When To Stay Up Vs. When To Go Into Butterfly - Hockey Goalie Beginner Tips 

I switched from forward to goalie at age of 11 because our goalie moved away (I lived in small town in Finland). I was very small for my age and especially for a goalie. Something like 152cm/5ft at age of 15/16. I compensated my size with positioning and movement. I was pretty athletic as playing 3 sports at our country's top level (tennis, finnish baseball and ice hockey). When we were still in AA and about 12 yo our coach (my friend's dad) always told me to stay up as long as I can because in his opinion a short goalie at butterfly leaved too much space to top corners. Roughly as 13 yos we merged with our neighbour town's team to have at least 2 lines of skaters and got couple players and their coach to our team. This new coach helped me attend to a goalie training camp where a former pro goalie and olympic bronze medalist Pasi Kuivalainen teached me to use butterfly properly (and much more). I had very good progress as a goalie and we had talented players. We managed to promote to AAA level even with average roster of 4-5 defenfemen, 6-9 forwards and me as the only hobbit... I mean goalie. 😅We had to put forwards to play D quite often to have enough for line changes. After comprehensive school our team fell apart because so many players quit to go study or so. After that I've been playing beer league now and then as a forward. I'm 26 now and I found used goalie gear for a great price this autumn. I've been watching some of these goalie tips from youtube to remind myself how I should play. I just have to say thanks to Pasi and others for teaching these things to me. And now I'm not so short anymore (180cm/5'11") those top corners are not open in butterfly. I've played goalie couple times now and I'm lovin it! I already feel like I control myself well and do correct things at the grease. Of course I make mistakes but I can identify and learn from them. There is no better feeling than progress! I wanted to bring my story so if you are young and small goalie, be patient. Learn these correct things. Do not stop using butterfly if they snipe couple top shelfs more. Time will cure that issue. Just try to learn every day and believe in yourself. Great content keep it up!

My coaches in the 1960's screamed the mantra, "Stand up. Don't flop." By bantam I was 6'4" and got to 6'6" by midget, a stature that, today, with the butterfly, might have led me to Junior and college hockey. But, as a stand-up 6'6" goalie in 1967, I was out of hockey entirely (as a goalie) at 16 years of age. Wrong body, wrong time..

About time both are taught.

I’m in my 4th week of being a goalie (I’m 41 now) in our learn to play league. I took earlier advise from my goalie coach as well as advise here. Played my 2nd scrimmage last night and was down about 80% of the time and stopped all shots that got through to me. I’m not playing at a high level and most likely never will but this stuff works.

Yes!!!! I goalie coach for a 10U and I hear this all the time. They should just stand up, no no they shouldn’t

Great video! The real criticism at the rink comes from the non-goalie parents who think they should be goalie coaches. My son loves your videos, it’s good for me to learn some of the theory too.

I started playing goalie in the early 90’s and I can vividly remember my dad screaming at me to stand up, be out to the hash marks (to cut down the angle) and stack the pads haha. But instinctively I wanted to play deeper because I felt like i got out of shape less and I was in better position to make saves. Crazy how far it’s come since that time

Great advice

As a goalie coach noob...this is golden!

Dropping thruths! haha and a little funny. Great vid.

Perfect!

I learned from a great mentor while teaching tennis at a high level junior program that players should be motivated by statistics, not score. Basically, echoing what you said- we teach our youngest juniors the importance of learning the percentages of the game(ie: going to the net and volleying are highest percentage shots) even though they are short, can’t cover the court as well and will likely lose some points they could’ve won if they stayed back bc this creates successful habits and strategies for the future player we are building. The interrelationships of different sports are quite profound in that great teachers/coaches use the same dominant philosophies despite the sport-specific skills being quite varied. Thanks for such great information.

Wish I had a coach with this mentality when I started playing goal 20 years ago

Well said. Totally agree. Young goalie getting beat bar down will be better as he gets bigger

Hey! Any advice or a video you know of for mite goalies transitioning to bigger nets? @Increase Performance

You need to come up to Grande prairie.. I’d love to have you coach my kid for even just a few days

Thx for the great vidz and humnor. ;-). I am coaching U11 and I have questions on what queues the goalie should use to decide when to drop? Many goalies keep saying 'well it depends', which it does however, there should be a few guidelines that we teach the kids then teach the exceptions. 1) Shot on the Rush - Many shots come from a fast skater going to the outside then coming in on a partial break. When should the goalie drop? On the shot or when the player crosses the top-of-the-circle or the hash-marks? (Assume that it isn't a clear breakaway where there is a good chance for a deek. ) 2) Long Shots - If there is a shot from a long ways away and the goalie needs to stop it. Should they butterfly, stop with the stick, then cover? or should they stay standing, stop with the stick. I see many goalies at this age, wait until the last second and then drop to a bad butterfly, paddle down. The puck slides right underneath. ( Ouch these goals hurt.) 3) If it is a broken play and the puck is in the 'home plate' should the goalie drop to the butterfly and then control their position with slides/double pushes? Thanks for your great guidance.

First comment lol. Love your vids btw!

I got so much crap about going down "too early" for the longest time when I first started out. It turned out I just had bad positioning. If I don't drop down I'm never going to be able to get down quick enough!

yoo love the vids lol not a goalie but

I see young goalies prematurely go down on off angle shot before a shot is taken and get beat up over the shoulder not the best advice getting down is quicker then reacting to a high shot they think the butter fly is the be and end all you still need to read the the shot and situation and react accordingly and not just drop at all times

You should rate my puck tracking

If you challenge the shooter enough he or she is gonna shoot it in your chest protector because your body is gonna intersept the trajectory of the puck if your close to the shooter on the edge of your crease not back in the net

Keeping your hands up and out will take care of the top corners regardless.

Ok but like how do goalies go down on there knees, there whole legs needa sideways, like how

I'm 33, playing my third season in beer league and it still annoys the shit out of me when I hear this ridiculous advice from the players who know nothing about playing net: you shouldn't go down that often! Stand up! Wake up, people. It ain't 80's anymore. There was a reason butterfly was invented and it clearly shows in the GAA stats. Plus modern pads aren't making it easy to stop five hole shots standing. If I let goal in, it's not because I didn't stand tall but because of my poor positioning since I still struggle with being square to the puck, sometimes. Just my few cents. Thanks for this video, mate.

im a fan of yours , but your wrong, this is why hip surgery is so common like herpes in the porn industries because the butterfly is a tool and not a style. goalie have been standing up since the 80s and before. am not saying that we only stand when we making save., am saying that yes we need to learn how to see the puck either standing or butterfly. just like stacking the pad or driving, its a tool that all goalie must use just like the poke check. If you can stand and react to the puck your not going to butterfly and then reach up. Am not saying that it wont work, but your doing more work to make the save. and i know your played at higher level that i ever did but butterfly kill and hybrid pay longer.