How to play goalie

Updated October 17, 2026

Goalie is the one position where everybody sees your mistakes, and the one where a single save can win a game. You need good skating, quick eyes and a calm head. This guide covers how kids start in net in the US and Canada, gear and fit, the basic skills, the mental side, and drills you can do at home.

How kids usually start in net

Most kids don't pick goalie on day one. USA Hockey and Hockey Canada both want young players to try every position, goalie included, before anyone specializes.

The USA Hockey column comes from its manager of goaltending development. The Hockey Canada column comes from its player and goaltending pathways, which also recommend "Try Goaltending" sessions at U9 to U11, so kids can try the position without specializing early. Your association may do things its own way, so ask.

Keep skating out sometimes. USA Hockey's goalie coaches say time as a skater builds the skating and hockey sense goalies need.

Gear and how it should fit

Goalie gear is big, and it has to fit, or it slows you down and leaves holes. The full list is in the hockey equipment list. Before you buy, ask whether your association has goalie gear you can borrow.

• Leg pads. Brands size pads from your leg length, usually floor to the middle of your kneecap, so use that brand's chart. When you drop into the butterfly, your knee should land on the center of the pad's knee stack. Standing, the tops come to about mid-thigh. Try pads on with your skates, goalie pants and knee protectors.
• Mask. USA Hockey requires youth goalies to wear a HECC-certified mask. Hockey Canada's fitting guide says to check for a CSA certification sticker on both the mask and the cage. It should be snug, with almost no wiggle.
• Neck guard. USA Hockey requires youth goalies to wear a certified neck laceration protector, and Hockey Canada requires a BNQ-certified neck guard in minor hockey. USA Hockey's rulebook says the plastic throat guard that hangs from a mask doesn't count.
• Chest and arm protector. The bottom sits at your belt line, the arms reach your wrist bones and the top covers your collarbones.
• Goalie pants. Loose at the waist, reaching just above your kneecaps when you're in a partial squat.
• Glove and blocker. You should be able to close the glove all the way, and hold your stick comfortably with the blocker on.
• Stick. In your stance, the blade lies flat on the ice with your hand at about mid-thigh.
• Skates and a cup. Young goalies can wear regular skates. Older goalies usually move to goalie skates. Wear a goalie jock or jill, which has thicker padding than a skater's.

The ready stance

Every save starts from your stance. It should feel balanced, like you could move in any direction.

1. Feet a little wider than your shoulders, weight on the balls of your feet.
2. Knees bent, so your pads make a wall but you can still push off.
3. Chest up and slightly forward, shoulders square to the puck.
4. Glove open and out in front of your body, where you can see it out of the corner of your eye. Blocker out in front on the other side.
5. Stick blade flat on the ice, a little in front of your skates, covering the five-hole (the gap between your legs).
6. Eyes on the puck.

Check your stance in a mirror. A common habit to fix is letting your hands drift back to your sides.

The butterfly

In the butterfly you drop to your knees with your pads flared out flat along the ice, covering the bottom of the net.

1. From your stance, drop your knees toward the ice and let your pads flare out to the sides.
2. Bring your knees close together so the five-hole is closed. Your stick covers what's left.
3. Keep your chest up and your hands out in front, not tucked in.
4. Get back up fast: bring one skate under you, push up into your stance and get square to the puck again.

Use it for low shots, screens and scrambles near the net, not for every shot. USA Hockey's goalie coaches tell young goalies to react to the puck instead of dropping and hoping. A small goalie who drops early leaves the top of the net open.

If your hips, groin or knees hurt when you drop, tell your coach and a parent, and see a doctor or athletic trainer. Don't play through it.

Moving: shuffles, T-pushes and C-cuts

Hockey Canada's beginner goalie curriculum teaches these moving skills, along with pivots.

• Shuffle. For short moves. Stay in your stance and push sideways with the inside edge of one skate in small steps, keeping both pads facing the puck.
• T-push. For longer moves, like post to post. Turn your head and your lead skate toward where you're going, so your skates make a T, and push hard with the back skate. Turn the lead skate square again to stop, and finish set and facing the puck.
• C-cuts. To move out toward the shooter and back into your net. Push with one skate in a C shape while the other stays pointed at the puck.

Stay low and level while you move. Popping up out of your stance and sinking back down costs you time. Practice T-pushes and shuffles post to post along the goal line.

