Today we have a backward shuffling drill. This is going to add in a T push. There are many variations we can use with this with different movements.
The big thing we want to focus on here is that backward shuffle. Just like if a goalie came over the net on a rush, we want to be able to angle our body down the Y as that plays breaking in, making sure that we are not leaving our feet straight and flat looking down the ice. But we are nice and square to the puck simulating almost a pass across where we would have to transition from a backward shuffle into a T push and reset our feet. And then repeating, you’re going to see that our demo goalie is doing it down the line.
He’s maintaining really good balance and stability, leading with his eyes, but really making his movements efficient. What I really liked about that, is that he made a nice rotation. You can see his body moved as a unit before he pushed and what he didn’t do is make a big C cut. So you can see that he makes a nice rotation and then he initiates his push out of that. He sets his feet and he doesn’t overrotate his shoulders. More importantly, one thing we want to avoid while we are T pushing is that over-rotation of our shoulders and you can see that he maintains a really good balance of stability.
No, his stick is not on the ice, but you can see that he is an efficient skater and he can move way more freely with his stick off the ice a little bit and more upright in the stands. You’re going to see a nice rotation and a push. He has good rotation, good eyes, and sets his feet. It’s a perfect example, something that we can do on the ice when there’s no room in the crease and we can always work on skating at any time.