positioning when ball is at X and communication

[volpe21993]

I was wondering how you other goalies positioned yourself in the goal when the ball is at X and how u communicated to you defense when it is there also.

[CTwestongoalie]

i stay center of the goal, mirroring him. If he goes left, i go more to the right (to cut off backside feed). and i DO NOT rest my stick on the pipe, as a goalie you need to be ready at all times.

as for communication, just call out who has which slide (you should know who has what slide, and if you dont ask who has the slides), and tell your defense when to slide. call out if he is a shooter or a feeder (most ppl at x are feeders). also call out to hold. call out picks, when the shooter reaches gle call goal line. also a crucial call is play high or topside. this will get the defender to play on his outside shoulder, forcing the attackman to roll back into the slide call that you make. another call would be check for a pass out of your vision.

[OldGoalie]

I think this might have been asked in another thread, but anyway, I also stay center on a medium/high arc to snag any lazy over-the-crease feeds, and then hug the pipe on the same side as the attackman comes to GLE. Some people advocate overplaying the opposite side of the drive from X to cut off the cross-crease feed, which may not be a bad idea, but you have to be ready and quick to get to the near side pipe if the X-guy decides to shoot.

As for communication, I call out:
- ball position
- who's hot
- cutters that I see in peripheral vision
- "hold" or "get on his hands"
- picks behind the cage
- "Even" to let the pole know when the attacker is approaching GLE
- "Turn him back" or "Topside" to remind the defender to close the door on the move into the lane and force an inside roll.
- "Check" for feeds

[volpe21993]

also with the communication part, for calling the ball position if the ball is on the same side as lets say top right but it is behing the cage to u call that back right or back left

[CTwestongoalie]

well i though that goes without saying considering he is just asking about the x position

[volpe21993]

sorry for the misunderstanding i meant to ask about communication when the ball is behind

[lax21goalie2008]

Make sure you stay in your ready position at all times because if they make a quick feed from behind, then you can make the save. Also, make sure your stick is up over the crossbar so you can pick off passes.

[OldGoalie]

also with the communication part, for calling the ball position if the ball is on the same side as lets say top right but it is behing the cage to u call that back right or back left

You call that back right. It's from the d-pole point of view, not yours.