What are the different Kinds of Hockey Keeper stances?
Jesse C asked:
I know little about hockey but really enjoy watching it. Goal-keepers are amazing to watch!
I know little about hockey but really enjoy watching it. Goal-keepers are amazing to watch!
There are three main styles…….Butterfly, stand-up and hybrid.
Stand-up style
Main article: Stand-up style
There are many ways to stop the puck. The oldest one is the “Stand-up” style. In this style you stop the puck from a standing position, not going down. The Goalies may bend over to stop the puck with their upper body or may kick the puck. Such saves made by kicking are known as kick saves or skate saves. They may also simply use their stick to stop it, known as a stick save. This was the style seen in the early NHL and was most commonly used up until the early 90’s. One of the more notable goalies who was last seen using stand up was Kirk McLean, but most of the goalies from earlier decades such as Jacques Plante were goalies who were considered pure stand up goalies.
[edit] Butterfly style
Main article: Butterfly style
Another style is the “Butterfly”, where goalies go down on both pads with their toes pointing outwards and the tops of their pads meeting in the middle, thus completely closing up the five hole. This is generally the most common style used in the modern day. This results in a “wall” of padding without any holes, lowering the chances of low angle shots getting in. These goalies rely mainly on timing and position. Early innovators of this style were goaltending greats Glenn Hall and Tony Esposito, who played during the 50’s-60’s and 70’s-80’s, respectively. Hall is generally credited to be among the very first to use this style, and both he and Esposito had tremendous success with it. This is the most widely used style in the NHL today. “Butterfly” goalies have developed methods of sliding in the “Butterfly” position in order to move around fast in one timer situations. As pad size increased, it became a more notable style of goaltending and is still evolving. One of the best butterfly goalies of all time is the Canadian goalie Patrick Roy, who is now retired. Swedish goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, currently the goaltender for the New York Rangers, is a particularly notable current Butterfly goalie, standing out due to his aggressive interpretation of the style.
[edit] Hybrid style
This style of goaltending is a blend of all styles, where the goaltender primarily relies on reaction and positioning to make saves. Hybrid goaltenders will make kick saves, will utilize the butterfly, and are generally not as predictable as goaltenders who rely heavily on the butterfly as a save selection. Most players are not pure stand-up or butterfly, but simply tend to prefer stand-up or butterfly over the other. If a player does not have any preferences, he is considered a hybrid goalie. NHL goaltenders known for using this style are Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek (retired) ,Tim Thomas and Ryan Miller.
[edit] Empty net situations
Normally, the goalie plays in or near the goal crease the entire game. However, teams may legally pull the goalie by substituting in a normal skater and taking the goaltender off the ice. A team temporarily playing with no goalie is said to be playing with an empty net. This gives the team an extra attacker, but at significant risk—if the opposing team gains control of the puck, they may easily score a goal. However, shooters that attempt to score on an empty net from the opposite side of the red line face getting called for icing the puck if they miss the net.
[edit] NHL goaltender awards
A very good question, and one that will be read by many here who don’t know that much about the skill that a goalie needs to have in hockey.
First, remember that the goal in hockey is only six feet wide and four feet high, so the golie has a relatively small frontal area to defend.
Goalie styles , as has been mentioned above, are divided into two basic types, butterfly and a hybrid style. Some further comments are needed about the use of the hands, the stick and the legs.
A hockey goalie has two different types of gloves. If he is a right handed player, he will carry the goal stick in his right hand, and wear a “blocker ” type of glove on his right hand. The blocker has a large flat blocker pad on the back of the glove, and a hidden regular size glove under it, which he uses to hold the goal stick. The ‘catching glove ” is worn, in this case on the left hand. The catching glove has a “trapper ” style webbed opening that the goalie uses to catch and or pick up the puck. The size of the gloves and the pads are regulated by the league rules committe.
The goalie stick is diffrent in size and design from the other players’ sticks. It has a wider blade and and a wider half shaft that tapers down to a regular size shaft half way up it’;s length..
A goalie has to be able to use both arms and both legs to stop shots, and their torso is also used to block shots.
A goalie needs fast reflexes and better than average eye sight. Hand and eye co-ordination is a key to being a good goalie in hockey.
Jim B. Toronto.