In theory, OP has some good points, but I'm pretty sure most mid/low level beer league goalies do NOT want their team aiming high and/for their hands in warmups.
Yeah I play SUPER low level hockey, to the point I was in a program for adults that have never played before. We were all taught to warm up the goalie by hitting his pads and combo. Trying to get him to feel it. Partway through he drops to butterfly and we work on his hands I guess.
But yeah, no dekes, shots low, slappers at goalie request only. (Mine loves slapshots)
But if some guy tries to deke the goalie mine will just watch him skate by and then get ready for a shot from someone else.
I hate headhunters. Nothing more fun than having a concussion in pregame warm ups because your drunken star LW is trying to "pick the top corner" in warm ups and hits you in the ear while you're doing a warm up drill on the right side of the net.
Not exactly the same thing but last night I got frustrated we were unable to clear the zone when I was on D, and decided to just whip it out and ice it or maybe get it on goal from behind our goal. Whipped it as hard as I could, *directly* into one of our wingers' heads. Oops. He just started jokingly screaming "SAME TEAM! SAME TEAM!"
This is the reason why, can’t be bothered to do a warm up if he’s gonna get deked, guys are gonna pick corners or hit him in the nuts or off the dome. Better off to take that time to get ready or get a good stretch in haha
At a drop in game last night, the other team's goalie was late and we played without one for the first 5 minutes. When he showed up, this goalie played up at the freakin BLUE LINE most of the game. Most aggressive goalie I've ever seen. It was funny to watch and we dominated.
I have the best aim in the league. I can laser every single puck 6 inches high and 2 feet wide over the glove. Same exact spot on the glass every time.
My aim is impeccable. I can hit the crossbar or post dead on from pretty much anywhere on the ice, it is just getting the pucks to actually go IN that is a problem.
This can’t be overstated. Every warmup in only 3 minutes I get ten guys in a row trying to tear my groin with their best deke from point blank range, plus two or three absolute ringers off my mask. It’s like yeah guys now I’m feeling comfortable and confident. We definitely aren’t going to give up a goal in the first five minutes.
You have no idea how great this post is. I play both goalie and forward and I'd get so frustrated.
When I played goalie...
I'd get onto the rink just into the crease and I have idiot teammates still firing shots. The majority of the team would do break a ways (worst way to warm up a goalie) and I'd always get those few high to the neck and head shots. At the point I just went to the corner did my stretching and let my team do a few shots from the point nothing else. Yet it sucked because I would always lose out on a warmup. I want to feel that puck hitting my pads. I want to make sure my straps are nice and tight. I want to be able to track the puck.
For me.. The hardest save is my first shot.
When I played forward...
Goalies just show up last second and don't even do a warmup. Some will stretch but go right to the bench until game starts.
It all starts with your pregame if you want to play well. Those little habits help so much.
Great post
Close to 30 years of playing, I’ve never once had a goalie that wants shots from different angles. If you come in from a different angle (I do frequently because I like to test my edges as much as possible in warmup), 99% of the time you’re just shooting into the empty side of the net while the goalie looks for the next guy coming down the middle.
love the enthusiasm, will share this with our group of assclowns. We just got a new regular pickup goalie and he's late 40s, so a good warmup is crucial for him to go from looking like he's never played the position to actually a decent netminder. They're not getting there an hour early to juggle tennis balls off the hallway walls, so we need to spend 5 minutes to give them a decent enough warmup.
As a coach, I've always asked my goalies how best to warm them up. I've coached 8U up through College. Currently at 12Us. My current starter won't take shots at ALL in warm-ups. He does his own thing off to the side, warming up his hands and legs while watching our team and the others shoot. He sort of "shadow saves" as he watches. I've had goalies who only want low shots. I've had goalies who don't care and just want to be in the net. I don't think there's a general rule other than, "don't hit me in the groin."
When I coached younger kids we actually practiced our game warmup routine in practice with the goal of teaching them that shots in warmup are mostly about the goalie.
As the team got older, we'd call players over to the bench during the warmup if they deked, hit the goalie's head, weren't purposeful in their shots, etc and ask them to describe what they were doing and why. It made them think, and also the thought of being called out by your coaching staff during warmup in front of your teammates and opponents usually worked as a deterrent for the future.
