Joe Bertagna is the Goaltending Coach for the boston bruins of the NHL, and executive director of ECAC and executive director ot the American Hockey Coaches Association

I do not know where this article came from, but felt it was very good and should be passed on to everyone involved in coaching hockey. If someone knows please E-mail me and let me know.

You are a 14 year old high school student. You walk into math class on the first day of school and get a test. On the next day you get a test. On the third day it’s the same thing; another test. Finally you ask the teacher, “ Why are we just being tested? ” He replies, The test is what tells me most about you . The tests is what eventually determines your grade, your worth. So I give tests, tests, and more tests. “ But you haven’t taught me how to pass these tests,” you protest. “ You haven’t taught me fundamentals or methods.” “ You have to teach yourself,” says the teacher.

You are a 14 year old high schools goaltender. You go to the first practice of the season and all you get are shots, Breakaways, Rapid-fire drills, teammates all in a line, each with a puck. The next practice is the same. So is the third. You ask the coach, “Why do I get nothing but, rapid fire shooting drills, just the shooters and me?” “That’s what will eventually determine the results in the games,” says the coach. “How well you stop the shots will determine your worth. The shots are your tests. and so I give you tests here to get you ready for tests in the game.” “But you haven’t taught me how to stop those shots . You haven’t taught me any fundamentals or any method. You haven’t taught me how to pass these tests,” you protest. “You’ve got to teach yourself,” says the coach.
Behold the state of goaltending coaching in our country, and elsewhere, I imagine. Its what I call the Guilt and volume method. The coach realizes that he has ignored his goalie for awhile, feels guilty about it, and then says, “okay, everybody get a puck, were going to work on the goalie for the next 20 minutes.” And so the goalie gets shots, shots, and more shots, without ever hearing anything beyond , “stay on your feet” and “play the angle.”

Why are goalies ignored or fed the one dimensional practice diet? Partly because coaches continue to view the goalies as “different.” This is a weak excuse that allows some coaches to wash there hands of any responsibility of working with the goaltender. Another is the familiar, “You know really, you have to have played goal to coach a goalie,” Baloney!

• Do you have to have played defence to coach a defenseman?
• Do you have to have worked on the power play to teach the power play?
• Do you have to have played up front to teach forechecking?

Coaches it’s very simple. Learn about the position and pass along what you learn to the goalies. Just like you do every other aspect of hockey. This is what the real problem is . Few coaches, at all levels (including the NHL), understand what the position is about. most coaches reduce the goalie’s job to standing there and reacting to pucks.
They don’t see all the skills that this different hockey player has to master. They see the goalie’s job beginning when the puck leaves the shooters stick. How else can one explain the predominance of drills that simply isolate that one moment? look at the average practice. How many coaches use that lovely drill where everyone takes a puck and, on command, they fire, one by one, either from right to left or left to right? Or what about that beauty, where they alternate from either end of the line, working towards the middle? Invariably, the two fourth wingers forget whose turn is next and both shoot at the same time. What about those pattern drills where one or more passes end up with a shot coming from the same place every time? the pace of the drill is usually such that the goalie can’t react to each pass so he stays in one spot and reacts to each one. The shot alone is isolated in these drills.
Where is practice time being devoted to what precedes the shot and what follows the shot? Where is the screen, the deflection, or the rebound? These are all integral parts of a goalie’s world but they are missing. All that is there is the shot. The Test without the teaching.

If a goalie makes 30 saves in a game, he spends about 30 seconds that night in the act of making saves. He spends considerably more time getting prepared for those 30 seconds. he has to move, look and position. He has to find the puck through traffic, read options and has to make sense out of confusion.

Three messages must be sent to the coaches.

• First, every save has three parts to it, not one. There is the preparation, the movement to the puck ( the save, if you prefer ) and the aftermath.
• Second, the goalie’s world is very unpredictable. The goalie doesn’t always see shots clearly. The goalie doesn’t always know that the player will shoot. yet at practice, nearly all shooting drills are done with no traffic between the goalie and the shooter. And nearly all shooting drills are done with the goalie knowing who will shoot, when and from where.
• The Third message is this: the goalie does more than stop pucks. There are many other tasks that must be performed well or the number of shots to be stopped will increase in number and difficulty.

Coaches consider the following:

• A puck is fired into the zone, just wide of the net.
• A centering pass is made from the corner to the slot.
• A loose puck is being pursued by the goalie and an opposing skater.
• A puck is dumped into the zone, around the boards.
• An opposing player screens the goalie and stands in the crease.
• A player is ridden off the angle on a one on one by a defenceman.
• A 2 on 1 approaches the goalie.

Now Look at these situations and ask yourself some questions.

• Does your goalie steer pucks to the corner where a teammate must chase it? Or does he control the puck, leave it behind the net the goal line, to the side of the net?
• Does the goalie allow the pass to reach the slot where he must face a difficult shot? Or does he deflect or intercept the pass?
• Does the goalie hesitate, get beaten to the puck and get burned? Does the goalie hesitate, stay put and get burned? Or does he sprint to the puck, win the race, and make a play when he gets there?
• Does the goalie allow the puck to go around the net? Does he stop it but not know what to do? Does he stop it, know what to do but simply can’t execute? Or does he make a quick, smooth play?
• Does the goalie allow the man to stay and screen? Does the goalie over-react, slash the player and draw a penalty? or does he know how to bother the player, moving him out or goading the screener into a penalty?
• Does the goalie sit back in the net seeing the situation as “not that dangerous” and get beaten on a bad angle shot? or does he move out on the angle and discourage him from even taking a shot?
• Does the goalie fear a pass and stay put although the defenceman has the man covered? Or does he take the puck carrier and trust his teammate to defend the pass?

All These situations involve game like decision making and execution.

These are the nuts and bolts situations for a goaltender. yet how often does the goaltender get taught how to play these situations at practice?

• How are adequate drills provided at practice so goalies can master these situations?
• Where is the teaching and communication?
• It’s not enough just to shoot at goalies.

It is not even enough to tell them what they should do. There is another level of coaching needed after the “what to do” It is explaining to the goalie how to do it.
Coaches trade ideas on systems all the time: Power plays, forechecking, Breakouts, etc. They should exchange ideas on teaching their goaltenders or bring someone who has that knowledge. And then maybe the Guilt and Volume method will be a thing of the past.