Skating for Keeps

Mavericks coach Brennan Poderzay’s tips for goalies

By: Shane Frederick

At their most basic level, hockey players are divided into two categories: skaters and goaltenders. Skaters are the centers, the wingers and the defensemen. Goaltenders are, well, goaltenders. But that’s not really fair, is it? After all, goalies are skaters, too. In fact, when it comes to playing between the posts, skating should be anything but an afterthought.

“The first place that I start from, whether it’s an NHL goalie, all the way down to a youth goalie is skating,” said goaltending coach Brennan Poderzay. “It’s the absolute principle, the foundation and the fundamental skill of being a goalie.”

Poderzay works with goaltenders of all levels, including NHLers such as Alex Stalock of the Minnesota Wild, and has worked as a Minnesota regional scout for USA Hockey. He’s also been the volunteer goaltending coach at Minnesota State University, Mankato since the middle of the 2015-16 season. Over the last five seasons, four of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s goaltending champions have been Mavericks.

“Skating,” he said, “is the biggest thing we work on.”

A native of Tower, Minnesota, Poderzay was a college hockey goaltender for the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth before embarking on a professional career that included stints in the Netherlands, France and Slovenia. Here are some of Poderzay’s skating tips for goaltenders:

HEAD, HANDS, HIPS

When it comes to skating, Poderzay says, you don’t jump in feet first. Like driving a car, it’s about your head (seeing where you’re going) and your hands (steering you to your destination). They lead the way. Then, think about your hips, as they link your upper body to your lower body, keeping you balanced and giving you power.

“Always find whatever the target might be,” he said. “That could be a potential pass or where the puck is.Lock your eyes on the target. Know where that is. Identify the target and arrive at it—from point A to point B—in the most efficient manner possible. Put yourself in a position to be ahead of the play. Give yourself and your mind time to arrive early.

KEEP YOUR FEET

Skating is the only way to keep pace with the increasing speed of the game. As forwards and defensemen work to improve their skating to ultimately create more offense, goalies need to do the same to keep pucks out of their nets, “especially in today’s game with how fast plays are made laterally and how strong and deceptive good forwards and defensemen are and how quick their releases are,” Poderzay said.

Two of the most common ways goals are scored are off the rush and through traffic. Staying on your feet, rather than dropping down and sliding across the ice is a more-efficient and faster way to combat those scoring chances. Working on skating can also help goalies avoid getting tangled up in traffic while not losing sight of the puck.

“Keep your eye on the puck and keep your feet underneath you for balance,” he said. “You have to put yourself in the best position possible. Having your feet underneath you gives yourself the best opportunity and the most options. You make yourself vulnerable if you’re on the ice and have to reach for pucks.”

STUDY YOUR SKATING

Poderzay encourages goaltenders to think about their games and their practices, especially times when they’ve given up goals or felt uncomfortable. They should watch video of those moments and dissect those spots. Study their skating and work on improving in those areas.

“Go through certain situations, and imagining going through them in a positive manner,” he said. “Work on position-specific movements—crease patterns. Skating is about muscle memory, so the more positive habits you have the more the muscle-memory cog in the wheel becomes greased. There are a lot of crease patterns out there. I don’t think you can do enough them.”

DO THE DRILLS

This one, Poderzay says, is for the coaches, too: Incorporate drills into your practice that include the goaltenders as more than just targets. Get them moving, keep them engaged. Encourage them to skate and handle the puck, to go behind the net to stop the puck or move it to safety, to bust it back to the net to eliminate chances more efficiently and effectively. Don’t reprimand them for making mistakes by banishing them to the blue paint. In the long run, a slick-skating goaltender will be an invaluable part of your game plan.

“The biggest thing with skating is: No goalie needs to be put on an island,” he said. “They want to be part of the action. They want to be part of the team.”