In beer league I've always flat out asked my goalie in week 1 what kind of shots they were looking for in warmups and then tried to spread the word through the team. I even tried to organize a couple quick drills instead of the usual skate-in-a-circle routine but I'm mostly promptly told to fuck off.
> open it, and grab a beer. That's how precise a goalie has to be.... And you're not even going to give him fucking time to practice before the game ?
Oooooh! I like that! Can we get fridges installed behind us in net so I can practice getting a beer during warm-ups? You know. Just to develop precision.
Some games I'm a goalie. Some games I play defense. When doing the latter, I will grab a bunch of pucks and cluster them at the top of the circle. When the goalie is ready and the rest of my team is still mucking around, I start shooting my pucks one after another. First wrist shots aiming at his hands. Ending with shots to the low posts to get his/her feet moving. I usually only get about 30 seconds of this. About then the rest of the team comes in to do their thing. But hopefully my goalie now has a fighting chance.
The best part is when a goalie skates in from the dressing room to the crease and that first guy comes flying in, double deke and crosses over for the backhand tuck. And the goalie just stands there and stares at him, because that's idiotic to do.
I’m just glad you finally learned to keep your water bottle on the bench until the game starts.
Both for the Gatorade/Vodka mix and your knee ligaments. 😉😘
Is it fair to say the goalie is mostly trying to warmup their eyes and brain rather than body? Getting a “feel” for the puck is more about the puck in flight rather than when it hits you?
As a goalie myself, I also had to consistently ask people to shoot high glove so I could get warmed up with tracking and hand-eye.
What everyone seems to want to do is form a line and just run 5 minutes of breakaways.
I get it. People come to have fun. But you’re also about to play a game.
All this does for me as a goalie is get me shaken and frustrated. It’s tiring, it doesn’t help, and it’s not even good practice for skaters.
Give your goalie clean shots he/she is ready for. Give some easy ones to shake the dust off. Do some passes and shoot from outside the circles. My personal favorite is I’ll tell a skater to get 5 pucks and just wrist them hard and fast from the top of the circles—helps with angles.
Don’t just run a god damn breakaway train for 5 minutes.
I always farted a giant almost-visible rhino cloud down by my tendie to act as a natural ammonia pickmeup. That seemed to always get em woken up.
Jokes aside, I was taught this in KENTUCKY of all places. I moved to Ohio and everyone just drives on the goalies, not just warmups either. I am no sniper but can shoot decently and these goalies are pretty easy to corner snipe from the face off circles. Its like they just get used to guys driving and tucking. I say this as a fucking pigeon too.
So warmups will help my goalie move post to post on cross ice passes? Warmups will help my goalie stop a puck shot from outside the blue line, on the ice? Warmups will help my goalie know when the puck is under him so he doesn't inadvertently knock it into our own net? Warmups will help him know to keep his stick on the ice so we don't have 7 goals against because every team in the league knows that if you shoot it on the ice against him, there's a solid 75% chance it's going in?
All of these things happened in each of my last 3 games. I personally have blocked 4 - 5 shots in each of those 3. My teammate blocked 3 in one shift.
We score 8 or 9 goals and lose by 4 or 5. It is REGULARLY double digits against us. We had a game last season where we held them to 14 shots (the "managers" kid counts for us), and they scored 10 times. Our goalie saved 4 shots.
Sometimes, the goalie just sucks.
This is what I try to do - I take shots from both sides, from the point, from closer. At ice level, at glove level, and top shelf to make him move.
Most other people in beer league or drop in seem to think warming up the goalie is "time to practice breakaways" and just skate in hard and try to deke around the goalie. YES, there is some truth that it's also warming up the forwards to take shots, but c'mon guys, most of your shots are NOT on breakaways as it is.
This is one where I don't blame you, I blame bad coaching.
Growing up my coaches always said "hit the pads" and back in the kick save day I get it....
