All Goalie Notes Videos filmed and edited by Amy Blackburn
As a goalie (or goalie parent or coach), I'm sure you've heard about angles and the idea of being "off your angle". This is usually referring to lateral angles to the sides of you. Unfortunately, as many of you may already know, goalies can also get scored on up top, over the gloves. In order to cut down on those vertical angles, we need to use proper glove positioning.
There are two things you want to do with your gloves while in your stance: keep them up and out in front. Bringing your glove out in front will actually reduce the amount of net that the puck can see just like coming out of the net to challenge does. With proper glove positioning, even the shortest of goalies can cover the top parts of the net.
Check out the diagram above. The red represents the goal - the height of the net is 4'. The blue represents the goaltender standing at the top of the crease - 5' from the goal line. The top of the faceoff circles (high slot) is about 30' out from the goal line. The top of the hash marks are about 20'. The crease is exactly 6'. The net is 4' tall.
As you can see, if the goalie is standing at the top of the crease, he only needs to hold his glove up 3'-2" from the ice to cover up right up under the bar. In tight, that height becomes even smaller. I also drew in a little part to show good glove positioning and how keeping your gloves out in front can cut down the angles significantly. In the end, even the tiniest of goalies can cover a significant part of the net if they are out and challenging and keep their gloves in good position. They may not take up 100% of the net but, as goalies, we do still have to move!