While it is easier to pick up a basketball or soccer ball and fairly quickly develop basic shooting and passing skills, the game of ice hockey has a very steep learning curve for men and women, especially goaltending.  For women interested in developing better goalie skills, off-ice hockey goaltending training is crucial to maximize your reflexes and conditioning while on the ice and in the crease.

Goaltending Off-Ice Training Drills for Women

Several drills facilitate better puck-stopping skills:

Stimulus and Reflexes

An NHL puck travels at well over one hundred miles an hour and pro goaltenders can make a decision in one fifth of a second.  While those are lofty professional standards, any ice hockey goalie needs to put a premium on her ability to move her body in a split second.  Developing your reflexes in the hands and feet leads to more pucks stopped.  Each reflex drill should encourage you to move both hands and feet at the same time in order to prevent one or the other from becoming “stagnant”, as you need to move both quickly during a game.

A good way to start goalie reflex training is by picking up a tennis ball and throwing it against the side of a building or garage.  This simple act of developing your hand-eye coordination will allow you to build up reflexes over time.  After a few weeks of throwing one ball, try two at the same time.  Then try three.  If you have the coordination, juggling allows you to build hand-eye reflexes; juggling against a brick wall develops them at hockey-level speeds.

Endure and Excel

Since the goalie does not get to skate to the bench and take a rest after a shift, they need to have excellent endurance so that they can recover when the puck is in the other side of the rink.  Build up your conditioning in the lower body by several exercises:

• Deadlifts
• One-leg squats
• Squat jumps
• Stair/hill running
• Depth jumps

Make sure you warm up prior to any conditioning, or else your muscles will not be able to reach their full potential and you could get injured.  In any conditioning exercise, work your muscles with a high intensity, then give yourself a very brief rest (sixty seconds or less) before starting again.  At first you should limit the strain, but as you progress you can spend more and more time conditioning.

Skate Like the Wind

The saying goes that a goalie should be the best skater on a team.  Skating is crucial for a goalie even if they never venture past their crease.  Improve your skating on dry land by pushing off as you would on ice, leading with your big toe, practicing crossovers and backwards movement.

Professional Online Hockey Training for Women

Each individual who trains for hockey has different needs, based on gender, age and previous experience.  Through HockeyOT, specific training programs are available for women who want to train to be better goalies or hockey players in general.