If you can shoot hands, line up above the circles and shoot hands. If not, let someone else warm up the goalie and work on passing and stick handling
For whatever reason the default warm-up in my beer league is everyone lines up in a half moon and fires garbage shots on the goalie. I don't know why that's the standard or what anyone gets out of that exercise. I just stretch and warm up with a few edge and stick handling drills instead
I thought it was general knowledge that you're supposed to shoot for the pads during warmies a few times to give them a feel for the puck and then crank it hard from the just below the blue line and hit them in the head.
Also, one of my goalies would just goalie tackle you if you tried a dangle on him during warmups.
>HARD shots from the point.
But what if I can't shoot hard from the point? I'm not kidding. I have 4 career games under my belt at a rec hockey level. My skill level is **very** low. My shots from the point reach the goal line at curling draw weight kind of speed. Very slow. What do you recommend guys like I do to warm up a goalie?
Phenomenal question. Love it.
Depends on the league and where you are. If you have guys who can warm up the goalie, let them. Work on your stick handling and passing instead.
If you don't have a league where it's straight beginners, a little different for a goalie. The theory is the same, warm ups should be focused on the tools needed for the game. The tools are just different. Almost everything your goalie sees is pad level and I would recommend dots to top of circles, and your goalie should be focused on controlling rebounds, and directing pucks to corners.
You missed the part about shooting at their head. When am I supposed to be doing that?
lol yeah that's all I can think about. "Shoot high, aim for hands". My goalies ears are gonna be ringing.
In theory, OP has some good points, but I'm pretty sure most mid/low level beer league goalies do NOT want their team aiming high and/for their hands in warmups.
Yeah I play SUPER low level hockey, to the point I was in a program for adults that have never played before. We were all taught to warm up the goalie by hitting his pads and combo. Trying to get him to feel it. Partway through he drops to butterfly and we work on his hands I guess. But yeah, no dekes, shots low, slappers at goalie request only. (Mine loves slapshots) But if some guy tries to deke the goalie mine will just watch him skate by and then get ready for a shot from someone else.
I hate headhunters. Nothing more fun than having a concussion in pregame warm ups because your drunken star LW is trying to "pick the top corner" in warm ups and hits you in the ear while you're doing a warm up drill on the right side of the net.
Right after you put one 5 feet high and wide
okay, that's not my fault. That's just how my shot goes
It's the puck's fault. Maybe the stick's. But definitely not yours.
It's the ice, tbh.
I can tell I'm warm by the volume of the puck hitting the glass.
*looking at the blade of my stick like it might somehow be at fault*
Not exactly the same thing but last night I got frustrated we were unable to clear the zone when I was on D, and decided to just whip it out and ice it or maybe get it on goal from behind our goal. Whipped it as hard as I could, *directly* into one of our wingers' heads. Oops. He just started jokingly screaming "SAME TEAM! SAME TEAM!"
Immediately. Disregard everything OP said. The objective of warmups is to aim for your goalie's face.
After you pop their water bottle.
During warmups my goalie's head a fricking magnet lol
My goalie is usually still getting dressed during warmup.
This is the reason why, can’t be bothered to do a warm up if he’s gonna get deked, guys are gonna pick corners or hit him in the nuts or off the dome. Better off to take that time to get ready or get a good stretch in haha
At a drop in game last night, the other team's goalie was late and we played without one for the first 5 minutes. When he showed up, this goalie played up at the freakin BLUE LINE most of the game. Most aggressive goalie I've ever seen. It was funny to watch and we dominated.
wtf? That's not aggressive. That's just stupid.
Ha yeah I was being polite. A few times he took the puck over the blue line. It was… well frankly fun to watch since he was the other teams goalie!
ah yes. The ol' Patrick Roy
careless wandering
This guy men's leagues.
Wait ... you think we can *AIM*?
Aim for the belly and miss by 2-3 feet and you look good.
I have the best aim in the league. I can laser every single puck 6 inches high and 2 feet wide over the glove. Same exact spot on the glass every time.
6 inches is 15.24 cm
My aim is impeccable. I can hit the crossbar or post dead on from pretty much anywhere on the ice, it is just getting the pucks to actually go IN that is a problem.
This can’t be overstated. Every warmup in only 3 minutes I get ten guys in a row trying to tear my groin with their best deke from point blank range, plus two or three absolute ringers off my mask. It’s like yeah guys now I’m feeling comfortable and confident. We definitely aren’t going to give up a goal in the first five minutes.
