Welcome to our Goalie Learn To Play Section! These pages contain info catered to beginners interested in trying the position. Large portions of this page were made possible by the amazing goalies of SWHC, so thank you to them!

Goalies play for free! Games will be posted on the SWHC discord weekly where you can sign up to play for our teams who definitely back-check 🙂

The most fun way to improve is to play games so If you’re looking for even more ice time, you can often find league and pickup games to register as a free agent or pick-up drop in at no extra cost.

Goalie Gear

Required Gear

Helmet
- Out of all of your gear, prioritize getting a good helmet. Be wary of used helmets in particular as they can have damage you are not aware of that could compromise your safety. Pay particular attention to the expiration date on the back of the helmet. After a certain number of years the foam in the helmet can break down and provide significantly less protection than a newer one
- As a general rule, always buy new, make sure they’re snug, and cost at least $500 (the more the better).
- Take Care Of Your Brain, you only get one
Chest Protector (Chestie)
- The chestie protects your torso and arms. You want it strapped tightly to your body and can either tuck the bottom of it inside your pants or have it hang out in front. There’s lots of straps to adjust so play with them to see what feels best
Catcher (Glove)
- Gloves are mostly used to cover the puck and stop play at the novice level. In more advanced games, you can also catch the puck by getting the puck into the netted area called the basket
- Gloves come in “left” (regular) or “right” (full right) forms. Make sure your glove is opposite your blocker.
  - Stick is then held by the opposite hand of your glove.
  - Full Right/”Right”: catch with right hand. Left hand holds stick;
  - Regular/”Left”: catch with left hand. Right hand holds stick
Blocker
- Make sure it matches the handedness of your glove (regular or full right)
Knee Guards
- They protect your knees from pucks hitting them when you’re open during a butterfly
Goalie pants
- Different from regular hockey pants as they provide additional padding around the hips
Goalie Leg Pads
- One of the most fun pieces of gear. Sizing varies highly by brand so we’d recommend getting fitted in person
- The key piece is to have your knee land on the knee block, the piece that’s on the ice during your butterfly
- You’ll get to slide around on these to make amazing saves
Goalie Stick
- Bigger than a skater’s stick and depends on what side you have your blocker on
- Hold it where the shaft grows thicker and while extending your pointer finger
Goalie Skates
- These are different than a traditional skater hockey skate and usually run a completely different profile and skate hollow
- Also have additional padding to help protect against pucks hitting you in the foot
- If you already have skater skates you *can* get away with using skater skates for a little bit while you’re trying the position out, but we wouldn’t recommend it long term for beginners, as skater skates are much rounder and thus harder to balance on when moving around in the Butterfly position
Goalie Bag
- These tend to be bigger than skater bags owing to the size and quantity of gear you need as a goalie
- Depending on your height you may be able to get away with storing your gear in an intermediate bag rather than a senior bag (~under 5’5″)
Goalie Jersey
- Make sure to get a goalie sized jersey as they’re designed to go around your chestie as you won’t be able to use a large player jersey
Toe/Pad Attachments
- These usually come with your leg pads and they connect the boot of your leg pad to your skate, controlling pad rotation and sealing
- Toe ties are the system that connects the tip of a goalie pad boot to the goalie’s skate. They connect the front of the pad to the skate toe to manage rotation and re-centering during butterfly movements.
- Many different options, from bungee cord/skate lace to dedicated straps. Additional info on toe ties can be found here and here
Goalie cup
- This is different from player cup as it’s much stronger to take repeated shots
Neck protector and/or dangler
- Gear that covers the neck and collarbone with squishy foam or plastic
- You should use both but must use at least one

