Wednesday Drill of the Week: Goalie Screen Series

Two goalie drills this week – working on screens and traffic in front.

First Drill: Screen/Angle Adjustment

Simple screen and angle adjustment drill for goalies. First part has shooters (F’s) on each dot with a pile of pucks. A left shot is on the lower hash, a right shot is on the high hash, both in a shooting position. One shooter is at the net front acting as a screen. The drill starts with the F passing from the dot to the shooter on the hash for either a catch & shoot or a one-timer. The screening players job is to make it difficult for the goalie to track the shot release. The drill then alternates sides.

A quick hitter, I put my goalies through it in two different sets of 8 shots each. One time through, talk to them about what they want to do differently (for us it was usually what side of the screen they were looking through and how they played the shot). After processing, put them back in the net to get a second set in.

Second Drill: 8 Puck Screen/Rebound

A fun and challenging screen/rebound drill for goalies. Coach stands in the middle of the ice near the hash marks with a pile of pucks (Left side/#1). In front, there are two players screening the goaltender (side by side). A left shot and right shot are on their off-side on the flanks of the net. The drill starts with the coach throwing a puck into the goalie – show the puck and then throw it through legs/onto the goalies pads. The two screeners in front just stay there, the players on the flank are hunting for rebounds and playing any live pucks. The second time through, the screen players stand in a stack (Right side/#2), creating a different type of screen challenge for the goalie.
The goalies are challenged to pick up pucks through traffic as well as react quickly to rebounds off their pads. Goalies must have a good track through legs and sticks, as well as a quick push to wherever the puck ends up in the crease.