The skill (& art) of playing & making saves down on ice…

I have been getting a lot of requests on articles and questions about the topic of playing down, how much should goalie play down, when to play down etc… What I mean in this by playing down is the difference between making the actual save standing up or making the save with 1 or both knees down on the ice. First of all the issue is not whether you should make saves standing up or playing down on the ice! The issue is about timing, reading the play right and what has the goalie down before going down. I could also add that it is also vital how the goalie goes down and he moves / operates while down on the ice.

Naturally this is a large topic and too much to handle in a small blog article, so I will add a full resource to Goaliepro library on this topic sometime in a future.

Modern hockey has been getting faster and faster over the years. As a result the way goalies play the game has changed too. All goalies on top level like NHL and European pro leagues make +90% of their saves with 1 or both knees on the ice today. This is a statistical fact and I have been following this trend since 2002 on NHL, Finnish Elite League and World Championship levels. This has been done by recording minimum 10 games on each level and listing all saves. Since 2002 the number of saves done while playing down has actually been slightly increasing.

Another fact that we should also take into consideration when discussing about this topic is where do the shots come from. My stats clearly show that the % of saves made down from ice will go up significantly when shots are coming from close distance and from so called scoring sectors.

So when does / should the goalie make saves standing up? There are a few situations where stand-up saves are a natural choice. One of them is long distance shots where goalie has no need to go down when puck can be handled and controlled well standing up. The other this type of situation is shots from narrow angles where goalie has to cover the entire height of the net & this can be done without exposing any other areas open for scoring.

This leads us to the point itself in this article. Modern goalie makes most of the saves with 1 or both knees on the ice, BUT:

1. Timing is everything! If goalie goes down prematurely he often takes himself out of the play and gets scored too much or at least raises the opponents probability to score a great deal. This is an issue where goalie really needs help from qualified goalie coach as it is hard to fix timing on your own. If your timing is not correct it does not matter how good is your technique, how fast and wide is your butterfly etc…

2. Second important piece of this puzzle is goalies ability to move on his skates. This is something goalie must practice more than anything else from the day 1 of his hockey career. Skating ability should be so good that goalie can follow plays at increasing speed as he moves up on the level of play and always maintain readiness for making saves while stay at optimal position. Key for the readiness is balance and proper body position that allows moves to any direction in minimal time and maximum speed.

3. Third piece is goalies ability to read the game / plays. Even if the goalie is the greatest skater it does not matter if he can’t read the plays right. Without good reading ability goalie will not be able to time his movements and go down at proper time either.

Personally I work with these issues always when I am on the ice with my own goalies and goalies I work regularly with. It does not really matter whether I am working with experienced NHL goalie like Nikke Bäckström (Minnesota Wild), seasoned pro like Ari Sulander (ZSC Lions) or young up and coming talent like Lukas Flueler (ZSC Lions), timing, skating/moving and reading the plays are always on our training agenda. Goalie coach has great responsibility in the development of his goalies in these areas and making sure the combination / big picture works.