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See the drill video here

This drill can be done in the net or outside of the net, and can be done using pylons (different coloured or numbered), or pucks or other items that are numbered 1-5. The goalie starts in the middle at the top of the crease (or that general area if not doing the drill with a crease).

The coach will yell out a colour or a number, and the goalie must rotate their head and use the eyes to find the pylon, puck, etc. The goalie will then finish rotating the rest of their body to be square to the pylon, and make their push (most likely a t-push, but maybe a shuffle for the smaller movements based on skill level) to get set on the pylon. After the goalie has stopped and is set, they then do the same to push back up to the top of the crease. If the coach yells the colour that is at the top of the crease (green in this graphic), the goalie simply drops into their butterfly and stands back up.

The coach can increase the difficulty by yelling out a sequence of colours/numbers (2, 3, or even 4 colours at a time) that the goalie must then follow once the coach is done saying the sequence. If the coach yells the colour that is located at the top of the crease (green in this graphic), then the goalie will drop down into the butterfly, and then perform a proper t-push recovery to the next colour in the sequence the coach yelled.

This drill can also be done for just tracking, where the goalie only rotates their head and body to find the pylon. The drill can also be done with different movements, such as inside edge pushes, slides, shuffles, or t-push recoveries for every movement.

Key Points:

For Movement:

• Proper tracking to find pylons as stated below
• Proper rotations of the body to get square to pylon before pushing
• Hard stops at the end of every push to get set quick
• Stay low and forward during pushes to keep weight properly distributed and allow the goalie to be in a good set position when they are done their push

For Tracking Only:

• Practice tracking the puck, this is a good time to overexaggerate the head movement to get into the habit of doing it
• Eyes should lock onto the pylon/puck, and not be looking anywhere else
• Head rotates to find pylon/puck
• Chin stays down to chest to encourage goalie to track down. Obviously, we don’t want the goalie looking straight down at the ice, but we don’t want their head in a position where they look like they are looking straight forward.