Angles and depth

Most of goaltending is being in the right spot. If you're in position, the puck hits you.

• Angle. Picture a line from the puck to the middle of your net. Stay on it, square to the puck, with your chest and pads facing it.
• Depth. How far out of your net you are. Coming out toward the shooter makes the net look smaller from where they stand. Too far out, and a pass across or a deke leaves you stranded. Many goalies start at the top of the crease and adjust from there.
• Come back in when the puck goes wide or behind the net, and get to your post when it's below the goal line.
• Use reference points. Touch your posts with your stick or skate, and use the crease lines, so you know where you are without looking back.

Tracking the puck

Hockey Canada's save cycle for goalies starts with finding the puck.

• Turn your head, not just your eyes, to follow the puck.
• Watch it all the way onto your body or into your glove.
• Watch the puck on the shooter's stick, not their eyes.
• On a screen, look around the player, low or to one side, and stay on your angle.
• Keep your chin down on low shots, so your eyes follow the puck down.

Rebound control and recovery

The same save cycle ends with puck control: rebounds and recovery. A save that leaves a rebound in the slot isn't finished.

• Catch what you can. A puck in your glove means a whistle.
• Trap shots to your body. Pull your arms in to hold the puck against your chest.
• Steer pad and stick saves to the corners, not back to the middle where shooters are waiting.
• Freeze it under pressure. If attackers are coming, cover the puck. If nobody is near you, play it with your stick, because freezing it then can be a penalty.
• Recover right away. After a save, find the puck, get to your feet or slide to the next spot, and get square again.

Handling the puck

• Stop dump-ins behind your net and leave the puck for your defenseman, or make a short, simple pass. Talk, so they know what you're doing.
• In USA Hockey, a goalie who plays the puck past the center red line gets a minor penalty.
• The NHL has a trapezoid behind the net, and goalies can't play the puck behind the goal line outside it. USA Hockey's rules don't have a trapezoid, so check your league's.

The mental side

Every goalie lets in bad goals, at every level. What matters is the next shot.

• Have a reset routine. After a goal, skate to the corner or tap your posts, take a sip of water and one slow breath, and say a cue word to yourself, like "next" or "set". Then get ready for the faceoff.
• Leave it for later. Don't replay the goal in your head during the game. Look at it afterward with a coach and take one lesson from it.
• Talk. Telling your defense what you see keeps your head in the game.
• Judge yourself on what you control: your effort, your position and your recovery, not the score.

Parents: after games, ask about effort and fun, not goals against.

Practice at home

1. Tennis ball wall catches. Stand 6 to 10 feet from a wall (ask first). Throw a tennis ball underhand at the wall and catch it with your glove hand, watching it all the way in. 3 sets of 20, then use your other hand. To make it harder, bounce it off the floor first or move closer.
2. Partner tosses. Someone throws or bounces the ball to you from different spots while you stay in your stance and track it into your hands. Write numbers on a few balls and call the number before you catch it.
3. Footwork. In sneakers and in your stance, shuffle and T-push step along a line on the floor or driveway. 3 sets of 10 each way, staying low.
4. Stance holds. Hold your stance for 30 seconds, rest 30, 5 rounds, checking your hands in a mirror.
5. Mobility. After a short warm-up, do gentle hip and groin stretches. Never force a stretch.

When you watch a game, pick a goalie and watch only their feet and where they stand for a whole period. For strength, hockey workouts at home keeps it bodyweight and form first.

Goalie camps and goalie coaches

A goalie coach, even a few times a season, can fix habits before they stick. Start by asking your association. Hockey Canada recommends that associations offer small-group goalie instruction from U13 and have a goalie coach guide their goalies from U15 to U18. USA Hockey has goaltending development staff and coaching material, and many rinks and goalie schools run clinics and camps.

Before you sign up for a camp or a clinic, ask:

• How many goalies per coach? Small groups mean more reps.
• How much of it is skating and movement? Hockey Canada's beginner goalie program spends about three quarters of its time on movement and positioning.
• Are the shots at your level? USA Hockey's goalie coaches warn that young goalies facing hard shots from adults can become afraid of the puck.
• Do the coaches explain why, and can you ask questions?

If you play Brudvig Hockey, the free arcade game on this site, you can play as the goalie there too. Its goalie guide covers the game's controls, not real-life goaltending.