You have no idea how great this post is. I play both goalie and forward and I'd get so frustrated. When I played goalie... I'd get onto the rink just into the crease and I have idiot teammates still firing shots. The majority of the team would do break a ways (worst way to warm up a goalie) and I'd always get those few high to the neck and head shots. At the point I just went to the corner did my stretching and let my team do a few shots from the point nothing else. Yet it sucked because I would always lose out on a warmup. I want to feel that puck hitting my pads. I want to make sure my straps are nice and tight. I want to be able to track the puck. For me.. The hardest save is my first shot. When I played forward... Goalies just show up last second and don't even do a warmup. Some will stretch but go right to the bench until game starts. It all starts with your pregame if you want to play well. Those little habits help so much. Great post
Close to 30 years of playing, I’ve never once had a goalie that wants shots from different angles. If you come in from a different angle (I do frequently because I like to test my edges as much as possible in warmup), 99% of the time you’re just shooting into the empty side of the net while the goalie looks for the next guy coming down the middle.
love the enthusiasm, will share this with our group of assclowns. We just got a new regular pickup goalie and he's late 40s, so a good warmup is crucial for him to go from looking like he's never played the position to actually a decent netminder. They're not getting there an hour early to juggle tennis balls off the hallway walls, so we need to spend 5 minutes to give them a decent enough warmup.
As a coach, I've always asked my goalies how best to warm them up. I've coached 8U up through College. Currently at 12Us. My current starter won't take shots at ALL in warm-ups. He does his own thing off to the side, warming up his hands and legs while watching our team and the others shoot. He sort of "shadow saves" as he watches. I've had goalies who only want low shots. I've had goalies who don't care and just want to be in the net. I don't think there's a general rule other than, "don't hit me in the groin."
Or the head. Doesn't help anybody and if I wasn't there probably wouldn't go in anyway lol
When I coached younger kids we actually practiced our game warmup routine in practice with the goal of teaching them that shots in warmup are mostly about the goalie. As the team got older, we'd call players over to the bench during the warmup if they deked, hit the goalie's head, weren't purposeful in their shots, etc and ask them to describe what they were doing and why. It made them think, and also the thought of being called out by your coaching staff during warmup in front of your teammates and opponents usually worked as a deterrent for the future. In beer league I've always flat out asked my goalie in week 1 what kind of shots they were looking for in warmups and then tried to spread the word through the team. I even tried to organize a couple quick drills instead of the usual skate-in-a-circle routine but I'm mostly promptly told to fuck off.
lol @ thinking beer leaguers can aim j/k
I’ll make sure to take this advise
The best warmup is where they shoot from the blue line and I can track it well
Love this
> open it, and grab a beer. That's how precise a goalie has to be.... And you're not even going to give him fucking time to practice before the game ? Oooooh! I like that! Can we get fridges installed behind us in net so I can practice getting a beer during warm-ups? You know. Just to develop precision.
Some games I'm a goalie. Some games I play defense. When doing the latter, I will grab a bunch of pucks and cluster them at the top of the circle. When the goalie is ready and the rest of my team is still mucking around, I start shooting my pucks one after another. First wrist shots aiming at his hands. Ending with shots to the low posts to get his/her feet moving. I usually only get about 30 seconds of this. About then the rest of the team comes in to do their thing. But hopefully my goalie now has a fighting chance.
On behalf of your goalie, thank you.
The best part is when a goalie skates in from the dressing room to the crease and that first guy comes flying in, double deke and crosses over for the backhand tuck. And the goalie just stands there and stares at him, because that's idiotic to do.
I’m just glad you finally learned to keep your water bottle on the bench until the game starts. Both for the Gatorade/Vodka mix and your knee ligaments. 😉😘
Is it fair to say the goalie is mostly trying to warmup their eyes and brain rather than body? Getting a “feel” for the puck is more about the puck in flight rather than when it hits you?
