Ball Hockey - The Pre Game Warmup Rant.
Shot some pregame video at my ECBHL game. As both a player and goalie I have a dual perspective on the purpose of the warmup prompted by having an errant slapshot just miss my head by scan inches while collecting balls from the corner tonight.
It`s A Warmup Not A Skill's Competition!
A warmup is a warmup so blasting slapshots from the point into the top corner or missing the net completely does the (cold) goalie absolutely no good.Zinging the ball around the goalie's ears is useless and nailing the goalie in the mask with a rising shot is a good way to really piss him/her off.
What us goalies like are shots into our pads, gloves and chest to get a feel for the ball. Since most of our work in a game comes from the key ease up on the blistering "Chara" slapshots and come in close with wrist and snap shots to the above fore mentioned areas.The purpose of the warmup to get the goaltender READY for the game not test your velocity and accuracy! Save that for the open net before and after the goalie's warmup.
So when I am playing out I make a point of doing just that.I aim for the goalie's core, shoot from a variety of distances and, most importantly, try not to score(wink).
Nuff said...rant over.
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