Can a Hockey Goalie Teach A Lacrosse Goalie?

Question: My name is Mike (name witheld). I was asked to work with my sons goalie from his team. The problem is I am a ice hockey goalie instructor, I do not want to confuse this boy by showing him angles and other things done by a ice hockey goalie. I believe keeping it simple is a great start, if you can help it would be deeply appreciated.

Answer: Mike hey there. Thanks for writing. And there's no problem with you being a hockey goalie. In fact I think you are way ahead of the game right now to help.

I too was a hockey goalie back in junior high school and high school so I know where you're coming from. There are some things you must keep in mind when working with lacrosse goalies that are definitely different but there are also some similarities. I'll try and list a bunch here.

1) Hockey goalies and their equipment are mostly designed to block shots and not catch them. I know, I know, goalies in hockey try to minimize rebounds by catching the puck with their body, their glove, or any other part of their equipment. That is true to a point. But if you look at a hockey goalies equipment it is clearly designed to protect the goalie and to block (or direct) the puck away from the cage.
In lacrosse the goalie is trying to catch the ball no matter where it goes on its way to the cage. Because of the lack of equipment goalies are taught to pretty much try and get their stick on everything or else it's pretty much going to hurt like a you know what.
That being said I really feel that the game of lacrosse has evolved but the goalies have not. The athletes, the sticks, and the velocity of the shots are such that a lacrosse goalie should really stop trying to catch everything and to start trying to block more shots. It comes down to simple physics. There is a point where trying to get your stick on the ball is useless. If you think about it, when was the last time you heard a hockey goalie being taught how to bring his glove hand across his body to try and catch a puck low blocker side? You don't. For some reason lacrosse goalies are taught just that and I think it is basically a lot of old school thinking that has never evolved.
I will teach an advanced goalie how to get their bottom hand on to a shot that is to the off stick hip instead of trying to get his top hand all the way there. Again, simple physics, why move a perfectly good piece of equipment away from the ball when they can use it like a blocker and deflect the ball wide and to the corner. (Keep an eye out for the quality of the glove as this can be dangerous if the glove is poor.)
I will add this though. Right now a concept like that is very advanced an no one teaches it. Be careful not to lose credibility with your young goalie by bringing it up at the start but I think the concept is valid.

2) I teach young goalies to wear more equipment for a number of reasons:
a. To protect them from errant shots that can hurt and thus lead to high levels of fear. Fear of the ball is a killer to the long term development of the goalie.
b. To help them get in front of the ball with their body. We must teach lacrosse goalies to move to the ball and get their body in front of it. The term "step to the ball" is important and young goalies tend to sit back on their heels usually because of fear (and a lack of strength.)

3) You can definitely teach angles but in lacrosse goalies tend to sit back on the goal line a bit more. With young and small goalies they need to step out a bit more because they are unable to reach balls shot to the corners just because of their size. I will turn a goalie around and stand him on the goal line, then I will have him reach his stick to all the corners so he knows just how far he needs to move to save all those shots. Many of the shots to the corner are not stoppable unless he steps which is a great teaching tool.

4) Something I learned in hockey was the ability to explode down to the puck. Instead of freefalling with my body it was more of an ability to contract the abs and get down to snuff out shots down low. Young goalis need to learn that and to be aggressive to the ball.

5) A good hockey to lacrosse lesson is to stay balanced on your feet so you can move in all directions. Surely you've had your coach push and pull at your skates with his stick trying to knock you off balance. With young goalies it is important that you find their base stance and make sure that never changes. We call it "athletic stance." In my opinion it is almost the same as an older style hockey goalie. You're not on your inside edge of course but the ankles, knees, and hips are bent. Shoulders ahead of the knees, and hands our in front of the body. I'll work on that stance first with goalies and then I will add the stick. I find that when you put the stick in the hand too early goalies tend to focus too much on catching and not enough on moving the whole body. Sometimes it's great to have that young goalie get into an athletic stance without his stick and throw a dodge ball at him. (Or a soccer ball, basketball, beach ball, doesn't matter.) What matters is that it's big. They need two hands to catch it, and it's safe.

What else...hmmm...are you familiar with the string drill? Go get some brightly colored string. Home Depot has bright yellow which is nice. Cut two pieces to twenty five yards each and tie one string to each post. You hold the ends so you make a big triangle. Goalie in the cage. Now move around the field so he understands his angles. Angles are important in lacrosse. And certain constants apply to both hockey and lacrosse goalies. Things like: Don't give up short side goals. It's harder for the shooter to shoot across his body. Give them a space you'd like them to shoot and thentake it away. Things like that.

I'll reiterate again, make sure your goalie is protected. These guys look at the college goalies and the MLL guys and see that they are wearing next to nothing. I think it's stupid to be honest and I'm only thirty five. I'm not some old school guy but I think my hockey experience really taught me alot wearing all that gear. I never heard a hockey goalie say, "I really wish I could lose these arm pads so I could move faster to the puck." You hear that stuff in lacrosse all the time.

If he's protected early on he'll have little or no fear of the ball. And that's priceless.

Hope that helps Mike. I'm going to post this on my blog so you can archive it later. Thanks so much for writing and if this helps I'd appreciate a testimonial I can put on my site for others to see.

Stay in touch and let me know how it goes.

Good luck,

Jonathan -
www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com