Johnny Bower, winner of four Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1960's teaches a student the poke check, the move he pioneered. #leafs #leafsnation #leafsforever
It seems like the poke check and coming out far to cut down the angles is a dying art in goaltending these days. I'd love to see more young goalies incorporate the poke check into their game as it drives players nuts!
yea it seems like no goalies utilizing poke checking much, i think the only one i can think of who does it regularly is marc andre fleury, i think other goalies just don't feel confident to do it, so they rather just play a positioning game, but i say it's good to throw it out once in a while. I think its also because not enough goalies practice playing the puck with their sticks, only a few goalies are confident puck handlers, so i see why they don't feel comfortable trying to do poke checks, they seem like they keep the stick just to cover their five hole when in standing position, only mike smith and ben bishop are superb on the stick now days.
I’m a 16 year old goalie. I first saw Johnny Bower on a rerun on tv when I was I wanna say about 10 years old. I saw him poke check multiple times and I said to myself “I want to be able to do that!” So it took me several years of practice but the poke check is now among one of my regular (and might I add favourite) save to make. It drives the players up the wall which I absolutely love.
I attended a goalie camp Johnny ran up in Niagra Falls in 1969 as a 6 year old kid. He was a great instructor. I really didn't know much about him at the time, but now I am thrilled to have learned the position from one of the greats..
I used this to great success in my house league (not sure how good a move it would be in higher level hockey). Kids just didn't expect or understand the move, so they approached me like I was just your typical, passive butterfly guy, and then, out of nowhere, the puck's off the opposition's blade! Never got called for a penalty for it either, even if I did trip a few guys here and there.
I think that nowadays the butterfly style is the more dominant style of play. I play A major gold, (USA Hockey) and just using the Poke check surprises the heck out of some of these kids who are used to the modern style. There's a reason why the butterfly was invented, and there's a reason why these old guys won so many Stanley Cups. Great moves like the pokecheck, and surprising those other players who think that goalies are lazy, and never do anything but the butterfly, is priceless!
Thank you for sharing this video! Takes me right back to my own poke check lesson with Johnny in the early 80s. Amazing to see this so many years later ❤
Johnny Bower's personality was as genuinely as good as his goaltending and his poke-check.....just PHENOMENAL!!!🙂👍His patience, mannerism and encouragment would definitely help build this young goaltender's confidence. Great all around guy.🥰Rest his soul.💖
It's amazing the career Bower had AFTER the age of 34. And when he was 44-45 people were speculating he was even older (around 47-48) that's truly amazing
This guy looks like he has Vancouver colours on his helmet but interestingly, looking at how tall he is, he's a big goalie even by today's standards. It's as much about technique and position in the game now. The drill here wouldn't really work at al with the pace it's at. There movement of pucks from player to player would render this move all risk.
The game has definitely changed, goaltending has definitely changed too, and most of the stuff from this era is outdated now. But there are certain things that I still prefer from the old days, like playing bad angle shots standing up, instead of going down and leaving the top part of the net exposed.
Bower is just passing on what he learned from Charlie Raynor, the old Rangers goalie, who was know for his stickwork. Raynor would routinely stickhandle the puck out to centre ice. Bower's hands were damaged during the war, so his stick and glove skills were limited, but the stick check was a masterpiece of strategy, and Bower had it down to a science. Diving face-first - without a mask - into the feet/skates of an incoming forward took guts. Today's goalies (I wouldn't even call them goalies. They're more like stationary puck blockers) would never attempt a move like this.
I don't know, I got this video off an instructional VHS tape I used to have a really long time ago. I no longer have the tape, and I can't even remember what it was called. The tape had a lot of oldtimers, from a bunch of different teams, not just the Leafs, teaching stuff.
