[GH_ID]

Hey guys!

Just started out goaltending and I can't get my pads to close up front. I'm way to stiff and can't stretch my legs or knees enough to make the butterfly close. Any advice, tips, exercises?

Thanks a lot!

Gui

[McDougalfaschnitzer]

GH_ID, on Oct 9 2009, 02:44 PM, said:

Hey guys!

Just started out goaltending and I can't get my pads to close up front. I'm way to stiff and can't stretch my legs or knees enough to make the butterfly close. Any advice, tips, exercises?

Thanks a lot!

Gui

Sounds like you have a bit of a Giggy-fly going on. Are your knees sealed at least?

[srv2miker]

Some questions before we can really help you out:

1. What kind of pads are you using?
2. How are the pads performing - are the sticking straight towards the shooter, or are they pointed towards each other and you just can't get the tips together?
3. As asked above, are you knees together or apart?

That's a good start :)

[GH_ID]

Thanks for getting back to me.

I'm using 35"+1 Vapor X60's. No my knees are not together and it seems impossible to close my pads, like I'm doing something wrong or that my knees are just not meant to do this.

I just can't get the pads to touch by 6 inchs. Last practice I borrowed broken in identical pads and I could do it, so I don't understand with the new ones what was different.

I was thinking about this today and can it be because I put my pads to tight which prohibits me to close the pads together on my butterfly? They did feel tighter then previously, they were pulling on my legs.

Man this is going to be hard!

This post has been edited by GH_ID: 10 October 2009 - 12:28 AM

[Oykib]

Do you have shoelaces through your pads? After I am done playing I have them through my toe bridge, and I squat on the pads, wrap them around the outside and tie on top so it holds them folded down.

This post has been edited by Oykib: 10 October 2009 - 11:45 AM

[chshockey30]

maybe its the fact that they are yet to be broken in. I bet once they are it will help a lot

[srv2miker]

One questions I didn't ask before that I should've - are you using toe ties? If so, how much slack is in them?

Try something for me: strap the pads on as normal, then go down with your knees together - i.e. your knees are touching each other when you're down in the bfly. Is there still 6 inches of space between the tips, are they closer, or are they even farther apart?

[GH_ID]

You mean try that but without attaching the lace on the bottom? See if there's a difference?

[GH_ID]

Oh and do you guys wear knee protectors or thigh guards or both with your pads? I feel interference between my pads thigh guard and my pants, can that coz problems or it's jut normal to feel this?

[kvnwos]

do NOT use thigh boards! they do get in the way and mess you up. knee protectors are the way to go, you have ALOT more mobility and dont need to worry about the thigh boards screwing with you.

[GH_ID]

So looser straps. knee protectors, NO thigh boards.

Are my kees suppose to be together or appart on the ice?

[Oykib]

GH_ID, on Oct 11 2009, 11:44 PM, said:

So looser straps. knee protectors, NO thigh boards.

Are my kees suppose to be together or appart on the ice?

If your knees are together you will have overlapping pads. They don't need to be touching to close your pads unless you are wearing the wrong size pads.

[GH_ID]

Well for now my pads are not even touching so I'm doing something wrong for sure!

[kvnwos]

strap the pads up and take some pics of the butterfly and put em up. im sure we can spot what it wrong

[hamstercaster]

Your problem may be related to pad size, flexibility or technique.. or a mix of all that. If you have a narrow butterfly, it is much tougher to achieve a butterfly where your pads close the five hole completly. The most important thing is that you need to close the five hole with your knees first and think about doing it with the pads after. Your knees need to come together when you drop in the butterfly otherwise you are leaving a gap and a puck could get passed you no matter how good of seal you'd be getting with the pads. If you are able to get your knees together, that's more than half the battle right there and you don't necessarily need to have the pads seal the 5 hole in front of you like you see most of the pros do. Some of the pros like Giggy and even Hiller at times will use a narrow butterfly and seel the five hole by getting their knees together. Equipment wise, it is possible that the X60 are just not flexible enough to close the five hole using a narrow butterfly or perhaps your thigh rise is just not tall enough. Some of the pads, like the Simmons 994 for exemple have a thigh strap that you can use which will help pull the thigh rise back and help seal the ice with a what looks like a perfect butterfly... but as stated, you still have to have your knees together at all times in either case. I would suggest you work on your flexibility in order to be able to get those knees together while being able to flare your butterfly up and thus have a wider butterfly which usually helps sealing the five hole with the pads and knees. But keep in mind that a wider butterfly often makes recoveries a bit slower though. Also, in my experience, you should drop the thigh guards and use knee guards/pads instead of thigh guards or wraps.