The goalie has to train off ice as well as on the ice to improve their agility and speed. The quicker your hand eye coordination, the better chance you have of stopping the opponent. One's ability to start, stop and/or change direction, while staying balanced and under control, is what sets great goalies apart. We will give you various dryland training drills that you should try and use on a regular basis. If there are any other drills that you find useful and would like to sbmit them, please feel free.

Ways to increase hand-eye coordination:

Ball Off the Wall Drill: The first step is to find a wall and a tennis ball. Step about 5ft from the wall. Then face the wall, squaring off your body to the wall. Bend your knees (Basic Goalie Stance), and bounce the ball off the wall (between eyes and stomach height) with one hand and catch it with your other hand. Switch ball to other hand and throw again. Practice throwing and catching with both hands but spend more time throwing with your blocker hand and catching with your trapper hand. You can vary the distance that you are from the wall but the important point is to focus on throwing and catching the ball. Always watch the ball and it is important that you keep your knees bent and your body square to the wall (The basic goalie stance). When you catch and throw the ball make sure that you look at the ball as you catch it and throw it. (Variation: Try this drill using two tennis balls.)

Hand-Eye coordination for the goalie is important and needs to be developed:

Another variation is to bounce the ball about a foot in front of the wall, so that the ball bounces from the ground to the wall, to your trapper hand. Switch ball to other hand and throw again. Be sure to rotate throwing and catching hands. (Variation: Bounce ball off wall to ground and catch). These drills help you react with your hands so that any shot that comes near your glove hand you can play and control the puck with your trapper

Hand-eye coordination drill using a friend. The first step is the first person stands about 4 to 5 ft from the wall. In the Goalie Stance. The other person (thrower) stands about five to six feet behind them and throws the ball over the person in front, bouncing it off the wall. The person in front (blocker) must stop the ball from getting by. Try to catch the ball but you must block the ball. Use your body if you have to. The forward person must not look back and react only to the ball bouncing off the wall. The object of the game for the thrower is not to rip the ball against the wall but to creatively make the blocker position to work on reation and blocking the ball.

Bent knees and squared off body strengthens the legs and reinforces the Goalie position.

As in the above drill, you pass the ball to each other but this time you move across facing each other for about 50ft to 60ft juggling the ball to each other. It is important to stay in the Goalie Stance all the way up the field. Once you've reached your designated end spot you can return to the start position. (Variation: Use two tennis balls)