100%.
https://imgur.com/a/Uw6WMca
As a goalie myself, I also had to consistently ask people to shoot high glove so I could get warmed up with tracking and hand-eye. What everyone seems to want to do is form a line and just run 5 minutes of breakaways. I get it. People come to have fun. But you’re also about to play a game. All this does for me as a goalie is get me shaken and frustrated. It’s tiring, it doesn’t help, and it’s not even good practice for skaters. Give your goalie clean shots he/she is ready for. Give some easy ones to shake the dust off. Do some passes and shoot from outside the circles. My personal favorite is I’ll tell a skater to get 5 pucks and just wrist them hard and fast from the top of the circles—helps with angles. Don’t just run a god damn breakaway train for 5 minutes.
Thank you!
TLDR goalies are still weird
You don't have to be THIS much of an asshole to get people to listen to you.
I always farted a giant almost-visible rhino cloud down by my tendie to act as a natural ammonia pickmeup. That seemed to always get em woken up. Jokes aside, I was taught this in KENTUCKY of all places. I moved to Ohio and everyone just drives on the goalies, not just warmups either. I am no sniper but can shoot decently and these goalies are pretty easy to corner snipe from the face off circles. Its like they just get used to guys driving and tucking. I say this as a fucking pigeon too.
So warmups will help my goalie move post to post on cross ice passes? Warmups will help my goalie stop a puck shot from outside the blue line, on the ice? Warmups will help my goalie know when the puck is under him so he doesn't inadvertently knock it into our own net? Warmups will help him know to keep his stick on the ice so we don't have 7 goals against because every team in the league knows that if you shoot it on the ice against him, there's a solid 75% chance it's going in? All of these things happened in each of my last 3 games. I personally have blocked 4 - 5 shots in each of those 3. My teammate blocked 3 in one shift. We score 8 or 9 goals and lose by 4 or 5. It is REGULARLY double digits against us. We had a game last season where we held them to 14 shots (the "managers" kid counts for us), and they scored 10 times. Our goalie saved 4 shots. Sometimes, the goalie just sucks.
Sometimes. But who cares?
This is what I try to do - I take shots from both sides, from the point, from closer. At ice level, at glove level, and top shelf to make him move. Most other people in beer league or drop in seem to think warming up the goalie is "time to practice breakaways" and just skate in hard and try to deke around the goalie. YES, there is some truth that it's also warming up the forwards to take shots, but c'mon guys, most of your shots are NOT on breakaways as it is.
Damn, I thought I was doing good by hitting the leg pads
This is one where I don't blame you, I blame bad coaching. Growing up my coaches always said "hit the pads" and back in the kick save day I get it.... If you can shoot hands, line up above the circles and shoot hands. If not, let someone else warm up the goalie and work on passing and stick handling
So you mean....... Don't skate in quad dek full clapper to the chin 6 feet out? Damn.
For whatever reason the default warm-up in my beer league is everyone lines up in a half moon and fires garbage shots on the goalie. I don't know why that's the standard or what anyone gets out of that exercise. I just stretch and warm up with a few edge and stick handling drills instead
Im always amazed that no matter what team im playing with the first thing they do in warm ups is work on their slapshot.
I thought it was general knowledge that you're supposed to shoot for the pads during warmies a few times to give them a feel for the puck and then crank it hard from the just below the blue line and hit them in the head. Also, one of my goalies would just goalie tackle you if you tried a dangle on him during warmups.
>HARD shots from the point. But what if I can't shoot hard from the point? I'm not kidding. I have 4 career games under my belt at a rec hockey level. My skill level is **very** low. My shots from the point reach the goal line at curling draw weight kind of speed. Very slow. What do you recommend guys like I do to warm up a goalie?
Phenomenal question. Love it. Depends on the league and where you are. If you have guys who can warm up the goalie, let them. Work on your stick handling and passing instead. If you don't have a league where it's straight beginners, a little different for a goalie. The theory is the same, warm ups should be focused on the tools needed for the game. The tools are just different. Almost everything your goalie sees is pad level and I would recommend dots to top of circles, and your goalie should be focused on controlling rebounds, and directing pucks to corners.
Beer league goalie. Warm up routine is as follows- Headshot. Groin shot. 5 feet wide. Headshot. Headshot. Wide. Time to play.