Goaltending Fundamentals

Here you will be introduced and have the oportunity to learn more about the skating and stance fundamentals any new goaltender will want to master. The old story goes that the youngsters starting out in goal were usually put there by the coach because they were weak skaters. However, anyone who knows the real demands of goalies in today's modern game know that goalies are very often the best skaters on the team!

• Skating is essential to strong positional play.
• Strong positioning leads to controlled saves.
• Controlled saves lead to better puck control.
• Controlled saves lead to better recovery movements.

It can be argued that all of these crucial areas of a goaltenders game are the direct result of well developed skating skills. The following skating page will take an in depth look at the basic skills a goalie should strive to master.

The stance is the goaltenders building block to an effecient game. Just about everything a goalie will do in a game will originate from this basic position, it becomes obvious why your stance is such a fundemental key.

This site was constructed as an exercise for an Internet Interfaces class at the School of Communication, Information, and Library Science SCILS in the MLS program at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

This site was designed with images and content available in;
From the Crease Magazine. GDI Publishing, Inc. BC, Canada.
Daccord, B. (1998). Hockey Goaltending. Windsor, On: Human Kinetics.

It is also based on years of personal experience of playing and watching hockey.
Questions and comments can be directed to Greg Byrne at byrnejg@scils.rutgers.edu