Goalie Drill – The Desperation save – Hockey Resource

This drill is intended to practice both the hybrid slide and force the goalie to make a desperate save. Although such a save does not occur often in games it can mean the difference between winning or losing the game.

Position three pucks evenly spaced around the crease. The goalie is lines up with the middle puck and gets a low shot. He must then hybrid slide to the next puck, make the save and then immediately hybrid slide or dive (depending on his position) to make the final save at the opposite end of the crease.

To be more realistic, the shooters should shoot the pucks before the goalie is in position, this forces the goalie to be extremly explosive in order to stop the puck before it crosses the goal line.

Note: The goaltender should not have time to do a hybrid slide on the final shot unless he is very advanced. If he is able to do this, instruct the shooter to shoot more rapidly to force the dive.

Variations:

• If the goaltender is advanced, have another shot coming from the opposite end of the crease after he has done the desperate save. (you can keep adding shots and having the goalie move from one side to the other until he is no longer capable of stopping the shots)

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