A Goalie-Specific Drill to Improve Lateral Movement in the Crease

Having trained professional goalies who play in bothStep Three:
Europe and the NHL, I know that the goalie isNow that his foot is on the floor beneath his body, the
responsible for the first stop and then their defense isgoalie will perform a quick forceful lateral push off the
meant to clean up the rebound, if there is one. Thisright foot moving his body to the left. He will land with
works in theory, but it does little to console the hockeyhis left foot first followed by the right foot before
goaltender who just let in another goal.quickly dropping back to both knees.
All goalies need to be fast moving a cross the crease.Step Four:
A good goalie will be able to move quickly across theRepeat Step Two, but this time he will bring his left
crease once, but an outstanding goalie will train to befoot up beneath his body and push toward the right.
fast moving across the crease and then back again ifBecause this is a crease movement drill for goalies
necessary.and we want them to stay quick and powerful, keep
The goalie drill that I will describe below was designedthe volume low. Work in the range of 2-5 pushes in
to help butterfly goaltenders get back to their skateseach direction or repeat the exercise for a given
from the butterfly position and powerfully perform theamount of time such as 5-10 seconds. The athlete
required crease movement to help them makeshould be given 3-6 times as much rest as the work
outstanding game saving stops.interval so if they perform the pushes for 5 seconds,
Step One:then the goalie should rest for 15-30 seconds. The rest
The goalie will begin in a kneeling position, he may wishdoes not have to be static rest; you may train a
to wear inline skating knee pads or hockey shin padsdifferent component of the workout like core stability,
and socks to make this more comfortable.shoulder stability or hand-eye coordination training
Step Two:between reps.
Keeping her torso square, the athlete will bring her rightIf you train goalies or are a hockey goaltender, this is a
foot up so it is under her body and ready to push. Shegreat exercise to help you move quicker in the crease.
should keep her head on the same level throughoutIt is easy to incorporate and does not require any
the drill, in other words, as she brings her foot up, shespecialized equipment. Check out the video
should not stand up with her legs, she should stay verydemonstrating the knee recovery and push exercise
low throughout the drill. By exaggerating her lowdescribed in this article if you are interested in learning
position, she will build some muscular endurance in hermore about how to take a more sport specific
legs will be able to develop more power in her push byapproach to your off-ice goalie training.
using the muscles over a greater range.