Gear extras

Helmet Cage Styles
- All goalie helmets come with the standard square pattern cage. For beginners, this will serve you just fine
- There’s also Cats Eye which is what you may see the pros wear on tv (some of our goalies also use cat eye!).
  - There’s also a non-certified cat eye that you see the pros and anyone over 18 use, and a “certified” one that has an extra horizontal bar across the eyes to prevent the puck from hitting you in the eye.
  - Please be wary that the holes on a Cat Eye cage (certified or otherwise) can be big enough that the toe of a hockey stick can fit through it. For the risk-averse, we would recommend the regular straight bar cage
Roller vs Non roller goalie bag
- This very much a personal preference. Goalie gear can be big and heavy so you may be interested in a roller version of the bag. However, depending on which rink you play your games at, it may be a bit harder to carry it down stairs.
- All SWHC games are at KCI in Northgate which has an elevator
Boot Straps
- Can sometimes come with pads, but they may need to be “installed” on the pad
- Goalie boot straps anchor the bottom of the pad near the heel to control vertical height

Goalie Gear Buying Resources

TendyFest – Annual Goalie Gear Trade Show put together by The Hockey Shop in BC

Sideline Swap – Buy everything used (except your helmet) to make your goalie experience more reasonably priced

Goalie Gear Sizing

Unless you already know your size and preference, we generally recommend going to a store and getting sized properly for your gear, and trying it on all at once. Goalie gear especially put on all at once has interesting ways it can interact with each other that you won’t know until you try it all on in person.

Examples of testing the above holistically:

Testing chestie (chest protector) and helmet together for mobility.
Chestie arm length also very much interact with gloves so should be a little short.
Skates and knee pads, maybe even pants can affect how leg pads sit and rotate

If cost is a concern, once you understand your gear size and preference you can then purchase used gear.

Additional Goalie Sizing Resource: https://goaliecoaches.com/how-to-size-goalie-gear/

Goalie Handedness

Goalies have a “left” and “right” handedness for their glove and stick combination. It can be summarized like so:

Regular: Catch with left hand. Right hand holds stick. This style is the most common amongst goalies

Full Right: Catch with right hand. Left hand holds stick

There is no “one size fits all” philosophy. This one is genuinely personal preference. We recommend going to a store and figuring out which version feels more comfortable.

Beginner Goalie Tutorials

On/Off Ice Goalie Training – https://www.youtube.com/@goalietraining

Beginner Butterfly Technique

“Butterfly” is the modern technique that hockey goalies have adopted for the position. As opposed to “Standing Goalie” (the style used pre 1990s or so) it involves standing and kneeling on the ice and using the pads on your legs (in addition to your other pads) to block a skater from shooting at the net. Below is a video recommended by our goalies as an introduction to the Butterfly technique!

Goalie Off Ice Exercises & Training

Goalie Speed Training Improvements

Pad Adjustment

Fixing Tight Hips

Body/Hand Positioning, Angles, Box Control

https://goaliecoaches.com/the-difference-between-angle-and-square-for-goalies/

Hand Positioning by pro goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo

Notes and Tips From Our Goalies!

Key is remembering to try not take things personally with big losses, lots of cheering at shots. Practicing goldfish brain to reset and “onto the next” instead of getting stuck thinking about the last one too much. The more you play the more you learn what defense should be doing, that helps with less self reprimanding.

Goalie specific game useful knowledge/strategy for newbies:

On penalty kills, freeze the puck as much as possible
On power play there’s no icing so more likely to come out of the crease and play the puck
Can’t freeze the puck behind the goal line
On delayed penalties try to get to the bench for 6 person advantage

At Stick & Pucks – It’s okay to say “no” if you do not want skaters to shoot against you. You’re there for your own skills development too, and are not required to take shots if you don’t want to.

Additional Resources

Skills Clinics

KCI offers a Goalie Skills Clinic Series that you can register for here: https://www.krakencommunityiceplex.com/hockey/adult-hockey/adult-clinics/

Occasionally, instructors from the Adult Skills Clinic (for skaters) will ask goalies if they’re interested in attending as goalies where you can get additional practice time!

Stick & Puck, Drop-In Hockey

Stick And Puck Finder

Drop In – Beginners, keep an eye out for “Novice” drop in which tends to encourage lower level

There’s a Friday night skate at OVA (Olympic View Arena). Free for goalies. Email fnskates@gmail.com for info!