A Goalie-Specific Drill to Improve Lateral Movement in the Crease

Having trained professional goalies who play in both Europe and the NHL, I know that the goalie is responsible for the first stop and then their defense is meant to clean up the rebound, if there is one.  This works in theory, but it does little to console the hockey goaltender who just let in another goal. 

All goalies need to be fast moving a cross the crease. A good goalie will be able to move quickly across the crease once, but an outstanding goalie will train to be fast moving across the crease and then back again if necessary.
 
The goalie drill that I will describe below  was designed to help butterfly goaltenders get back to their skates from the butterfly position and powerfully perform the required crease movement to help them make outstanding game saving stops.
 
Step One:
The goalie will begin in a kneeling position, he may wish to wear inline skating knee pads or hockey shin pads and socks to make this more comfortable.
 
Step Two:
Keeping her torso square, the athlete will bring her right foot up so it is under her body and ready to push. She should keep her head on the same level throughout the drill, in other words, as she brings her foot up, she should not stand up with her legs, she should stay very low throughout the drill. By exaggerating her low position, she will build some muscular endurance in her legs will be able to develop more power in her push by using the muscles over a greater range.
 
Step Three:
Now that his foot is on the floor beneath his body, the goalie will perform a quick forceful lateral push off the right foot moving his body to the left. He will land with his left foot first followed by the right foot before quickly dropping back to both knees.
 
Step Four:
Repeat Step Two, but this time he will bring his left foot up beneath his body and push toward the right.
 
Because this is a crease movement drill for goalies and we want them to stay quick and powerful, keep the volume low. Work in the range of 2-5 pushes in each direction or repeat the exercise for a given amount of time such as 5-10 seconds. The athlete should be given 3-6 times as much rest as the work interval so if they perform the pushes for 5 seconds, then the goalie should rest for 15-30 seconds. The rest does not have to be static rest; you may train a different component of the workout like core stability, shoulder stability or hand-eye coordination training between reps.
 
If you train goalies or are a hockey goaltender, this is a great exercise to help you move quicker in the crease. It is easy to incorporate and does not require any specialized equipment. Check out the video demonstrating the knee recovery and push exercise described in this article if you are interested in learning more about how to take a more sport specific approach to your off-ice goalie training.