Skate Saves

Skate Saves
By Darren Hersh
Taken with permission from http://www.goalieacademy.com/articles/skatesave.htm
Check out Darren's website www.goalieacademy.com

In the "old days," the skate save used to be taught at goalie camps as much, if not more than, any other save.  It is a difficult save to make and therefore required (and still requires) a lot of practice to master.  Now, you are lucky to find the technique taught at all.  It is undeniable that the game has changed tremendously and that the skate save is not as effective of a tool for stopping pucks as it once was, however, there is still a time and place to use it even though that particular situation doesn't present itself all that often.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, the skate save was used a lot to stop that slap shot along the ice headed for the far corner of the net.  Back then, goalies, except for Tony Esposito, used mainly a stand up style, which almost forced them to be reaction goalies.  They wore face masks very close to the face that didn't allow for much protection, so who could blame them for not going down so often.  Goalies like Bernie Parent had very quick feet and flawless technique, which made the skate save a thing of beauty and almost an art form.

Parent skate save to his right...

...and to his left

It wasn't until Vladislav Tretiak's technique was studied more closely in North America and handed down to younger generations that the skate save started to be replaced with what I call the extended half butterfly.  In the extended half butterfly save, the skate isn't turned onto the outside edge redirecting the puck to the corner, but rather the toe of the skate remains facing the puck so that the face of the leg pad makes the save on the extension of the leg rather than the skate blade.  Arguably this is a faster, less technical and, therefore, an easier, more efficient way of making a save on a shot to the low corners, but the extended half butterfly doesn't control rebounds nearly as well as the skate save.

Dan Cloutier makes an extended half butterfly save.

So many changes in the game of hockey and the techniques of goaltending have lead to a more limited use of the skate save.  It seems that in today's game players do not take as many 40 and 50 foot slap shots in open ice (where tips and screens do not exist) and when they do the shots may be going a lot faster on average.  Thus, the goalie is more apt to perform an extended half butterfly save to get more equipment in front of a puck that he/she has less time to save rather than try to perfectly time a well executed skate save where only 12" of skate blade come between the flying puck and a goal.

At any rate, goalies still do use the skate save, but as stated before, it seems to be used in one unique situation, the dump in.  When teams are calling for a line change and the puck needs to be dumped into the opposition's zone, you will sometimes see an NHLer dump a long slap shot on goal, low to the corners at times.  It is in these situations where you may still see Martin Brodeur and other NHL netminders flash the skate blade and steer the puck harmlessly into the corner.

So, work at the skate technique for when this situation arises, because it is much better to be able to steer these shots into the corner rather than leaving out a rebound on a shot that should be easily handled.  Also, for younger goalies that have not yet reached that NHL type size of 6'0" or more, the skate save should be used more often, since the shots a squirt and a pee wee face are not nearly as fast paced and the goalie has more time to perform the skate save technique.  Don't abandon this great save, because by controlling rebounds with the feet, you get less shots on goal, which will likely help both your goals against average and your save percentage!  Be able to do it all!

Brodeur nicely executes a skate save.