This is a downward-tracking skating drill. We have our demo going down a line on the ice, but this can be done anywhere that we don’t have a net. We want to have a little bit of space here, but it can be done anywhere on the ice.
What our demo goal is going to do is he’s going to take a C cut forward. We want to maintain balance and stability. So he’s going to bring that foot back underneath his body into his stands. The main part here is that he is going to downward-track the puck. So he’s leaning his head, shoulders, eyes, and hands down and forward at the puck and he’s going to activate that upper body first and let that upper body lead him into his butterfly save. You can see at first he’s going to make a glove save and then a block or save. He’s really good with his eyes here watching that puck and visualizing that shot into his glove and then being able to visualize that shot and that rebound off of his blocker.
This is a really good one for young goalies as well. Just being able to not just have their initial reaction be dropped, but really have that initial reaction be tracking of the puck and not just go straight down with the straight back. You can see he’s got a nice lean forward here and he’s able to use his eyes very efficiently.