- 1). Spend time with an experienced goalie. Learn proper techniques, such as stance, skating and save positions. Good save positions involve being able to stretch your legs low to the ice while keeping your stick and glove in front of your body. Another goalie can model these techniques and teach you good habits. Be teachable and humble, always willing to hear constructive criticism.
- 2). Practice skating. Focus especially on skating movements common to goalies, such as moving side-to-side while guarding the goal. An example drill is starting at one goalie line, falling quickly to your knees simulating a block, getting up quickly and skating to the other goal and repeating. Work on skating quickly forward and back and moving to a sudden squat position to block a shot. Practice skating while staying in the proper goalie stance.
- 3). Develop positive habits outside the skating rink. Run, bike, lift weights and stretch to improve strength and endurance. Wearing heavy pads and staying in a squatting stance for an entire hockey game requires stamina. Play sports like tennis and racquetball to improve quickness. Stretch daily in front of a mirror in save positions such as the butterfly, where you drop to your knees with your feet pointing outward, or the hybrid, where you start in a standing position and then quickly dive to the left or right. Focus on proper technique.
- 4). Practice a side-to-side drill with two other players. Have them spread out and shoot one after the other at you from different angles. This drill works on your lateral movement to block shots.
- 5). Get four other players to do a four-square drill. They spread out around the net and pass the puck back and forth, with you moving laterally to protect the net. When they see an opening they shoot different types of shots, such as a slap shot or flip shot, working on both your glove and stick work. Use the glove on flip shots that come off the ground, and use the stick on ground strokes.
- 6). Practice proper stance. Arms should be out in front with the body in a crouched position, with legs spread apart. Good goalies stay consistently in this position while skating both laterally and front to back.
- 7). Learn proper angles with your coach to minimize unnecessary movement. Good goalies learn how to position themselves consistently to limit dive saves. Dive saves are flashy, and at times necessary. The best goalies, however, anticipate where they need to be enough to limit stretching out their body, which puts them in a vulnerable position for rebound shots. Challenge a skater when he comes straight at you and stay firm on the goalie line when other opposing skaters are nearby.
- 8). Develop mental toughness. All goalies get scored upon. The best learn to quickly forget being scored upon and keep their focus on what's in front of them at the moment.
- 9). Get instruction from goalies, but don't mimic their style. Be yourself using your own natural skills to improve your game.
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