Does the Traditional Practice Model Set up Goalies for Success?
Goaltending is a unique and critical position to any team's success. At higher levels of competition, the position has a coach dedicated to two players, more than any other position. Just this past off-season teams such as the Florida Panthers (1) and Calgary Flames (2) have developed goaltending departments with three or more coaches to help current goalies in their system along with finding future goalies to draft or sign.
We hear all the time in the playoffs that a team's success relies heavily on how well their goalies play in the playoffs and that you cannot win a Stanley Cup without a great goalie. The Conn Smyth trophy has been handed out to the NHL playoff MVP fifty-five times. A goalie has won the trophy sixteen times which is only three wins behind centers as the most by position. Impressive when you think there are only sixteen goalies starting in the playoffs compared to sixty four centers. Patrick Roy, goalie for the Montreal Canadians and Colorado Avalanche, has won the trophy three times which is the most by any player (3).
If goaltending is such a critical position to a team's success, it begs the question... Does the traditional practice model set goalies up for success? My short answer would be: no.
Through the use of wearable technology and the work started by Michael Self and David Good, we continue to look at the practice the day before games and specifically focus on explosive components of that particular practice. What we have found, in 3+ years of tracking, our goalies had a lower goals against average (GAA) and a higher save percentage in the game the following night when the explosive efforts over time on the ice was higher.
These explosive numbers were usually elevated when the goalie performed goalie specific drills with our goalie coach usually before practice and/or the practice was shorter in duration. The reason being is the goalie coach is designing drills that are goalie specific and usually involve making the goalie move explosively but do not exhaust him or her physically.
Why I believe this has merit in strength and conditioning is that as a coach we are always looking for ways to “get the most bang for our buck.” Especially in-season we want our training sessions to accomplish a certain task (strength, power, mobility) in the least amount of reps and sets to allow adaptation to still occur without overtaxing the system. The ability to properly dose is what we are always working towards.
This type of practice structure has elements of rate of force development. As a strength and conditioning coach, if I need a player to become more powerful, I would not constantly prescribe that athlete to go run three miles on a daily basis. I would appropriately prescribe clean/snatch variations, plyometric exercises (both weighted and unweighted), and possibly med ball exercises with appropriate rest intervals.
Yet this is how a lot of team practices are structured where the goalie is making save after save and by the end of a drill, all technique and explosiveness has gone out the window because he/she is so tired.
It also has elements of neuroplasticity. In sports, every time the athlete is performing a task, whether correctly or incorrectly, the brain is sending a signal to coordinate that movement with the appropriate muscle groups. (4) So in theory if that task is being completed in a slow manner over and over again or the technique is correct but the goalie continues to perform the save that way, then the brain is signaling to the muscles that this specific task does not have to be fast and is ingraining the wrong technique to execute the save.
Would goalies be better off with more practices designed to give them ample rest so that drills could be completed as fast as possible?
We do this with Olympic lifting. We don't expect an Olympic weight lifter to perform twenty reps of a clean and jerk. We typically expect five or less quality reps and then take two to three minutes of recovery. In most team practices the forwards and defensemen are getting some type of rest in between reps of a drill, but usually not the goalies.
I don't want to make it seem as if every team practice should cater to goalies, but I do believe with our research that there are times when what the goalies are doing should be at the forefront. We know how critical the goalie position is to our team's success and rely on them as the last line of defense when our systems break down, yet sometimes they are forgotten when it comes to practice planning.
References
- NHL.com, Florida Panthers, and Florida Panthers /. “Florida Panthers Establish Goaltending Excellence Department.” NHL.com, NHL.com, 8 Dec. 2020, www.nhl.com/panthers/news/florida-panthers-hockey-operations-establishes-goaltending-excellence-department/c-319773818. ;
- NHL.com, Calgary Flames Staff, and Calgary Flames Staff. “FLAMES ANNNOUNCE GOALTENDING DEPARTMENT.” NHL.com, NHL.com, 16 Dec. 2020, www.nhl.com/flames/news/flames-annnounce-goaltending-department/c-319815540. ;
- Conn Smythe Trophy Winners -- NHL Trophies -- Silverware -- Legends of Hockey, www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SilverwareTrophyWinners.jsp?tro=CST. ;
- Dobbs, Ian. “Neuroplasticity.” Science for Sport, 4 Mar. 2018, www.scienceforsport.com/neuroplasticity/. ;
About Jason
Jason Nordby is the Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Milwaukee Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators
