Solo goalie drills

Question

As a goalie who got most of his experience just playing in local leagues, I never have had much practice in solo goalie drills. In general when I goto play in my local practice/scrimmage league, our instructors devote some time to just the offense and defense drills while myself as the goalie am left alone to stretch and do whatever until they're done. This isn't an extremely long time, as they don't want to leave me out, but the amount of time stretches for a bit longer then needed for just stretching out. Basically my question is, what are some drills I can do on my own for a short time while instructors work with the offense and defense?

Answer 1

There were a few free online resources that discussed solo ice hockey goalie drills - most of these discussed skating and exercises.

Livestrong.com lists a few solo drills in this online article:

• W-Drill - Going forward and backward while moving up and down to stop pucks is essential.
• Triangle Agility Skating - Long skating is not a goaltender's forte, but he must be able to move quickly over short bursts.

The article also pointed to some other resources. The one article (from Best Hockey Drills) listed these drills:

• W-Drill
• Y-Drill - The Y-Drill is a slight variation of the W-Drill.
• The Goalie’s Cross - This drill works best when it’s just done with the goalie and no other players. It’s a great chance to give your goalie your undivided attention while other players work on standard drills.

This article also notes that:

These great hockey goalie drills mimic the movements that a goalie makes during an actual game. Start out doing them slowly and neatly, and then move up to doing faster speeds. Your goalie will be blazing across the ice before you know it.

Finally, there is a paid goalie bundle from an online bookstore, focusing on goalie drills. I've never used it, but it may provide the drills that you're looking for (see the first topic). The online blurb notes that the bundle covers these topics:

1. Individual On-Ice Goalie Drills (for goalies to perform alone)
2. Partner On-Ice Goalie Drills (for goalie partners to perform together)
3. One-on-One On-Ice Goalie Drills (for coaches to do one-on-one with goalies)
4. Team Oriented On-Ice Goalie Drills (for coaches to run with their teams for goalie work)
5. Pre-Game On-Ice Warm-up Drills (for teams to better prepare their goalie(s) for games)
6. Post Practice/Game Stretching (for goalies to reduce the risk of injury and to increase flexibility)
7. Practice Planning (for coaches to develop practice plans that include goalie attention)
8. Skill Development Schedule (for coaches and goalies to benchmark goalie development).

Hopefully, one of these resources will point you in the right direction.