Question: I have been a hockey goalie for about 12 years now and I am now a senior in high school and our lacrosse goalie got injured and will not be able to play all season. So the lacrosse coach came to me the other day asking me to play and I said I would give it a try. Now in hockey, goalies are always taught to get out to the top of the crease or past the top of the crease when the shot is imminent to cut down the angle and give the shooter less to shoot at. So in my couple days of practice I started doing this in lacrosse, but everyone has told me this is wrong and that it is not a good idea to be aggressive and challenge the shooter. But why? I have watched some videos of college goalies and they all make their saves standing deep in their crease, but it does not make sense to me. I understand if the opposing team is moving the ball around you want to be deep in your crease so it’s a shorter movement to follow the ball around and get the proper angle, but if you see the shooter winding up for the shot why not take a couple steps out and cut down the angle, instead of just taking one small step toward the ball when the shot is coming at you? Thanks
Answer: Rob you’ve come to the right place for this answer.
You are right, in wanting to come out and challenge the shooter. I was also a hockey goalie and took many of the things I learned as a hockey goalie and improved my lacrosse game with that knowledge.
Couple of things:
In lacrosse there is this attitude that if you are lower in the cage you have more time to react to the ball in order to save it. I have seen now hard data on this in terms of numbers but it could make sense. That being said you don’t see many hockey goalies backing into the cage to make more saves.
Hockey goalies are designed to deflect the puck. We make a lot of saves as goalies where we smother rebounds but ultimately the equipment on a hockey goalie is designed to do two things: 1) Protect the goalie. 2) Deflect the puck or block it from going into the cage.
With that in mind, lacrosse goalies are basically naked with a stick to try and catch the ball. We are the ONLY sport where the goalie tries to catch everything with his stick. And also the only sport where the goalie will move from one side of his body to try and catch something on the opposite side. The equivalent would be using your trapper to grab a puck that went stick side low. I’ve never quite understood this but I’m not in a position yet to revolutionize the way lacrosse goalies make saves although I do talk about it on my blog at www.inseasonhome.com.
I took the same approach you are wanting to take and I became an All-american in the process. If you know a shooter is winding up to take a shot, step out a bit. I always wore enough protection that I didn’t mind taking shots off the body in a lacrosse game. The one thing to keep in mind is that the crease in lacrosse is a bit of a safe zone. Offensive players can’t get you in there. So I always left a step between myself and the top of the crease. You would like any rebounds to fall in the cresae so you can grab them. That being said, if I was really aggressive, and there was no offensive players around, I would be right on the crease line knowing that if I made the save and the ball was outside the crease, I could still get it.
Hope that helps Rob. If there is any confusion on this just let me know. You can also have your coach email me at coachedwards@lacrossegoalieuniversity.com I’m here to help. Leave me your comments below.
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