Todays game, now about 15 years of time has passed with the full butterfly goalie in net. Unless the goalie is absolutely perfect in depth and angle it will be exploited by the opposition. Dropping early is one of the easiest to see and be expoited with. The older he gets and the higher the quality of player he faces, the problem will increase.
One aspect is him trying to model his play after his favorite NHL goalie. They make the same errors as the average joe goalie BUT they have world class reflexes to help bail them out. They are NOT someone to watch and try to emulate 100%.
As a Dad there isnt much you can do on your own if the goalie is unwilling. There is also the large habit he now has to over come. Its not going to be easy even if willing. Your best bet is to find a good reputable local coach or summer clinic where he will get a good amount of individual attention. They will have a much larger immediate impact on his desire to make corrections.
As far as your own time with the little guy you can run shot fake drills to try and get him to stay on his skates longer. Just standing at the hash marks he will face shots where you multiple fake shots. The initial object is for him to remain on his skates until a shot is released. As he makes progress, the goal can be changed to require no flinching on hte fake shot. The other thing is to play a lot of one on one with him and EXPLOIT these areas to death. Pick those corners over and over again. Be sure to let him know that if "this old man" does it what will the good kids on the ice do to him? He will get very tired of being scored on and begin to make the adjustments needed. Dont be cruel and do talk of his positives but also do not sugar coat the obvious flaws to his game. Pure butterfly is on its way out. Shooters and Coaches can exploit most with a few simple tricks. HE has to increase his skills to include more than just a blocking butterfly.
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Posted on Nov 9, 2006, 2:14 PM from IP address 66.82.9.12
