Goalie Lists
HOW TO TALK LIKE A GOALIE
This was posted to the Goaltender Mailing List on November 1, 1995 by Dave Steinhart, and was originally posted by Stormwind.
* "SLOT!": There's a guy standing right in front of me who's going to tip the bloody thing in if you don't tip HIM over first...
* "TURN AROUND!": There's a guy standing right behind you who's either going to push you over, or score on the rebound, could you please look over your shoulder and get him to move?
* "ROUND THE BACK!": Please shoot the puck around the back of the net before the guy breathing down your neck decides to take it away from you.
* "time, time": This is spoken in a much quieter voice. You've got plenty of time to set it up, don't just dump the thing.
* "ONE ON!": You have one person closing at high speed on your location.
* "TWO ON!": There are two people closing at high speed on your location.
* "[fill in the number] ON!": There are X players closing at high speed on your location.
* "RAUGH!": Hit me and you die.
* "LEFT!" or "RIGHT!": You're blocking my view of the faceoff, please move a foot in the indicated direction.
* "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!": I am in major trouble, and unless you ice the puck RIGHT NOW they will score a goal off this rebound.
* "GO GO GO GO GO!": If you hustle, you can get a breakaway, because they're either all at a dead stop, bunched up, or not paying any attention. Please do not stop to look for someone to pass it to.
* Another trick, when stopping a breakaway or a single shooter closing, is to either stand your ground or, when you're certain you're off-angle and they're going to score anyways, rush them and howl at the top of your lungs. I've known opponents who have either a) fallen over in astonishment, or b) completely fanned the shot in shock.
* Please note that the "yell as an attack" method is not one to be casually used and is best saved for special situations. One fellow on another team used it ALL the time, with the end result that everyone giggled at him.
Many of the concepts from this page came from Ian Young's excellent hockey books, "Behind the Mask" and "Beyond the Mask". For information on how to purchase either book, contact Goal-Pro Group Ltd., 60 Black Creek Trail, Courtice Ontario L1E 1J6, phone (416) 723-4287. Also used was Jacques Plante's 1973 book "Goaltending", which I believe is out of print.
ANGLE PLAY: The method where, by positioning themselves in a direct line between the shooter and the net, a goaltender covers more of the net than he/she would otherwise be able to. One of the best angle goaltenders was Bernie Parent.
BLOCKER: Worn on the right hand (for right-handed goaltenders), the blocker is a rectangular piece of equipment which holds the stick, protects the wrist area, and can be used to direct shots away from the net. The blocker should be positioned at one's side, and at a height which allows the goaltender's stick to remain flat on the ice.
BUTTERFLY SAVE: On low shots, modern goaltender usually work in the "butterfly" position, keeping their knees together and their stick covering their five-hole. The glove is kept up, ready for a possible deflection, and the goaltender is focused on the incoming shot.
FIVE HOLE: The space between the goaltender's leg pads is known as the five hole. The five hole is the most vulnerable spot for the goaltender; constant motion and positional play cannot be achieved without some sacrifice in the five hole area.
HOLES ONE THROUGH FOUR: According to Jacques Plante, there exist five distinct positions a goaltender needs to cover:
--the One-Hole, located at the corner of the net on the ice on the goaltender's stick side.
--the Two-Hole, located at the corner of the net on the ice on the goaltender's glove side.
--the Three-Hole, located on the goaltender's glove side, near the upper crossbar.
--the Four-Hole, located on the goaltender's stick side, near the upper crossbar.
--the Five-Hole, located between the goaltender's legs. The five-hole is the only "hole" named by number in the present age.
LEG PADS: Worn on the goaltender's legs to both protect the legs and increase proficiency. The leg pads may not be more than twelve inches in width. The leg pads should come to about three inches above the knee. Pads which are too long will affect your balance and timing; pads which are too short will not protect your knees properly.
LEG PAD SAVE: A save made with any part of the leg pads. The goaltender should remain relaxed and skate backwards with the incoming shot, thus helping to absorb the blow and reduce the rebound effect. One type of leg pad save is the butterfly save.
LIE: The angle created between the handle of a goaltender's stick and the paddle. The higher the lie, the closer the stick resembles the capital letter "L".
