How to Score More Goals by Moving the Goalie
Hi all, Greg here checking in to talk about scoring goals. My brother was a lifelong AAA goalie who won the U18 T1EHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite. About a year ago, he ended up moving to North Carolina and left his gear behind in Ohio. With his gear in my possession, I’m now making the transition from lifelong player to beer league goalie legend. More on that in a bit.
All of us have been to a hockey game where a fan is constantly yelling at his/her team to “shoot!!”. Even CBC got in on the action, in a short can’t-miss feature with former NHLer Andrew Ference.
All joking aside, we need our teams/players to shoot, so they can score more goals than the other team (rumor is that’s how you win games). So how do we increase our chances of scoring?
When the goalie has to move, the chances of scoring go up dramatically. Thus, we must make the goalie move laterally, ideally by way of a royal-road pass.
Shooting % based on placement
Domenic Galamini of Stathletes tweets out a “SundayViz” and recently posted some interesting graphics illustrating shooting percentage by shot placement.
As we may expect, NHL shooters have to pick a corner to have any real chance of scoring a goal.
Increasing the shooting percentage
Let’s take a look at what happens when the goalie has to move. There are some striking differences to unpack. In the below graphic, the goalie is moving from their left to their right (our right to left when looking at the image).
Crossing the royal road - the imaginary line that separates the ice into two equal parts and directly through the middle of the ice - can increase shooting percentages from a typical 8.5% to 30%, per Steve Valiquette, the owner of Clear Sight Analytics. Getting the goalie to move increases the shooting percentage over the entire net, to the point that less accuracy is demanded when shooting.
As a newer goalie, I can fully attest that if I can face a shot straight on, I’ve got a great chance of stopping it, even if it’s in a corner of the net … on the other hand, if I first have to move laterally, it’s much less likely that I’ll keep that puck out of the net.
Instead of yelling shoot, maybe fans, parents, coaches, and players should be yelling “Pass!”
Further Reading - Learn how goalies are playing dead angle shots and the opportunity that provides shooters
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