Five common goalie equipment mistakes in youth hockey
Athletic skills like this are never learned if the gear is always purchased too big for “growing room.”
By Jeff Hall
Stauber’s Goalcrease Coaching Director
Here are five common goalie equipment mistakes we see in youth hockey:
1. Leg pads too big. When you need quickness and extraordinary agility, bigger is not better. When a young athlete is trying to learn or master new skills, bigger makes it harder. Smaller pads can make the game more fun because you can play a more skilled and active style. Many goalies think they need taller pads in order to close the 5-hole in their butterfly. If the straps and toe laces are worn loosely around the foot, the 5-hole can usually close very well even on undersized pads. The NHL has restricted pad sizes three different times in the past decade and it’s only helped goalies to improve their overall skills.
2. Catch glove too big. Again, people tend to think that a bigger catching surface will always make more saves, but that’s not always the case. The goalie’s catching hand is controlled by small muscles in the forearm. A young goalie with a huge glove will resort to using the larger muscles in their shoulder. This causes slower movements, sloppy technique and poor rebound control.
3. Lack of protection in “the middle.” Certain shots require a blocking strategy. A hard shot from point blank range requires the goalie to square up and make themselves big, usually in the form of a butterfly position. Three crucial pieces of equipment make this easier: knee guards under the leg pads, a goalie jock, and good chest/arm protector. Goalies who lack knee guards will be slow to drop to their knees, and/or land on one knee instead of two which causes more holes in their butterfly. Those who lack a goalie jock ( which has more foam and a lower abdomen pad not found on regular jocks) often crouch too low in their butterfly to cushion the shot and/or use their hands to protect their midsection. This causes the butterfly to be smaller. Goalies who don’t have good chest and arm protection tend to avoid squaring up to the shot at all. They often leave the glove side open and just try to react to it with one hand and one leg rather than block it with their entire body.
4. Stick paddle too tall. The goal stick’s main job is to block the 5-hole while IN A BUTTERFLY position. Make sure your stick is short enough to accommodate this. Most goalies make the mistake of sizing their stick by going to a store and holding it in their standing stance only. This often leads to choosing a stick that is too tall. Taller sticks are also harder to handle during quick lateral movements across the crease. Smaller sticks might actually make those butterfly slides a little quicker.
5. Leg pads too tight. Today’s goalie pads are designed to be worn rather loosely around the legs. When you picture a perfect butterfly, the pads are square to the puck. Your legs can’t bend that way, so the pad must be able to move separately from the leg in order to butterfly. Start with the pads really loose on young goalies. It’s hard to wear them too loose. If the toe lace is properly attached, the pad will not twist on their leg too much.
If you haven’t noticed, we want goalies to avoid wearing their equipment too big for a number of reasons regarding development and performance. Another smaller reason is to get ready for pending rule changes. The NHL general managers have announced there will be new equipment size regulations in the NHL. They won’t affect youth hockey immediately, but there will be some sort of trickle-down effect into youth hockey within a few years. We might as well get ready for change. In a recent interview about the pending rule changes, Robin Lehner of the Ottawa Senators had this to say, “Goalies are going to be faster and lighter. You look at the best goalies in the league, they already have small equipment.”
As Coaching Director at Stauber’s Goalcrease since 2002, Jeff Hall has led the skill development of thousands of goalies from Mites to Pros, and everything in between. Goalcrease Training and Equipment Center in Edina has a real ice rink and full service goalie staff.
