In this edition of Chalk Talk, we focus on a fundamental skating skill for goaltenders.  

As with all players, skating is a key fundamental skill for goaltenders and will greatly impact a goaltender’s overall development and enjoyment of the game. The challenge is for coaches to integrate their goaltenders into their practice plans and include position-specific drills.

Goaltender specific skating drills should focus on developing inside edge work. The key is to advance the goaltender's ability to move in a quick, efficient and balanced manner.

The following four drills can be run at the beginning of practice while players are completing their warm-up or during skating or skill work.

C-CUTS:
When to use it: To control angle and depth in the crease and combined with other skating movements (t-push, shuffle and slide). Example: Coming out of the crease or backwards movement for a breakaway.

Drill 1 - Goaltenders positioned mid crease. 3 pucks positioned (1 on the left and right face-off dots and 1 mid-slot.). Goaltender will use rapid c-cuts moving forward to the edge of the circle and back to the middle of the net.

Drill 2 - Goaltender will start on the wall between the blue lines and will follow lines focusing on forward c-cuts and backward c-cuts.

Drill 3 - Goaltender will start at the bottom of the circle in section 3 and c-cut from the bottom of the circle to the top ensuring that the Goaltender uses a single foot stop and compact stance both at the bottom and top of the circles. This drill will be executed 1 line forward and 1 line backward.

Drill 4 - Goaltender will start inside the blue line and will focus on forward c-cuts and backward c-cuts towards the goal line.

Recovery: Goaltender will focus on quick mini transitions from c-cut to single foot stop to balanced stance.