PADDLE: The thick part of the goaltender's stick; the paddle should remain flat on the ice as often as possible.
POKE CHECK: When the goaltender wants to poke the puck away from an opposing puck-carrier, he/she quickly slides his hand up the stick, thrusting forward towards the puck. This is a dangerous move, and occasionally the goaltender will miss and the puck-carrier will be left with an unguarded net.
SCREEN SHOT: For quality goaltenders, the screen shot is the one which yields the most goals. In the screen shot, another player (usually an opponent, but sometimes the goaltender's own teammate - who, ironically, tend to believe that they are helping out) stands between the shooter and the goaltender, obscuring the goaltender's vision of the shot. On a screen shot, the goaltender must do everything possible to try to see the shot, dropping to the butterfly stance and thrusting their trapper out at the sound of a shot.
SHUFFLE: A technique for lateral movement when the puck is relatively far from the net. The goaltender slides his/her legs, one at a time, in the desired direction. This techniques momentarily leaves the five-hole open and, in cases where this may be relevant, the goaltender should use the t-push.
SKATE SAVE: A save made with the goaltender's skate. The goaltender decided in which direction the rebound should travel, and turns his/her skate in that direction. Then, bending the other leg, he/she pushes towards the puck with the off leg, as the bent knee drops to the ice.
SKATING: A common fallacy is that the goaltender can get by with merely adequate skating, and oftentimes young players are placed in net due to their poor skating. In fact, the goaltender must be one of the best technical skaters on the team, and must be able to keep up with the moves of every skater on opposing teams. In particular, goaltenders must be adept at lateral skating and quick pivoting.
STACKING THE PADS: When a goaltender is on the angle, often a sudden pass close to the net will leave the net relatively unguarded. Stacking the pads is a desperation move in which the goaltender jumps feet-first towards the potential shooter, attempting to cover as much space as possible.
STANCE: In a proper stance, the goaltender has the weight on the balls of his/her feet, the trapper and blocker just above knee-height, and the stick flat on the ice.
STICK: The stick, held by the goaltender in their blocker hand, should remain flat on the ice. Keep notice of the lie on a new stick. A high lie will force a goaltender to play on their heels, offsetting balance, while a low lie places a goaltender lower to the ice, and may affect high saves.
STICK SAVE: A save made with the goaltender's stick. On stick saves, the goaltender should not keep a tight grip on the stick, instead allowing the shot's momentum to push the stick back into the skates/pads, cushioning the blow.
T-PUSH: A technique used by goaltenders to move in a lateral direction. To perform a t-push, a goaltender directs his/her outside skate in the desired direction, pushing with both legs, covering the five hole. This method of lateral movement is most effective when the puck is close to the net.
TELESCOPING: An advanced form of angle play, telescoping is the method where a goaltender where to move such that the net is effectively covered, and the distance travelled is minimized.
TRAPPER: Worn on the left hand (for right-handed goaltenders), and similar in shape to a fielder's mitt in baseball, the trapper is usually the goaltender's strong point. The trapper should be kept at knee height, just above the leg pad, and should be open at all times. To stop play with the trapper, the goaltender catches the puck, then brings the trapper in towards his/her chest to prevent an opponent from knocking the puck away.
TWO-PAD SLIDE:See 'Stacking the Pads.'
--By Doug Smith--
Note: The following story appeared in the Playoff Issue of Be A Player Magazine - The Official Magazine from the Players of the NHL.
They were invented to protect the faces of courageous goaltenders. When slapshots became harder and wrist shots more powerful, the goalies of the late 1950s and early 1960s turned to awkward looking devices to cover their faces that saw cut after cut inflicted by frozen rubber hitting human flesh.
But now, in an era of individuality, goaltenders' masks are as much about pop art as they are about protection.
"With all the painting part of it now, it adds a little pizzazz to the mask instead of the old-fashioned plain white ones," says Edmonton Oilers goaltender Bill Ranford, one of the most accomplished and talented netminders in the game today.
"Where it used to be just the striping of the team's colors, now the graphic artists are involved and everyone wants something a little different."
Different, indeed.
