from winger coming down the side

Not necessarily at the wrong angle, as he is a shooter he's going to try to put it where you are not. What you can try to do is stay compact and move the blocker to meet the puck and either deflect it wide or collapse the body down to keep it on yourself or inside for a cover. Other thing you could do is move your feet when the shot is taken to move your body to the puck to catch it in your mid-section to smother it. I wouldn't say a "hip-save" is the wrong save as anything you can do to deflect the puck if you cannot get to it is the save to make, but it seems to me you want more control over the rebound and those suggestions above would be what I'd try.

A hip save in that example is probably indicative of a problem with your 6 hole. Either there's a hole between your blocker arm and leg pad/chest/pants in your stance, or you're creating one when you're moving to make the save. There are a couple things to look at:

1. Your paddle length. If your paddle length it too long, it will create that six hole. This is especially evident when you go into the butterfly. What paddle length are you using and how tall are you?

and

2. You probably aren't tucking your elbow in next to your side. Check out my avatar as an example.. I tuck my arms way in like Luongo. You might not need to do it that much, but nonetheless you might not be tucking it in at all, and that will create that little divide, as well.

If you have pics of your stance and butterfly that will help immensely. If not, I'd just try to keep those in mind during your next game/scrimmage. Hope that helps!

Try squaring up to the shooter a little more. Syn does have another good point as well. It could be your 6 hole. Would like to see stance pic.

I have the same problem on my glove side, although it often is not a hip save, but a goal. I've been trying to keep my elbow in more like Synesthete suggests. Barring that, I'd be happy with a hip save!

Syn makes some very valid points. Something I coach to all my goalies is to move into every shot they face, essentially attempting to take every shot in the center of your mass.

Thanks for the responses, folks. Played this morning and tried bringing my elbow in, thereby closing the 6-hole. This resulted in my stick being at a funny (and not very effective) angle in front of my 5-hole. Does this make sense?

No stance shots yet, but I'll try to get some. Also, not sure of my stick/paddle length but I'll check and report back. Thanks!

Originally Posted by negipai98

So a fairly common spot here that I feel like I'm doing something wrong on. Here it is: right handed shooter gets the puck on the rightwing and comes through the zone with room. May be a 1 on 1, could be a 2 on 2...doesn't really matter since the situation plays out the same. He makes it fairly clear he's going to shoot. I come out to cut down the angle. He takes a big slapper to the far side (my blocker side) and I make the save. Pretty standard, except I keep making the save with my right hip and that feels wrong. Typically the puck deflects into the corner, but once it actually went in. I feel like I should be using my blocker or absorbing the shot into my stomache. Is it normal in this spot to make a "hip" save or does it indicate a larger problem (i.e., my angle is wrong)?

Thanks in adance for any help.

If someone is shooting "to the far side (my blocker side" as you posted, but it hits your hip & goes into the corner, my guess is that you aren't square to the shooter. If you were square, it wouldn't deflect that way. The 6-hole advice above still applies though.
If you have a moment in practice, have a shooter come down to that point & stop. That'll give you a moment to really look at your body position/angle & such. If you can get someone to take photos or video, even better.

Originally Posted by negipai98

Played this morning and tried bringing my elbow in, thereby closing the 6-hole. This resulted in my stick being at a funny (and not very effective) angle in front of my 5-hole. Does this make sense?

Hmmm.. only thing I can think is that it may have angled your stick blade to your blocker side. Is that right? Some angling is fine.. you actually don't want a purely straight blade covering your five hole, because then when the puck hits it it will keep all of its momentum forced back at you and might go through or will direct the stick up in the air in front of you. You want to angle it so slightly so that it has a natural angle to the blocker side corner. Then when the puck hits it, its momentum is carried at a deflection into the corner instead of right back out in front of you or upwards. You're also then able to use your blocker sidewall as an additional blocking surface. But, again, I use a very Luongo-like stance and play a relatively traditional Quebecois/Montreal butterfly style.