March 22nd, 2010

Panthers VS Kings

Scott Clemmensen, the former Brodeur backup, demonstrates why he is not ready to be a starter in the NHL. In his rare start against the Kings, Clemmensen makes two fundamental mistakes leading to the first goal of the game, scored by Steve Downie. Scott Clemmensen, the former Brodeur backup, demonstrates why he is not quite ready to be a starter in the NHL. In his rare start against the Kings, Clemmensen makes two fundamental mistakes leading to the first goal of the game scored by Steve Downie. If you pause the clip at the 0:07 second mark you will notice Downie coming in the right wing and Clemmensen is completely off angle, squaring up to the body instead of the puck. This gives Downie a major advantage to score on the Trapper side. This could have been corrected with a short shuffle to adjust the positioning but instead the Panthers goalie relied on his reflexes instead of his technique leading to error 2.
If you pause the clip at the 0:09 second mark you will see Clemmenson executes a reflex kick save with his trapper behind him. Please do not confuse this with a leg save where the pad is flush to the ice and the groin extends to make the save. Instead the leg pops out, exposing the entire 5 hole as well as creating an off balanced glove position.

Downie simpley had to pick one of the many holes and it was 1-0 Kings.

Do you have any tricks for goalies to get square? I have a few but would love to hear yours.