Masks with prominent use of a team's logo. Designs celebrating a franchise's geographical location. A painting that tries to capture the personality of the person behind the mask. It's a statement.
"I've always tried to do a mask to be identified with the goalie and only that goalie," notes mask designer to the stars, Greg Harrison. "I don't do a design for the sake of doing a design; it's got to have a reason. It's got to work."
Ranford, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP during Edmonton's roll to the Stanley Cup in 1988, readily agrees. Looking over a brilliant display in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto that traces the history of the mask, he said it was about time the goalies got their public recognition.
"I think it (a decorated mask) makes the goaltender a little more recognizable to the fan at the rink," he says. "A lot of the time, you don't see their faces as much and it's (the mask) just another way of approaching things and adding a bit more to the game."
It wasn't always that way.
The first mask appeared in 1927 on the face of Clint Benedict after a shot by Montreal's Howie Morenz knocked him unconscious. The mask didn't last, however, because Benedict couldn't see low shots while wearing it.
It wasn't until Montreal's Jacques Plante started wearing one on November 1, 1959, that the item so basic to today's goalies became so prevalent throughout the game. Plante, one of the greatest goalies of all time, put on the mask after an Andy Bathgate shot clipped him in the head. Instead of missing time due to the injury, he convinced coach Toe Blake to let him play with the protective shield.
"I will not go back without a mask," he's reported to have said.
"It was a little crazy when you think of it," Ranford says of the pre-mask era. "You have to realize that guys shoot a lot harder and a lot higher now but, still, those guys could shoot the puck pretty well. I also think the respect aspect of the game was there a little more. If a guy was down and out, they weren't going to shoot at his head. It was a different era."
The era now is one of artistry. From the time that Boston's Gerry Cheevers started painting stitches on his mask to correspond to cuts he would have received, there has been no looking back.
Nowhere is that more evident than at the Hockey Hall of Fame. All the great and memorable masks are on display. Gilles Gratton's snarling jungle cat; Ed Belfour's detailed eagle, and a mask worn by St. Louis goalie Ed Staniowski in the 1970s that sort of looked like one of the aliens from the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Mike Vernon's Calgary mask with flames painted on it and Mike Richter's Statue of Liberty are all part of the display that's been a hit with Hall visitors since it opened a year ago.
Former NHL goalie Brian Hayward, now working as a radio analyst for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, is a partner in a business that makes scaled-down replica masks as collectors' items. "So many people are intrigued by the goalie mask. It's one of the most unique pieces of equipment in all of sports. When it comes to the goalie, the first thing a fan does is look at the mask and see what kind of design is painted on it," says Hayward, who looked at shooters through the jaws of a shark painted on the mask he wore in San Jose last season.
Ranford is always trying to increase the creativity of his masks. "When I grew up, everyone had the standard fibreglass mask that you ordered from the catalogue," he says. "And then, when I was playing over in Germany in junior hockey, I got a friend to paint a small maple leaf on my mask - but they banned it so there was no more painting."
But in the NHL, everything goes. "I think I'm on my third paint job," he says. "You get sick of the same old design because there's all this creativity around. I decided it was time for a change."
Now, NHL fans will be seeing a new Ranford in the future. "I just got a new mask and we've done some things a little different. We've incorporated an Arctic wolf, the mountains and the Northern Lights trying to represent the city of Edmonton a little more," said Ranford. "It's just trying to make the mask more recognizable."
But as individuality continues to grow, and goalies get even more daring with their designs, who knows where it will lead.
"If everybody was wearing the same mask, it'd be pretty boring," says Ranford.
Doug Smith writes about sports for The Canadian Press.
THE GOALTENDER'S PSALM
By: Gregory S. Williams
The puck is my shephard;
I shall not ice.
It maketh me save in unnatural positions;
It leadeth me into leg splits;
It restoreth my fans' faith;
It leadeth me in the paths of odd-man rushes.
Yea, though I skate in the valley of the shadow of the net,
I will fear no sniper;
For my stick is with me;
My facemask and pads they comfort me;
They annointeth my body with SportsCreme;
My back-up tippeth over!
Surely coaches and trainers shall follow me
All the games of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Montreal Forum forever.
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