Goalie's Qualities

The goalie has one primary responsibility: to prevent the puck from entering the net. Good skating and puck-handling skills are advantages, but the ability to react quickly and block shots are the goalie's most important skills. Goaltenders have one of the most challenging occupations on the planet. Imagine trying to stop a six-ounce piece of frozen rubber traveling at speeds in excess of 130 km wearing 50 pounds equipment and losing 5 pounds of your own body weight in just a few hours during a game. Goalies go through all this and more. 

Goalies have many unique qualities, one of which is extraordinary reaction time. In a game where the puck travels at extremely high speeds, the difference between a goal and save can come down to milliseconds. How do you develop reaction time? Is it something you're born with? Director of Life Sciences, Charles Carlson states that reaction time is a "genetic trait." However he believes that you can improve your ability to react through practice since it is also a "memory function." Reaction time depends on both genetics and training. Players' reflexes are of supreme importance. His reaction time can often determine the outcome of a game as a goaltender's limbs are flailing about saving pucks left and right, it's amazing that most of the games remain relatively low scoring after watching players rip 130 km slap shots at the net. 

Goalies wear the same uniform as their teammates, but much of their equipment is specialized for stopping shots. Outside the uniform goalies wear specially designed masks that cover the entire head. Many goalies wear a padded collar to protect the neck. Rather than interior shin guards, goalies wear larger exterior leg pads, stuffed with foam padding. These wide pads extend from just above the knee to the top of the foot. On the hand that holds the stick, the goalie wears a glove, or blocker, to which is attached a large, rectangular, hard plastic surface covered by leather. The glove is used for protection and to block shots. On the other hand, the goalie wears a heavily padded leather trapper, similar to a baseball mitt. Goalies use the trapper to catch shots. Goalies use a slightly different style of stick. About halfway down the stick's shaft, the shaft widens to a maximum of 3.5 in (8.9 cm). Goalies generally grasp the stick with one hand just above the widened portion of the shaft (sometimes called the paddle), so that the blade of the stick is in front of them, on the ice. The blade of a goalie's stick can be taller (up to 3.5 in/8.9 cm) and longer (15.5 in/39.4 cm) than skaters' sticks. 

Goalies can make several different types of saves depending on the situation. Glove saves, stick saves, blocker saves, and pad/kick-saves are all part of the goalie�s hockey vocabulary. Which type of save does a goalie employ? The answer seems to be that when he only has a fraction of a second to stop the shot, he uses whatever part of his body or equipment that is closest. If you watch a goaltender's save closely, you will observe that if he's in a good position, he'll only need to move a very small distance to stop the puck.